V. Forward (Chapter Two)
You look down at the scroll with the tip of your finger guiding the illustration. It almost seems impossible as you’re also worrying about falling off of Strix. You concentrate hard, slowly outlining a lyrebird along the scroll. Soraya watches as you change the color of the ink for a more precise drawing.
“Now’s not the time to elaborate! Just finish it!” Soraya calls out.
You quickly finish the body and wings of the bird and look up to Soraya. Nothing is happening.
“The tail feathers!” Soraya yells.
You throw your hands up completely forgetting the most noticeable trait of the lyrebird. You rapidly trace two long tail feathers with checkered patterns. Suddenly the dark outlining ink turns to a yellowish light shining so brightly you have to look away.
“Hurry up back there! I can’t keep this speed forever!” Strix shouts.
Immediately, Soraya begins to play her lyre. Her eyes closed and her demeanor calm, she plucks away at the strings with ease. Suddenly, a golden lyrebird manifests from the light shining from the scroll. It flies just above Strix and seems to slowly dance in the wind. You watch in awe as the lyrebird gracefully twirls in the sky, completely forgetting that Skullpicker is within reach.
Soraya runs through the melody again. The sound of the strings feels like they’re swaying back and forth, like a ship at sea or a hammock in the canopy of the trees. Each note perfectly played with absolute mastery. You watch as the Skullpicker begins to fly at lower elevations and seems to lose speed. Soraya continues as the golden lyrebird slowly returns to the scroll and seals itself back into ink. You look down only to find the Skullpicker slowly landing between the trees in the forest.
“It worked!” Soraya cheers! “Strix, let’s go save Burt!”
Strix doesn’t respond as he flies right past the Skullpicker’s nest.
“Strix?” Soraya yells.
You crawl toward Strix’ head only to find he’s fallen asleep too. You grab Soraya’s attention in a flash to help wake him up.
“Oh dear!” Soraya shouts as she pulls out her lyre once more.
This time she doesn’t play gentle chords or melodies but more of a horribly screeching minor note that resonates with the most unpleasant of sounds. Strix wakes up as if we had poured water on his head.
“What in The Great Pond was that?” Strix yells.
“Strix! Burt!” Soraya calls out.
“Oh, oh, of course! I had almost forgotten,” Strix says as he quickly turns around, heading toward Skullpicker’s nest.
Strix slowly descends onto the edge of the nest to see Burt jumping with joy.
“Come on Burt, we don’t have much time!” Soraya shouts.
“What took you all so long?” Burt asks.
You reach down to help Burt climb onto Strix’ back when the small bird from your hood hops out and into the nest. You panic and let go of Burt’s hand and he tumbles backwards.
“Ouch! I’m so ready to be back on that ragged old couch in the Guild’s quarters. I swear, I’ll never leave again,’ Burt says, dusting himself off.
“Hurry up, the Lullaby won’t last forever,” Soraya says with urgency.
You hop off Strix and chase after the bird only to find there’s more than one. You pause and look around the nest. There were tons of birds, all baby herons, the Skullpicker’s offspring. Your heron walks to the others and is quickly rejected by the flock as it’s pushed down. It stands back up and runs back to you begging to be picked up. You scoop it up and run back to Strix.
“That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen,” Burt says in a somber voice.
Soraya’s mouth hangs wide open, speechless.
You and Burt climb back onto Strix and hold on tight.
“That’s the offspring of the Skullpicker,” Soraya finally says, looking at you in shock. “How?”
You shrug your shoulders as Burt laughs a little bit.
“Hold on, everyone. I’m getting out of here before that winged demon rouses,” Strix says as he begins to flap.
As Strix flies you all east, back to Maeflorian’s cottage, Soraya doesn’t once turn around to talk to you or Burt. You think that it could just be the exhaustion from almost dying multiple times in one day. Strix descends near the cottage to find Maeflorian working in her garden. You all hop off Strix, eager to be walking on the ground once again.
Soraya wastes no time and promptly walks to Maeflorian,
“You knew all along, didn’t you?”
Maeflorian gets up and dusts off her hands,
“Know what, my dear?”
Soraya points back to you,
“You sent us on a wild goose chase!”
Burt clears his throat,
“Heron chase.”
Soraya rolls her eyes,
“My mother’s artifact! They’ve had it all along!”
“My dear, Soraya, this was for you to discover yourself. You must trust the process,” Maeflorian tries to reason.
Soraya storms over to you,
“Give it up!”
You silently reach into your hood and give the baby heron over to Soraya. After holding for only a moment, the bird pecks her in the hand.
“Ouch!” Soraya yells as she drops the baby heron.
The bird waddles back over to you and cries out to be picked up. You bend down and comfort it before allowing it onto your palm.
