Wings of Boden (36 page)

The girl from my dreams commented in a little
voice across the cave, “Dakarai told me to go out and find the girl
angel. He told me to play a game and bring her back here. And, and,
he told me not to tell anyone.”

Glances exchanged through the room, murmurs,
in realization of Dakarai’s death wish.

My gaze went down to Vyn. “But, what about
the blood on your coat, and the angel bones?”

“Yeah, that.” His lopsided grin showed a bit
of guilt, maybe a little embarrassment. “I was trying to fight
Dakarai when he first pushed me in here. He slammed me against the
wall and cracked my head open”—I noticed the clotted cut on his
forehead, a clump of matted hair—“I used it to stop the bleeding.
And those aren’t angel bones. I really didn’t know what they were,
until Dakarai told me they’re petrified light cocoons. I was just
teasing you before. I’m sorry about that, Ellie.”

See, that’s what happens when you tease me, I
wanted to say, but said instead, “So, you were waiting for me,
while you helped them?” I raked the hair off my face, tucked it
behind my ear, and had one more test:

“Vyn, call me a princess.”

He shot me a look. “What, do you think I’m
stupid?”

I smiled.

Vyn gave me that blue-eyed squinting smile of
his. Oh, that smile, that wonderful stubbled smile. Those winking
dimples I’d thought I would never see again.

Tears prickled my eyes; I squeezed my lids
tight and blinked them away. I wanted to jump on him and never stop
hugging. My Vyn. My love … was alive. But now wasn’t the time. I
added some stern to my voice, “Well, we need to fix Dakarai then,
now.” I couldn’t believe those words just came out of my mouth.

Shrieks of this hunter had tormented my life.
Now I knew they were desperate calls of love and friendship. Now,
under lapping torchlight, I prayed for his survival.

Memories seeped to the surface. He was a
drek, but different. When I was a little girl, he would spend time
with me in the flower fields, going on in his intellectual way,
above the comprehension of an eight-year-old, and I’d smile and
call him silly. He’d bend his skinny frame so far down, reach his
long arm and pick a flower for me. Then he’d say in his drek voice:
Someday, little one, the world will see how beautiful you
are
. For hours, he’d stroll with me, picking flowers and
shooing away the other dreks.

Confusion filled me as he lay on his side,
dying from my spear. However, I had no doubt of his betrayal. The
remembrance of his horrible look when he had tried to drag me to
the clouds made that perfectly clear. Instinct, maybe?

Was it worthy of my forgiveness?

“Is he going to make it?” the woman
questioned Vyn.

“I don’t know. He’s lost a lot of blood.” Vyn
reached out and lifted Dakarai’s eyelid with one finger, looked for
signs of life. Then drew back, rose to stand with his head hung and
shoulders slumped. “I don’t think he is.”

Sniffling, I sent my gaze to the blood-soaked
dirt floor, my heart saturated with regret. I’m so sorry. I didn’t
know. I forgive you. Please don’t go.

Fluttering torch flames painted the quiet
room with light. Vyn checked and rechecked. Then stood up, looked
at me, and exhaled the fateful words:

“He’s gone.”

A hiccupped sob loosed from my throat as I
stumbled to Dakarai’s side, crumbled onto his wing and dropped my
face into my folded arms. The musky scent of his feathers lifted to
my nose as I silently begged, pleaded to hear his shrieks
again.

But there was only stillness. The fading
warmth of his body on my cheek. And the knowing. He had saved them
all. He had protected them and attempted to communicate his love
for me. And I’d ended him. Sniffles and moans filled the room,
while I wondered what they must think of me—the murderer. How could
I live with myself after this? I vowed never to kill again at that
horrendous moment.

At the sound of indistinct voices from afar,
I lifted my head, looked around.

“Ellie, are you in here?” Mom’s desperate
tone.

Jaydenn, “She wouldn’t come down this
far.”

Dad, “Yes, she would. She’s on a mission to
kill.”

I got to my feet, stumbled to the other
entrance, and stood with my gaze up the cave tunnel, murmurs behind
me. Dad and Mom materialized out of the dark distance, a light glow
to their bodies, Jaydenn and Luca just behind.

“I’m down here,” I called out.

“Oh, thank you, Source,” Mom said.

“Be careful. It might be a trick,” said
Dad.

“No, that’s my, Ellie.”

