The Legends: Silver Hawks

Chapter 3: Hawk

As the sun crept along the eastern horizon, the Kookaburras made their judging laughs amok. The creeping sun shone amongst the village, while a group of ten young tribesmen awoke for their early morning hunt. Since my father was chief, he allowed me join them; while it wasn't suggestive for women to hunt large game, but rather smaller animals like rabbits instead.
As I had gotten up earlier than the tribesmen, I was snacking on small berries I found in a nearby bush closest to my family's hut; sitting on a log surrounded by a circulation of other logs around the fire from last night - which had gone out, but crackled with grey and glowing-orange ashes; broken bits of stick - weakened by the fire's heat.
Dorundigara, a close friend of mine and a skilled hunter, approached me.
"Seems your father really lets you off easy?"
"Yeah." I said with a mouthful of berries. Dorund smirked.
"C'mon, Jedjana is rounding us all together." He said guiding me to the rest of the group. Jedjana was the tribesman in charge of the hunters. Being an elder, he knew all there was to know about hunting game, preserving it, using all it provided, and making sure all animals were respected in their moments of life and death. We did this as a means of respecting Bunjil, a being of supposed myth and legend; our creator, our god.
As everyone gathered around Jedjana, he spoke with a raspy, yet strong voice, "Alright, it is time to hunt. We will be using these." He said moving aside, displaying long, Blackwood spears and shields.
There were about twenty spears, and fifteen shields all spread across the dusty, orange-brown forest floor. I was first to pick up a spear and shield, moving aside to let the others. Some of the young tribesmen stared at me with curiosity as they went to pick up their spears. They've rarely seen a woman hunt with them before, and so it will be a good time to show off in front of them...especially the ones that underestimate me.
Most of the tribesmen were taller than me, with a few being around my height, but only just a bit taller. The only tribesman in the group shorter than me was Jedjana, but he sloped forward; old age taking over him, "Now, we shall hunt." Jedjana said picking up one of the leftover spears and raising it high - signalling for us to follow him, and so we did. With his weak, sloping body, Jedjana used the spear to hold him upright, like a walking stick.
We walked beyond the dying fire, the huts, and finally - through the gumtrees. From previous hunting trips with Jedjana and the tribesmen we normally took a specific route; a straight line beyond our village, past many hours-worth of splayed trees, atop wide, rocky mountains; and winding rivers, until we found a large, flat plain. The dirt was healthy and green, with small areas of dust and rock; many considering it a pasture. A lot of animals liked the area, especially since it spanned a few <kilometres> in <length> and <width>.

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Small wallabies and rabbits, especially emus, kangaroos, and sheep alike were spread across this vast pasture. The plain was an open area; clear to the slowly rising sun, while the sky was a mixture of pink and orange and yellow. A beautiful sight it was.
As we followed Jedjana, we arrived at the foot of a steep hill covered by a few bushes, trees, and large, sloping rocks. A small mob of kangaroos bounced just at the bottom of the hill, unknowing of our presence, "There. We hunt them." Jedjana whispered, pointing at the roos. He then began down the hill; crouched, ready to attack. Of course he couldn't take them on by himself - if they chose not to flee from him; and so we followed his movements.
Down the hill we went, and eventually spread across a few trees that sat a few meters from the kangaroos. Surprisingly, they hadn't noticed us. This was our chance.
Jedjana signalled for us to pursue the mob, and so we did. We all lunged at the kangaroos - about five of them. Set out in instinctual groups, some of us trapped the kangaroos in the middle of closing spears and shields, while one or two of us would lunge onto the kangaroo and quickly give it a painless death. In my group, I was the one to lunge on the kangaroo. It was a tall, clay-brown female; a 'flyer'. She seemed to be the only female in the group that I could tell of. All the other kangaroos were male; 'boomers'.
As the roos lay lifeless among the soft dirt ground, we made our respects to Bunjil, then prepared to head back to the village, the sun slowly rising above the clouds - the sky finally turning light blue; the time when the village wakes up.
Suddenly, the ground started to shake. We looked in terror - trying to find the source of the shaking, when we looked up into the bright sky and saw a large, swirling cyan cloud that sat vertical to the sky - facing the hill behind us. A large, hawk-like silver object came through the swirling, vertical cloud. It looked larger than the hill itself, very long and wide. It had sectioned wings that spread for kilometres - with parts that floated around its body.
The tribesmen looked in awe, while Jedjana faintly whispered "Bunjil" under his breath. Bunjil, known for taking on the appearance of a hawk - was he finally here to judge us? If the large hawk-like object was him, why was he here?
The silver hawk roared an unrecognised sound - like sweet, high-pitched humming, combined with a vibrating tone. A large wave of cyan quickly outlined the silver hawk - from the front to the back, like a disappearing net. The large, swirling cloud disappeared.
Blue lights started to appear along small sections of the hawks body and wings; until the wings were brought inward - towards the body, as if cringing; when suddenly, there was a big cyan flash - and the silver hawk rapidly travelled forward - the way back to our village. In the blink of an eye it was gone.
We stared in shock, confused as to what had occurred. Jedjana broke our stillness as he tried to carry one of the lifeless kangaroos - forcing two tribesmen to help him. We decided to do the same - with our own groups.
As we carried the kangaroos through the bush - back to the village, we didn't let a word out of our mouths. An awkward silence filled the air, only being ever-so-often interrupted by nearby cockatoos and other birds.
With the distant, falling lights of last night; and today's large, silver hawk: something was coming.
Something big.