A Cave Tale

Chapter Two

Hearing a fluttering and chirping outside the cave, Constance rose up from beside Ägidhardt to investigate. The day was bright, and coming up the mountain was an aérylle: it was a creature with wings and a beak like a bird of prey, but having four legs, and long tail feathers. This one's eyes looked familiar to Constance, and walking behind them was a girl with long straight black hair. "Good day, friends!" Constance called.

"And good day to you!" The aérylle chirped and sang.

"A good day, a bright day, and a happy one!" Said the girl. She reached down and scratched the back of the aérylle's neck as they came to the mouth of the cave. "May we rest here?"

"Yes, come in out of the wind," Constance answered.

"Oh, thank you," The girl said. "I've come all the way from the lake in the South, where I stayed with my friend who had watched over me as I slept there. We used to help people across the lake in our boat, and I would make up a poem for them," She said with a grin.

"Ah, the lake! Would your friend's name be Valor?"

"Yes! With big wide brown and white wings," The girl said, stretching her arms out. To her it seemed that Constance was one of Valor's siblings, who she had seen all had feathery wings on their back. Constance's wings were brown and with red stripes along the middle, with white tips. "And my name is Han-bi."

"It's very good to meet you, Han-bi," Constance said. "I sometimes wonder what my siblings are up to. I haven't seen Valor since before the rebellion."

"Rebellion?" Han-bi asked, confused.

"I would see these big armies as I was flying around," The aérylle said, looking up at Han-bi.

Constance nodded, agreeing with the aérylle. "It's a long and sad story," They said as they walked over towards where Ägidhardt slept on the rug. "I myself was going with the King's Son to the Wild Lands, but he had me stay behind here to watch over Ägidhardt."

Han-bi covered her mouth and gasped, not realizing that there was actually someone sleeping nearby. Tiptoeing closer, she leaned down to look at Ägidhardt. She had never seen a boy quite like him, with bright red hair and ruddy cheeks. "Was I being too loud?" Whispered Han-bi.

Constance chuckled. "If a dragon like Oròsavel can't wake him by roaring, I don't think you would be able to." Looking back into the darker depths of the cave, Constance continued, "This is his cave, actually. I stayed here during a great storm once, and it caused quite a stir when the other soldiers and I accidentally woke him."

"Is he sleeping well?" Han-bi asked, looking over at Constance. "In his dreams?"

"He longs for adventure in his dreams," Constance said. "But he sleeps well."

Han-bi nodded, and came over to sit by the blanket. She had been carrying a plain white bag with simple golden vine embroidery on it, and she set it down and took out a green book, pen, and small jar of ink. "I'll write a poem for him," Said Han-bi. "Could you give it to him when he wakes?"

"Yes! That would be wonderful," replied Constance. Han-bi grinned, and opened her book to a blank page and took the stopper out of her ink bottle.

Constance straightened up the blanket covering Ägidhardt. They looked over at Han-bi writing with graceful strokes, and took Ägidhardt's hand to hold it. The scratches of Han-bi writing her poem became the sound of writing in a hall, the wall of the cave changing from rough to smooth stone.

Ägidhardt had a scroll unrolled, and was looking at the letters on it, squinting to see in the light from the lamp on the monk's desk. "Five boxes of nails, four and twenty shoes, and... one box of buckles?"