A Whisper of Wings

by Paul Kidd

  “I…” Kotaru hung his head. “No, nothin’ at all - exceptin’ she saved me. And… and that there’s something sad inside her. Something I’d give anything to heal.”

  “You really ought to become friends if you ever hope to be lovers. You must learn to listen, Kotaru. Not everybody speaks the way that you and I do. Sometimes Shadarii’s way seems to say much more than words.”

  Kotaru simply didn’t understand; Kïtashii shook her head and patiently explained.

  “She cannot talk, Kotaru; Shadarii has no voice. Didn’t you ever notice that Shadarii never spoke?”

  Kotaru’s jaw dropped and his pupils shrank as he realised what he had said and done.

  “Oh my…! I-I’m not sure that I ever even gave the lass the chance.” He clutched his hand across his eyes. “Oh Wind forgive me! I’m a fool…”

  “As to that, I surely wouldn’t dare to judge.” Kïtashii’s tone indicated otherwise. “In any case, I owe you a great debt for rescuing me. I shall try to set you both on the right path since I suspect that you really do care for her.”

  “I care! Oh Rain how I care!”

  “I know you do, otherwise I would not let you see her. But mark my words Kotaru! If you cannot face a voiceless woman - if you cannot respect her just because she’s different, then turn your back and go your way! If you hurt her, I shall tell Zhukora you were in the raid on the village! I recognise your Prince Tekï’taa as well. I should not like to be in your moccasins if she found out, so keep well away from her!” She looked up into Kotaru’s yearning, shame-filled face. “Oh get away with you! Stop looking at me with those bloody awful eyes. She’s downstream at the little waterfall. Go and talk to her, and for Rain’s sake don’t make more of a skreg of yourself than you have to!”

  Kotaru shot off into the bushes as though a snake hung on his tail. Kïtashii watched him blunder through the trees and shook her head. With a snort of derision the little girl spread out her fine quicksilver wings and drifted off into the fog.

  Shadarii sat amongst the rocks and wept, letting her tears stream down into the stream. Cry as she might, the pain stayed with her. Why? Oh why had she been such a fool? She didn’t even know him. She had built a whole fantasy romance on nothing! There was no way to tell him how she felt; no way to ask him the questions that she burned to know.

  If I had a voice… I could make him love me if I only had a voice!

  Shadarii croaked and tore at her throat, hating herself, loathing the world that had forced her to live without words to speak and songs to sing.

  The girl’s head shot up as she saw Kotaru facing her across the stream. Shadarii stumbled back, and tried to flee into the bushes.

  “Stop!”

  Shadarii staggered through the trees, her ïsha fields whirling drunkenly about her. Kotaru gave a cry and soared up in pursuit.

  “Lady please, I beg you! Stop! Please!”

  He caught her as she tried to scrabble up the slippery rocks. Suddenly her spirit seemed to leave her; Shadarii folded up into a little ball and wept, her orange wings trailing brokenly beside her. Kotaru hung his head in shame. He knelt beside her in the moss with his face bowed towards the ground.

  “I’m sorry. Oh Rain I’m just so sorry. I’ve no excuse to offer you. I’ve done the one thing I prayed I’d never do.” Kotaru stared down at the dirt. “My Lady, I know I presume far too much, but if-if you can forgive a fool, I’d be grateful for a second chance. I never meant to hurt you.” Kotaru swallowed hard. “I’m an idiot, and I’m in agony, and I’m so desperately in love! Please, please just let me be near. Just let me stay, I beg you!”

  Shadarii made no attempt to move; her fur trembled as she wept. Kotaru fearfully sat beside her, his hands shaking in his lap.

  “Kïtashii says that you can speak in your own fine way, if someone will only take the time to listen.

  “I’m listening, lady. Please, I want to understand. If you’d do me the honour of being my friend, t’would be more than a mere fool has the right to ask.”

  Shadarii slowly uncurled, peering out bit by bit from beneath her mop of hair. Slowly she sat up, scrubbing at her puffy eyes, then made a few weary motions with her hands.

  Kotaru watched Shadarii’s posture, his antennae rising up in wonder. She moulded the ïsha all around her with an awesome, unconscious power. Her every mood, her every feeling were spread out across the aura all around her. She hung her head and tried to wave the man away.

  <>

  “Shadarii… I-I don’t pity you, but I need to understand you! Please let me listen. I’m here for you if only you’d lift up your face and see.”

  She made a few curt signs with her free hand. Kotaru kept his mind open, waiting until she had finished before putting a meaning to the whole.

  <>

  Kotaru’s voice was soft and gentle, and his words glowed upon the mind like summer stars.

  “You’re wrong, my lady. Any man who’d not look past your voice is not worthy of your love in any case.”

  Shadarii resentfully looked up into Kotaru’s eyes, then signed towards his breast and touched her heart.

  <>

  “I want no one else. No woman has ever caught my heart before, and no other ever shall.”

  She stared at him in disbelief, her breast heaving.

  <>

  Kotaru looked into her eyes and tried to speak his heart.