Mom ran down the cave, disregarding any
possibility of danger. When she approached, in dirty jeans and T, I
could tell she’d been crying, bags under red-rimmed eyes. Probably
mine were the same. When I blinked, I could feel the dry grit. I
squeezed my eyes shut, opened them, lifted my hand and rubbed my
runny nose as I snuffled. Mom pulled me into a hug. In her embrace,
I felt her heart racing, her breath shaking as she said, “I was so
worried about you.” She drew back, cleared hair off my forehead.
“Oh, Ellie, look at you.” She brushed at my face, tried to
finger-comb my hair, palmed my cheeks, then kissed and kissed and
kissed every inch of my face. Sentiments finished, she laid her
hands on my shoulders, looked directly into my stinging eyes, and
the mother look returned. “What are you doing in here?”

A silent frown and sniffle was all I could
manage in the depths of my shame.

Even as Mom started to notice the room behind
me, Dad ambled up to us, gave me a look. “I’m glad you’re okay,
sweetheart, but you have to be—” He stopped short, gazed into the
room. “What’s this? Vyn, and humans? Is that Dakarai? You killed
Dakarai?” His grin grew wide. “You said you would, didn’t you.” He
dropped a hand on my shoulder. “I’m proud of you. Now you can
forget.”

“Please, Dad, don’t say that. Just, don’t say
that, ever again.”

When a collective gasp blew through the room
behind me, I wheeled around to see Dakarai’s wing twitch, and
again. Vyn stood with and empty syringe in his hand, an expression
of astonishment as he backpedaled away.

“Stand back, I’ll do it,” Dad said. “Dakarai
lied to us.”

“No!” I barked, with a stopping hand to Dad’s
chest. “Just leave him alone.”

Everyone in the room eased to the cave walls,
wide eyes all around.

Dakarai’s upper wing twitched, and again,
before he rolled breast-down on the floor with his legs tucked
under. His head wobbled on his long neck, then swiveled around the
room, until his vulture gaze stopped on me.

And blinked.

My ability to breathe stalled as I felt the
air squeeze out of my lungs.

He lifted to his feet. My hand clapped over a
gasp when his red irises turned glacier green. His head and body
feathers filled with rich brown tones. His legs turned to flesh
colors and his beak hooked over sharp. The majesty of him lifted
chill bumps to my skin.

As I held wide eyes on him, it dawned on me:
Oh my Source
. The statue from the foyer.

A sentinel stood tall before us; a glorious
and confident hawk. His ice-green emotionless eyes blinked as he
cocked his head and glanced around the astonished room. Light sobs
of joy began to break the silence as one of the female humans
collapsed to her knees with her face buried in her hands.

“Well,” Dad croaked, “I, I don’t know what to
say. So that’s what he meant.”

I cleared my throat. “What?” Then followed
his sight line to see something hanging off a stubbed root on the
cave wall: A shield with a StarWing crest—crossed wings over a
spear—and a dark uniform of sorts, next to a sword in a worn
sheath.

Dad shook his head as if clearing his mind,
then lifted his hand and scrubbed his jaw in thought, narrowing his
eyes. He eventually replied, “Just a vision I let go of a while
back.” He paused. “It’s, that uniform. I think I know it from
somewhere.”

Dakarai clicked his beak, drawing the room’s
attention. Standing tall, he leaned forward, stretched his neck
toward me and telescoped his head. Hawk eyes the size of my fist
locked on me. A twinge of fright ran through my wings so strong I
almost wet myself. His beak opened a crack, and closed. In my mind,
a voice said,
Elleria Soepheea
. The tone was deep, clear,
and it nearly dropped me to the floor.

Holding a bewildered stare on Dakarai, I
whispered, “Is, is that you?”

Dakarai drew back, stood straight and the
voice in my head said,
Yes, it is me. Only you can hear my
words. Only the one that released the dark from me. You may forward
if you wish, after I say my peace.

Oh, my Source! He was talking … to me!

Please accept my apologies my little one. I
have only love for you, and always have. You did no wrong. It was
destiny. I am at your service for eternity.

“Why is she staring at him?” a human
asked.

“I think she’s reading his mind,” another
replied.

In utter amazement, I held my gaze on
Dakarai. He swung his eyes around the room, landed them back on
me.

You see, I am not who you think. Noble blood
once ran through my veins. Drekavac blood infected my soul, though
I knew I would spend eternity justifying my existence. Purpose
became clear, visions sent from Source. I was to guard the light
and wait for Vyncynte to realize. I came here, hung my uniform, and
waited. My duty is you my little one. The honor is mine to be by
your side, in our mission to bring a new dawn.

