Animal Legacy Haliastur Soaring The Chestnut Sunset

Chapter 6 The Ghost Bird

Suddenly, Fei yawned. Still unwary of the danger above our heads.

"Hey..., what you both looking at?" she asked with sleepy eyes, not noticing our fearful expressions. Fei then turned her head up to the branch above. Her eyes then suddenly went wide and her face was more alarmed than fatigue as she shrieked with fear after noticing the owl and his creepy black stare.

The owl on the other talon, with his heart shaped face, did not seemed like the lovely 'let's play with chicks' kind of owl. Behind that big heart of his was a brain that had a sinister plan for us and we all thought and guessed what that was.

Father and mother told us stories of the dangers of the night on our first night.One of them is owls, nocturnal birds of prey that begin their hunt at dusk. They also told us about a particular owl, the common barn owl. A species that is widespread in different parts of the world including Langkawi and doesn't hoot like most owl.But instead, has a nightmarish screech that could give you terrible dreams for nights.

"Hello there, little chicks," he finally spoke. His voice was like the midnight wind, cold and deadly as if he made us all froze because we didn't move and only shivered upon hearing it.

"Who are you?" Fei mustered enough of her courage to ask him.

"Hantu," the barn owl answered with his cold and deadly voice.

"Umm...excuse me," Khajul suddenly piped up. However, he was still trembling with phobia. Hantu then turned his attention to Khajul. " "Wh-What y-y-you going t-t-..." Khajul stammered before finishing his question and then fainted. His undeveloped little wings spread out as the leaf floor softened his fall and a faint rustle was heard.

"Well, thank you for asking me that little one." Hantu answered. He then stretched his wings and hopped down, flapping his wings which sounded as silent as the dead (so that's why neither us or our parents heard him coming earlier)with talons outstretched.

What happened next shocked me and Fei as Hantu swooped down so fast and seized my poor little brother in his huge talons and then landed on the same branch next to the nest as Laut did on the day we hatched, patches of brown and white plumage displaying in the moonlight.

"Khajul!!!" me and Fei screamed at the top of our lungs. Hantu turned around to face us then lifted one of his talons to show Khajul in his clutches and sharp claws were surrounding him. Khajul was still unconscious and breathing (luckily) and only his head and legs were dangling and free of Hantu's grip. We feared that if Hantu tightened his grip, Khajul would suffocate and then there would be no coming back for him.

"You let our brother go!" I yelled at Hantu. Next to us, mother was still sleeping like a log, ignoring our screams. She must be in a really deep slumber, because what Fei said next was a mixture of boldness, bravery, craziness and loud.

"You're super duper mean! You are bad owl! You can't scare us! You're evil!" Fei spilled everything from her thoughts. She was nuts even when we were still chicks.

Hantu narrowed his dark eyes at her. His eyes pierced through our souls. "It's called survival, little ones," he said. " Something that is not comprehensive at your age and I could've gotten away with it silently if it wasn't for this little brat!" he then looked at Khajul closely for a moment. He seemed irritated just by looking at him.

What did Khajul do? What did he do to thwart Hantu's plan of silence? And most importantly what's survival? Hantu was doing all of this for something we didn't know about?

Then he turned his attention back to us. "But, don't worry," he said. "You'll get to understand and experience it first talon as you observe on what I'm going to do next." Hantu then opened his beak as he lifted the unconscious Khajul closer to it.

He was going to devour Khajul!

Khajul!!! Noooooo!!! My mind screamed while Fei tries desperately to wake up mother, who's eyelids were not budging a bit.

All of a sudden, a figure swooped in with outstretched talons as they slammed into Hantu's side before they took off. Hantu expression was suddenly full of shock and surprise as he stretched his wings out to try to rebalance himself on the branch before releasing his grip on Khajul who then landed onto the nest rim and rolled into the bowl.

I thought I saw a glimpse of chestnut colored wings in the moonlight before they vanished.

As for Hantu, his wings suddenly angled too much to one side and before you know it, wobbled off the branch as we heard the heavy sound of rustling leaves and guessed that he must have crashed through the foliage of leaves below us.

Although we both knew he might and will return ( since he has wings), we were relieved.

" Are you chicks alright?" a familiar voice asked. We looked around and saw a bird circling around the nest. It was father. Father saved us.We cried out at father with delight.

"Kawi!" he called. Then called louder. Mother suddenly woke up and jumped up with a fright. "Huh? What?" she said in confusion, swinging her head around.

"An owl tried to eat Khajul. But I took care of him," he explained, still circling the nest. "He fell through the leaves below. "I going to check if—" father was abruptly interrupted when Hantu suddenly swooped up almost as high as the moon and then dived bombed into father with talons outstretched as he got closer.

Then he collided onto father's back, sending them both plummeting to the ground.