A Blade Among Feathers

Chapter 17

Everly

The next morning, our little trio had set off, very early in the morning. Kairi and I – not being used to the early wake up – were quite sluggish. The mud that was still laying around, squelched under our boots and the occasional dry leaves made a sickening crunch. Luckily the lowest hanging branches were way up above our heads, so there would be no need for us to chop them away.

Atticus was walking a little ahead of us, occasionally analysing the map in his hands. As we were walking, little lizards scuttled along our path, their tongues occasionally flickering in and out of their mouths. Small monkeys hopped from one tree to another, their prehensile tails curling around branches for balance.

How much longer is it until your eighteenth birthday? Kairi asked from out of nowhere.

I turned to him in shock. Im absolutely offended, I gasped, dramatically putting a hand to my chest. You are my best friend, Kairi, and you dont even know how long it is until my birthday.

Kairi slapped his hand to his face, slightly shaking his head. I didnt mean it like that, Everly. I just wanted to know the timeframe we have to speak with Arsenio and get back to the castle.

Oh. I thought for a moment, I never really thought about the timeframe for our journey all that much. Its just less than six months, but this trip should only take about a month. So we have plenty of time.

The Chameleon nodded. Good, as long as we dont have any more setbacks.

All of a sudden, my face slammed itself straight into Atticuss back, my nose hurting a bit from the collision. I backed up a bit and stepped to the boys side. Looking at his face, I could see that his eyes were wide and glued forwards, seeming frightful at what he saw. Out of curiosity I followed his lingering gaze.

The sight before us was brutal. Blood coated the dirt floor, most of it still relatively fresh. Signposts in the ground had writing on it that appeared to be inscribed with red inkor was it blood. One large sign in the middle stood out the most, it said:

This is what happens to Foxes that step out of line.

Next to the writing had a red arrow that pointed up into the trees. Scared, the three of us looked up. At what we saw, Kairi started to gag, and Atticus looked as though he would faint.

Hanging in the trees by their hair, were the decapitated heads of Foxes. Their cloudy eyes were wide open, as were their mouths, which had become home to flies and maggots. Fresh blood dripped from the necks of a few of the heads, which gave me the idea that a few people had recently been beheaded.

Looking to my right, Atticus was nearly in tears. I couldnt imagine what he was feeling, seeing your own kind slaughtered for the stereotypes they are known for. Extremely concerned, I reached my wing around his back, slowly guiding him away from the horrid scene that we were unfortunate to witness.

I led him to a rock, far away from what we saw, just to make sure Atticus was okay. I sat next to the sobbing boy while Kairi made his way to a bush, probably to throw up. Atticus curled into me at my comforting touch, wrapping his arms around my shoulders while he cried. I just wrapped my wings tightly around him and rubbed his back.

§§§

The sun had finally set, the clouds turning pink from the ombre in the sky. Our little group had set up a stable camp in a small clearing. Atticus had pitched a tent that he had packed, Kairi rolled out a sleeping bag along the floor and I set up my hammock in the trees. We all had our sleeping arrangements to suit our preferences.

After a hot meal of fish that we caught from a nearby creek and stargazing by the open fire, we had decided to go to a long-needed sleep. We said our goodnights and climbed into our respective beds.

The material of the hammock was soft under my body, as was the old pillow I had brought. After restless rolling around to get into the most comfortable position, I wrapped my large wings around myself and closed my eyes.

I saw flickers of Elix, Kairi and even Atticus behind closed eyelids before I fell into a dreamless slumber.