“But”—I swallowed a lump—“I-I can’t kill
anymore. I’m so sorry for what I did to you. I’m so sorry,
Dakarai.”

He clicked his beak with something that
resembled a chuckle.
No, dear, it was perfect. It was rightly
so. I must say, it was a bit theatrical, entertainment, yes. But
you see, my death was necessary, to release the dark that plagued
me for so long. Vyncynte’s purpose was to provide the light
—on
a pause, his gaze intensified—
Now we
must
. We
must
kill the hunters. We must end them, all of them. Along with the
drekavacs that haunt and hunt the children, they must go.

My chin dipped. I tucked some hair behind my
ear, whispered the only word I could manage, “Okay,” then stepped
over to Dakarai.

His head lowered, beak bowed while I smoothed
my hand over his neck feathers. I leaned into him, wrapped arms
halfway around his neck as he angled his head to touch my side.

After releasing the hug, I stood under his
lifted beak and noticed everyone staring at us.

Mom tilted her head to Dad’s shoulder while
he rubbed her back and wings. Jaydenn and Luca seemed lost, as did
the rest of them. At the feel of Vyn’s hand touching my back I
turned to see him standing beside me with a crooked grin.

He said with a bit of humor, “I guess that
light serum stuff worked, huh?”

Vyn caught me when I jumped onto him and
linked my arms around his neck. My chin cradled on his shoulder as
I said, “You have no idea what you’ve done. I love you so much.”
Then the realization hit me like a cloud; Vyn, my love, my life,
was holding me again. My Emotions spilled over his shoulder.

Dakarai’s voice in my head,
It was our
purpose, Vyncynte. We should go now.

After a moment of gathering myself, I
released back from Vyn, wiped my face and forwarded the message,
“Dakarai said it was our purpose, Vyn, and we should go now.”

My slow gaze took in all the sights outside
the upper Crag cave entrance, where Dakarai, Mom, Dad and me stood
on the ledge overlooking the land maybe a thousand feet be-low.

Under a clear sky, the distant Shone River
meandered through the valley of weeds and flowers. Aspen groves
specked the hills and pine forest skirted the mountains. Above the
tree line were boulder-pocked inclines and shale slides. Capped
with the last remnants of winter snow, the jagged mountain peaks
lanced the atmosphere. When I turned my gaze toward the Crags, I
spotted a family of longhaired mountain goats that seemed to be
stuck to the side of a cliff, white dots on a gray wall. Two baby
goats—kids I think they’re called—danced and jumped on the side of
the cliff, playing on a sheer ledge thousands of feet above the
land.

Earlier, Dakarai had instructed Vyn, Jaydenn
and Luca to take the humans out the lower entrance and escort them
to the human town under Conall Mountain.

A light breeze flicked the edges of Dakarai’s
neck feathers as he stared over the horizon.

This is our time now
, his voice in my
head. A smaller hawk called above,
kee-eee-aar!
And Dakarai
swiveled his head to me.
Ah, our friend says hello.

Pushing my hair back, I asked him, “You know
that, that hawk?”

Yes, for a very long time. He has spent a
lifetime watching and delivering news of progress. He has also been
keeping an eye you, and has come to enjoy your visits over the
years. He speaks highly of you
.

“What did Dakarai say, honey?” Mom asked,
drawing my attention. The thin breeze sent long strands of hair to
dance across her face. She held questioning eyes on me while she
raked the hair off her cheek, pulled a strand from the corner of
her mouth and tucked it behind her ear.

“He said that hawk says hello to us.”

Mom lifted her face to the sky, let out a
wondrous breath. “Oh, that’s so nice.” She raised her arm and sent
a wave. Her eyes sparkled like blue diamond glints in the sun as
the hawk pierced out a long reply,
kee-eee-aar!

While I viewed off the ledge, Vyn and the
others were hiking through the tall weeds toward the jade-colored
river, skipping along as they picked flower buds. The little girl
twirled around, dancing. Since she reminded me of my childhood, my
flower dancing escapades, I couldn’t help but send her a soft grin.
It was obvious, even from high above, that the meadow was full of
smiles and laughter. When they made it to the river’s edge, the
angels lifted and carried the humans over the river one at a time,
setting them gently to the other bank.