CHAPTER 7
RAPTORS
At dawn a still weary Blue stepped out from under the bush to look about and decide what their exact route. Standing quietly a few meters from him and staring at him intently was the largest bird of prey that he had ever seen. Its head was white while most of the rest of it was dark brown. A bald eagle. He had seen them several times in his life at safe distances, but never this close. Being this close to any raptor invited swift death. The eagle faced him silently, fixing him with huge, pitiless, forward peering eyes. Blue yawed loudly in surprise, and quickly ducked back into the bush.
"Come out and sing with me, small blue one," sang the eagle, in course, plain language. “I seek song from you, not your flesh.”
Blue stepped out from bush cautiously, after telling the others to stay hidden. He had confidence that even as weary as he was, he could dodge an eagle attack. "Fly free, great one," he said, in what he hoped was a friendly greeting.
"Yes, little blue soldier of the forest, that we raptors do, at least for today. It is tomorrow and the following tomorrows that worry us. I am Great Beak, flock leader of the East for all bald eagles. Tell me, are you the one that the blackbirds sing of? Are you the one that flung nasty words at Black Heart, and killed his black solders by the flock?"
"I am Blue Dawn Jay, a defender of the Law and Balance."
The big Eagle nodded his white-feathered head. "That is what I thought when I saw you and your companions fly here at dusk. You had the look of weary birds being chased. It is lucky for you that you were not being hunted as prey by me or mine, as it was easy for them to see and follow your flight these last few days, Blue Dawn Jay, and sing of you to me. Your name I recall from events long before these. Birds sing. You are the young jay warrior turned student. What news of your great teacher Song Flame?"
Blue choked back a cry of pain before replying. "Song Flame is dead, by blackbird beak and claw."
The huge bird ruffled his feathers, then lifted his head to the skies and shrieked loud and mournfully. For a time the huge bird stood silently, before at last returning his attentions to the startled jay. "In many past seasons that small red one cheered us with his songs,” the eagle sang quietly. “He helped keep the Great Balance through wit and wisdom as well as melody. We eagles do not sing well, but that does not mean that we do not appreciate song. That one’s song will be greatly missed by raptors, and even more, his great wisdom will be missed by all birds."
"You knew him well then," remarked Blue, astonished by this entire conversation.
"He was not of one flock, as you, his apprentice, would well know. He indeed sang a song of all birds and flocks, as he was fond of singing."
"True, but I didn't know that he had even eagle friends."
"You knew him as well as any bird, but closely apprenticed with him for less than four cycles. Alas, there is much then that you and others will never know of him. Still, it is well that you joined him when you did, so that at least some of his lore may better be passed on to future flocks, such that they may follow his flight."
"How do you know so much about me?"
"Birds sing. In spring I heard that you were on a quest to find Song Flame. As for your heroics against the blackbirds, I ate a crow yesterday that sang a bit about you, Blue Death, before I tore her head off." The eagle sang a harsh, squealing cackle, apparently laughter. "We also have a mutual acquaintance on the Talon Council."
"The Talon Council exists? I thought that it dissolved long ago after the Law and Balance were established."
"That is the naive songbird view, small one, one that is cultivated by us because it makes you songbirds feel more secure and therefore become easier prey. I can see that Song Flame did not have time to complete your education, Blue. Of course the Talon Council still exists! The Law and Balance put into place primarily by the songbird Great Council wouldn't endure were it not for the continued work of both the Great Council of songbirds and the Talon Council of raptors. There are many bird councils, but the Great Council and the Talon Council are chief among them.
“Law and the Balance are not static, they evolve and respond to new pressures and new ideas, and with each new generation need to be re-sung and renewed. There will always be the need for councils among all types of birds. You songbirds call us predators lawless ones, but that is simplification for the newly hatched. True, we have a much freer flying code of conduct than do you, little blue soldier, but we do have one. And we do have collective interests. Our collective interests and the following of our code are looked after by the Talon Council."
"You said we have a mutual acquaintance? Is it Red Claw?"
