Soaring (Soaring Saga #1)

☆Chapter Four~Surprise! The World May Die, And Here's A City Of Bird People!☆

     Wow, flying was great. So was the Atlantic. So was the Norwegian coastline. Until Ari starts talking. That's not.

"So," Ari said over the roar of the winds, "you ever done something like this before?"

"Obviously," I said, "You think I'd live seventeen years of life with wings and not fly?"

"Well, I guess you don't much, look at you," he said.

"Well sorry I don't fly instead of walk like you do!" I replied.  

"I'm just saying, you aren't very smooth. You kinda look like a bug. But with feathered wings." This guy was getting on my nerves.

"Well if I fly everywhere in the middle of public, I'll blow my cover. You aren't the one who had to hide all your life, you've probably taken flying lessons for goodness sake!"

"Actually, we kinda did take flying lessons."

"Argh." At that I flew ahead of him, up beside Roxy and Neil. Roxy nudged my arm and whispered, 

"Don't listen to him. He can be a pest sometimes."

"I see that," I replied. I turned to Neil.

"Explanation please, Neil? About all this? These people? This Argentum place? How you're connected?"

"Well," he explained, "to put things short, Argentum is a large, drifting island where North Avians live. There, they have wings that have the colour and pattern of some bird of prey. There's also Aurum, where Ari is from, and there they have wings like a tropical bird. Aurum floats around in the southern Atlantic, and Argentum in the north. Terra is the city Roxy and I live, and where Ari just moved. It's also the capital of Argentum, and Terrus is the name for whoever is your city's chairman for the Silver Court. Kind of like a mayor. The Silver Court is a council of Avians from each city of Argentum, and there's a Gold Court for Aurum. And my 'information'... well, did you really see something odd in those moors?"

     Well, he knew about my wings now, so why not tell him about the Feline?

"Yeah, if you mean the Feline. A.K.A. the panther centaur Audra killed with a rock."

"You know what Felines are? Okay then. So... I found evidence that their power is growing."

     I almost flew right into Roxy. Their power was growing?!

"Growing how?" I asked, "What kind of power?"

"Not sure you want to know," Neil said.

"You mean like a we-can-destroy-the-world-and-all-Avians growing power?" I asked. Neil avoided my eyes. He does that when he's nervous.

"Well, yes, kinda" he answered after a moment. 

     Totally comforting.

"And can someone do something about it?" I asked. I definitely do not want the world destroyed by black panther-centaur things. Neil glanced at Roxy. She ever so slightly shook her head.

"We... don't know," he said. Great. Even more comforting.

     We flew for a few hours, but time passes really quickly while flying. I could've sworn I saw a ghost flying with us at one point. After passing a few tiny islands, I realized they seemed to get larger the more we saw. Eventually, an enormous island began to come into view.

"Land ho!" Ari announced. It took  us a lot more time then I thought to get there, and when we did, I realized it was huge. Or, it seemed like it. It probably wasn't from space or compared to Norway. There was a reddish-brown cliff going down into the waves of the Atlantic. At the edge of the cliff was a wall of silver trees and stones, as though it was a really ancient crumbling temple spray painted actual silver.