Silvia, Princess Silver

11. To The Rescue

It seems Silvia had gotten someone's attention. A flock of black crows was coming across the fields, flying toward her from the direction of the Count's floating castle, and they were cawing loudly as they came.

Silvia watched them approach, wondering if they were friendly. Or not. She rather thought not. It was probably because she was watching them that she did not notice the much bigger bird approaching from behind. Just before the angry crows reached her, she was smacked in the back of the knees and fell right over with a gasp, only to find herself awkwardly laying over the broad back of Lord Eagle. He had flown right under her and scooped her up.

She struggled to right herself and get seated properly, facing forward with a grip on the strong feathers of his upper back.

"Hello again, Princess," he said as he tipped this way and that, threading he way through the flock of crows. "I am glad you called me. And just in time! You don't want to mess with crows."

Soon the crows were left behind as the eagle soared across the rolling hills. "Where to?" he asked. "Do you wish to fight the Count now?"

"I don't know how," Silvia admitted. "Any suggestions?"

"I notice you are much heavier than before," he said. "What are you carrying? A weapon, perhaps?"

"Nothing."

"No, definitely something. Could it be something small, but packed full of magic?"

Oh! Maybe the acorn. The fox's mother gave it to me."

"Ah. Very good. Then, if you remember to use your skill with Words, and not to use up your power all at once on a single huge working, you should be ready. I will drop you on his castle wall." Lord Eagle adjusted his course and sped toward the floating castle.

Archers spotted them and began firing, although the distance was too great for arrows to be a serious threat at least for the moment. Then cannons were run out to face them and they could hear men shouting things like, "Hurry up and load!" and, "No, you idiot! Three degrees higher!"

"I'd rather not get shot," Silvia said.

Lord Eagle nodded his huge, golden-brown head.

"Um, you're aiming right at them. The cannons and the arrows."

"Yes. That is the way to the Count's castle. Don't you want to go there?"
"Not if it means getting shot down," Silvia pointed out.

Lord Eagle nodded again.

"Can you do something about the, oh!, arrows and cannon balls?" Silvia asked, as one of the cannon balls whistled just overhead.

"Sorry, Princess, but I used a great burst of my magic to come to your summons. I was very far away. I had to Speak myself across twenty leagues of land. Impressive bit of magic, don't you agree?"

"Thanks very much. But what about, yikes!" An arrow, fired high and far, had nearly found her. Only by ducking had she missed being struck.

"I assumed you would take care of the attackers while I took care of transport."

"Oh. Um, any suggestions?"

"Compose." Another arrow had passed quite close by, just to their left.

Silvia sighed. "I suppose you mean I have to come up with something clever again?"

"Yes." He swerved to avoid a cannon ball. Silvia gripped his back tightly and gasped. She had nearly fallen off. "Um, ah, as we approach the castle, with its arrows and guns, being shot is a hassle, it's not much fun. Hey!" She'd had to duck another arrow.

"Description is not the strongest sort of poetry, in my humble opinion," Lord Eagle said. "It has its place, of course, but not in an urgent situation. On the other hand, contrived rhymes never have a place in good writing, if you ask—"

"Okay! Just let me think. Um, uh, okay: Make us seem far too narrow, ever to be hit by cannon or arrow!"

There was a pause in the firing. As they sped toward the castle, they could hear raised voices. Men, and, Silvia realized, also foxes, all in blue navy-style jackets and matching caps, were on the walls, and they were shouting and arguing. "I tell you, I can't hit something I can't see!" a burly fox growled at a tall man who seemed, by his bearing, to be in charge. "Look harder, you fool!" the man shouted back. "And archers! Another volley, now!"

"Sorry, but we can't find the target. Do you see them anywhere?"

"Right there!" the man bellowed, screaming angrily. "Wait, where did they go?"

"It worked!" Silvia cried. "Quick, land, uh, down there, where there's a caved-in wall. See? That's where I left Copper."

"Yes, Princess. I shall— Oh."

Silence had fallen over the ranks of soldiers along the walls of the castle as they turned toward an arched doorway leading out onto the biggest of the ramparts. Standing there, gigantic and pulsing with fierce energy, was a horrid creature, sort of a cross between a rat, bear, and bat, but larger even than the biggest bear. Silvia recognized its rakish, wide-brimmed hat. The Count had arrived.

He cleared his throat. It was like a rumble of thunder. Then he raised his head, opened his vicious jaws, and growled a short burst of poetry. It was not pretty, but it was effective: "Clever Lord Eagle! He'll never win, by pretending that he, is thinner than thin."

A sort of faint pop came then, as if a bubble had burst around them, and suddenly Silvia and the eagle were in plain view again, or at least that is what Silvia assumed, because the men and foxes rushed to begin firing arrows and cannon balls.

"It's been a pleasure to be of assistance, Princess. However, this is as far as I can take you," Lord Eagle said. He had pulled up and begun to climb to avoid the shooting, and now they were whistling through the edge of a little fluffy cloud, perhaps two hundred feet or so above the side of the castle where Silvia had made the wall turn to sand. She could still see the opening, a jagged tear down below them. It was a long way down.

"Help!" Silvia called as the eagle banked steeply and she slid off.

"Good luck!" he called as he sped away.

Silvia could not believe it. She was, once again, falling.