"Of course. I salute your clever deduction, small one. What better links could exist between our two councils than a great horned owl that nests near the Great Council grounds, and a little red songbird eccentric enough to regularly visit him and live, though still remain respected enough among songbirds to perch in their Great Council. That was Song Flame; for many seasons he helped keep a balance between song birds and raptors. Now at this critical time when we all need him most, for his wisdom and for providing the link between us, Song Flame is no more."
"Critical time?"
The big bird nodded and hissed. "A time of great change, nestling, the greatest in a hundred-hundred lifetimes, for the Old Ones have returned."
"Song Flame sang of this to me, before he died. You have seen them also?"
"From afar I have seen them all too well: strange, ugly, flat-faced, featherless crawlers. They carry death in their hands for hunting birds, death that can strike at great distances from themselves. They came four cycles ago. They destroy the forests of the Far South Forest, making great open areas wherein they grow great quantities of their strange, tiny seeds. They come to our World from far away in great hollow flying mountains that spew thunderous fire. They flew for a time in our skies, carried within giant hollow, noisy, lifeless nests that they commanded. We raptors stopped that affront, but in the lands that they control they still move ponderously on the ground within other lifeless traveling nests. At first they killed many birds, but now they flock with the blackbirds."
Blue shook his head in bewilderment. "How are such things possible?"
The eagle shrugged. "They are very clever, and in some ways more deadly than any bird, but they are not Gods. My sister and brother hunting raptors have killed and fed on them. I am told that they taste much like the long-tailed hairy crawlers of the mountains. Sadly it is reported that they do not taste like fish." The eagle cackled/laughed. As every bird knew, though bald eagles ate anything they wanted to, they ate mostly fish.
"You sing that they flock with the blackbirds? How do you know this?"
"From afar I have seen the grackle fly into their lands. The Old Ones do not hunt the grackle, though they hunt the raptors. I conclude then through straight-forward logic that there is some pact between Old Ones and blackbirds."
"What sort of pact?"
The eagle shrugged. "The black ones keep their own council; but they grow in numbers beyond counting and flock together. They raise far more young than ever before. They break the Balance and Law by hunting other birds."
"They openly hunt live birds?"
"They do. Some smaller cousin birds such as starlings and cow-birds they tolerate, to a degree, when they can be bent to their purposes. But they kill those they cannot control, including especially your kind, blue one."
Blue was stunned. "Like raptors they prey even on jays?"
The Eagle hissed. "No, not like raptors. They do it not to feed themselves or their young; they kill far more than they need to fill their many fat bellies. They kill to remove enemies and to claim territory. Now they claim as theirs what had once been the Far South Forest, but we think they plan to breed even further and claim all the World as their territory."
Blue shook his head. Some competition within and between species that ate the same things was common, but not to the extent suggested by the eagle. "But why? The Bal
ance is then broken. How can they hope to live without keeping the Great Balance?"
"They would build a new great balance of their own making."
Blue nodded. "One they call the New Order, I suspect. But exactly what would this new balance be?"
"That I do not know for certain, though it seems that it would benefit Old Ones and blackbirds, and not most other birds. As I have said, they keep their own council. I too have heard them sing of a New Order, but do not know exactly what it means. Blackbirds deal with others only as it suits them, and now they deal with the Old Ones as it suits them. I suspect that their New Order will result in a new great balance that is balanced far more in their own favor."
“I must ask another question of you, great one. If you know all this, why have you not told Red Claw and the Songbird Council long before now?”
“An excellent question, young Blue. What I have told you has only recently been assembled from bits and pieces of knowledge from many raptors. News sometimes travels only very slowly among raptors, for we hold Freedom of Flight and song between mates above all. Some key raptors chose early on to hold most such knowledge to themselves. Raptors can be as selfish, prideful, and headstrong as any other birds. More so, perhaps. The Old Ones arrived four cycles ago, but the full Talon Council learned all this mere days ago.”
Blue shook his head. "I must fly to the Great Council and sing of all this. I do not know what can be done, but I must try."
