Mend the Flesh

Chapter 2

2

The days are long in the desert; especially when you have no books or television or Netflix. It doesn't seem to bother Travellers, but I grew up in the human world, and in the human world there's a lot of good tv. I tried talking to Royal, but he preferred to spend the day outside sunning himself on a rock, only coming in occasionally to cook me some porridge or go to the bathroom. The only time we actually spent together was at night.

After dinner, when the sun was down, he would build fires in all the rooms and then we'd sit together in the living room. Him deep in a beanbag chair and me sitting painfully upright on a straight back chair that provided enough support for the skeletal remains on my wings. Tonight was the third night of this routine and I longed for conversation as I watched Royal stare at the flames.

"Any adventures you'd like to share?" I asked.

"Hmm?"

"Adventures. You must have a few," I pressed.

"Not really."

"Right." This was going well. "Any bird-person wisdom you'd like to impart to me?"

He turned from the flame and looked at me, the light blue of his eyes seemed to spark in the light.

"Bird-people? Is that what you think we are?"

There was an edge to his voice that I hadn't heard before. I'd struck a nerve. Which was fine with me because sitting here in silence was making me crazy. If having an argument with him was the only way to get him to talk, then so be it.

"I don't know what we are. Up until a few days ago, I thought I was the only bird-person around. I meet you and think 'fantastic, now I can learn who we are,' but you don't seem to want to tell me. So until I know different, I'm going with bird-people."

"Bird is their word. Not ours."

"Who are 'they’?"

"Everyone else."

"Okay." Ah, that familiar Traveller crypticness, how I'd missed you. "So what's our word?"

"I'm Royal, and you're Phoenix. And that's all we need."

"So we don't have a name for our species like the sirens or the minions do?"

"Nope, don't need one."

"Why not?"

"Because up until a few days ago, honey, I was pretty sure I was the only one of whatever we are. And I was fine with Royal."

"Really? You've never met another of our kind?"

"Nope."

"Then..." I paused, "then how did you know to come help me?"

Royal sighed heavily and with a few flaps of his wings was standing. He moved towards the fire and added another log. I stayed silent, waiting.

"Well, because that explosion of power you let off, and the scream that came with it, they felt just like it did when it happened to me. I was sitting outside on my rock and suddenly this ripping scream goes through me and every feather in my wings stands on end, and I got this image of you, this burnt out thing lying in the dirt, and my heart knew where you were and what had happened to you. So I Travelled to you. Brought you back here." He turned to me, a rough smile on his lips. "Don't go thanking me again. You've done enough of that." He went back to his seat. "And I know you'd do the same thing for me."

"I would."

"I know, honey, you're good people. Good bird-people." He winked.

"Oh, please don't make me laugh." I tried to relax into the shaking of my ribs. "It hurts."

"You're getting better though, a bit more meat on you today."

"Yeah, a bit."

We sat in companionable silence for a few minutes.

"So how many times has this," I gestured at myself, "happened to you?"

"Twice."

"Seriously?" If I'd had eyebrows or even eyelids for that matter, they would have shot up. "You've been through this twice?"

"Yep, a long time ago now."

"How did it happen?"

"Well, the first time was a bit sticky."

I waited in the light of the fire. How many times had I sat round a fire with a fellow Traveller and learned their secrets? Sid had told me my life story by a fire like this. I heard about the tearing of my wings as red and gold flames danced in the reflection of his eyes.

And then there were those hours with Benyst, sat there with stew and beer and quiet companionship. I wondered what they were both doing now. Sid had been freed from the City of Caves, I'd made sure of that. And Benyst had gone back to Noiryn, I'd made sure of that too. Sigh. Why did I have to hit on him? He had Noiryn, I had Archer, and yet when Benyst was on top of me, not on top of me on top of me, we'd fallen after Travelling, my body had made the move. Man, that mistake felt so long ago. In human terms it was only maybe a week ago. In Travellers’ terms? Well, they, sorry, we, seem to see everything on a single continuum. It gets a bit confusing.

"I had decided to go exploring..." Royal had begun his tale. "I did a lot of exploring when I was younger. I couldn't stay in one place for too long, sure I had this place and I loved it here then as much as I do now, but I just needed to fill my eyes with new things. I'd just got back from some time in the Grand Canyon, exploring and riding the rapids, and the sandy landscape back here just seemed too familiar. So I jumped into the air and let Time take me. When I'd spun out of the Time Tunnel, I found myself flying over..."

"Wait!" I interrupted. He glared at me. "Sorry, very sorry, it's just, well, we can fly through the Time Tunnels? And be in the air when we come out?"

