Chapter 29
Sleep came and went, and I was awakened all too early by the bright light shining through my window.
That, and a bird careening through the open glass.
I had been lazily dozing when the poor creature shot through the open window and crashed into the wall near the door.
The poor thing hit the drab wallpaper and dropped like a rock onto the floor.
I shot up and stared blankly at the tiny creature. The bird stood and wandered about like a drunk.
“Oh my gosh!” I yelped as I flung aside the covers and raced over to the bird. I scooted it up and cradled the dizzying creature in my palms. “Are you alright?”
The bird shook its head before it lifted its beady black eyes to me. It was a magnificent specimen, slightly larger than a woodpecker and with bright blue and black plumage. Its yellow beak blended with the black of its hooded head, and its tiny claws tickled my palms.
It cocked its head to one side and opened its mouth. “Of course I’m alright!”
My mouth dropped open. “Did you. . .you can talk?”
“And why not?” he countered as he strolled off my palms.
And collapsed face-first onto the floor. I yelped and scooped him up again, so he lay on his back. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Every word from him was punctuated by a hop of his whole body. “Of course I’m sure! Why shouldn’t I be?”
“Because you just fell onto the floor. Again.”
“I was merely getting my bearings,” the bird insisted as he sat up and ruffled his feathers again. “There shouldn’t be any reason for you to think I’m not alright.”
“B-but I. . .that is, you crashed through the window-”
“Crashed nothing,” the bird argued as it preened some of its feathers. “I always land that way.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Always?”
“What’s wrong with that?”
I leaned back and shook my head. “I-I don’t know. I mean, I’m not a bird, but it looked and sounded, well, painful.”
“I’m made of tougher stuff than mere humans,” he boasted as he stretched himself to his full half-foot height. “Besides, I’m not the one who’s in trouble here. You’re late for practice.”
I blinked at him. “Practice?” God, I hope it wasn’t learning how to fly.
He used a wing to point at the open window. “Marc and that lizard are waiting for you out in the garden. They told me to fetch you at once.”
I lifted an eyebrow at my tiny friend. “Why did they send you?”
He hopped onto his legs and puffed out his chest. “Because I am the fastest flier in the whole garden.”
“But you can’t land,” I guessed.
“A minor detail,” he countered as he made to walk off my hand again. I quickly set my palms on the floor, and he marched onto the boards. He spread his wings and flicked his tail. “Now then, let’s be off.”
He pumped so fast I could hardly follow, and in a trice he shot out of my bedroom and disappeared over the windowsill.
I jumped to my feet and raced over, grasping the sill as I leaned into the void.
The little bird darted across the winding stone paths, colorful bushes, and myriad of flower beds, and landed on a nearby tree.
Or tried to. He overshot the branch, but managed to catch the next one, though not without some scrabbling.
“Good morning!”
I turned my attention to a stone path on my left. Marc stood there with Ramaro at his side.
I waved to them before I pointed at the bird. “Is he okay?”
The bird answered me. “Nothing a little feed wouldn’t fix!”
“There’s food in the kitchen. You can grab something and bring it out here,” Marc called to me.
I gave him a lazy salute and ducked back inside. In a jiffy, I had slipped on my clothes, scurried downstairs, and grabbed a bread from the island in the kitchen. Eldric sat at the low table with a mug of some hot drink in his hand and a paper in the other.
“Good morning,” he greeted me as I gathered a meal. “I hope you slept well.”
“Perfectly,” I assured him before I stuffed a warm cinnamon roll-type bread into my mouth. “Thanks for the food!”
“Thank Marc,” he corrected me as he took another sip. “He cooked it for you.”
My heart fluttered, and I hurried to the rear door that led out into the large garden.
The backyard occupied even more space than the spacious house, and stone paths meandered their way around the place.
Moss covered the ground between the smooth rocks and climbed up the low stone walls that surrounded the bushes and flower beds.
“Eldric must really like plants,” I mused as I admired the dozens of different flowers and even vines that crept everywhere.
“He needs all he can get for his studies,” Marc told me as I reached the pair.
I lifted my eyes to the tree in which the strange bird had landed. “Is that bird really alright?”
