Portumia

Chapter 2: Snaketails and Featherhair

Jonatan woke with a sudden jolt, as if he were ripped out of a deep sleep. His eyes opened slowly, and the first thing he felt was the cold, hard rails beneath him.

His heart pounded violently, and the pulse throbbed in his temples.

Thoughts swirled around in his head, and he felt a mix of confusion and relief.

What had happened? He looked around and found himself on the train tracks in a dark tunnel. Nothing made sense.

It all suddenly came back to him, the sounds, the train lights, and the fear. He had been run over. For a brief moment, fear overcame him as he recalled the image of the approaching train.

Did he die? What about his mother? He didn't feel dead, but what did he know about being dead?

Jonatan rose cautiously, supporting himself on his knees, and his gaze searched for signs of what had happened.

His heart still pounded hard, but now it was more from shock than immediate danger.

He looked down the tunnel and suddenly heard something. It sounded like footsteps and something being dragged along the rails.

Jonatan looked closer and could suddenly see some small green lights. But it was not lights, it was eyes! Three pairs of green eyes looked at him, and they were getting closer. He stepped back slowly.

His eyes began to adjust to the dimly lit tunnel, and he could start to see the creatures approaching.

They looked like people. Three men, but they had green eyes, and down their backs, all the way to the ground, trailed a long snake tail.

Jonatan's heart began to beat even faster. He started to look around for an escape and considered running, but then one of the creatures spoke to him.

"Easy, Electus," said the snakeman closest to him with a deep voice, and Jonatan saw that his tongue was long and split in the middle like a snake's tongue.

"Who are you?" Jonatan asked. His voice was filled with fear. And the three men smiled. It made him even more uneasy.

"And who is Electus? My name is not Electus!" he added when they didn't answer. He looked around again, his muscles tensing, ready to run.

"You can't run from us. It's a waste of energy. If you just come with us, we'll help you. Little Electus," said the man or whatever he was.

They were now only three meters away from Jonatan. He took a step back but fell over the rails. 

The men stopped two meters from him.

Up close, he could see their eyes more clearly, and they were completely green with vertical pupils. The front one stepped forward and reached out towards Jonatan.

He felt completely paralyzed. The snake man was about to grab Jonatan when a voice made him stop.

"Hey! What are some reptiles like you doing in the tunnels?" It was a determined voice that echoed through the tunnel.

The voice came from behind Jonatan, but he couldn't take his eyes off the snake man. The snake man straightened up and looked in the direction of the voice.

"Nothing you should interfere with, Regilak!" said the snake man.

"I'll interfere when it suits me, Serpat! Step away from the boy!" Jonatan could see the snake man's green eyes begin to glow with anger. But he took a step back.

Jonatan dared to look in the direction of the voice now and saw two men, but there was something very wrong with them.

Their faces were too pointy, and their hair looked like feathers. No, it didn't look like feathers, it was feathers that lay all the way down the neck and under their jackets.

Jonatan looked down a bit and almost gasped. Their feet! They were like eagle claws!

Jonatan made eye contact with one of them. He had a gray, messy mane of feathers. It had to be the one called Regilak. He gave Jonatan a friendly smile and returned to the snake man, whom he had called Serpat.

"How about you crawled back to where you came from, and then we'll take care of the boy?" Regilak said to the Snake Men.

The other birdman, who had orange feathers and looked a bit more robust, stepped forward and added. "Don't you have another molt to deal with instead of lurking around in the tunnels?"

"What do you mean by that?!" Serpat said sharply.

Regilak looked annoyed at his companion and then back at Serpat and the other two. "He meant that you should leave the boy alone before you come to regret it." His feathers rose a bit on his head, and he grabbed something in his jacket.

Serpat, understanding the hint, looked at his men. They raised their tails and shouted "Cold-blooded power!" turned around and then left.

Jonatan, who was still lying, hurried to get up. Regilak walked slowly towards him and reached out his hand to him.

Jonatan looked down at it and noticed that one of his fingers was a long claw. Jonatan hesitated a bit but took it.

"They didn't hurt you, did they?" Regilak asked, looking up and down at Jonatan.

"No, I'm okay, I think," Jonatan replied, still unable to look at anything other than the bird-like features of the two men.

"Those damn reptiles. They should keep to themselves!" said the red-feathered birdman, looking in the direction the snake men had gone.

"Easy now, Kharun. You're scaring him." Regilak said, looking back at Jonatan.

"Sorry about all this. My name is Alcessa Regilak, but most people just call me Alce, and this is Kharun Senegalus."

"Alcessa? Kharun? I've never heard such names before." 

"Well..." said Alcessa, looking puzzled at Kharun. But then he laughed a little. "The name Jonatan doesn't make sense either."

Jonatan felt a bit offended, but then he looked confused into Alcessa's yellow eyes. "How do you know my name?"

Alcessa's eyes flickered, and the feathers on his head moved ever so slightly. "You told me before. Right, Kharun?" Alcessa looked to Kharun for help.

"Don't worry about it, kid." Kharun said firmly. "But we have to go now. We're late for the council meeting."

Jonatan's head was filled with a lot of questions, but he didn't know which one to ask first.

Alcessa could feel it and said with a soft tone, "If you come with us, we can answer your questions. Does that sound fair?"

Jonatan nodded, and they began to walk further into the tunnel.