Feathers

A Working Trap

The burly Peregrine and the tall one with yellow-eyes tensed and seemed to jerk forward towards her. She raised her wings slightly, ready to flee, but the silver-eyed male caught them each with a hand on a shoulder and pulled them back so he could step forward. He swallowed and she knew his heart was racing even though he tried to make his face appear calm.

"Could you help us, then? Tell us how to be more careful?" His voice was deep and pleasant. He smiled, all straight white teeth, hoping she would not sense any danger, but the only time any creature ever bared its teeth was when it was threatening. As if to prove her point, she could hear the tall one easing under the branch, waiting to spring up and grab her.

She chuckled. "Help you? Help you kill the deer that are my friends? Never!"

"You should show more respect, girl. You are talking to your king," the burly one growled.

"Not my king," Sorren replied, toying with the end of her braid innocently.

"She is right. The forest belongs to the Ferals. We are only to take what we need to survive. The Ferals have every right to trade in the city without fear in return. Have you ever been in Incitatia?" The silver-eyed took another step closer and Sorren did not move.

"Once. I needed to trade in the Lower Quarter," she said.

"But have you been in the palace?"

"Ha ha!" She laughed. "No! And I never plan to go," she hissed the last part, already ahead of his game.

His eyes flashed and narrowed. He knew that she was well aware they were not there for deer. Bain's tactic to lure her in on her own was now void.

Suddenly, the giant one sprung, surging toward her like a puma, arms outstretched. She sighed, unsurprised and amused at his foolishness. At the very last second she jerked herself to the side and threw out the loop as she dipped under his wing. He cleared the limb, empty-handed, the rope over his head and both arms, stuck at his wing joints and, unable to fly, fell to the soft ground. His momentum yanked the other end of the rope that had previously been slack, ripping out the peg in the ground as it flew upwards. The loop on the ground constricted instantly around the tall one's ankle and hoisted him upside-down into the air to hang, his wrists touching the leaves.

Sorren giggled uncontrollably. "I...haha...I guess it works!"

The shortest one could not help but to laugh, earning him a cross look from the silver-eyed. He obviously did not enjoy her idea of fun.

She stole a glance at the big one, roaring in anger as he tried to tear the ropes away, the tall one screaming, "Get me down!" It was time to take her leave.

Adrenaline shot through her body when she saw that the silver-eyed was airborne and had closed the distance between them in a half a second. Sorren leapt backwards, twisting and dove between two trunks very close together. It held him up for a moment, but then he was pumping his wings quickly to catch up. She banked left, hard. There was a briar patch nearby where she could easily shake him off and then take the long way back home.

There was a net, several hundreds of times larger than any of the Peregrines, made of the strong grapevines that suspended themselves between the trees. She had loved to play on them as a little girl when Owl watched her for Bear. Sorren grinned and flew even faster toward them, waiting until the very last moment to pin her wings to her side and twist between them. Immediately after, she opened them and grazed the leaf litter with the tip of her right wing, pulling so hard to turn that she made a perpendicular line to the ground, sweeping just shy of the dark red arches of thorny briar branches.