The Last Summoning---Andrew and the Quest of Orion's Belt (Book Four)
Page 16
Andrew held up the blue feather he had picked up. “This is yours? Sorry. I didn’t realize…” Andrew carefully placed the blue feather into the bird’s palm and stepped back.
“Y---ooou didn’t re---alize?” the birdman sneered, sticking the loose blue feather underneath his winged arm. “I supp---ose y---ou’ve c---ome here to finish what y---ou st---aarted. But we w---on’t c-ome. I’ll kill you before y---ou clip my w---ings, like your kind did to the rest of my br---others.” The Birdman’s face was filled with anger. He raised up a curved blade, and pointed it at Andrew.
Andrew took a step back, his hand going to his sword. “Clip your wings? Why would I do that?”
“As if you didn’t know?” He slowed his voice to a slow sneer, so that he didn’t drawl out his words.
“No. I don’t know.”
The Birdman shook his head, his feathers rustling together like paper. He breathed in slowly, so he could speak more clearly. “I should kill you. You deserve it! Your kind are good for nothing. You come in the name of peace, in the name of the Fallen, of Morack, of Vargas, offering my people bread, shelter, supplies, then you take my people, kill them, ravaged their children, and clip their wings. And for what? Arrows. Feathers for your arrows. To keep on enabling your kind to k---ill, and kill.”
Andrew held up his hands. “Please, I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else. I’m not one of them. I dislike Morack, and The Fallen just as much as you.”
The birdman took at step towards Andrew, his bent blade still pointed at Andrew. His movements were abrupt, and birdlike. He looked at Andrew with yellow, flickering eyes, then towards the door. Freddie was banging on it, trying to get it open with little result. “Andrew!” Freddie called. “Are you alright?”
“Yes,” Andrew called back. “Just wait outside!”
The Birdman nodded at the door. “What about the others that came with you? How can they be trusted?”
“They are like me,” Andrew insisted. “We want to fight those who did this to your people. We want liberty to be given back to the people, like it was before.”
“Liberty?” The birdman mocked. His screeching voice had calmed to a gentle purr. “Ah, there is no such thing anymore. Freedom has come and gone, and is no more. And it will never be again.”
Andrew’s face filled with anger, and determination. “Freedom will be again, if we make it so, if we believe in it. If we fight for it!”
The Birdman’s features softened. His voice filled with sorrow. “The time for fighting is over, boy. It is too late, especially for my city. The dead cannot be brought to life again. Their freedom is in their graves.”
Andrew’s voice filled with conviction. “But don’t you see? We can still fight for those living. Or at least, die trying.”
“You believe that, don’t you?” The Birdman put away his blade, and folded his winged arms. His face filled with sadness. “Ah. I used to have such conviction. But now. He motioned to the room littered with feathers. “Now, all I feel is emptiness. There is no power strong enough to fight the forces that you will come against.”
Andrew nodded. “Perhaps. But darkness cannot exist where there is still light. So we will be that light, even if it is just a small one.”
The Birdman smiled for the first time, his face, though mostly covered in feathers, seemed very amiable and kind, when he wasn’t angry. “Your words give me hope, lad. They make something long forgotten stir deep within my soul. For a moment, listening to you, I actually felt lighter. Happier. I have been grounded for some time, for my heavy thoughts have kept me from flying. But now, I do feel such lightness, perhaps I will fly again. What is your name? I feel as if I knew you once.”
Andrew held out his hand. “The name’s Andrew.”
“And I,” the Birdman said, grabbing Andrew’s hand in with his feathery palms, and shaking it, “I am “Flicker, the 700th, and I am the last flicker in the city of Flicker.”
“The last flicker?” Andrew asked.
“Yes, that is what my kind are called. Flickers. We fly night and day. Our eyes guide us, flickering in the darkness.”
“The last of your kind?” Andrew mourned.
“Yes. All that were not clipped and taken were killed. The others who did not die, flew away.”