"Of course we can." He gave me a weird look. "How have you been doing it?"

"Well, I just kind of get dragged along."

He sighed.

"Alright, when you're stronger, we'll work on that."

"Thank you."

"Now, if I may continue?"

"Please."

"So I was in the air after the Time Tunnel and I come out to see this massive mountain range below me. Everywhere I looked there were mountains, but green, not snowy white like you usually see. And the air was warm and moist, it was really easy to catch a headwind and glide. I did that for a while above the scene, just taking in the mountains. There were no humans around, which made exploring a bit easier, but I knew to always keep an eye out for the big animals."

"Why? I thought they couldn't see us?"

"Who told you that?"

"A friend, they said they could sometimes feel our presence, but it's hard for them to see us."

"Well, your friend is wrong. The bigger the animal, the better it can spot you. And the further back in time you go, the easier they can spot you. Take it from me, don't go trying to see the dinosaurs, you'll be attacked before you can get your feet on the ground. Look at this."

He sat forward and pulled up his shirt exposing the right side of his body. There were three long ragged gashes, healed over and shiny, they stretched from his armpit down his body and around to his low back.

"Holy crap!"

"Yep, nearly ripped me in half. I managed to get out of there and back home before I bled out."

"I didn't know we could be injured like that."

"Of course we can!" Royal pulled his shirt down. "You cut a minion's head off, and you still think we can't be injured!" He laughed. "Bird, you've got a lot of learning to do."

Yes, I'd cut off a minion's head. Ganaraj is what those who feared him called him, me, I called him Big G. He was a tyrant and sadist and generally terrible being and I'd killed him. At the time I thought he was responsible for the Bounty on my life, but he wasn't, he was just trying to capture me so he could claim the reward. I didn't feel bad about killing him. I'd thought long and hard about it those first few days I laid on my bed here in Royal's home. Ganaraj needed to die. So I killed him. I could live with that and still sleep at night. Which honestly scared me more than the actual killing.

Even though I wasn't human, I still wanted to retain my humanity.

"Right, I just thought when we were outside our world we were safe."

"Phoenix, you've got a lot more to learn."

"I know." I looked down at my sinewy fingers; they looked like shrivelled pepperoni in the firelight. I shuddered, sliding my hands into the folds of my robes. "Sorry, I'll stop interrupting. You were gliding over the mountains?"

"Right." Royal had watched my little finger moment but said nothing. "I was gliding around and keeping an eye out for anything big. The coast looked clear, so I started to make my way to the ground.

I was doing it in wide circles, only a few flaps here and there, just slowly floating my way down. The sun was behind me, and I could see my shadow on the ground. The outline of my wings, the shape of my body, it was kind of hypnotic, and I lost myself in the graceful swirl of me and my shadow.

I was about halfway down when a dark shape flitted across the ground below me. At first I thought it was some big mammal down there waiting to pounce on me, so I widened my circle and stopped my descent. But as I circled, clouds closed in behind me, blocking the sun and destroying my shadow for a moment. When the clouds moved, I could make out my shadow below, but it wasn't alone. A little ways away was another shadow, a gigantic shadow, pacing me.

The shadow that followed me was huge, the wingspan easily double my own and the body of the bird, it had to be a bird, twice my size. It was hunting me. I knew it in my bones. If I didn't get out of there quick I was going to be a meal for this monstrous thing.

I had to get back to the portal. You do know about portals right?" He paused and looked at me.

"Yes! Please, continue!" I said back in a hushed tone.

"Had to ask. Right, we can fly through the tunnels and find portals in the air, but you still gotta find a portal in the first place. And the portal I needed was up much higher than where I was now. So I went into a dive hoping to draw the bird out and then lose it on the rise. I figured anything that big would have a pretty hard time making altitude quickly. So I took a deep breath and moved to dive.

The bird was on to me though, and much closer than I had realised. I went into the dive and looked back over my shoulder to see if the bird was following. It was enormous. Just bloody huge, the body of the bird was taller than me and twice as wide. It had these thick stubby legs with giant clawed feet, and when I turned to look at it, it dropped into attack mode. It stretched its wings back and stuck out its talons. It was dropping fast, and it was ready to catch me.

I had no time to think; I went on instinct. I pulled out of the decent and flapped my wings, I think I was trying to get out of the way of the bird, but I'd underestimated its wingspan. I moved left and was struck by the bird's wing. It was like being hit by a feather covered tree. It knocked the wind out of me, and I struggled to breathe as I dropped like a stone towards the ground.

