by Kisa [Intrind] on March 1st, 2012, 12:12 am
Kisa realized after a moment that it was a hunting day. She a sigh, she climbed up off her much-abused mattress and stretched out her aching muscles. It was mere moments before she was fully clothed and ready to go. Her bow slung across her back, Kisa marched off to Intrind.
"Good morning beautiful," Kisa snickered as she glanced at the midnight eagle still asleep in the corner. She marched over, tapping her foot next to the beast's beak.
Please go away. Intrind's voice whispered into her ear. Kisa laughed at the request.
"I advise you get you lazy feathers up or I'll have to tell the rest of the Inarta that they're going hungry because you wanted a nap," she threatened. Kisa loved her eagle but her voice was firm and serious. Lives depended on her and Intrind.
The hulking bunch of feathers climbed onto her feet and shook herself out. Let's go save Wind Reach from starvation.
Kisa climbed onto Intrind's back loving, as always, the exhilaration right before a flight. All she wanted to do was return to the calling sky and make her mark amongst the clouds. She cheered Intrind into flight and they took off. Wind soared through Kisa's hair and her many braids and feathers flapped around behind her. She could read her eagle's body, tell when the muscles were moving, see through her keen eyes. They were one.
They would head down to the sea today and pluck seals out of the watery depths. Intrind especially loved fishing, her talons would slide across the surface of the water before swooping down and sinking into the meaty flesh of an unexpecting seal. That day the hunting party caught four seals. Not nearly enough, but a lot compared to their previous trips. All day they had scourged the horizon, hoping for more innocent seals to be risking the bitter cold of the water near them.
I feel like a failure. Intrind admitted at the end of the day on the flight home. Do you think we could make extra flights? Go farther out? Wind Reach needs more food than we're bringing in. This is our job. Kisa thought about it. The Endal's had long days out hunting, but not as long as a typical work day for the other castes. It was tiring to be flying that long. They could fly out during dusk and hopefully bring in another seal or elk.
Alright Intrind, but I hope you know what your getting yourself into. I'm exhausted as is and we're going to have to sleep the moment we get back until we go out for the second flight. If it works, we can try it tomorrow as well. Maybe we can even convince the other Endals to join them as well. Kisa felt relieved, if not tired. Her muscles were sore from holding onto Intrind all day and now she would have to put herself through a few more hours of it. Truthfully, Kisa was incredibly proud of her eagle. They went well together, both determined to do what they can to get the job done. She didn't think any of the other Wind Eagles would have offered to spend more hours out in the freezing cold. Intrind was either extremely brave and dedicated, or absolutely insane. But whichever it was, Kisa was right there with her.
Back in their aerie, Kisa didn't bother going back to her room. She curled up besides Intrind and fell asleep. In her dreams she was trapped in a blizzard all alone, no one to come rescue her. She cried out for help as the wind seeped into all her clothing, her magic not fighting it off. the snow piled up around her until it was smothering her. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't see. She couldn't...
Kisa woke up with a gasp, yanking Intrind out of her own sleep. It's okay, Intrind told her, laying her wing across the girl who was now shivering. It looks like you may be too tired, we could wait until tomorrow to try a second shift.
"No way!" Kisa jumped up and shook the nightmare off. "Let's fly".
It was colder at night, the sun taking back much of the warmth it had gifted them with earlier in the day. It was near sunset so they had to rely on Intrind's better vision to guide them. They flow for an hour before they saw any sign of life.
Look, dead ahead. Nearly hidden behind a line of trees grazed a small herd of elk. Intrind was about to soar down before Kisa stopped him.
"Wait, maybe we can get more than one kill out of this. Let's get closer and ill try to shoot a few down. If we can take off after them immediatly after, maybe we can catch one then go back for the one I shot." It would be risky, Kisa could miss and the elk could all run to safety before Intrind could make her kill. If they failed their extra flight would have been pointless.
Kisa took special note the where the elk stood. There was a cliff just a couple hundred yards away and they were sandwiched between two small rivers. She would have to come back for the deer later.
Shoot now. Intrind urged as the hovered a 100 yards about the elk, the eagle's powerful wings keeping them in the air. With care and precision Kisa loaded her bow, the arrow nearly touching her cheek. With a gasp, she let go, the arrow soaring down through the air and sunk into the right eye of the largest buck. Without a chance to cheer or watch the animal fall, Intrind spiraled down to the trees with Kisa holding tightly on. They kept pace with the running animals, waiting for a gap large enough to swoop down and pick one off.
"Now!" Kisa screeched as an opportunity appeared. It seemed like eternity passed as they sunk into the trees, pine bristles sweeping Intrind's wings. Snow spiraled behind them. They were just above the running elk, Kisa could have jumped off and landed on one of their backs. With the predatorial accuracy only a Wind Eagle could posses, Intrind ripped into the nearest elk's back and heaved it into the air.
"Let's drop her off and go after the other one. It will be fine in this cold." Kisa was too exhausted to boast when they dropped the first elk off, and then the second.
She was asleep before she even hit the mattress. She was too tired to dream that night.
-Kisa [Intrind]
"If your a bird, I'm a bird"