“Then you are not exactly the last of your kind, then.”
“Oh, but I am. Those who flew away are gone forever. Changed, evil, and selfish. They are no longer flickers. For where they are going, no light can penetrate.”
“Where did they go?”
Flicker stepped to the cottage door, opened it, nearly knocking down Freddie, who had his ear to the door.
“Whooo’s this?” Flicker screeched, grabbing Freddie and holding him by his collar. “An eavesdropper? Do you know what we do with such nasty things? We yank off their ears and…”
“Please!” Andrew commanded. “Let him go. He’s my friend.”
“Fine!” Flicker let go of Freddie. “I shall spare you. But don’t ever eavesdrop again!”
“I…I…won’t,” Freddie faltered, slowly picking himself up, and dusting feathers off his clothes.
“Now,” Flicker breathed. “Where was I? Oh yes. I was telling you where those who left have gone. He pointed to the sky. “They’ve flown north. Those who did not have their wings, plucked, or clipped.”
Andrew looked confused. “I thought birds fly south.”
“They do. But the times have changed. Soon the North will be the warmest spot on earth. Us of Flicker cannot survive without warmth.”
“Why will the north be the warmest?”
Flicker pointed to the sun. “The Fallen offered those who did not fight a place among his house, as he will soon be the only source of light and warmth to this entire earth.”
“How did you escape this fate?”
Flicker smiled faintly. “Because I would rather die than betray my people. Those traitors who sold themselves to The Fallen they will be but mere bats, night creatures, black outlines of what they once were. No, I could not follow them, though my instinct told me that birds must all fly together. When I knew I could no longer fly, I hid, though it was very coward-like of me.”
“You don’t look like a coward to me,” Andrew said.
“Looks can be deceiving,” Flicker murmured.
“Come,” Andrew said, walking towards Ivory, Talic and Croffin. “Meet my friends. They would be glad to know you. I don’t think any of them has seen a bird quite like you.”
Flicker stood on the doorstep, unsure. He looked back through the door of his cottage, then back to Andrew’s friends. “I don’t know if I can.” His voice was ridden with terror and anguish.
“What do you mean?” Andrew asked.
“I mean,” Flicker shouted, “that I’m too afraid to step out into the darkness. I have been hiding in my house for almost two weeks. The starlit sky looks at me and laughs. It's as if it tells me I cannot fly anymore. No, I must go back inside. I cannot go any further. I will not. I cannot force myself to see the devastation of my city.”
“You must come with us,” Andrew urged him. “You can’t stay here, alone.”
Flicker shook his head. “No. It’s too much. I will stay where I have hidden, for the rest of my life. I cannot bear to see the city so.”
“Please,” Andrew prodded. “Come with us!”
“Yes,” Freddie urged the bird as well. “You need not stay here alone.”
“Don’t be afraid,” Ivory said, stepping near Flicker, with Talic and Croffin trailing carefully behind her. “Don’t be afraid. We are all friends now. I am Ivory. This is Talic, and Croffin. And that is Freddie. We won’t hurt you.”
“I’m not afraid of any of you,” Flicker scoffed. “I’m afraid of what I might see if I step out into the streets, afraid of flying, afraid of it all.”
“Those are a lot of things to be frightened of,” Ivory agreed. “But what’s the use of you having feathers if you don’t use them to fly?”
“Good,” Andrew encouraged him. “Keep coming.”
Flicker took a halting step into the fresh night air, where Oragino and Starfire stood watching quietly. In the open air, Flicker stretched out his wings and fluffed himself up, doubling in size.
“Ah, I forgot how cramped I was inside that shack. Oh, it feels so good to stretch my wings!” A great smile crossed his face. He stared at Andrew and his friends, with wide eyes, turning a full circle, with his long, brown, feathery tail scraping against the ground. Then, in one quick flowing movement he ran out into the open street and spread his wings, and took off through the air, soaring over the city, his voice crying out woeful lamentations.