  “Oh my lady, I know so much already. I know that you are kind, for you helped me when my hope was gone. I know you are brave, for you risked yourself to save me. I know that you are clever, for I have see the beauty of thy art. You stole my heart away with but a kiss, and now I’m lost without thee.”

  Shadarii ran an adoring hand across his face. She wept, her whole face wracked with shame.

  <> Shadarii sobbed in agony. <>

  “All I know is that I will try to make you happy. I’m brave enough to take the risk if you’ll but take it with me.”

  He took her face into his hands and slowly brushed the tears away. She closed her eyes, feeling dizzy at Kotaru’s touch. Despite herself she felt her body move up against him, and he wound his arms about her, cradling her quietly against his warmth. The girl began to feel her trembling slowly cease.

  Her beautiful, tear-stained face peered up at her man in wonder. Shadarii looked up into Kotaru’s eyes and gently touched her heart, her lips, his mouth.

  <>

  Shadarii’s wings began to droop; her breathing gradually slowed and deepened as her lashes closed. Comfort was an utterly seductive drug. Safe in Kotaru’s arms, Shadarii simply closed her eyes and fell asleep.

  Her ïsha field wrapped around Kotaru like a lover’s gentle arms. He basked inside her perfect light and was content.

  “Sleep, my lady. Sleep and let thy dreams be dreams of love.”

  He tucked a glorious copper curl back from her tufted ear.

  “There’s no hurry, my silent lady. We’ve all the time in the world, eh? All the time in the world…”

  Kotaru sat back in the sunshine and held Shadarii in his arms. Slowly he began to nod, his eyes drooping as sleep rose up to claim him.

  ***

  Zhukora drank her tea with pure delight, savouring every precious scalding drop. Her body seemed more alive than it had ever been before. The whole world seemed crisp and new as she looked down across the village rooves.

  Daimïru sat quietly beside the teapot, stirring in a spoonful of dried leaves. Her long blonde hair glittered in the sunlight, making Zhukora’s heart feel strangely warm. Zhukora broke a seed loaf in two
and offered the larger piece to her devoted friend.

  They ate their frugal meal together, enjoying the feel of sun across their fur. Finally Daimïru sat back and brushed the crumbs from her thighs.

  “The village seems quiet this morning. Last night’s revelries have left the people tired. I’ve sent hunters to gather food to feed those villagers who hunger.”

  “Good. You have done well, my love.” Zhukora smiled and swirled her teacup. “Is there any news to report?”

  ”The dancing girl Javïra spent the night with Tekï’taa. The Priests are attempting to gather yet more power. Other than that, all is quiet.”

  Zhukora nodded, losing herself again inside the caress of a perfect cup of tea. She breathed a great sigh of anticipation and looked over at her friend.

  “The priests are no stumbling block. I have a tool to deal with them when the time is right.” Zhukora’s tea had been fresh picked from high mountain streams that only she and Daimïru knew; it sang across Zhukora’s palette like a lover’s sigh. “The games begin in three short hours, Daimïru! Great things are finally afoot. Soon the flightpath to the future shall be ours!”

  “The team will be ready. We match against the Sword-Tail’s ‘Rainbow Gleams’ at midday. And tomorrow - the ‘Orchids’.”

  “Yes… The Orchids. Finally we can clear the first obstacle from our path.” Zhukora smoothed the white fur across her chest. “We shall win, Daimïru. We shall take the tribal title, and then we shall face the Vakïdurii team in battle. With their defeat we shall become heroes!” The huntress’ blue eyes gleamed with predatory lust. “The Wrens shall rue the day they were mad enough to come near our clutches! Finally Katakanii honour shall be avenged!”

  Daimïru blinked.

  “You-you suspect that the Vakïdurii were the ones behind the raid?”

  “Oh yes, I know it’s them. Our vile King may sit and swap pleasantries with their ambassador, but I still remember the day our goods were stolen from us. I remember the day my Father trampled our pride in the dust!”

  “Then we should strike! Drag them up before the clans and have them slain!”

  “Patience my love! Patience. We shall make them pay upon the field.” The girl’s fangs gleamed like ice. “Oh yes… We shall make them pay in blood…”

  The mood passed; there was tea to drink and another day to share. Theirs was a friendship strengthened over many precious years. The wind stirred, mingling black and blonde hair together in a single fragrant stream. Zhukora stared across the village towards a distant future.

  “It will be a strange life for us now, my love. There shall be no more dawn hunts together. No more wild flights along the winding river. We shall have to travel from clan to clan, even tribe to tribe, keeping The Dream blazing in their hearts. We shall have to become people of the race, not of the clan. The lazy days of forest life are gone…” Zhukora sighed. “I can’t see that we’ll have time for jiteng anymore. But still, we’ll see the stars together as we camp out beneath the sky. I think we shall still find beauty in our lives.”

  “A fine wind and my companion by my side. A vision to follow and a cause to serve. What more can I ask for? What could make me richer?” Daimïru drew a breath and let Zhukora’s strength flow through her. Finally she put aside her teacup and prepared to leave the lodge.

