Wings in the Darkness, Jason Richard [free novel 24 txt] 📗

Chapter One
The Eagle People, Going to battle.

Kareen kept her wings as high as she could. After all, she was dyeing her husband's wings, not her own. The feathers on her wings, and her head, were a shade of brown, and didn't stand out like her husband's bright red wings. At least he didn't have feathers all over his body like birds. That would take forever to dye. His skin, apart from the wings, was as bare as a human's.
And she knew it was just as vulnerable.
They were in a room that seemed to be made of wicker, tightly woven sticks, and it was lit with giant dead fireflies pinned to the wall. Couldn't have torches in the nest, it would catch fire too easily, but the yellow light of these fireflies from the land of the giants served well.
Fire. That was one weapon she knew the enemy were bound to bring...but then the goblins didn't like light so maybe not. She was getting ahead of herself...and who could blame her?
She kept thinking that though her people were called the eagle men, it wasn't an appropriate term. There were many species of bird that her people resembled. The bright red cardinal, for instance, like Terin, her husband. Of course in the inevitable battle such bright red wings, even with a little black on the feather tips, would stand out. So they were dyeing his wings brown to fade in with rest of the warriors.
At least they didn't have to dye the feathers on his head. Like a real cardinal those stuck up and back. It always looked ridiculous, so they shaved those off long ago, along with his beard. That just left the skin on his head smooth. Of course at that moment she was focused on the wings, tenderly wiping them with a cloth soaked in dye. They really were magnificent wings, even dyed brown. If anything happened to those wings...
"You've been quiet Kareen," said Terin.
"Have I?" she asked, though she knew it was true.
"We'll be fine," he said, as if this war would be the same as any other war they had fought.
"You know what's been happening to the other races," she said. "You know about the cloud."
"The dark cloud obscuring the sun, removing the one thing the goblins fear? And now we are the next race the goblins will descend on? I remember, but we have one advantage. Unlike the goblins, there isn't one thing we fear."
She knew he was probably smiling, but his back was turned to her as she continued rubbing dye on his wings. She loved his smile, and the thought that something could happen to it reminded her that she did fear something. Oh she feared something!
"There," she said, finishing up. "That's the last of it. It should only take a few seconds to dry."
He stood, counted to five, faced her and hugged her, enveloping her in his wings like a warm, protective blanket. She loved it when he did that, and it made her cry.
"I'm so scared," she said.
"I've never seen you scared," he replied.
"Not for myself, but if anything should happen to you...to our children...the goblins can fly like us Terin. They were no danger when they hid in caves from the sun but now...they will attack us here, at the nest palace! That's never been done before! What if..."
"Kareen, you've been practicing with your bow?"
"Yes."
"Well there you go. With your aim I'm certain the goblins will fall before they even get near our children. As for me, my sword doesn't reach as far as a bow, but the same principle applies."
She laughed, and he did to.
"We'll be fine," he told her. She wanted to believe it, and wrapped in the warmth of his wings she felt she could.
But she knew she wouldn't.

Chapter Two
Their Children.

