Change Birds

Chapter 22

   "Magpie? Wake up!"

   I groaned as I came around, shaking my head and trying to get a bearing on what was going on and who had spoken. I opened my eyes all the way and saw Aatuska kneeling over me. "Wake up! I didn't expect to give you such a strong dose, but I guess I forgot the measurements."

   "What? Dose? What do you mean?"

   "I knew you weren't gonna sleep last night because of your worry and so I put a sleeping powder in your drink and little in your bread. Turns out it was a bit too much and you've overslept."

   I was about to reach up and punch him in my anger, but he grabbed my flailing arm. "Before you try and beat the living snot out of me, which you won't, how do you feel?"

   "Pissed!"

   "No. Sleep wise."

   I didn't want to admit it, by  I felt totally refreshed. I grunted and sat up, brushing him off. "Better. Now when do we attack?"

   He sighed and gestured to Nathan. "That's his business. Go to him."

   I rushed over to Nathan and shrugged. "When do I need to do my diversion?"

   He put a hand over my forehead and shook me roughly. "Not yet, soldier. We attack in a few minutes, but not before we've gone over this."

   He turned to the captain's and other kings as they gathered around us. "Okay. Magpie will fly up and get them distracted while we get situated. Me and my men will cover the main gate and the front side. Aatuska, take your men around to the east side. Darby, the west one. Malcolm, you take your men around the back and try to scale the walls from there. Don't attack until the soldiers are being fully sent to the front. They won't expect you then. Now Magpie. I'm hoping that you can get them fully distracted cause we need all the help we can get."

   I nodded, already formulating my plan. He sighed and patted my shoulder. "Alright then, but before you go, I need to tell you something."

   He took me off to the aide where no one could hear an  He sighed, patting my shoulders. "I'm only doing this in case something bad happens. If I get injured or killed, I give you full responsibility over Sarah and my kingdom until Rebecca marries. And in case I do end up dying, I want you to have this."

   He pulled something from his back pocket and lifted it up. It was a green emerald set into a ring of gold, about two inches in diameter. He placed it over my neck and latched the silver chain. "This has been in my family for over two hundred years. "It's a priceless gem and family heirloom, but you've done so much for my family and my country that I want you to have it."

   I paused and slid it into my for safe keeping, but then I sighed and hugged his chest. "Thanks. If I don't make it out of this, at least make sure my family is okay."

   He nodded and hugged me back, sending me off with a shove to my shoulders. "Now go make your family proud. I took a deep breath and shifted, winging out over the field, gradually lifting up in the air to get over the castle. As I lifted up and hovered over the tallest spire, I felt like this was my moment to really make a difference.

   I took a deep breath and then swerved down toward a the tall spire beneath me. I landed on the sill and inside was Stephen and Rebecca. I pecked the window and when he looked over and gasped, I dove off the edge and whirled around and around, moving fast enough that no one could possibly hit me with an arrow. A few minutes later, I heard soldiers running beneath me and I looked down to see them pouring our of windows and balconies with bows and arrows.

   I wheeled upwards, out of firing range, but they still shot towards me. A lot of the arrows fell short, but then the king himself sat on his window sill and aimed at me. He was close enough that he could kill me if he tried, but before he could loose his arrow, someone shoved him out of the window.

   Rebecca.

   She shoved him out and he fell a few feet before catching a hold of a window below their room. He clung for dear life, but the window he was holding onto was too small for him to fit into. He looked up at me and I saw my chance. He had dropped his weapons and, thus, had no means of defending himself. I gave a high chirp and dove towards him, jabbing him in the back of the head like I'd seen father do many a time. "Argh! Get off me!"

   I whistled and then dove lower, giving him a hard peck in the butt. He yowled and almost let go of the window to swat at me, but he must've thought against it, because  He only clung harder to the sill. Rebecca laughed above us and she reached out to me, where I landed in her hand. "I'm so glad you're here, Magpie. Is my father here?"

   I nodded and shifted on the floor. "Yes. He is. Now where is my family. Your dad should be attacking by now and so I need to get them out."

   She nodded and gestured me along, leading me into the hallways. She snuck around the soldiers barracks as they roused for the battle, leading me towards the dungeons. We arrived in the desolate hallways and she picked up the keys off the floor where a guard had dropped them. She went to a cage about halfway down and as I looked in, I saw my mother and baby siblings curled up in the corner, sobbing in fear. As the door opened, they squealed, but then Marcia gasped, rushing forward. "Shrike? Can it be?"

   I shook my head as I observed her beautiful face. "No. Mom it's me."

   She gasped and rushed up to me, touching my face. I brushed off her mistake and hugged her, taking a deep breath and smelling her hair. She hugged me back and the little ones rushed forward, attacking my legs like they'd always done. "Magpie! Magpie!"

   I smiled and picked them up, swinging them around. "Okay, now let's go get dad."

   Rebecca led me down the hallway, much to the confusion of my family, but after I explained  it, they understood. Rebecca unlocked my father's door, but once it opened Shrike came barreling out, grabbing her throat and pinning her to the wall. She gasped and grabbed his arm, but I pulled him off. "No! Dad! She's with us!"

   Shrike turned to me and paused as he viewed me. "Magpie?"

   I nodded and shrugged. "Why does no one recognize me?"

   He looked me up and down and I glanced down. I was a little dirty and my clothes were torn in multiple places, but I didn't see where they'd become confused. Marcia came around and touched my cheek. "It's because you look like your father, Magpie. You're the spitting image of Shrike."

   What?

   I paused as she stroked my face, touching my hair and then my shoulders. "You're so much like him now. In your face and posture. In your expression. Shrike look at him!" Dad shook his head and sighed. "Magpie, I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said. You have to know that."

   Everything silenced for a moment and that's the way I wanted it. I did forgive him, but words couldn't tell him that. I simply walked forward and hugged him around the chest. He paused and then his arms wrapped around me. I could barely remember the last time he had hugged me like this. The only memory I had of him ever hugging me was when I was three and I'd fallen from a tree during a flying lesson. I'd landed in bird form and when I'd shifted back, the branch was too skinny for my human form. I'd fallen about fifteen feet through the branches before I'd hit the ground.

   After crying for thirty minutes and going home to bandage a fractured arm and a boatload of scratches, dad had sat with me and held me in his arms while it rained outside, singing me an old song from when he'd been little. I remember crying because of the pain in my arm, but then I'd looked up at dad and he'd smiled, hugging me closer as he sang the last verse.

   It was the best memory of me and dad ever being together. The hug now felt just as good as it did back then. Like dad was my hero and he'd always look out for me. Sure I was the one saving him, but he was still the one man I looked up to.

   "I forgive you."