Journey's Dawn

Fallon climbed into bed with Erthen and Alithea, who murmured a question if everything was OK. "Drindl says thank you." She smiled and they both drifted into sleep. It wasn't long before Drindl shook him awake.

The fire was barely above embers and Fallon stoked it a bit. Drindl said it was too hot and moved his bedroll away. How long would the musth last? Fallon guessed a week. The fire popped a few times and he heard the far off cry of a large animal. Was that the wolfbear? His father had said they were as large as two Jade warriors, but Fallon had never seen one. Did they exist or was that something that parents told their children? He stood up and leaned near the Faerie cage but heard nothing under the cloth covering.

He turned toward an unfamiliar sound from the trees nearby. Did wolfbears climb trees? He held his breath and listened but heard only Alpen sleeping. The wind? He quietly slid his sword from the travois and sat near the fire, watching the nearby tree. He planned his defensive strategy without knowing how the animal moved.

The first light of morning turned the sky from black to dark blue gray, and still he watched the tree. Bebe raised her head, then waved with her hand and ducked below the covers again as she felt the cold air. Fallon fed the fire and watched the sky brighten. The tree branches shook and a dark figure emerged and rose against the morning breeze, soaring into the sky on large wings. It was larger than anything he had seen before.

He filled a container with water and nestled it in the embers of the fire to warm. The edge of the sun crossed above the hills and he woke Alithea. Erthen remained sleeping and Fallon kept his voice soft. "I saw a large bird from the tree over there," Fallon pointed. "Maybe it left a few young eggs."

Alpen and Bebe were already awake and Fallon told them about the bird. They agreed to watch Erthen. Fallon and Alithea moved through the winter's grass toward the tree. They stood at the base and Fallon planned his ascent. Alithea gave him a hug. "A leader thinks of the whole group."

"Alpen is the leader. He is the oldest." Fallon liked clear cut tribal rules.

"You are a good partner," she said, then added, "and you smell like musth."

"Drindl," he said.

"You helped him? I can smell it on your nightshirt. I can smell me on your hands," she said. She looked away toward the camp. All they could see was the smoke drifting above the tall grass.  She lifted his nightshirt and undid his loin swaddle. "I left the bala leaves at camp. I can't use my hands." She smiled, lowered her head and ducked under his nightshirt. He gasped as he felt her warm mouth. She steadied his legs as he leaned back against the tree trunk. The wave of pleasure tightened his stomach and buckled his knees. She lifted her head as his muscles fluttered beneath his skin. When he released, she helped him remain standing. "Hello, there, young warrior," she said in a low tone of voice that reminded him of the day he first met her. "In a week or so, I'll be healed from the birth of the egg. It will be your turn." She reached into the egg pouch and rotated the egg. She didn't mention the fresh scars she had seen.

He had to wait a few minutes before he could climb. "I don't know how much strength I have left in these young warrior legs," he joked as he placed a hoof on a knob of tree bark. He paused, realizing that his muscles were still trembling. Then he pulled himself up to the first branch, where he could see a large nest balanced in the fork of two branches. When he got to that branch, he stood up and saw two large eggs in the nest. He looked around for one of the parent birds but saw no sign. A bird will leave the nest but only if the eggs are newly hatched. 

He heard the shriek from far off first, then Alithea screamed his name.

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All good warriors have an exit plan and Fallon had already chosen his. He launched off into the air, grabbed a supple branch that bent with his weight and he jumped to the ground near Alithea. He grabbed her hand and they ran toward camp. She could not run at full speed, because she held the egg pouch in her hands to reduce the bouncing motion. The black feathers of the bird fanned in the air as it swooped to attack them. Fallon raised his nightshirt and waved it to distract the bird's attention from Alithea. The bird's talons ripped through the cloth and he felt the searing pain as the sharp claw caught his forearm. The bird pinwheeled, regained its balance in the air and flew up into the tree. Fallon glanced sideways at Alithea. He was relieved that she looked unhurt.

"Your arm!" she said and reached toward him. He looked up at the nightshirt that waved above him. Blood streaked across the light gray cloth. "Here!" she urged and he held out his injured forearm toward her. She finished the tear in the cloth that the bird's talons had started, then tied the strip around his arm to staunch the blood. They hurried back to camp.

Alpen came away from the fire, his arm raised and a flechette in his hand to attack the bird if it followed Fallon and Alithea to the camp. The sharp edge of the disc shaped stone could flay smaller animals. Drindl had awakened and tended the cauldron of hot water in the campfire. He gathered Erthen in his arms and hurried the boy away from camp. No one noticed or mentioned Fallon's nakedness. Only a small section of the nightshirt was around his neck and right shoulder.

Bebe had disappeared inside her sleeping roll. When she emerged, she held out a bala leaf smeared with her own paste and handed it to Alithea. "Undo the tourniquet," Alithea said. Fallon released the pressure and blood flowed from the wound. "Tighten," she told him. "I want to flush the foulness from the wound."

Bebe laid out some more bala leaves. "Alpen, soak the leaves, then hand them to me," Alithea said in a practiced voice. She and Bebe had learned the doctoring art from Altiss' mother. She used the leaves to clean the wound, then smeared Bebe's antiseptic paste on the torn flesh, placed more leaves on the area then tied it with another cloth. "Oh, the egg!" she cried. How long had it been since she turned it? Bebe reassured her that it was all right. "Erthen. Where is Erthen?"

"Here," Drindl called out. He had distracted the boy with the hunt for a Faerie that wasn't there. Alithea waved to Drindl that they could rejoin the group. Alpen draped a blanket around Fallon who sat near the fire.

Fallon had several scars below the short hair that covered his skin but Alithea pointed to the fresh ones, the ones he had received when he fell from the cliff and into the tree. "These aren't battle wounds," she said.

He hadn't told her that part of the story. She would have worried and prodded him as though he were a bag of lumpy fruit. "I could use some sleep," Fallon said. Alithea consulted with Alpen and they decided to let him rest for a short time before starting their day's journey.