The Fickle Winds of Autumn

The forlorn gloom of the cell stifled Kira’s thoughts.

It was hopeless - there was no way out, and the Observance would be this evening.

Her friends were doomed.

And it was all her fault - if they hadn’t helped her escape from the slavers, they would never have been in this horrible situation.

Perhaps they should have just left her to perish in the crushing, burning shackles?

The familiar scratching-tapping sound of Harath’s talons approached through the dim light.

But her steps seemed more hurried, more jittery than usual.

“Harath, is everything all right?” Kira asked.

Harath scuttled closer to the bars of the cell and lent her beak in.

“Be quiet!” she hushed. “Do not let the guards hear us. You are a good friend to me - I like this feeling - I have decided, I do not want you to die in the Observance tonight - I have thought of how you can escape - I will help you, but we must go now, yes?”

A nervous excitement pulsed through Kira’s body; her bewildered, grateful fingers gripped the cell bars.

Did Harath really mean it?

Was there truly a glimmering hope of getting out?

“You’ll help me?” she whispered.

“Yes,” Harath replied. “You were right - I can not let the others rule my destiny for me - it is time to do something for myself. Besides, am I not still queen? Wait while I unlock the door.”

Harath disappeared into the deep shadows of the cave.

Kira rubbed her happy, reeling thumbs into the bars.

Could she truly escape?

Was it some sort of hopeful dream?

Or even a trick?

What about the guards?

How would they get down from the mountain?

The door clicked lightly and Harath returned.

“Quickly Kira, my friend! Come now! We must go if you want to live!”

Harath hissed through the dim light.

Kira held her tense breath and glanced towards the corridor as she pushed at the heavy wooden lattice of the cell door. The slightest sound might alert the eagle-keen ears of the guards - but it swung open silently and invited her out.

“Quickly now!” Harath urged her, as she turned towards the corridor at the far side of the cave.

Kira dashed back to the dark shadows of her cell.

“What are you doing?” Harath hissed in an alarmed tone. “There is no time! We must leave now!”

“I can’t just leave my friends here,” Kira said. “We’ve got to get them out too, somehow.”

She knelt and shook Aldwyn’s limp frame violently.

“Aldwyn! Aldwyn! You must wake up!”

The rushing adrenaline thudded through her body - the guards could return at any moment - this was her one chance, the chance she had hoped for - but she could not leave her friends - not after they had been so kind to her.

Her anxious eyes flicked across the cave to the corridor - an approaching silhouette of a guard would mean disaster, and the cruel cell door would slam shut again before she even had the chance to get out through it - but she couldn’t just leave the others - she had to save them.

“Aldwyn! Aldwyn!” she hissed into his ear as she rocked him forcefully.

“If you can hear me, we need to move - we need to get out!”

Aldwyn’s arm twitched; he tried to swat her away feebly, but his eyes remained closed.

“But…but the escape,” Harath protested, “I think it will only work with one of you, yes? I want to help you escape, Kira - you are my friend - and the aerie will need the others for the Observance. I cannot save them all.”

“No!” Kira replied. “We are friends - but these are my friends too - I can’t possibly leave them like this.”

“But I don’t think this is a good idea,” Harath hopped from leg to leg. “Only one of you can come.”

Aldwyn groaned quietly; his restless eyes wavered behind their lids, but did not open.

She moved over to Ellis.

Even in the dim light, his skin looked pallid; his slumbering breath stumbled and faltered through dry, cracked lips.

She shook his frail body, but her fretful judgement knew it was useless.

“Please, there is no time!” Harath urged from the gloom of the cave. “We must go now, before the guards come!”

“You’ll have to help me, Harath. Please! Is the exit far?”

“No, not far, just out of this cave and along the corridor a little way - but we must go now! Quickly!”

“Then we’ll have to carry them or drag them somehow,” Kira exhorted. “You’ll have to help me, Harath, I’m not leaving them here - but I can’t move them both on my own.”

“But this will make too much noise and slow us down - the aerie will hear us - the guards will be alerted - my escape is only for you - we must run!”

“I won’t just leave them here - we have to try.”

