Fly- Ch. 6

Chapter Six

"This is as far as I can take ya'." Kerp meowed, pulling the horses to a halt. Raine and Crowe quickly hopped out of the wagon and turned around to the old tom.

"Thanks for the ride." Raine said, nodding. Kerp nodded back and drove his wagon down one of the wide streets deeper into the city.

As soon as the wagon was out of sight, Crowe looked around at his surroundings. Oceattle was nothing like Liur- the buildings were high and the streets wide, with cats surging up and down like the tide the city was built on.

"What now?" Raine asked, looking around at the bustle around them. The black tom shrugged. "How long do you think we'll be safe here?" "A week at the most." the she-cat answered. "We could probably get a boat out of Reshetrew and travel to another country."

"We can't just move away!" Crowe meowed. "Our country's in trouble- not to mention our lives- and running isn't going to fix anything. We need-,"

"I know, we need to find the Angeli." Raine turned to the tom. "But the thing is, Crowe, what if the Angeli aren't real? Perhaps they were in those times of legends, but are we going to follow a story into a trap?" The she-cat's eyes held nothing but sincerity.

The black tom bit his lip. Raine was probably right- she was one of those kinds of cats that, even if they said birds swam, you would believe, because you figure they know of a kind of bird that can. How she was so convincing, Crowe didn't know, but she was.

Before either cat could say anything, Crowe felt something big crash into him from the side. It was a blur of rusty brown, and he couldn't think properly for a few frantic moments as he was swept away by this force into an alleyway.

When at last his senses had returned to him, he glanced around. Raine was standing right next to him, thank Felis; he had been worried they had been separated by whatever had happened.

Crowe began to take in their surroundings. They were in a dirty alleyway with little light. The walls to their sides were high, and the back of the alley was to far to run; they would never make it out.

Blocking their only way out of the alley was a pacing rusty-colored tom with green eyes. He seemed to be a full-grown tom, but just barely, and he had a half-worried, half-angry look on his face.

"Who are you?" Crowe asked, puffing his fur up to make himself seem older, though he was actually shivering beneath his fur. The tom flashed his emerald eyes toward them. "I should ask you the same." he replied grimly, still pacing. "Do you know how many cats there are out there, ready to kill anyone caught speaking of the legends?" The tom stopped and looked at them. "How do you know of the Angeli, anyway?"

"Books." Crowe meowed, waving his tail. He let his fur relax slightly.

"Where do you come from? Certainly not any town close by, the books and stories of the Old Times have been long forgotten here."

"Where we come from is no business of yours." Raine answered, defensively pulling her broken wing closer to her side and raising the hackles along her spine.

"Apparently you already know of the danger around here." the tom said, more calmly than before. "I am a friend. My name is Hawk." The tom blinked slowly. "I don't blame you for not giving me your names, but it sure would be easier."

Crowe looked to Raine. Their eyes met, and it was as if they knew each others thoughts.

We can trust them, their eyes told each other.

They didn't know it, but they were speaking in a way cats that were close together, or had no other, could. It was not mind-speaking; it was eye speech. Cats' eyes were extremely expressive, and if two or more cats knew each other enough, were close, or had been through enough together, they could actually share simple thoughts. This was called Sight-Speech, or Ser-Skpeh, in the language of Ancients.

"I'm Raine, and he is Crowe." the blue she-cat meowed. The tom nodded. "Very well."

Hawk led the way deeper into the alley. "I suppose you believe all that about the Angeli, and you know of those silverbeasts." he said, disappearing into the darkness. "Come, if you want directions."

The two younger cats quickly followed. "Directions? To where?" Raine panted as they ran to catch up. "I don't know. Hopefully somewhere safe." Crowe suggested, his mouth parted to allow better scenting.

"If somewhere safe is what you desire, then you have no idea where you need to go." Hawk said, turning to them.

"Where are we going, then?" Raine demanded, her eyes flaring in determination.

Hawk's emerald eyes seemed to shine. "The Mythrihend." he replied.

Two words.

Yet it left the young cats speechless. They stood gaping for a few moments before Crowe spoke.

"The Mythrihend?" the black tom breathed. "That place is just a legend."

"You say the Angeli are, too, but you're still are trying to bring them back." Hawk pointed out.

"If they're just a myth, why are we doing this?" Raine asked, her voice trembling the slightest bit.

"Are they a myth?" Hawk asked, his voice so low it was almost caught away in the sea breeze.

"They're... real?"

"Aye, they're real."

