Falcon Feathers

Falcon Feathers (Chapter 17)

Once again I got up and stumbled over to the furry lump that lay at the front of the wreckage. I collapsed to my knees scraping them on the pavement. I would feel the throbbing in my knees later once I could get over the shock. Ursa lifted her head up into my lap as her last breaths were choked out of her. As I held her I layed my head on top of hears and sobbed into her fur. 

"Don't cry little one" she said. Her chest ceased its rising and faling. Her heart stopped its rythmic beat. I tried to stop them, but the tears kept streaming down my face. And they kept coming long after her body faded away into nothingness. I kept crying long after I heard the sirens, and long after I was safe in the arms of my Aunt and Uncle.

The last of my tears fell onto the small stone I had stood up to mark where I had buried her totem on the lone hill where we watched the stars together for so many years. I blinked at the sunrise and faced away from the grave. Never again would I allow myself to be weak. Never again will I shed a tear. I stopped and took another look at my lifelong friend. I felt a burning in my eyes before I closed them.

When I opened them I was laying on my bead back at the guild. I got up and checked the time. it was 10:15 it was time to go. I zipped the bag and placed the photo face down on the nightstand. ( I'm going to bring you back Ursa, and nothing is going to stop me.) I closed the door behind me. I crept down the hallway and met Lance outside the front door.

"Ready?" he asked. I nodded and we left to go meet the others at the main building.

********************

Derek's POV

I crouched on my rocky perch outside my room. I dug my talons in as I watched Moses and Lance leave the building. (Ok so you were right about hearing Lance sneak out into the hallway, but that doesn't mean that they are up to something. Well besides breaking curfew anyways. Besides they'll probably get  caught by the one of the treants or the golems so why do we have to do anything?) FIRST OF ALL OF COURSE THEY ARE UP TO SOMETHING. AND SECOND OF ALL YOU NEED TO DO SOMETHING BECAUSE THEY ARE YOUR FRIENDS. (Fine. I'll tail them and see what they are up to.)

I launched my self into the air and let myself  be carried up on the breeze. Staying as high up as I could without loosng sight of them in the darkness I followed them across the fields towards the main building. (What do they want at the main building?) As I flew closer I could make out the forms of five other people.

I circled around near the top of the building while I waited to see what happened next. Once they went inside, I quietly landed on the ground. Quietly I opened the door and slipped in. I heard the faint sound of footsteps and followed them down the hallway to my left. When I reached the end of the hallway, I peeked around the corner and listened again for the footseps and the base of the staircase. When I could no longer hear them I crept silently down the stairs to the bottom floor. The lights were out except for in the library. I crouched down low to the floor and stole swiftly over to the library's door frame. I stayed crouched with my back against the wall listening.

"What are you-" the librarian began before I heard a soft thud. I waited for a few moments before I peered around the corner. There was no sign of anyone save for the librarian with her head laying face down on her desk. I quickly walked up to her and checked her pulse. She was alive, just unconscious.  I crept quietly out of the circle of light provided by her lamp, and ventured into the darkness of the rows of books. I crept soundlessly as I listened for any noise that might give an indication of where they had gone.

My search took me to the back row. Looking to my right I saw a door at the end of the row. I crept to the edge of the open doorway and looked into the gloom. (Great, more stairs.) Quietly, I tiptioed down the spiraling staircase. At the bottom there were tow large oaken doors encased in a wall of stone. On the otherside of the now open doors I could see torches lit inside the large room. I stepped inside the doors and looked around the large gallery of dust covered artifacts. I gazed at the opposite end of the room where the group that I followed here assembled.