The great eagle nodded. "I had hoped that was your plan, Blue Dawn Jay. I wish you to also take to them a message from the Talon Council. Tell them that with Song Flame gone, you, Blue Dawn, will now be our new link to the Great Council. Tell them also that we of bloody beak and claw now gather into flocks. Now we but menace the Black Flock at its edges, but before the fall migration time we plan to strike at its center. We wish to defeat them. But tell your Council that we raptors cannot do this without their help, for the Black Flock has grown too great, and we are too few. The songbirds need also to fight the Black Flock to keep the Great Balance. Tell them that Great Beak, the leader of the Talon Council, tells them these things."
"The jays and perhaps the others will fight the blackbirds with you,” Blue noted. “The Black Flock will fall."
"Perhaps. But there is still the other great problem, songbird. What of the Old Ones?"
"Birds have dealt with the Old Ones before."
"Yes, small one, but the blackbirds and crawlers fed then for weeks on bird dead, and there were many bad years that followed, before the Great Balance was established. We hunters have much respect for the Great Balance, songbird. If we kill too much prey, we starve in the next cycle. Such wisdom is in our old songs. If we fight the Old Ones, and surely we must, to preserve the Balance, will we not with our own blood also destroy that balance?"
"What then is the answer?"
"We do not know. It seems to be a riddle without answer, a paradox without solution. You must take Song Flame's place at your Great Council and let us know what the songbirds think we should do together about the Old Ones."
Blue shook his head. "I can try, but I am not of the Council."
"Your father is."
Blue started, shocked. Bird lineage was a fairly private thing, particularly outside the flock. "Is there anything you do not know about me?"
The great eagle laughed its harsh laughter. "Much. But I know enough, son of Strike True. Now, how did you plan to get to Song Wood?"
Blue shook his head. "Song Wood is north and west, but the Black Flock now lies between us and the Council. They will greatly slow us, as we must fly cautiously under cover of bush and tree."
"Also you have two blue companions, and carry a small brown bird. They also slow you."
"The brown creeper from the Far South Forest was fleeing the Black Flock with Song Flame. He speaks the language of the Old Ones, and has seen the grackles sing with them."
"He is a highly valuable witness then, though a tiny one. It is good. Your Great Council will ask for one that has seen and heard things themselves, rather than merely heard a song that has been passed through many voices. They may need to send many birds to their deaths, and that will be a very hard thing for them. Still, carrying or flying with the little brown one makes your quest all the harder."
"And yet it must be done."
"Perhaps there is another way. Yesterday when our Talon Council met together near here a member said that if you were to be found, she should be told so that she can help you in your quest to reach the Council. She flies near here. I will have her come to you now, if you agree to consider her help."
Getting help from a predator went against all of Blue's instincts and experience. But he trusted Song Flame totally, and now he felt that he must in turn trust Great Beak. Besides, he knew that he and the others had been extremely lucky so far, and he feared that their luck would not last when they again flew through woods where the Black Flock searched for them. "I would sing with her of this, to learn if she can indeed help."
"It is well. She soars nearby, small one. Wait here for my return."
The Eagle spread her vast wings and gracefully pulled her enormous body skyward. The huge wings seemed to flap almost in slow motion, but the big bird rose rapidly and so high that she was out of sight in an amazingly short time. While she was gone Blue talked to his little flock, who had overheard the conversation he had with the eagle.
“I do not trust eagles,” stated Bob bluntly.
“I hear your song,” said Blue, “but more important than how we feel about raptors is our great need to swiftly reach the Council. I will sing with this second raptor who claims that she would help us and then decide what to do.”
After only a few minutes two huge raptors dropped from the sky towards them at fantastic speed on swept-back wings; Great Beak and a mostly gold-brown eagle that was equally huge. Blue had never seen one before, but he knew immediately what it was. This was a golden eagle of the Western Mountains. This bird ate anything and everything it could catch; no raptor was more powerful. The two great birds extended their wings, rapidly slowing their decent, and landed gracefully in front of Blue, towering over him.