Kareen and Terin flew to their perch in the great hall. They had changed out of the simple clothes to protect them from dye. Kareen wore a shirt and pants, for eagle women couldn't wear dresses; the underside of dresses would be left exposed to anyone they flew over. Terin wore his leather vest armor and pants, and has his sword at his side.
She hoped that would be enough to protect him.
The great hall was, like the rest of the nest palace, woven out of innumerable sticks, and had perches for various families. The king's perch was at the top, and on closer inspection one found that the sticks there were finely carved, and the fireflies pinned to it were painted. The sticks that made up the nest palace were so finely woven together that they would withstand almost as much as stone, which was a good thing in Kareen's opinion.
The two of them landed on their own perch. Inside, apart from the nest appearance, it looked like any other home. Furniture, other rooms, and children rushing up to greet their parents.
"Mother!" cried a young girl who ran up. She had brown wings like her mother, and brown feathers on her head. Behind the girl was a young man with red wings, like his father, however he also had the red feathers that stuck up and back on his head.
"Mother!" cried the girl, "Are goblins really coming?"
"Yes Mila," she said. "I can't deny it."
The young girl disappeared into her mother's arms. Kareen wrapped her wings around the girl protectively, whispering comforting things in her ears.
"Don't worry," said the boy, reaching his hand to his sister's shoulder. "I'll look out for you."
"You'd better," said Terin. "Do you still have that knife I gave you?"
"Right here father." He pulled it out, and it gleamed in the firefly light. It was curved, like a bird's talon.
"You're not old enough for a sword," said Terin. "But you can fly circles around anyone else." He put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "You keep her safe Jenin."
"I will.
As Kareen held her daughter, she kept thinking that these family ties were all they had to protect each other, and that wouldn't protect Terin. He would be at the forefront of the battle. All she could do for him was make sure their children were safe. She let go of her child and led her into their home, Terin and Jenin following, and then a voice was heard speaking loudly to the entire hall.
"Eagle women! The battle is coming now, and only half of us fight! We women are as valiant as the men, why can we not pick up swords to fight?!"
Kareen and Terin stared at the black feathered eagle woman flying high above them. Terin leaned over to Kareen and said, "should you tell her, or should I?"
"I was the one who got the compromise," she said. "I'll deal with this."
She said farewell to Mila and Jenin, and flew up. She felt that this eagle woman had the right to express her opinion, but now was not the time. They couldn't afford trouble amongst themselves when there was enough trouble outside their doors. One thing this woman said was absolutely true.
The battle was coming now.

Chapter Three
The Troublemaker.

This eagle woman hovering near the top of the great hall was young, though the black feathers on her head and wings gave her a dark countenance that belied that. As Kareen flew up she knew that this eagle woman could cause trouble. They didn't need women to riot right before a battle, not now, not even if she was right. As it turned out, other eagle women were already turning their heads.
"The men go off to fight the real battle, and I cannot deny their courage! But what do the women do?! We cower with the elderly and the children when we are able bodied! I can fight as well as any man!"
"I believe you Lailen," said Kareen, hovering next to her. "But now is not the time to discuss it."
"When is the time? When the goblins are on our doorstep?"
"I was thinking when the king held open petitions for new laws."
"Do you think the king would really repeal the old laws there? He wouldn't let us fight on the front lines."
"Thankfully!" Kareen couldn't help but exclaim. "It's bad enough my husband will be there. At least my sister doesn't have to go."
Lailen sized Kareen up, as if wondering what her intentions were.
"What if your sister wanted to go?" asked Lailen.
"Then she would be a fool to go off and fight with the men when she could protect the young and elderly, and fight with the rest of the women."
Lailen was obviously confused. "What do you mean?"
"I petitioned the king a few weeks ago. We have earned the right to fight with bows to protect our elders and children. If goblins somehow breach the outer defenses we take our elderly and the children and we run, firing back at the goblins. It was our charge to care for them anyway, so it isn't that different to do so with weapons."
Lailen was getting more confused by the minute. "But you couldn't have learned to use bows in a few weeks!"
"No. But there are no rules against learning to fight, just fighting in a battle. I and many of the women have been practicing for months."
That obviously struck Lailen in a funny way. Kareen figured she had been training in secret, and was now realizing that she could have done it openly.
"Maybe," said Kareen. "If you have spent more time helping us with a petition to get this compromise and less time shouting in the great hall you might have known that."
Lailen's lips quavered. She obviously wasn't liking this.
"I haven't been training with a bow, and even if you're right that doesn't mean we'll see any fighting."
"That's why it's called a compromise. Besides, we don't fight for our own glory, we fight to protect ourselves and those we love."
"I know. I just want all of us to have that right...to protect the ones we love."
"I know you mean well little sister. I'm sure whatever you've been practicing with will suffice." One look from Lailen was enough to know that Kareen had guessed right. "But please, we don't need a riot. Not now."
Lailen sighed. "Alright."
They flew down together, swooping back to Kareen's perch. That was one problem taken care of. Now Kareen wondered how they would deal with the other. An army of flying goblins.

Chapter Four
Good new or Bad News?

Back at her perch, after taking Lailen back to her own, Kareen was surprised to find someone else there, much less Chief Kalvor himself! He was a big man, tall and muscular, and many found it surprising that he could fly at all! But of course he could fly as well as anyone else. He had broad shoulders and brown