The Story of Tiberius

Chapter 60

With his back turned towards his little sister, Tiberius was completely unprepared for Rosa's sudden attack. Her talons dug deep into his left flank and hip. Screeching in pain, he whirled around and struck out, catching her in the right wing. He wasn't finished yet as he bowled her over. Brother and sister rolled across the rooftop, hissing and snapping at each other. Beaks had now joined in the fight and blood was being drawn. After a little bit, they managed to break apart. Huffing, they circled each other.

Panting, Tiberius limped. His left hip was killing him, Rosa's talons having had gone deep into the flesh. His left flank was the same way and he had a stinging cut running across his forehead. He had some nasty bites and scratches on his chest, shoulders and wings. His eyes narrow slits, he glared at Rosa. She had a bad cut on her right wing and there was another one on her back. She had bite wounds on both shoulders and her right leg. There were three scratches running across her stomach, not deep but they were slowly bleeding. One would think that they were done with their roughhousing for the day. But they weren't even close. Snarling at each other, they attacked again.

"Alright, I have the venison so how bout we take a deep breath and- what in the world?! I leave for five minutes and this is what happens?!" Alfred exclaimed as he returned to the roof. He knew it was a bad idea to leave the pair alone on the rooftop with each other acting the way they had been. The old man just hoped that at least one of them would have the brains to not do something like this. All he could do was watch fearfully. If he tried to intervene, he would get scratched by one of them. Or worse. Standing nearby, his mind struggled to come up with an idea where he could stop the fight without being attacked unintentionally. A thought coming forwards, he quickly called out, "Tiberius, get over here!" He whistled straight afterwards.

Hearing the whistle over the blood roaring in his ears, Tiberius looked over to see that Alfred had called him. Hissing one more time at Rosa, he frantically tried to free himself from the fight. Spying the metal exhaust, he was about to rush over there when his little sister lashed out with her talons. Pain rushing through him, the hawk collapsed on the ground. Snarling, Rosa was about to pounce on her fallen brother when a piece of venison flew past her head. Forgetting the fight, she dove after it.

Sighing with relief that he had managed to distract Rosa, Alfred limped over to where Tiberius lay shaking. The red tail was gasping for air while blood ran out of his mouth. On further examination, one could see the deep slash in his neck caused by his sister. "Easy sweet boy, I got you," Alfred whispered softly, gently petting the hawk while calling a number on his phone.. The fight having had left him, Tiberius glanced over at Rosa. Looking up from where she had eaten the piece of meat, her dark brown eyes widened in horror when she realized what she had done. Peering down at her bloodstained talons, she whimpered, tears brimming in her eyes. Looking guilty, she crawled over to where her brother laid on the ground. "I'm so sorry..." she mumbled apologetically, crying quietly.

Drawing in shaky breaths, Tiberius didn't reply as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out...