“I am Yellow Claw, small blue one,” announced the golden eagle using loud, raspy Plain Song. “I am Flock Leader of all golden eagles of the West. I would aid you in your quest.” The name fit; this eagle’s claws were pale yellow; except for her golden tipped neck feathers and enormous cold, staring, yellow eyes, the huge claws were perhaps her most distinctive feature, as well as her most deadly. Her voice was even more raspy than that of the bald eagle; Blue recalled hearing that eagles never truly sang. How could a bird not sing? He never understood raptors, and he feared them the more for it. It took steely resolve simply to stand in their terrible presence.
“Though we would appreciate aid of course, I do not see how you can help. As mighty as you are, great one, you are but one bird, and the Black Flock are many. If they find us, not all the eagles in the World would stop them.”
“Then they must not find you,” replied the eagle, enigmatically.
“We have been lucky, in that regard, but it cannot last. We have at least four more days of flying ahead of us. Six days is more likely, since we will have to fly very low and cautiously through the trees.”
“I can have you at Song Wood by nightfall today.”
Blue’s head cocked sideways. “You mean then to carry us?”
“Of course. I propose to carry two of you; you and the small brown bird.” She glanced towards Browne, and the tiny bird cheeped weakly in fear as it hid behind Nod, who was hiding behind Blue.
“In your great claws?” Blue asked.
The huge bird nodded with its terrible beak. “Of course.”
Blue looked in dismay at the huge yellow talons. These were the Eagles' most powerful weapons; those claws could easily crush a jay in a moment or rip to bits any bird. For a songbird to willingly place themselves within those claws was insane. But the swift, high fl
ying eagle could probably do it; she could fly them so swift and high above the Black Flock that they would never even be noticed. He and Browne could actually be in Song Wood by evening.
“If you and the creeper do this,” said Nod, “Bob and I could still fly north also, and meet you later at the Great Council.”
"That is a good plan," agreed Blue. "By splitting up we are assured that the Council will be reached by at least two of us."
Blue turned to look up into the eyes of the Eagle. "We songbirds have good reason to fear you hunters, but it is sung that you are birds that live true to your song. Eagle, do we have your pledge that we will be delivered to Song Wood unharmed?"
With its great cruel beak the golden eagle seemed to smile. "You have my pledge that I will deliver you and your tiny friend to Song Wood unharmed, small one. I pledge that I will not harm you."
"Then we accept your offer," said Blue. Blue thanked Great Beak for her help, and then persuaded Brownie to stand with him before Yellow Claw. "Fly free," he told Nod and Bob, as the huge golden eagle spread her wings, lifted off the ground, and moved towards them. A moment later he and Brownie were snatched firmly but gently by the great yellow claws, and lifted up and away.
Blue was astonished by the power of the giant eagle. In a short time they were far higher than he had ever been before, and flying faster than he could imagine. He was even more astonished to still be alive while being carried by a great raptor, but as the minutes passed, his fear gradually abated.
On the ground Bob and Nod also departed, while with her huge eyes Great Beak watched the Golden Eagle disappear into the clouds far above. She squawked a sharp command and two much smaller raptors swept gracefully out of nearby bushes and perched near her. "You heard?" she asked them.
The two nodded. "We still do not fully trust her, Great One. She has not been the same since her youngest died at the hands of the Old Ones. She long concealed the secret of the coming of the Old Ones from the rest of the Raptor Council for her own reasons. In addition, the fact that she already knew details about the fleeing songbirds is very odd. Yet we can't dispute your logic; if you had openly denied her in this it might have broken alliances with the great Golden Ones."
"Besides," said the second bird, "as she has sung, she is the logical one to take them. None can fly so swift and high as her, at least not for such great distances while carrying the songbirds. Except for us of course."
"And her hatred of the Old Ones is undeniable," said the first.
"And despite her oath to deliver them safely you are still concerned?" asked Great Beak.
"Yes," they replied in unison.
The great eagle nodded. "I agree. We need to do something. Far too much is at stake."
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