Andrew and his friends watched from the ground as Flicker dipped and soared over the city, his lantern-like eyes flickering above them in the darkness like burning stars.
After some time, Flicker settled back down in front of Andrew. His eyes were filled with a look of anger, and his face was stern. “Everything is as I imagined. Desolate, and empty---the bodies of my brothers who would not have their wings clipped have been burned in heaps. “What a woeful time this is to be living. Thank you for urging me to face my fears. Yes, I cannot hide any longer. The devastation of my city needs to be avenged!” He let out a loud, piercing, screech that sounded more like a mournful cry. “EEEYAAAAAAAA!” As his voice died down, he bent down and picked up a handful of feathers that lay strewn on the ground. He cried out once more, and let the feathers slowly fall like snow from his winged hands. “What a dark time of shadow our world is falling under, eclipsed by a fallen star that consumes light like a fire consumes wood. I fear that only when all life and light has been shut out, will the people of the world begin to finally see. But then it will be too late. So a dark people will be raised under its false light, fuel for The Fallen’s miserable existence.”
“I hope it never comes to that,” Andrew said, his voice strong.
Flicker walked around Andrew, gazing at Andrew from all sides, frowning like he had caught a whiff of some unpleasant odor. “And you have the arrogance to think you can stop what is coming? With what army?”
“We intend to gather one.” He drew his sword. Instantly a burst of light caused Flicker to jump back.
“I bear the sword of Cosmo,” Andrew said. “And with it I intend to strike down The Fallen and send him back into the void he came from.”
Flicker blinked, trying to accustom his eyes to the bright sword. “Ah…I see…” his voice cooed. His frown slowly turned into a smile. Respect shone on his face. Flicker’s smile grew bigger. “The sword of Cosmo. The mighty elf, half star, half human. It is the end of times. Oh, but what an honor! I will serve you, wherever you go. With or without an army.”
“Thank you,” Andrew said. “That means a lot coming from such an honorable creature as yourself.”
“Where are you heading?” Flicker wondered. “And what is your plan?”
Andrew pointed to the wagon where the chest of unsaid words sat, the unsaid words thumping and glowing in excitement. “First I must take this chest to the largest city I can find, where these unsaid words can mean the most and will spread far and wide. What that chest holds, can say far more than I ever could.”
Flicker’s face shone with wonder. “The chest of unsaid words. Oh, how curious. How wonderful. Yes, you are right. Such words have not been heard in many years. It will be good to hear the truth on the streets again. We must free them, and quickly. I know the lands here. I can take you to the largest city, Copious is its name, and rightly so, for it is a great city, and powerful, ruled by Vargas himself, though he is hardly ever there, for he visits The Fallen more often than not. The city is not far from here. It would be most appropriate to release the chest of unsaid words there, for many things go unsaid there, and it is about time the forbidden words have an ear. But between Copious, and us, is the land of the Inbetweeners, and the Valley of Slaves. We must journey through these places in order to get here.”
Andrew nodded, listening to every word Flicker spoke. “Good. I’m glad you are coming with us. We will go to this city of Copious, and we will gather whoever will follow us on our journey there. Perhaps, if we are able, we will free the slaves as well.”
“Free the slaves…” Flicker said, his voice filled with wonder. “Yes. Oh yes. Let us. Let us free the world!” The words seemed to fly out of his mouth. “Andrew, you have given me renewed purpose in life. I will fight to the end of my days to help you. I will avenge my dead brothers. I will fight!”
Chapter Eighteen
The Inbetweeners
After leaving the city of Flicker, Andrew, and his friends journeyed further north into a land where sheets of heavy clouds, and smoke hung over the land like lingering ghosts. The sun was high in the sky, but dreary rain clouds hid it from view, threatening to storm once again. A miserable drizzle of rain began to fall, making the land look more hazy than before.