Maeflorian starts to laugh,
“I believe the adventurer has an imprint on the baby heron.”
“So, what does that mean?” Soraya asks.
“It means, it’s not yours to have Soraya,” Maeflorian says.
“If I can’t have it, then that means the guild isn’t getting their reward,” Soraya says between gritted teeth.
“Hold on, Soraya. I didn’t just trudge through a deadly marsh to see a royal frog the size of a small island and get kidnapped by a devil with wings for nothing!” Burt shouts.
You rush over to Burt to calm him, although you half heartedly agree.
“The contract clearly states that I have to have the artifact. If I can’t own my mother’s artifact then you’ll get nothing,” Soraya says clenching her fists.
“That’s your father speaking,” Maeflorian says under her breath.
Soraya runs over to Strix, who is just as much shocked as you are, and climbs onto his back. She signals Strix to fly and he begins to flap his wings. Soraya doesn’t bother looking back as they ascend into the sky and off into the distance. You and Burt look at each other with wide eyes.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Burt says in disbelief. “Allard is going to be so mad.”
“Y’all don’t worry. She can be a firecracker. As for you,” Maeflorian motions toward you, “looks like you have a new family member. I’d advise you to keep it a secret. I would imagine the residents of Windrose City not being too keen on knowing the guild is in possession of the Skullpicker’s offspring.”
“She did what?” Allard shouts in anger.
“She wouldn’t pay us. She just flew away on the giant owl,” Burt tries to explain.
After days of walking by foot back to Windrose City, you and Burt were stopped by Strix just before the land bridge. Fortunately, you got to ride across on his back as the tide was high. Windrose City isn’t fond of air traffic so Strix dropped you off just on the other side of the bridge. He didn’t speak much of Soraya as he’d promised her to not discuss it with anyone. You and Burt walked the rest of the way back to Windrose City with your heads down. The sense of failure devoured the journey home, as it is also doing now in the Guild’s quarters.
“So we offered our services for weeks, found the artifact, and all we got was this,” Allard gestures toward the baby heron, “bird!”
Burt points to the baby heron,
“That heron is named Nessie, and you will show it respect!”
Nessie perks up its head and firmly nods its approval.
“Bless the Old Wizard, this was our chance to finally bring light back to the Embers of the Phoenix,” Allard says walking around the room in disappointment.
“Open the curtains then,” Burt says.
You walk over to the window, slide the curtains to let the sunlight reach the room.
“That’s not what I meant, Burt,” Allard sighs as he plops down onto the couch.
You look down to the city streets watching the bustling whiskers back and forth. After a moment you notice a whisker in a green cloak walk into the Adventurer’s Guild. You look over to Burt who is arranging his card deck.
“Looks like I’ll just have to play some cards to get some money coming back into the guild,” Burt says with a smile.
“You will be out of the guild faster than you can…” Allard stops because there’s a knock at the door.
He raises up from the couch. Burt seems to be unfazed as he continues with his cards. You walk over to the door and open it. Standing at the door is a hooded whisker in a green cloak.
“I’m sorry,” Soraya says with her head down.
“You!” Allard shouts getting up from the couch.
“Let me explain,” Soraya lifts up her head.
You try to hold Allard back from her, unsure what he might do. Burt rushes over to help you.
“You have some nerve coming here,” Allard says, stepping back.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you all. I was mad. And when I get frustrated, I flee. I always do that,” Soraya mumbles. She lifts up a brown sack to you. “Take it. You and the guild deserve it.”
The sack falls into your hand with the sound of gold coins. It was unexpectedly heavy and you nearly drop it. You look back at Allard and Burt. Nessie squawks with excitement and walks over to her and rests its head on her leg.
Soraya smiles looking down at Nessie, “I thought I was going to find her. I thought I was going to solve the great mystery and reclaim the Mudpearl dynasty. Instead, all I found was my irrational emotional behavior that pushes away friends.”
“Friends? Soraya, you almost got us killed. We’re not friends. We’re family now!” Burt says jokingly.
Soraya smiles back.
“Soraya, only moments ago, I would have traveled to the end of The Great Pond to get that money from you. And while I’m still disappointed it took you this long. I guess, I can forgive you,” Allard says from behind you.
You and Burt both look at Allard in surprise.
“What?” Allard asks.
“Allard, that might be the first time I’ve ever heard of you forgiving anyone,” Burt says in shock.
“Don’t get any ideas, Burt. I still have my eye on you,” Allard stares at Burt.
Soraya laughs,
“Thank you all for helping me. See you around sometime?”
You nod your head with approval as Nessie chirps with excitement. You bend down to pick up Nessie to cradle in your arms.
Soraya pets Nessie’s head,
“You take care of these whiskers. They’re special to me.”