Escape

Alpen made the hand signal to his throat, the one they had all learned as young children. Mortal and imminent danger. Be quiet. Even Fallon was frightened by the primitive warning gesture. They stayed close to the river where the vegetation afforded some cover. After turning a bend in the river, Alpen turned to his left, toward the treeline and in the direction of their home.

In the far distance, they heard the clamor of fighting, then the piercing scream of a Sprint split the night air and caused Fallon's skin to shiver. They looked to Alpen. "Hurry!" he urged. He looked skyward and Fallon followed his gaze. A lone Faerie flew above the treetop. Alpen turned to Fallon. "Drindl has some energy. Try to trap the Faerie so it cannot report us to Altiss."

Fallon was surprised but Alpen gave him the signal. No explanations. Fallon came alongside Drindl who still carried the sleeping Erthen in a papoose on his back. Fallon put his hand on the boy's head. Now he knew how Erthen had remained asleep during all this commotion. A small amount of energy made a young one sleepy. "Don't tell anyone you gave Erthen some energy," he said as they walked along. At Drindl's look of surprise, Fallon said, "I understand. You did what you thought was best in battle mode. Alithea mustn't find out." Drindl nodded. "Can I get the energy? We need to lure the Faerie down." Drindl reached to his side, undid the pouch and handed it to Fallon.
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Fallon drifted away from the group, circling wide into the clearing. From this short distance, he could see the weariness in the gait of the others. Even Drindl's supple form was bent forward under Erthen's weight. Alithea's anxiety showed as she carried their egg pouch and tried to keep up with Alpen and not stumble.

Fallon paused, casually reached into the pouch and withdrew the white piece of energy that Drindl had wrapped in a leaf. He held it to his mouth as though he were nibbling. He casually tilted his head and glanced skyward while he kept his cloak at the ready, draped over his other arm. The light was dim and he could not see the Faerie. He heard the rapid beat of the Faerie's wings above him as it swooped to steal the energy from his grasp. As the wings brushed against his forehead, he fell back and swept his cloak over the surprised Faerie and let it fall to the ground. Trapped between the cloak and the grass, the Faerie tried to escape but Fallon kept it pinned. It made a bunch of squeaking sounds below the coat as Fallon gathered it into the center. He stood up with his coat gathered into a sack. The Faerie stopped thrashing in the pocket of darkness.

"Energy, give me," is what Fallon thought he heard the Faerie say. Impossible, he thought, then he heard the words repeated. He could not speak Faerie. Even Altiss struggled with that. They did not have a faerie cage. What was he going to do with the little creature? It was bad luck to intentionally kill a Faerie, even a snooping Faerie.
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He would need to run to catch up with the others. Suddenly he saw the bleached white form of an Ibik skull on the ground. He turned it over to make sure there were no bitey stingies living in the skull. It was quite small, a yearling Ibik who had not completed the migration route with its herd. Struck with a solution to his problems, Fallon set his cloak down on the ground, keeping it closed and the Faerie trapped. He took a bit of energy and placed it in the top of the skull, then carefully moved the skull inside the sac he had created with the jacket. He felt the Faerie move into the skull to get the energy. He withdrew the cloak, being careful to use his coat to block the opening at the base of the skull. In one hand he held the skull with the Faerie and held the coat with the other. The Faerie was too large to get out the openings in front of the small skull but the coat was an awkward solution.

Fallon watched the Faerie as it feasted on the small morsel of energy. He put the energy back in the pouch, then used it to block the opening in the skull. Already the Faerie was getting relaxed as the energy took effect on the little creature. Fallon tied the pouch strings around the skull and set off to find the others.

"I won't tell sis-ah if you give me more energy," the Faerie said. Sis-ah was the name the faeries called Altiss. What a lying faerie glutton, Fallon thought. He made the sound of an Alsace bird and it echoed in the skull. The predator sound silenced the Faerie.