Out From the Shadows

Out From the Shadows

Extra 2

Have Wings, Will Travel

She was standing there, in front of her dying companion, not having been able to help him during that fight. She felt him slowly drifting away, losing his consciousness. Before his mind presence completely disappeared, he told her one last thing.

“Please, save me.”

And he closed his eyes. She still felt a connection with him, so he was not dead. However, considering the pain she had felt from him while he fought the bear, the half-elf would probably die soon of his wounds if she didn’t act quickly, but what could she do?

She was an eagle. She could not attend to his wounds, like he did to her in the past when she got hurt. She was too small, and her talons did not allow her to do such things. If only she could get someone that had the ability to heal him... But there was no one around. Even though if one of those bipedal creatures - the friends of the half-elf - had been here, she could not talk to them. She could only talk with him - or other eagles by using her voice.

Trying to find a way to save him, she took off in the air, flapping her wings to gain altitude. She looked in the immediate surroundings, checking for eventual predators that could threaten her disabled companion. She scanned the road, and in between the nearby trees while drifting around in circles.

It was a relief that she spotted nothing but smaller animals, which would probably not even care about her friend. She would probably have took the time to hunt for one of those as she was hungry, but the half-elf was in danger. She could not let him stay here alone to die.

After doing a few more circles around, gliding on the air currents, she remembered that the half-elf had wanted to go to that group of buildings outside the forest.

It had looked like houses of his kind, so he was probably trying to travel there to...

When she thought about it, she did not exactly understand the motivations of the half-elf. He could have hunted and drinked for as long as he wanted in the forest, provided he was able to catch preys. Even if he didn’t, she could have hunted for him, like he had done for her sometimes.

Again, she thought about the fact that she should have warned him sooner about the bear. She had forgotten about the fact the half-elf could not flee by flying in the air like her. She should have been more thoughtful.

For now, she had to find a way to repair her mistake by saving him.

The only possibility she saw right now was to go to those buildings in the distance, and try to find a way to get the inhabitants to help the half-elf. She hopped they were not hostile, like some of the creatures were back at her home. She had to give it a try, whatsoever.

After finding an ascending air current to get some more altitude, she checked one last time around her companion to be sure he was not in danger, but there was still nothing around him for yards, except critters.

She used the altitude gained to start gliding toward the buildings, while sometimes flapping her wings to keep some momentum. She started to focus her vision on the building themselves, and the immediate surroundings. She could clearly see activity from afar, but something was... Off...

First of all, the creatures walking through the streets were... Colorful. She had never seen so much colors, except when the half-elf was doing some tricks with his ‘magic’.

Also, they were quadrupedal, and looked much like the horses she saw in the stables of her home. However, they were much smaller than what she was used to, even considering the fact she was still a few miles away. Some of them even seemed to have wings, while some others had something pointy coming out of their head.

She had never seen such creatures in her life, but it was clear those were the creature inhabiting the houses of this... City? Yes, it was the word the half-elf had used to describe his own kind’s homes regroupements.

She remembered the half-elf talking about how a city works with the help of all the natives, but it had been too complicated for her to remember. She could not understand why he liked talking about complicated things. What she knew, however, was that the creatures inhabiting cities are more friendly than those living in the forest. Maybe it worked the same for those quadrupedal creatures?

It was the only way she had to rescue the half-elf, so she had to try anyway.

A few minutes later, she landed atop one of those buildings, and she took in her surroundings. There were some of these creatures she saw before passing by on nearby roads, while the roads themselves were bordered by colorful flowers and a few trees. In the center, where the roads were crossing, there was a stone structure that was emitting water inside itself.

She remembered the half-elf describing this kind of place as a ‘park’, where he sometimes went to ‘take a walk’ to quote his own words. She did not know what was the point of that, but some of these creatures seemed to do what the half-elf often does in a ‘park’: walking aimlessly through it.

Maybe... If she could try to speak to them? Or even just draw their attention. Maybe they would understand?

She tried to imitate how the half-elf often spoke with his kind, using her voice.