Flicker flew undaunted through the rain, not letting it dampen his determination. Only when he was far ahead of the others did he stop, and settle on the edge of a steep knoll where jagged rocks jutted up from the earth, waiting for the others to join him.
“What’s down there?” Andrew asked, finally catching up to Flicker.
“A nothing city, really,” Flicker said. “We should go around it. From there, we should be able to get to the valley of slaves. We will do the most good there. For the slaves in this city, the Valley of Inbetweeners, is a lost cause.”
“Wait?” Andrew said. “There are slaves in this city, too?”
Flicker let out a loud screech, and shook his feathers, twisting his neck like an owl, to face Andrew. “Ahg! In a way, yes. But slaves of a different kind. Slaves to themselves, bound by fence-sitting so long that they are stuck forever where they are. No one can help them. Not a soul has ever made it out of their city. Please, just listen to my advice. We would do better to just go around it.”
“We can’t,” Andrew said, staring over the knoll. “I have come to wake all captives. If there’s a chance any might be helped, even just one, we must be sure to check.”
“Fine,” Flicker murmured. “But don’t say didn’t I warn you. You will soon understand what I mean. For none of them can be helped, even if they want it.”
“What if we had skipped your city?” Andrew questioned. “No. We will go and see, even if it is a fruitless trip. We will have tried.” Andrew sighed, and looked beyond the hill, into the valley of Inbetweeners. He could still see the smoke lingering below them undisturbed by the rain. It was as if the land itself was belching out the smoke, hiding what looked like a large city filled with many muted lights.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Flicker cried, stepping over the edge of the knoll and spreading his wings. He soared over the city, and looped back around. He cut through the rain, his great wings filling with air, like the mast of a ship, not undone by the rain and wind. While he flew above, Andrew and his friends followed below, making their way down the knoll, into the city. The closer they came to the city, the more the chest of unsaid words throbbed and moaned in the back of the wagon, as if it was swelling and would soon burst apart.
Once in the smoke-filled valley, Andrew instantly wished he had listened to Flicker’s advice. The rain did not penetrate the thick smoke. It was as if the moisture dissolved before it ever reached the ground. Andrew could barely see Flicker’s glowing eyes, shining above, through the thick smoke. The chest continued to throb and shake, making it difficult for Andrew’s horse to keep steady amid the ash and soot-covered ground.
It was a miserable spot of land. Smoke and ash, tinted the earth in an orange, freakish light. It was wholly the gloomiest place Andrew had ever been. Shadows lurked in the cracks and corners, and reached out at them as they passed by.
Freddi
e stopped to stare at a burning tree. “Look at that tree. The fire isn’t consuming it like it should.” The flames licked at its trunk, but never grew any bigger. It looked like it had just been set on fire, but the fire did not have the willpower to consume the rest of the tree, nor utterly go out.
“Look at those houses.” Ivory pointed through the smoke to the houses and trees that lay in flame. The fires neither grew bigger, nor consumed the timbers of the houses like a hungry fire should.
“Weird,” Andrew murmured.
“It looks as if someone just set the village on fire. Yet, why isn’t anything burning up?”
“How is that possible?” Croffin asked, peering into a house whose roof was aflame, but no other part of the house was being consumed.
Flicker soared above them, and let out a loud screech, before settling beside them. “I told you it was a miserable place.”
“Yes,” Andrew agreed. “You did. The sooner we search the city, the sooner we will go.”
“I hate this place,” Talic said, trembling in the saddle, behind Freddie. “I hate fire.” He pulled his long whiskers and wrapped them close to himself to protect them from being singed.
“Calm down, Talic,” Ivory consoled her friend. “We won’t let the fire hurt you.”
“You can’t protect my whiskers from fire!” Talic cried, leaping off the horse. As he fell, he rolled, then quickly stood up. His head jerked back and forth in fear. “Fire, fire, fire,” he breathed, panting like a wild animal. His eyes gleamed with the reflection of the flames.