As morning spread her glowing yellow fingers through the valley in Ethleden where Edgebrooke is situated, eyelashes fluttered open and news spread out all over the little town of my arrival after almost 8 months away. Birds rallied out in the streets, cries of *get our road back!* and *help us, Hunter* rang through the now bustling corners of the usually quiet town. I slunk through a dark alley and into a small building, used solely for important meetings. All the wise were there- those who knew something of Blackwood or had heard rumors that seemed plausible enough to be brought up in a council. Andromeda, at the head of the council, patiently tapped the table, demanding silence.
"You all know why we are gathered here today. You are the wisest animals I know and I have summoned you all here to bring information about Blackwood. Does anyone have knowledge of how far he will extend his powers to get what he wants?"
An old buzzard piped up from his perch. "I have seen him knock people out at a glance, but I hear that there is a way around it."
"I know," I replied, "I've lost three days to him."
Another creature, this time a roe deer, stated "He is black, but then say his scales are iridescent and can reflect his surroundings. He has also got a small knife dipped in a potent venom, but I am not sure of any of his other weapons. I don't even know if he has any."
And so they went, taking one or two minutes each to say everything they knew. Some just repeated what others had said, others gave information of use, but, all in all, very little seemed to be known. Other than the obvious fact that he has just about all of my weaknesses.
"His element is water." Mine is fire, water beats fire.
"He can control inanimate objects with his mind, or so I've heard." Well, left arm, looks like you're out, too.
"I hear that if you don't think about his sleeping spell that it'll just pass through you and not do any harm." Aha! Good news!
The list ran on for nearly thirty minutes as we went around, and soon enough, my notepad page was full, front and back. I skimmed through it- but very little was to our advantage. This was a fight I couldn't expect to escape from with my life.
Though, so were my last three adventures- I had had crazy luck, though many others had given their own lives to preserve me as long as they could.
Then I thought to myself- why were they saving me? Something about a prophecy... I'd never understood, but I felt that now was the time that I asked.
"Why is everyone trying to save me?"
All stared. "Did no one ever tell you? You must be grieving then!" said the Roe deer.
Wolfy breathed in and muttered, "I knew it would upset you, so I explained it as vaguely as I could."
"You WHAT!?" I cried. The Wolf- the one who I felt I could trust with my life had lied to me.
"I was trying to protect you."
"Then tell me the whole truth."
She paused as a flash of weariness swept through her eyes. "You are one of the two living descendants of the unified animal emperor. Thousands of years ago, your family practically ran the island- they kept the peace. Then, one day, one of the princes ran off and cut down a large chunk of Skitterwood to build a city. He never finished that city, but he left a ranch in the hands of his daughter, Augustine. That was in 1846 human years. That is the farm you live at now.
"The new town, attracted many people, and soon grew to have an enormous population of humans- Avian Leafling and non-Avian Leafling alike. These people started to capture snakes and keep them in captivity; more so than the birds, or anyone else. So much so, that they became angrier and angrier. Hundreds of snakes had died alone, in a teeny cage, underfed, so they searched for vengeance, now they want you and your father.
"When you were born, you came out with too much fluid in your lungs, and you suffocated. Out of grief, your father took you to the Trimountain, where the ghost town is, and had the Firewolf gift you with life. You took your first breath there, allowing you to learn Avian. However, upon your father's doing that, he endangered you and all of us by fulfilling the prophecy.
"Life gives and life takes
It's colors wane and wash away
It crumbles off your soul in flakes
Your time will come, your final day,
One shall come to be one eve
Their clock has tocked but tick it will,
A broken hand inside their sleeve,
A broken hand that remains still,
Their being will be a constant ebb
Their life may be a misery
Until "the bracken's" gone and dead
Then all gone will be their treachery
But if yon living comes to die,
After having lived through so much,
The creatures in the sea and sky,
Will Serpentine kill, as such is such.
"If you are killed after defying death as an infant, every single creature you see in the streets will be killed and even Edgebrooke will be taken. We will become slaves and never ever be free. But there is one catch."
Half dazed, half relieved, I asked the question she waited for. "What?"
"If you kill Blackwood, we are saved forever, but he must be killed by you."
YOU ARE READING
Hunter's Fowl; Starling
FantezieBecky is dead. Hunter's life has been shattered, and as his waking hours shorten, he must fight for his life. After Taylor gets a note from the hooded creature, who's name has been revealed, Hunter is forced to flee his home. Andy, at a push, is for...
