Flashback The Eagle and the Tiger (A Bond Story)

[Turrin]

Time Stamp: 15th of Fall, 508AV Location: The Unforgiving Who: Turrin of the Twisted Vine The cold wind brought change to the land in ways the young Myrian was still getting used too. In Falyndar the leaves never changed color like here in the Unforgiving because in Falyndar there was only one season, hot. The Unforgiving was much different than his old jungle home since everywhere a person looked they were surrounded by mountains and valleys with no possible way to travel other than to fly. If the attitude or the lack of air didn't kill the strongest warrior, the elements and the beasts of the Unforgiving would do their best to shorten your life on Mizahar. His father had a saying that the world of Mizahar would kill the weak and destroy the stupid, and Turrin of the Twisted Vine kept that in mind every time, he went out into the uncivilized lands of his world. Feeling a cool breeze on his cheek, Turrin of the Twisted Vine pulled up his hood on his katinu and continued walking through the browning underbrush. He had a bad feeling it will start to rain or snow, but he knew that he needed to continue through the forest in search of food otherwise he wouldn't feel right to share a meal with his peers since he couldn't contribute to the rest of the community. Inarta were similar to Myrians in many ways since they both don't tolerate laziness and everyone had to contribute for the good of the community. In Turrin mind, it was a good way to live because a person in both societies don't take life fore granted. Turrin always believed life was not a right since it was something a person must strive to protect against all else if they don't, Dira had every right to take them out of the world for the good of everyone else. Turrin respected the harmony between Dira and Kihala since the goddesses played a big part in both his people lives. The hunter continued his journey through the changing forest as he continued to look up at the different color trees. As he came to a stream, he noticed a oval shaped set of tracks by the shore of the stream leading to the stream. Turrin walked to the edge of the stream and noticed the oval tracks were still submerged in the creek bed by the shore. He figured by the moderate current of the water in the stream that the beast must of recently walked through the water to the other side. He looked over at the other shore and noticed the shoreline was a start of a pine forest and a thick thicket on the other side. As he eyed the other shoreline, he noticed a patch of broken branches in the shrub about fifteen feet away from him down stream. Standing up, Turrin walked down stream and noticed three large rocks in the middle of stream about three feet away from one another and wide enough a part to get across without getting wet. Feeling a strong breeze whip through his hair into his face, the half breed bit his bottom lip and wondered if he could get without falling into the stream. He knew with the cold weather coming and getting wet could cause problems for his survival if he fallen into the water. Turrin said plainly to himself , “I am a warrior of Myri. I won't be killed by a cold breeze or water.” The warrior tightened the straps on his backpack and quiver, secured his bow into his quiver, and walked to the shoreline closest to the first rock. The warrior walked back about five feet and turned around to look at his first obstacle. He bent his knees slight as he sprinted towards the first rock when he ran out of land, he jumped over the water towards the first rock. When he landed, he was able to stop himself, but he started to lean forward towards the cold water. Turrin stuck out his arms to equalize his balance. The half Inarta wobbled a little bit, but he didn't managed to stay on the rock. Looking at the next rock, he noticed the rock was much smaller than the first, so he would have to judge the distance carefully before taking the leap. Turrin bent his knees and started to swing his arms to help him get the momentum. When he was comfortable enough to make the jump, he grunted as he sprung from his rock towards the next rock. The jump was straight enough, but he veered to his right slight and right foot landed in the ankle deep water, but his left foot was on the rock. He started to feel the water leaking through the holes of the lacing in his boot, so he lifted his boot out of the water as quickly as he could and knelt on the stone to plan his next move. *** Soaring in the sky, Aponivi watched the land in search of prey. He had been tracking a deer for sometime, but every time, he was ready to swoop down on it. The crafty deer disappeared under the canopy. It was frustrating for the four year old wind eagle, and it would be easier if he just bonded with human, so he could send his rider out to catch the beat, but the Inarta yasi lately were snot noised little brats who care more about the status and rewards of being a Endal to care about the responsibilities and duties that come with being a Eagle Rider. He constantly chastised his other eagle brethren for not keeping their riders behavior in line, but iit mostly fell on deaf ears. It was frustrating to say the least, but Aponivi was a patient bird with a strong since of justice, honor, and integrity. He wanted to his future rider to be a example of how Endals should be instead of the entitled egomaniacs of today Endals. However, Aponivi needed a rider with strength to do it, but he hasn't met one yet. Looking down towards the ground, he noticed a young human struggling to get over the river. He was doing fine at first, but he seemed to be struggling on the second rock. The wind eagle started to circle the area and noticed the deer grazing in a glad not to far from the young man, and he was curious if the burgundy haired human was stalking the deer too. Suddenly, he notice a young red hair child walking in the direction of deer too. He could tell the girl was just a chick maybe ten years old, but she wasn't hunting at all. No the girl was just strolling aimlessly through the forest without a care in the world. Aponivi decided to watch the scene unfold between the two, so he flew towards the nearest cliff and watched the valley patiently.

