Fledging

Chapter 20

Sorry, sorry.  I know I said a double update but I had to get my computer fixed and then I just moved into school so I couldn't do anything for a while.  A bit of stuff happens here so enjoy and tell me what you think!!  And don't forget to vote too!

Chapter 20

As we descended, I found myself next to Alida.  I glanced her way, reaching out the tip of my wing to prod her for attention.

                “Are you sure this is a good idea?” I whispered when she turned her head, giving me a questioning look.

                “Do you have any better ideas?  Stopping here will give us a nice and safe reprieve from all of our running.  If we kept going, we would have spent days traveling before we could find anywhere safe enough to stop for a while.  We don’t know if those from Valkze have realized what happened yet or not, if they have, they may be tracking us now.  I think it’s best that we rest here and regroup, possibly find out any information that we’ll need for our journey.  When we have everything we need, we will set out again.”

I looked ahead without another word, a light frown etched across my face.

Without warning, Amiri, who was still perched atop my shoulder, shook his head and puffed out his feathers.  Startled, I nearly stumbled into the wall while my talon nipped the side of a fist sized rock, throwing me off balance.

We were toward the back of the group so others were able to skirt around me to avoid tripping over me as I tangled with the small obsticle.  I felt myself falling and put my hands up to my face, preparing for impact.  Impact did come, although much sooner than I had expected.  I had only started to fall so I didn’t have much momentum, but as I was falling, a strange sensation began to pull at my gut, releasing moments later.  My hands ran into a tall pillar of rock that hadn’t been there seconds before.  I lay against the surface, stunned for a moment, before I pushed off the rock, righting myself again to look up at the sea of wide eyes turned towards me.  It only took my startled mind a second to realize what had happened.  Somehow, I had subconsciously tapped into my ability and created the pillar from the ground that had saved me from the fall.

                “We have an earth elemental among us then?”

I slid my eyes over to the old Vroulk before looking back down at the cursed ground, this was not going well.  I had wanted to keep this secret, no one needed to know that I had even received any abilities, perhaps then I could have saved myself some ridicule.

                “There is nothing to be ashamed of,” Alida muttered to me.  “You are of the Royal Flight, be proud of your heritage.”

                “It’s not my heritage that I am ashamed of.”  Still, I brought my head up and walked around the navel height rock, indicating that we should move on.  Our guide seemed to survey me for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and turning around once again to lead us down the path.

               

                After walking quite a ways down the sloping and winding path, we found ourselves in a large, cavernous room with three other tunnels stretched out ahead of us, making it look like a large talon had pressed down inside the earth.  The ceiling was surprisingly high, indicating just how far we had descended.  A light sound pricked at my ears and I looked to the center to see a small spring, from which a thin ribbon of fresh water flowed down the left tunnel.  And we weren’t alone.

Three figures floated in the spring’s waters, turning to face us in curiosity upon our arrival.  I blinked my eyes in confusion as I tried to understand what I was seeing, their skin tones was unlike anything I had seen before.  At first I thought it was a trick of the torch light, but soon realized that wasn’t the case.