"Then why haven't they come yet?" Raine demanded.

Hawk looked sadly at the sky. "It's been so long since they were needed, they have cut themselves off from the rest of the world." The rusty tom sighed, then twisted his gaze back to the two. "But the Angeli are about to awake. And when they do, legend will merge with reality, myth will mix with truth, and it will shake the earth to its foundations. Trust me, this will set off a chain of events that will not stop until the one has fallen."

~*~

"How will we get to The Mythrihend?" Crowe asked after a silence. Hawk's mouth twitched into a grin. "Simpler than you'd think. However, you're going to have to fly. I see you have wings, Raine."

"My wing's broken." the she-cat said sadly, holding it up slightly. "See?"

Hawk sighed and padded over. He quickly ran one paw over it and shook his head. "Nonsense." he said. "Just slightly bent. That'll heal quickly, and it'll do so faster if you let it soak in the ocean."

"When are we going?" Crowe asked as Raine curiously flexed her wing. "Two days." the tom answered. "But I won't be coming."

"What?!" Crowe shrieked. Hawk slapped his tail over the raven-furred tom's mouth. "Shut up." he growled. "Someone could hear us."

"But... you're not coming?" Crowe asked, more quietly. Hawk shook his head. "I'm having enough trouble keeping this city safe and under control. Don't worry, though, I'll keep in touch somehow and help you as much as I can. Anyway, I'll tell you how to get there tonight, when the stars are out. You'll need them to navigate."

"For now, though, you can go down to the beach. Raine, I want you to soak your wing- the saltwater will help it to heal the rest of the way. Keep a low profile- we don't need trouble. I'll meet you down there later."

The rusty tom twirled on one paw and disappeared into the alley.

"So... The Mythrihend...." Raine sighed after a silence. "I can't believe it. What's it like there, anyhow?"

Crowe shrugged. "It's said that the stuff of legends still survives there. No one really knows, I guess." "You mean, you don't even know what it's like?" Raine asked in annoyance. "No." Crowe answered in embarrassment. "I guess we'll find out soon enough, though!"

"You're impossible." Raine mumbled to herself as she followed the black tom out of the alleyway.

The two looked around at the city again. It was nearly sunset, and any cats were reclining on benches, waiting out the hottest part of the day in the shade of buildings.

"It's weird." Raine wondered aloud. "Even though there's so much more stuff here, and so many more cats, it feels less stuffy."

"Yeah, I can feel the wind." Crowe commented, tilting his head back to catch the warm breeze. It tasted of salt and water and sky; it was probably the best thing he had ever smelled up to this point.

"Later, we'll have to ask Hawk why the breeze can get through so easily." Raine decided as they neared the edge of the city.

And then they saw it.

The sea sparkled in the sunlight, and warm breezes rolled effortlessly off it. There was a small section of sandy beach, an area that appeared to be a shipyard, but most of it was rock and cliff. It seemed like all sky, all blue.

It took the two young cats a few minutes before they could move again. It was like the shine and the glimmer of the sea held them in place. "It's... entrancing." Raine breathed, and Crowe only nodded.

Soon they were scrabbling down the sandy hill down to the water. There weren't many cats there; Crowe remembered it was Thursday, so many cats would either be at school or working. They had nearly the whole beach to themselves.

"Hey, what's this?" the blue she-cat called. She was standing close to the water, small waves tugging at her paws as if inviting her for a swim. The black tom began walking over. "I dunno, what does it look like?"

"Take a look." Raine replied, moving out of the way. Crowe cocked his head. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before; it was flat, with eight legs and two thick pincers.

"I... don't know. Maybe... some sort of spider?" the black tom said weakly. "Yeah... a spider." Raine looked slyly at her companion. "I dare you to touch it." she meowed.

"That's crazy, look at those claws!" Crowe meowed back as the thing began to scuttle away. "Better do it quick, it's getting away!" Raine shouted. "What, are you scared? It's just a little spider."

Crowe took a deep breath. He wasn't scared of a spider.

I'll just poke its back, the black tom though, reaching toward it. The spider reared its front claws.

It won't hurt me. He moved his paw slowly, fluidly. The spider didn't move.

I mean, it's not like I want to eat it. His paw was right over it.

Hey, it probably can't even-

"Ouch!" Crowe flipped his paw around wildly. The spider held his paw clenched between its strong claws. Raine had a look of surprise on her face.

"Well? Do something!"

"Okay, okay. Just- stop flailing about like that!"