[Turrin]

Putting his arms out to his side, Turrin slowly rose from the rock trying to keep his balance as he stood on the small surface. It was difficult to keep his balance, and he could feel his muscles start to ache when he clenched them as soon as a strong gust of wind blow. Luckily, he took his father advice about training in acrobatics in the training ground. He remembered many times of having to balance on thick vines or roots to traverse the thick jungle when he was younger. The warrior bent his knees and started to swing his arms. He needed to get make the leap, but the third rock seemed wet and slightly submerged in the water. When Turrin was ready, he made the jump, and he seemed to be on target, but as soon as he landed on the rock, he slipped forward on the rock and fell forward into knee high water. Freezing he started to trudge through the water till her walked on shore. He noticed most of bryda was soaked, but only the bottom of his katinu was wet. He sat down on shore and laughed at himself and muttered, “I should have figured the rock was slippery...” The hunter stood up and walked into the thick pine forest, and he slowly made his way into it. He knew that he needed to dry his cloths before night fall, so he walked looked for a decent spot to make camp. *** Aponivi noticed the burgundy haired human and the yasi weren't going to get to the glade before the deer was finished grazing, so the great eagle stood up and flew straight for the glade. As he got closer to the glade, he extended his claws, sunk them deeply into the flesh of the unsuspecting deer, and took off flying toward his perch once more. He figured the deer could be his snack while he waited for the Yasi and the burgundy haired human. When he was over his perch, he dropped the deer and noticed the deer was stumbling to get away from him, so Aponivi landed next to it bit off it's small head. As he started to eat, he kept a eye out on the travelers in the valley. *** Turrin walked to a edge of a glade, he noticed a few large feathers on the ground and a few spattering of blood here and there. Wanting a closer look, he stuck his finger in the red puddle and noticed it was sort of warm. He stood up and looked around into the trees, but all he noticed was the swaying pine trees. Feeling another gust of wind, the Myrian started to shiver in the chilled air. He walked away from the blood stains and started to collect kindling and tinder from the forest floor. He noticed the wet bryda was slowing him down, but he needed to get the fire up before he freezes. When he collected enough kindling and tinder, he took out his throwing ax and walked over to one of the dwarf pine trees. He smiled when he saw the tree was brown and said a prayer to Caiyha, “My Goddess I will only take what Dira has already taken from you. Please forgive me.” After honoring the goddess of nature, he started to chop the tree down with his throwing ax. He knew the ax blade would have to be sharpened when he got back to Wind Reach, but right now, it was a emergency. When the tree fell to the ground, he started cutting off branches from the seven foot trunk. He dragged the tree to the other end of the glade to stay away from the blood. It took him a half of bell to strip the trunk bark, and he started to chop the trunk into seven log about a foot long. When Turrin was finished gathering the wood, he split the logs down the middle with his ax till he had fourteen chunks of firewood. He knew it should last the night, so he used his hands to dig out a two foot hole in the dirt, and he decided to start the fire with the branches, so he broke them in half by stepping on the center and pulling up on the ends of the branch. When he was finished breaking the branches, he started to place the small branches in the fire. He arranged them in a cone, so he place the kindling and tinder in the middle of cone. When Turrin was finished arranging the wood, he started to strike the flint on the steel over some of the dried pine needles. When the needle caught fire, he saw it was a small flame, so he started to blow softly on the flames until the fire took hold off of the tinder and eventually sparked the kindling. When the fire was started, he started to strip out of his wet clothing and laid them on a sturdy branch of a nearby tree. He was basically naked accept for his loin cloth, so he took out his winter blanket from his backpack and wrapped himself in it. Turrin walked to the fire and sat down cross legged in front of it. He sat there for a bell humming to himself a melody that he heard in his old city. Suddenly, he heard howls in the distance, so he calmly grabbed his talon blade and placed it in his lap.