She grabbed Ellis’s arm and wrestled his weight around to face towards the door. He was far heavier than she remembered, but she pressed her toes down hard into her boots and heaved him across the cell.

Harath darted in and pulled one of Aldwyn’s arms with her sturdy beak. The sharp powerful edges of her bill sliced through the sleeve of his tunic; he groaned fitfully as she hauled his rustling body across the floor - but they must get out, and this was their only hope - if Aldwyn was hurt, he could always heal himself later.

She smuggled Ellis out of the cell, then waited for Aldwyn to be pulled clear.

She pushed the heavy door silently shut again - at least if the patrolling guards came past, they wouldn’t be alerted by the gaping exit.

She grasped Ellis’s arm again and strained with her slumbering burden through the gloomy shadows, across the whispering friction of the cave floor. Her anxious ears prickled for any sign of the guards; her legs toiled and tired - she had not eaten properly in the cramped cell - but the terrible fear of recapture drove her on. This was their chance - there would not be another - and her comatose friends were relying on her to get them out.

Ellis’s unconscious weight rasped across the rough cave; her shoulders and calves ached against his burden; she twisted around to check Harath was still dragging Aldwyn ahead of her and followed the scraping slither of their escape toward the far corner of the cave and the murmuring corridor beyond.

A billowing draught of air caressed her face through the darkness and dropped the temperature around her; the low grumble of the passageway grew louder.

It couldn’t be too far now - she must be nearly at the corner.

The faint scratching of Harath’s talons halted.

She glanced around. Harath released Aldwyn’s arm and stood bolt upright.

“Wait! I hear something!” she said.

The acid in Kira’s tense stomach lurched; she froze rigid to the spot; if they were caught now, they were certain to be killed - there would be no time or chance to escape before the ceremony tonight.

Her alert senses trembled and scanned the dim whispers and dark outlines of the cave; but the only sound she could hear through the sombre gloom was the race of adrenaline thumping through her own nervous ears.

“No, it’s all clear,” said Harath. “But we must move quickly - the exit is up this corridor.”

She heaved at her strenuous load again; her fingers throbbed with pain as their grip cramped and sweated; her calves stretched taut and strained; a cooling surge of breeze wafted from the corridor, but could not quell the hot blood which flushed through her face as she gulped down a heavy breath.

She struggled and twisted and lugged Ellis around the corner.

She had made it this far - the exit could not be too much further.

A brief ripple of pride and happiness surged through her as she dug her stubborn toes down and strained again.

The surface of the corridor was worn and a little smoother than the cave; the friction and noise of Ellis’s insensible weight lessened as he slid and slithered more easily; but the passageway inclined quite steeply, and she was forced to lean back and haul even harder against the sloping resistance.

The murky gloom of the cave shifted and lightened - it was a comfort to see Ellis more clearly, to see the shallow rise and fall of his chest - but her apprehensive eyes warned her that the light would also make their escape all the more easy to detect.

The bustling noise of the mountain wind outside grew louder; the occasional blast of air covered the slithering sound of Ellis’s body and Aldwyn’s fractured bleary moans.

The close, musty temperature of the corridor dropped, but the strenuous effort of her work burned through her tiring body.

She twisted to check the way ahead - it couldn’t be too much further.

Harath had said it was close.

What would she have done without her new friend?

It was very brave of Harath to help her like this - to risk her own life for a new friend - but her bravery would be wasted if they didn’t get to the exit and escape with their lives.

Her weakened, hungry legs wobbled under their strain; her resentful shoulders and arms trembled and ached and complained.

She leant back and heaved.

It couldn’t be far now.

She turned her head again.

Just up beyond Harath, a bright patch of light reflected on the wall and betrayed the turning to the way out.

She was almost there!

It wasn’t too far.

As long as the guards didn’t disturb them, they would reach the exit.

She gulped down the grateful air and redoubled her exertions.

They would be out soon - out on the open mountain.

Her body shuddered; the stabbing memories of the fierce winds that bit and gouged at her the last time she had been out there convulsed through her thoughts.

And if it had been this difficult just to move Ellis to the exit, how could she possibly hope to haul him all the way down the mountain to safety?