"I'm not flailing!" that black tom shrieked, but he stopped moving nonetheless.

"Good." Raine said. She held his paw down and began wriggling the spider off. He winced, but made no sound. Finally, she had the spider dislodged. She swiftly flicked it into a tide pool. "There." she meowed with satisfaction. "Now it'll drown."

The two bounced over to the pool to watch the fiendish arachnid perish. To their disappointment, it sank to the bottom and scuttled sideways into a patch of seaweed, and poked two triumpphant eyes out at them before retracting into the plants.

"I guess it wasn't a spider after all." Crowe meowed sadly.

~*~

Crowe looked out at the sea. The warm white sand was like pillows, and the comfortable breezes rolling off the water were blankets. His eyes were half-open, partly form tiredness, and partly from the sun's glare coming off the sea. Raine was down by the water, soaking her wing in the salt-saturated tide.

The sun was setting. The ocean reflected the red and purple and orange sky, marked with white highlights like glowing writings. Only a few cats were there, but otherwise the seaside was totally quiet.

And then suddenly, Hawk was there. "I figured you'd be hungry, so I came early." he meowed. A small bag was tossed to Crowe, and he opened it. He remembered that he hadn't eaten all that day, and suddenly felt hungry.

"Go on, take what ya' like." Hawk persisted. "I'll go get Raine."

Crowe first took off the bag containing Arrow and let the hummingbird out. He chirped and began hopping about, sometimes burrowing his beak into the sand and pulling out little bugs. Smiling, the black tom opened the bag and looked in. He produced a loaf of thick-crusted bread, a glass bottle of milk, and some sort of poultry meat, possibly chicken, but it was impossible to tell through all the seasonings and bread crumbs. And lastly, wrapped up in a piece of brown paper, were two baked potatoes.

By the time Crowe had broken off a piece of the bread and was busily chewing on it, Raine and Hawk had arrived. The she-cat sat down on the sand and helped herself to a potato.

"So, tell us how we're going to get to the Mythrihend." Crowe mumbled through his meal. The rusty-colored tom pulled a map out of the bag and spread it out.

"It's rather simple, actually." Hawk said. "We're here," he meowed, gesturing with his paw, "on the coastline. You can get a ship out to Kwasharna, that's this island right here. From there you go North-West over the ocean. Don't worry, there's nice warm breezes from the South that will hold you up. Raine, do you think you can carry Crowe?"

The blue she-cat nodded. "I think so." she answered, though doubt was in her voice.

"Good." Hawk meowed. "That's one reason why it's so important to get out during the Moon of Copper Water- that's the time the wind currents are warmest and strongest."

"Hawk, if The Mythrihend is so hard to find, how do you know how to get there?" Raine asked, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. The rusty tom purred. "A friend of mine told me. She was born there. You see, she's of the Empyreanic Order."

"I've heard a little bit about the legends of those cats." Crowe said eagerly. "They're fiery, and white."

"That's right." Hawk said. "That's not the point, though. All you need to know is that I'm sure of what I'm doing."

"Anyway, after following the South Warm, as those winds are called, you will need to navigate by the stars. Not too difficult. I'll show you."

The first stars of evening were beginning to show, like bright splatters of white on a pale violet canvas.

"Fly between the two Night-Eyes- those are the two bright stars right there, almost directly opposite of each other- and always stay just West of the Great Evening Star." Hawk rolled up the map. "Can you remember that?"

"I think so." Crowe meowed dubiously. "It sounds kinda dangerous though...."

"No more dangerous than staying here." the rusty tom snapped back. "To stay would be foolish, and also selfish. Staying would put the lives of all the cats of your country in danger. Staying would be cowardly."

Raine and Crowe looked at each other, and their eyes locked.

We must go.

Yes, Crowe replied through his eyes. He turned to see Hawk's eyes shining. "Using Ser-Skpeh, I see." she said.

"What?" the black tom asked, rather confused. Hawk flicked his tail. "Also called Sight Speech. It allows cats that know each other enough to communicate through their eyes; 'course, you can keep it from happening. You've learned it at such a young age; I suppose you've know each other for quite awhile."

"Only a few days." Raine commented, her voice saturated in as much confusion as Crowe felt.

Hawk's eyes narrowed, not with suspicion, but with thoughtfulness. "Then, I suspect, your destinies are entwined, like the river and the rain; you cannot have one without the other, or leave one out and have the other remain." The rusty tom turned away. "Never mind that, though. You should get some rest. I'll take you back to my place."