As I tumbled, I felt the great bird's talons pierce the flesh of my arm as it gripped my bicep. It let out a sharp cry, sure it had caught me. But we were too close to the ground for the great beast to stop itself and we crashed through the trees, tangled together. I have no idea how I managed to get my lungs working again, but I did and it brought the sense back to me. As we crashed through the trees I reached up with my free hand and drove my fist into the belly of the beast. I knew the punch alone wouldn't hurt the bird. So I grabbed onto the short feathers that covered its gut and pulled myself in closer. I heard a tearing sound as I did this and looked down to see the flesh of my caught arm splayed open. I ignored that as best I could and called on my power. A blast of white lightning shot from heart down my arm and into the bird.

It screamed and released me just as we hit the ground. I had the body of the bird to cushion my fall, and with adrenaline and power running through me, I tried to make my escape. I ran for it, but I was getting weak from blood loss, and I stumbled. That quick stumble was enough time for the bird to right itself and start after me. I knew I had no other choice but to stand and fight the f*****g thing.

I looked around for a weapon, and all I could see was a large rock at my feet. There was no time to pull down a branch or fashion something sharp. So I picked up that rock with my good arm, charged it with power until it glowed bright blue, then braced myself for the attack.

The bird came at me hard, but I was ready. Rather than be knocked down by its weight, I took the impact into me and held on to the bird's torso. I was too close to its body to be batted by its wings, but it still had that massive beak and it started pecking at my head and shoulders. White light flashed before my eyes and I could taste blood in my mouth. Using a combo of legs and my bloody arm, I crawled up the body of the beast, all the while its beak pecking at me. I buried my head in the beast's neck to protect myself and then I started pounding on the bird's skull with my rock. Just pounding as hard as I could. It screamed and ripped a long gash down my back with its beak. It was running in circles now, trying to throw me off, but I knew if it did I was going to be bird seed, so I kept bashing that rock into its skull and it kept running.

My injured arm was starting to go numb and the flashes of blackness were coming closer together; I didn't have much time left, I was pretty sure I was going to die. And I swear, as soon as that hit me, the moment I knew this would be my last fight, a great warmth started to grow in my belly. At first I thought it was the warmth of death coming for me, but the warm turned to hot, burning hot, and then it started to move through my limbs. It ran down my arms and legs, the rock in my hand freaking started to melt and without thinking, almost like I was in slow motion, I reached up and smeared it across the bird's cheek.

It screamed a horrible sound, just horrible, like a chainsaw and a blender had a baby and then used it to puree cats, just freaking horrible. It was as the bird's scream crested that the heat in me seemed to double and light blue flames erupted from my torso. The bird started to panic then and, as the flames began to move down my arms and legs, it took to the sky.

It was almost impossible for the beast; big wings are hard to flap so low to the ground, but it was now as close to death as I was. We rocked and bucked as we ascended, all the while the great bird was trying to throw me off, but if I was going down I was taking it with me. When we reached the sky, warm winds fanned my flames and soon the bird and I were both covered in blue fire. I could smell our feathers burning. The heat inside me was unbearable; I pulled my head from the bird's neck and looked at my body. My clothes had burned away and under the blue flames my skin was covered in blisters. I looked like I was cooking from the inside out.

The bird knew we were going to die soon, and with the last burst of energy, it flapped higher and then went into a spiral dive trying to throw me off. I could see the ground coming closer, and I could feel the heat inside me ready to blow. So I let go. I let go of everything.

The last thing I remembered was a bright flash of blue and then nothing."

Royal stared into the fire.

"Then what happened?" I whispered.

"I woke up here."

"Seriously?"

"Well, not right here, just over the hill where the portal is. My best guess is that when I went boom, the bird was blown off and I had the good fortune to fall directly through the portal."

"But you must have been a skeleton when you landed?"

"Pretty much, still had a bit of meat on me though, woke up to a couple of buzzards picking at me."

"That's gross."

"It was." Royal laughed.

"But how did you get back here? I could barely move those first few days. And how did you take care of yourself?"

"Oh, I had help."

"You did?" He was silent. "Who?"

"Cheryl." He stared at the fire.

"Who's Cheryl?"

"My wife." He didn't offer any more information, and since Cheryl obviously wasn't living here now, I didn't press it. We sat in silence for a few more minutes.

"And the second time?" I asked.

"Huh?" Royal seemed to be coming back from somewhere far away.

"The second time you burned, what happened then?"

"Oh, that." He took a swig of his drink and placed the empty cup on the floor. "Well, Cheryl died."

And then he stood up and walked out into the moonlight.