“Please, anyone, my companion is dieing in the forest! I need help to save him! He may die if we don’t get to him soon!”

Well, this is what she tried to say. Obviously, it came out as inaudible screeches for the audience. There was no way she could speak the ‘Common’ language, but she tried again, as hard as she could.

“We must save him! Please, anyone, I am begging you!”

Passers-by were looking at her irritatedly. The fact that she was doing so much noise troubled the quietude of their walk.

But she didn’t care about that.

What she needed was someone to help the half-elf, and she was going to try her best to get someone to understand her. Even if that meant merely annoying some of these creatures.

She was about to make another try when one of those horse-like creatures came out from one of the nearest trees. The creature was blue, with wings that she used to fly up to in front of her. Her tail and hair were made of multiple colors interweaving with themselves in stripes.

As the creature stopped mid-air right in front of her, flapping its wings to stay at her level, the horse-like being eyed the eagle with a look both irritated and sceptical. She did not understand how she was able to read its face so easily. Maybe it was because of the very usually large eyes?

In any case, the creature began to speak, but it was not something that she could understand. She clearly could hear that there was a structure in the voice and tone used by the creature, so she assumed it was some kind of speech. But unfortunately, it was neither the Common language, nor the Elvish language that her companion had taught her, so she could not get any of what the winged creature was saying.

Even if she could not understand the sentence, she heard in the way the creature had spoken that it was not amused, probably because of her earlier squawking when attempting to make people understand her.

After finishing its sentence, the creature crossed its front hooves, and looked at her very much like if waiting for an answer, while still flapping its wings to hover in front of her.

Was it possible that this creature could understand her? Well, she was given the opportunity, to find out. She had to try.

Like she did earlier, she ‘tried’ to speak.

“My companion is dying near the entrance of the forest. We have to save him, please. It is over there,” and she finished by turning her head in direction of the forest, that could clearly be seen in the distance, over the city’s constructions.

The creature eyed her for a few more moments, and sighed, while dropping its head in defeat. It began to lazily fly away while mumbling something to itself that she could not understand. The creature soon was out of sight, disappearing in the distance behind some of the buildings.

So much for trying to get help.

It seemed these creature were not speaking any language she knew whatsoever. Well, it wasn’t like she could really speak Common herself, but at least she gave it her best squawking try.

However, that did put a serious problem in her plan to get someone to help the half-elf. If she could not speak with any of them, it meant she had to find another way to help him.

But the more she thought about it, the more she realised she had no way to save him.

Was she going to let him die, just like that? Even worse was the fact the is partly responsible for his demise. She felt something she had never felt before: remorse.

Most animals do not have to deal with this kind of emotion, but her link with the half-elf had opened her to some of the more complex thoughts and feelings, and remorse did not feel good at all.

She was sad. There probably would not be a way for her to save him. She was going to lose him, and she will have to go back to her wild life, alone. Even if she had been reluctant to join the half-elf at first, and share her life and thoughts with him, she now realized it was something wonderful.

She had learned a lot from him, and he had taken great care of her. Over the years, she had taken his companionship for granted. But now the half-elf was going to die, making all that knowledge he had given her worthless, and forcing her to live by herself again.

But, as she was thinking over the matter, she suddenly heard something she could understand.

“Hum, sorry miss eagle, but my friend here would like to take a nap but you... hum... Kind of make too much noise for her to be able to sleep, so could you please make less noise as long as you are in this park? It is supposed to be quiet for the passers-by...”

The voice she heard was sweet, and kind. She turned her head to see that the creature from before had returned, but with another one by her side. This one was yellow-colored, with a light pink hair and tail. Both of them were hovering a few feet away, flapping their wings to stay in the air.

Adding the two and two together, she knew that the one that spoke just then was probably the yellow one. She did not know why, or how, but somehow she knew the creature would be able to understand her, just like she understood what it said just before. She also knew she could trust this one, so she explained it all again, by screeching out, “My companion is dying in the forest, we have to save him, please! He is very important to me!”

The yellow creature suddenly gasped, and looked very determined, “Where is your companion exactly? We must not lose any second.”