[Turrin]

Aponivi watched the yasi started to run in the direction of the hunter when she heard the wolves. The girl seemed unaware of him as she ran through the forest and tripping on a few roots along the way. It was a sight to watch the young adventurous Inarta girl run through the forest. The wind eagle turned his attention to about three wolves making their way towards the stupid girl. Aponivi knew that he could intervene and save her, but he was curious about what the burgundy haired hunter would do if she ran into his camp with three wolves chasing her. It should be quite entertaining evening to say the least. *** After a half a bell, Turrin noticed he was dry again, but he knew that his cloths were nowhere near dry enough to wear, so he wrapped the blanket tighter around himself. Suddenly, he heard the wolves called out again, and he noticed by the volume that the beasts were awfully close to his camp. He calmly walked over to his fire and tossed a few more branches on it to keep it high. He knew from hunting in the jungle most animals stayed away from fire, so he would use it to his advantage now. He walked over to his short bow and quiver, and talon sword scabbard and placed them on the ground need the fire. He put six hunting arrows point first in the ground for easy access. Picking up one of the hunting arrows, he held the shaft of the bow with his left hand, placed the hunting arrow on the bow string, and he waited for Dira to arrive. The hunter heard a couple howls a short distance away and sound of someone running in his direction. Turrin spread his feet apart and bent his knees slightly as he lifted the bow and aligned the tip of the arrow in the direction of the sounds. The hunter pulled back the string to his cheek and waited for the battle to start. Suddenly, he saw a small girl around the age of nine burst out of the bushes, and he quickly said to her in Nari, “Get under blanket now. Behind me!” He saw the girl nod, ran towards the blanket, and hide under it. When the girl was safety under it, he heard the sound of panting, saw a rustling in the underbrush, and saw a black wolf burst from bushes. The Myrian yelled in common, “For the glory of Myri!” The wolf turned his attention to the hunter, and Turrin did a last minute adjustment to his shot and released the arrow. The wolf charged straight at him, and at this distance, he knew he wouldn't miss the large wolf and aimed at the neck of the wolf. The arrow flew straight at first, but it veered down and hit the wolf at the top of the hip. As the wolf stumbled to the ground and struggled to get up, Turrin quickly picked up another arrow and placed it on the bowstring, lifted his bow, pulled back the string, aimed at the neck of the beast, and released the arrow. The arrow soared straight at the wolf, but the shot veered right with the wind and veered to the left missing the stationary target. Growling to himself, the warrior dropped the short bow, picked up the talon sword, and walked towards his kill. When he got into range, the wolf tried to bite him in the leg when it was struggling to get up, but Turrin jumped back out of range of it's teeth. Holding his talon sword in his right hand, he lifted the sword and swung a downward arch across the face of the wolf. The sword caught the wolf in the jaw cutting off the lower half of it's mouth. Suddenly, he heard a voice clearly in his head, “Careful hunter, you have two wolfs about to flank you. Do you need my help? You just need the ask, and I will come to your aid.” Confused look on his face at the disembodied voice in his head, he saw the two other wolfs burst from the thicket on each side of the glade. As the wolfs looked at his fallen pack mate, he had the opportunity to respond to the voice, “Come spirit and dance with Dira with me! We will make Myri proud of us!” At the last statement the human made caused the wind eagle Aponivi to chuckle to himself, and he lifted his mighty wings and flew down to help the strange human. With his back to the fire and the girl under the blanket, Turrin knew that he needed to control the flow of the battle, so he needed to focus on him, so he did his best beast like roar to get the wolves attention. The wolfs growled at him, but they didn't want to get close to the fire, so he started to walk to side step around the fire pit waited for the beasts to attack. Holding the blade with two hands, he held horizontally