  “The team will be ready for training in half a hour. I have planned everything. Nothing shall go wrong.” The blonde girl bowed. “Rain and Wind bless you, my leader. I shall prepare myself for my part.”

  Zhukora looked down at her friend and smiled.

  “There’s no need to bow, Daimïru. We shall do away with class distinctions. Our new world will have no need of them.”

  Daimïru smiled and shook her head. “I bow to you because it is my privilege to do so. Would I do it if it were not a pleasure?” The girl spread her wings and poised herself upon the brink. “I am proud to serve you, Zhukora. One day I will show it to the world!”

  The girl swept out her wings and soared into the sky. Zhukora watched Daimïru with a smile shining in her eyes.

  “And I am proud to be served by you, my love. The trail shall be long and hard. I am grateful that a companion travels with me.”

  The woman sipped her tea and turned her head to gaze out across the village fields, where the people sat to gather foodstuffs and to make their songs. A proud people - inventive spirits fired by such incalculable passion. Zhukora gazed across her village with a quiet surge of love.

  “Lord Serpent. Are you there?”

  ïsha coils arose from the shrouded skull hidden on a shelf.

  *I am here. What do you wish of me?*

  “Thoughts.” Zhukora sipped tea and gazed in sharp concentration at the sight of the High Priestess far below; the old woman sat with counsellors, pouring her poison in their ears. “The Priests will eventually be my enemy. How may a warrior defeat magical power?”

  The beautiful ïsha of the Serpent spirit looped and coiled about the roof poles of the room.

  *Power must be fought with greater power. Take a ‘rider’¹. It will swap you power in return for sensory input from your body.*

  “Good!” Zhukora settled back against the door and simply drank her tea. “Then I choose you.”

  Serpent flashed with colours of arrogance.

  *I am no mere sparrow spirit, girl! I am a great one of the ïsha! My race was old before your own was even born! My power would burn your mortal body into ash!*

  “Courage shall prevent it.” Zhukora looked carefully at the skull, new intuitions flooding sharply through her mind. “You fear it, don’t you. If I were to die, you might die with me.”

  *I am beyond death! I fear nothing!* Sepent looped and coiled in irritation. *I wish only for glory to come back onto the Earth!*

  “You do not fear death? How interesting.” Zhukora regarded the villages across the fine steam rising from her cup. “I wonder. You see, it seems to me that of all things, love is the one thing that goes beyond mere life.” The girl’s slim black form turned perfectly still, her eyes staring unseeing out into the trees; when she spoke, it was with her gaze focussed upon something strange and fragile that only she could see.“It came to me at last, do you see? I now know I have a gift to give - perfect value, but at ultimate price. And it is love that banishes my fear of the giving…”

  Zhukora tossed the dregs from her cup sharply out across the leaves.

  “I will call on you, Lord Serpent. Until then - let the glory run like fire through your dreams…”

  ***

  To walk through the forest with Shadarii was to discover a whole new world. The background aura of the forest bloomed around her as she passed. Shadarii spread wide her arms and grinned for joy, and the touch of her silent laughter made Kotaru smile.

  They ambled merrily beside the stream, their wings folded up behind them. There was no need for speed - no need to fret or worry. The sun streamed through the forest canopy like a rain of yellow warmth, and the wind grew soft and mellow as it ruffled through their fur.

  Shadarii led the way down through a dripping maze of ferns to a place of dank, primeval peace. A wide brown pool spread out beneath a gleaming waterfall, dashing spray across the bracken in an icy sheet of rainbows.

  Kotaru stretched and breathed in the cool, clear mist. Shadarii stood watching him, her fur rippling to the rhythm of the breeze. With the sun and spray behind her, she seemed like some strange spirit of the rain.

  Kotaru smiled and waved a hand towards the rocks.

  “How beautiful! There’s no Ka here? I can’t feel one.”

  Shadarii sat herself down upon a log and fanned out her precious wings.

  <>

  “It’s so perfect! The waterfall, those rainbows… however did you find such beauty?”

  Shadarii looked up at the streaming mists and gave a smile.

  <> S
he grinned as Kotaru blinked in puzzlement. <>

  The girl breathed in the peace and ran her fingers through her hair. Her great green eyes were slitted up in pleasure. Kotaru watched as she framed a question with her supple fingers.

  “Do I like stories? Yes! But there are just so few these days…”

  Shadarii gasped, then sprang up to her feet and excitedly danced before him. Kotaru blinked and tried to follow her motions.

  <>

  “Ha, and is there a story inside me?”

  Shadarii grasped Kotaru’s chin and peered critically up into his face.

  <>

  Her hand lingered on his cheek before she shyly withdrew her touch.

  The girl bent down and drank, her tail lashing back and forth before Kotaru’s eyes. He watched her dreamily, his face softening.

  “Why do you come here?”

  Shadarii flicked water from her hands, then touched the lilies and the bracken all around her, stoking at their rich green leaves.

  <>

  “Do you come here often? This could be a lonely place.”

  Shadarii faltered. She half tuned away, her tail hanging down behind her.

  <>

  The girl raised her head.

  <