by JA Huss
I smile, and he smiles back. "No, not Draco. No matter what myth you read, Draco is always killed."
"Good point. But Cetus isn't much better. All the heroes of our sky tonight will kill him too. How about the Little Bear?"
"Hmmm," I say, thinking about it, "nah, little is only good if you're a kid. If I was Cepheus I'd be the king."
"True, enough. Ya, I can see ya as a Cepheus. I'd call ya Cephi. It's easier to say." I look up at him and he breathes out.
I laugh then, and my guard drops. This is how you got here, Junco. He's charming and funny. He has giant beautiful wings and a gorgeous body. And he knows just what to say and do.
"So yer settled then? It's the King for you?" he asks.
I look back up at the sky, thinking.
"Andromeda?" he prods.
I scowl. "No way."
"No, not the beauty waiting for her rescue?"
"Absolutely not. She comes off as helpless. Besides, she has all those children later on." As it comes out I have a tinge of regret, but I can't place the reason.
He laughs at that. "How about the vain Cassiopeia?"
"Her mother?" I scoff and shake my head. "I know who you'd be, though." I say as I look up at his face.
He smiles down at me. "Who?"
"Aquila, the eagle. The bird of prey."
He scoots closer to me then and reaches over to take my hand. "That would make me the property of Jupiter, though. And I'm no god's property."
"Then maybe you're Perseus? The hero who flies in on the winged horse."
"Ah, but if anyone's flying on the back of a horse then that would be you, Junco."
"But I'm a girl. So I can't be Perseus."
"Nah, you're not Perseus at all," he says and puts his arm around me and pulls me close. "If I were to choose, I'd make ya Cygnus, the swan."
I can feel my face go red, but it's dark, so hopefully he can't tell. "Why's that?"
"Because when you come home with me you're going to turn into a beautiful bird."
"How do you know that?" I ask, almost breathless as I take him in.
"Because, Junco, as much as ya might want to deny it, I know you're one of the Seven Siblings. And I'm calling ya back."
I look back up to the sky and point over to the east where parts of Taurus are just beginning to appear above the horizon. He follows my finger. "Ay. That's them. You call them the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters, but we call them the Siblings."
"I'm not sure I like your myth," I say. Mostly because I have nothing else to add at the moment and I don't want there to be silence.
"Nah, that was just some weird translation in that reader. Kinda hard to really appreciate the stories behind it. But there's another version of the Seven Siblings and how we got here. One that you'll like better, I think."
"What's it about?" I ask, interested despite myself.
"What all good stories are about, Junco. Forbidden love." He smiles at me and then gets to his feet and extends his hand out to help me up. I give him my hand and he lifts me up in one gentle motion, just like that first night out on the hill in the Stag.
"Come on, let's go in and I'll tell you the other story," he says as he tugs me towards the cabin.
But I stop. "Wait a minute, Tier. You never told me who you are. In the sky," I say, pointing upward.
His smile is gentle. "That's easy, darlin', I'm Orion, the hunter." We walk together towards the little cabin but I can't help but wonder, if he's Orion then who's he hunting?
Chapter Twenty-One
Inside the candles are out and the place is dark. I am just about to take a seat on the couch when I feel his light grip on my upper arm. "Not the couch, Junco. It was a mistake to let you sleep there alone last time. If someone would have found us, you'd be their prisoner right now." I follow him into the bedroom and lie down on the bed and pull a blanket over me. He slides in as well, and then turns me around and pulls me close, my back against his bare chest, and his left hand goes to caress my neck while his right hand rests on my belly.
I shiver at how close we are and at how he makes me feel. He must interpret this as a chill, because he pulls me even closer.
"Warm enough?" he asks.
I nod, but don't speak.
"This version is a proper story," he begins in a hushed voice that travels across my cheek, seeking out my ear. I know this is one of his charming tricks, but he feels so good, I don't want to stop him. "And these players are in the time of Old Crage, who, in case you haven't figured it out, is an ancient god. Like Jupiter."
I nod, and he continues.
"But the story is completely different and it's all about how Man and Birds, avians, like me, lived on Earth together thousands of years ago. Before the separation the Men and the Birds had no problems at all. They farmed the land, and raised the sheep and cattle, and traded and lived together for all of history. The only thing they didn't do is marry one another because Old Crage forbade the mixing of the higher species. But there was one Man, named Erane, and one Bird, named Irin, who were friends from childhood. And they did everything together.
"Never was there a time when someone saw Erane that they did not also see Irin because they lived in the same village, on the same dirt road, and even in cottages that stood next to each other. They were both born on the same day and shared every childhood experience together. As they grew older and began to mature, their differences became apparent. Birds aren't born with wings; it is only after they mature during metamorphosis that they develop from the form of a man to the form of a bird. As children you cannot tell one from another.
"But the time came for Irin's change and she was told that Erane could not see or hear about anything that happens during the morph. Irin was devastated because she'd never had to do anything alone ever before. She cried and pleaded that Erane be allowed to come with her. But the answer was always no.