Would the pathway be smooth and wide enough?

Wouldn’t it be too easy for the other Akkiper to see them, exposed, out on the mountainside?

If it was stormy outside, that might offer them some cover - but it might also blow them over the precipitous edge.

But she could not leave her friends there now - she could not allow her doubts and concerns to hold back their escape to safety.

She would just have to face those dangers and hardships when they confronted her.

Their lives - all of their lives - depended on her.

“Courage!” she panted beneath her staggering breath.

Her wrists and forearms pulsed with spasming pain.

Her drained, overworked body gasped for relief.

Her burning legs buckled; she stumbled and fell.

She lay silent for a brief life-long instant, holding her heaving breath, terrified her fall might have alerted any passing guards; but the roar of a blustery wind muffled her cumbersome mistake.

The flushed and uncaring beads of sweat tricked past her concerned temples.

Her hands and legs stung from the fall, but she struggled back to her feet - they must keep moving - she must get Ellis and Aldwyn to safety - a few bumps and scrapes were nothing compared to the horrors that awaited them at the Observance.

She hauled again at Ellis’s tiring weight.

Every sinew in her taut body laboured and shivered and trembled as she climbed the steep unforgiving corridor, whether from fear of being recaptured and eaten, or from sheer determined effort, she could no longer be certain.

Why did boys have to be so heavy?

Her weary arms sagged loose in their sockets; her breath came in sharp gulps; her exhausted dizzy legs wobbled; her light head swam; the slow beads of sweat trickled down her heated neck and back.

Her cramped fingers released the burning weight of Ellis as she bent forward and collapsed them onto her knees.

“Stop!” she panted. “I’ve got to rest here.”

“But we are here now,” Harath protested, “it’s just around this corner. You will be free, yes? Don’t stop now - the guards will patrol this way. We must get out before they arrive.”

Kira turned; her eyes blinked and adjusted to the light reflecting on the wall behind; her grateful lungs swallowed the fresher, cooler air; the loud sound of the buffeting wind allowed her daring hopes to rise and flicker; her thudding heart swirled with a brief elation.

She had almost made it.

She had rescued her friends!

But they were not out yet.

They must not get caught and eaten now.

But her swaying, staggering legs refused to move.

“No, it’s no use,” Kira gasped. “I just need a moment to catch my breath.”

“Quickly then, yes?” Harath urged. “Let me just check and make sure the exit is clear.”

Harath extended her neck and poked her head around the corner of the rough cave wall, into the light of the turning - then swiftly jerked it back.

“What… what is it?” Kira asked.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

“It’s Fyrttu,” Harath whispered back. “She’s standing by the exit - she must have just returned from patrol.”

The worried acid lurched in the pit of Kira’s distressed stomach.

“Did she see you?”

“I don’t think so - she was busy preening her feathers - but there’s no way past her - we’ll have to turn around and try another exit. Quickly! Before she comes!”

Harath grasped Aldwyn’s arm once more and spun him around to face back down the corridor.

Kira’s desperate body thumped with exhaustion and anguish - they’d come all that way, they were so nearly free, now she would have to drag Ellis all the way back again.

Her uncertain legs ached and did not know if they could carry them both that far.

She grabbed his arms and wrestled to turn his weight around. Her hesitant feet stumbled and tripped on Ellis’s body.

She jerked out a desperate hand to the wall of the cave, determined not to fall or make a noise that Fyrttu might hear.

Her fast, clumsy fingers brushed against a loose rock. It scraped free from the wall and clattered to the ground; its sharp rattling echo bounced painfully along the corridor.

A spear of terrified shock stabbed through Kira as she froze and winced in horror at her unwieldy slip; she clung to her agonised breath; her hollow heart thudded in panic.

But there might still be a chance.

Perhaps a loud blast of mountain air had covered her cumbersome noise?

Perhaps Fyrttu had not heard her dreadful mistake?

The guilty blood pounded through her ears, across an agonising lifetime of silence.

“So, the flesh of Graath thinks it can escape?” said Fyrttu, as her head loomed menacingly into the corridor.

“Then I had better kill you now myself, as a worthy sacrifice to the greatness of Skirnam.”