in front of his face. The wolves decided to attack him one at a time, so as it charged him, he crouch lower to protect his body, and the wolf leaped at his throat trying to take him down like a deer. The Myrian gave the wolf a evil smirk and leap out of the way of the leaping animal. The wolf landed in the fire and started yelping in pain as it started on fire. Turrin sprung at the beast with a animal like growl, swung down and across his body, and the talon sword cleaved a large chunk out of wolves neck as it died in the fire. Suddenly the last wolf leaped at him and from his blind side. He tried to feebly swing at it, but he missed horribly as blow of the impact knocked the sword from his hand. The wolf was just about to bit down on his neck, but he lifted his forearm up to block the bite, and the power full jaws bite down on his arm. Turrin screamed in agony as the pain overwhelmed all his senses. Suddenly, he heard and felt a huge flapping of wings and the wolf let go of his arm and turned his attention towards the flapping sound. Turrin immediately put his hand on his arm injured arm, rolled away from wolf, and kept pressure on his left forearm while he watched events unfold. Turrin's eyes widen when he saw a massive wind eagle with a black body and white head bearing down on the large wolf. The wolf growled and barked at the eagle trying to intimate it, but the eagle was not phased by the wolf at all. The wind eagle displayed it's massive wing span for the wolf and let out a mighty screech in the wolfs direction. The wolf put his ears back and started to show it's teeth at the eagle. Turrin wondered if the wolf was the alpha of the pack if so it wasn't going to turn tail and run. Suddenly, the wolf charged and leaped at the wind eagle's neck. The massive bird of prey stood it's ground and opened it beak and caught the wolf in the air. The bird shook the wolf in his jaw and through it to the ground hard. Turrin thought he heard bones snap, but the eagle wasn't finished with it's prey. He picked up the wolf in his beak, swung his head to his left, and watched wolve fly into a trunk of a tall red pine. The wolf slumped to the ground without another move. Grinding his teeth at the pain, Turrin gave the wind eagle a respectful nod of his head and said with a half smile, “Well, I guess you are not a spirit after all. My name is Turrin of the Twist Vine.” The wind eagle walked forward, so it's head was staring at him and said in his mind, “You fight well for a human, and I see by your golden eyes that you have the blood of Inarta running threw your veins, but you are not full Inarta. You made it clear with the praise to Myri the War Goddess. My name is Aponivi.” Turrin looked the wind eagle in the eye and said plainly, “My father was Myrian and my mother is Inarta. I am a child of both people, but I live to serve the Inarta now.” The wind eagle looked at the blanket and back to him and said in his mind, “You know that you didn't need to protect her. You could have left the child to die. Why did you risk your life for her?” Turrin looked at the wind eagle and said bluntly, “I am Inarta, Aponivi, and I will not let a member of my tribe die if I still draw breath.” Aponivi stared at him for a few chimes and stayed silent, but eventually, he said plainly, “Will you fly with me, Turrin of the Twisted Vine? You will only get one chance, so choose wisely.” Turrin looked at the wind eagle and declared, “I will ride with you as long until Dira takes me away to my new life with Myri.” Suddenly he felt his mind meld with the mind of the great bird of prey, and for a instance, he finally felt a sense of belonging wash over him. He felt a feeling of relief wash over him from the wind eagle and heard the eagle say, “It is done.”

[Harrier]

Skills	Amount
Tracking	2
Observation	1
Shortbow	2
Talon Swrod	3
Wilderness Survival	1

Lore

Warrior of Myri: cold water won't kill me

Jumping rocks: Wet feet

Tracking: Warm blood on the ground

Prayer to Caihya

Survival: Making fire

Fire keeps the beasts at bay

FIghting off wolves

Saving a child you do not know

Saved by Aponivi

Aponivi: My eagle, my Bond

Bonus:

Additional Comments: Turrin, it would be appreciated if you broke some of your paragraphs into smaller ones. The large blocks can be hard to read sometimes. Other than that, a good look into the dangers of the Unforgiving and how the Birds are always watching

(c) abstract