"Irin kept up her pleading and when it came to be the night before morph, she threatened to run away. Her parents got upset and went to talk to Erane's family, asking if maybe the rules could be broken just this one time, for the sake of poor Irin who was helpless without Erne's company.
"Erane's family confessed that he too had threatened to run away if the two were separated and so the families went to seek the advice of the Council. The Council was worried, but not about the children or the families. They knew that Old Crage's rule about mixing the species was taken very seriously by Old Crage himself and if he ever found out that the children were making such threats, he would punish them. But since the time was upon them for Irin's transformation, there was nothing they could do but allow Erane to attend to her during her time of change. And this is how Erane became the only Man to ever know the secrets of the morph.
"And he was very careful and attentive to her as she grew her beautiful wings and fledged into a stunning avian female. She was so beautiful that he fell to his knees and proposed marriage. Irin was so overcome by his emotion that she accepted and they planned for a great wedding and feast to celebrate their love.
"On the day of the big celebration Old Crage was sitting on his throne in the sky when a magpie appeared to deliver a message. The message told of the marriage between Irin and Erane and Old Crage became so enraged he killed the messenger and flew down to the Earth and stood in the middle of the ceremony threatening to destroy the world if the two marry.
"But the community was tired of Old Crage's rules about staying separate. Isn't love enough, they asked? Isn't it better to let them love one another in all ways than to keep them apart?
"Old Crage didn't want to hear anything from the community so he gagged them to make them mute. And then he approached the bride and groom and asked if they would disobey him.
"Erane was the first to speak and he said, 'Old Crage, we love you. We love that you protect our world and we respect you and your views, but this community of Men and Birds has decided to become one. We ask, why should we not marry when we already live together, farm together
, and pray together. This marriage will bind the Men and Birds together forever and this is how we wish it. We no longer accept your rules of segregation.'
"Old Crage held his temper very well, at least until he could ask Irin if she felt the same way. She did. Then Old Crage turned to the community of Men and Birds, lifted the mute spell, and once again asked if this was the consensus of everyone. And one by one each and every Man and Bird agreed with the marrying couple.
"When they had all said their peace, Old Crage turned back to Erane and Irin and said, 'You disobey my one and only law. And you break, by your own will, the covenant of peace. From this day forward you will never live in harmony again.' He banished the men to be bound to the Earth while casting out the Birds to the heavens, never to return until their transgressions had been cleared.
"Old Crage was far more unhappy with the Birds because they were his celestial race and so he also put a curse on them, corrupting their genetic essence. Slowly, over the punishment period, the genetic code of the Birds would deteriorate. But he didn't stop there, he also put a time limit on their free time as children, and any Bird who wasn't morphed and fledged out by the time they were twenty years old would die.
"And then he cursed the village for their disobedience, and made the Seven Siblings to watch and follow the punishment cycle. And the Seventh Sibling, the impure being that was neither man nor Bird but a mixture of both, will choose which race was to blame for the disobedience of Erane and Irin so that the final punishment can be handed down."
I force myself to ask the question even though everything inside is screaming not to. "What's the final punishment?"
"When the Seventh Sibling chooses the guilty species, they will be wiped out. Total annihilation."
Holy shit I hate mythology.
I am still for a long time after he finishes, and so is he. Then finally I find something to say. "Was that supposed to make me feel better?"
He sighs deeply, but I can feel his calming breath pull back from my cheek. "No, Junco. That was a way to let you know that there are consequences if you choose not to come with me. And sometimes," he pauses for a second, "forbidden things have to stay forbidden. It's just a story, less true than the version you read earlier even, a story."
I push his arms off me and roll over so that I am on my stomach and he can't see my face. "You know what, Tier, I think I'll take the answers you have now, if that's OK with you."
"Ya sure about that, Junco? You really want the truth?"
I turn my head to see his face, my cheek squished against the soft bed. "No, not really."
He smiles and rakes the hair away from my eyes and then huffs out a small breath. "Yer so strange, girl. I've never met someone so unsure of herself, yet so capable at the same time. How did ya get this way?"
I just look at him. "Get this way?"
He nods.
I shrug. "I have no idea."
He sinks down next to me, his face creeping closer to mine until we are so close I feel the heat radiate off his skin. "But ya do, Junco. Ya know exactly how ya got this way, ya just don't want to face the truth. I can tell ya what I know, but yer not gonna like hearing what I have to say." He swallows and then shrugs his shoulders.
"I feel the spaces inside. The missing places that shouldn't be there, shouldn't even be possible. I'm not sure I want them back, but it's catching up with me, Tier, I can feel it. If you want me to go with you, then tell me."
He pulls back, surprised. "And if I tell you, you'll come home with me?"
"Yes."
His eyes narrow in disbelief. "What if you don't like what I tell you? Then what?"
"Is there really any chance that you're gonna let me stay here?"
He turns away from me, then sits up and swings his legs over the side of the bed. I can hear his talons click on the wood floor as he leans down, stretching out his back muscles, and making the skin between his wings taut as he puts his head in his hands.