Ramaro wrinkled his snout. “That thing will be just fine.”
“I heard that!” The thing in question hopped out from underneath a clump of leaves on the branch and glared at Ramaro. “I am not a thing! I am Rumlerche Schnattervogel the Fourth, heir to the mighty dynasty of birds who have flown these breezes since time immemorial!”
“Like you know how to fly properly. . .” Ramaro grumbled.
The bird stabbed the end of one wing at Ramaro. “How dare you, you soiled lizard! What would a creature of the ground know of the skies?”
“Enough to know you have a bad habit of dropping out of them,” the agama snapped.
“Rum here offered to help with your training,” Marc spoke up as he gave a sharp look at his scaly companion. Ramaro turned his face away and huffed, but said nothing.
I tilted my head back to study the strange bird. “That’s very nice of you, um, Rum.”
He stretched his wings on either side of him and flapped them a few times. “Not at all. It’s been many nestings since a witch of your caliber came to the city, or so Marc told me. Probably not since Lady Blackbrew was here.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “How do you know I’m that powerful?”
Rum nodded at Marc. “He explained to me what you did last night, and it perfectly matched the tingling in my cadmus.”
I blinked at him. “Your what?”
He lifted his wings again and flapped a few times. “My wings, you silly fool. Have you no education?”
“I’m a little rusty in the area of avians,” I admitted as my eyes darted over to Marc. “So, um, what do I need to do?”
Rum hopped to the end of his limb, where he stood two feet above our heads. “You need to prevent my friends from popping your little water bubbles.”
“Friends?”
Rum lifted his beak and sang a sweet, high-pitched song.
The bushes and leaves rustled before dozens of small sparrows burst out of their hiding spots.
The tiny avians swooped around us as quickly as the blink of an eye.
A few landed on my head, and I couldn’t help but laugh as their tiny feet tickled my scalp.
Others perched on my shoulders, and a few even clung to my sleeves.
Rum marched soldier-style across the branch with his wings tucked tightly against his sides.
“Marc informed me that your foes last night were able to strike your magic. We’re here today to make sure you’re the only one doing the striking.
” He tweeted out a few bars, and the birds scattered to every bush and branch near me.
Rum used a wing to point at a bird bath.
“Now summon your magic and lift the water out of the bowl, and send it to you. We’ll try to pop them, and you need to try to control them enough to avoid the popping. Do you understand?”
My face drooped. “I understand, I just don’t know if I can do it.”
“Not yet, but by the time I’ve finished with you, you’ll be able to run bubbles around anything. Now let’s begin.”
I sighed, but focused all my energy on the water. The surface jiggled, and bubbles popped out. They floated into the air and glided toward me.
Until Rum gave the call. Then all the birds leaped into the air and dove at my bubbles. Not a single one survived. Try as I might, I couldn’t control a single bubble.
Rum ruffled his feathers. “I see we have a long day ahead of us.”
“A very long one because I don’t know how to control anything other than to make them float up,” I pointed out.
“Don’t focus on a single one. Focus on them as a flock.” The advice came from Marc as he folded his arms over his chest. “The flock protects its own. You might sacrifice some of the bubbles so the majority manage to reach you.”
Rum bobbed his head. “Good advice. Try that.”
I straightened and nodded. “Alright, I’ll do that. Get ready, everyone.” The birds chirped in response.
I focused all my attention on the whole container, and not just the little quirks in the surface of the water. The bubbles floated up as before, but more clustered. The birds took off and dive-bombed the cluster. Their sharp beaks popped the outer shell, but the inner circle remained untouched.
But not for long. The birds were making quick work of my work. I summoned the bubbles to myself, and they sped through the crowd of beaks and over to me.
A little too quickly. The bubbles crashed into me, soaking me to the bone.
I sheepishly smile at my amused companions as the birds landed. “I guess that works. Mostly.”
“Enough to earn you a new set of clothes,” Marc mused as he looked me over. “Care for some-”
I held up my hand. “I can handle changing my clothes by myself.”
“Which is why I’m coming with you,” Ramaro insisted as he stood.
“Only if you can catch me,” I challenged him before I darted down the path.