I sit up on my knees and reach out before I can stop myself. My fingers touch the thin membrane between his wings that make our backs so different. I feel him shiver, but he doesn't turn and he doesn't stop me, so I continue up to his wing and trace the outline of the bone that runs along the top until I get to the arch over his right shoulder. My fingers fall a little and I skim along the feathers.
I take one between my fingertips and rub it softly and he turns, forcing me to let go. We stare at each other, our eyes locking, and then I see his gaze drift down to my mouth. I involuntarily let out a breath, and he lifts his eyes up to mine, then wraps his hand around my neck and pulls me towards him.
I keep my eyes trained on his as he pulls me closer and closer. Then I feel his lips brush softly across my own and I breathe out. He pulls back a little and tries to talk, but his voice is barely a soft whisper. "I'll tell ya everything I know, Junco. But yer not gonna like me after."
He begins to move forward but it's me who pulls back a little this time. "Tier," I say in a low voice I barely recognize. "Please, I need to know."
He moves in towards me. I feel his lips pressing on my own and my eyes lose his gaze as they close. His tongue explores my mouth as his hands explore my back. He eases me back onto the bed and continues to kiss me gently on the mouth, on the neck, and then down to my chest. I stop him there and he lifts me up a little and pulls me into him, wrapping his wing and arm around me at the same time. Then he flips me on my belly so my face is pressed against his soft feathers and lifts up the back of my shirt to expose my skin. "My turn," he says.
His fingertips caress my shoulder blades and trace down my spine, I squirm and arch my back at his touch, then let out a little breath of air as he brings his fingers back up to my shoulders and drags them gently over to the nape of my neck. The touch of his lips makes me cry out softly. I don't want him to stop, but he does, and I can feel him trying to catch his breath as I do the same.
Chapter Twenty-Two
"If ya want the truth, darlin'," he says into my back so I can barely hear him, "I'll give it ta ya. But your world will never be the same again. So, I'll ask ya one more time, Junco, is this what you want to hear? Because I'd much rather tell you things that would make you love me instead."
"Is the truth that bad, Tier?" I turn a little so I can see his face.
He doesn't say anything for several long seconds and I'm about to repeat myself when he finally meets my gaze and nods. "It absolutely is."
"I need to hear it," I whisper.
"The world as you knew it a week ago is gone. This is a fact, just as it is a fact that I killed every last person in the Stag Camp."
"But why did you kill them?"
"Junco, whatever you think you know about Dale and those other men out there in the camp, it's either all wrong, or mostly wrong. What ya saw yesterday in the tunnels barely scratches the surface."
I swallow as he continues. "Dale was a part of the RR defenses." He feels me stir, and stops mid-sentence to head me off. "Look, Junco, I realize you've been told somethin' different, —but ya said you wanted the truth. Do ya still want it, then?"
I nod and stay silent.
"And not just any unit, either. Dale was part of a very advanced network of scientists who, contrary to how the rest of the RR lived their day-to-day lives, lived in a high-tech world of weapons, biotechnology, and bioengineering. He used alien genetics to make horrible creatures. Not just avian genetics, but the other races on Earth as well.
"Yer right about one thing though, I do have a pretty low opinion of the people in the RR, if only because I know their leaders and what they've done. How they lie to ya, all of ya, and how they keep ya subservient with their moral rules. But most of all, because ya let them do it.
"But let's just back up a little and start a few decades ago. You, Junco, are part of an avian clutch of seven, we know that for certain. And we now know that you came from genuine aves stock. From an immature aves called Gyr who went missing when he was sent to Earth. Way back before you
were ever born. This was the very first hosting we did with our military class back in the Band where we live. He was in his sixteenth year and we sent him to the MR where he would be considered an adult. His reports were regular for about a year. He was making friends and was fitting in nicely. Then one day his report didn't come in and then the next report didn't come in, and finally, after several weeks of no word, we sent down another immature avian to check on him. He was gone. Simply disappeared.
"Life went on, other aliens made contact with Earth, and eventually a few years later we did as well. No one ever found out what happened to Gyr. And no one really thought about it either. Until a non-avian alien asked us for help in breaking out his brother from a camp out in a place several hundred miles from Peak City.
"I'll cut a long story short and tell you that we agreed, thinking maybe Gyr was there as well, and what we found was far worse than anyone ever though was possible on a civilized planet."
"Was I there?" I whisper.
"Yes, Junco. You were there. As were hundreds of other things that they'd created through their bioengineering projects. Most of which were monsters, literal inhuman monsters straight out of fairy tales and nightmares, created with an amalgam of DNA from all races as well as animals. Those things down in the tunnels we saw? Just the leftovers that have taken root, just the memory of the atrocities we found at first. And we killed them all."
He says it in such a matter-of-fact manner that I can't think straight for several seconds.
"But the avian children were kept separate, away from everything that was going on in the larger experimental area. As our team was gathering them up for relocation back to the rendezvous point, the RR defenses showed up and retaliated with massive force and they were forced to leave ya all behind. You were just babies then.
"It wasn't until years later that we found out what happened to ya, that you were all farmed out to different sectors of the United Republics, and that the experiments had never really stopped."
