Eagles

Eagles Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28

Freedom

I looked around me, feeling an odd sense of freedom. I swayed back and forth, feeling almost like I were in a drunken state. I felt a cold sensation on my arm and I looked over at it; it was drenched, as well as the rest of me. I shivered and found that I was lying on the wet bottom of a tiny wooden rowboat. Ella was at the lead and James and Andrew were rowing. I sat up too quickly and began to feel like I had just been knocked over the head with a giant baseball bat. "Whoa, not so fast sleeping beauty, take it easy. You lost a lot of blood with your little trick back there," James said to me, stopped his rowing, and put his hand on my back to sit me up.

When I began to refocus, I noticed that we had just pulled up to shore. Ella jumped out and pulled us up. The boat bumped and scraped the sandpaper beach. I looked before me, glad to be away from the White Mountains. However, as I looked ahead, I noticed we were nearly to the next mountains; I could see them, a faint blur in the distance. With help from Ella, I got safely out of the boat and swayed inebriated as I tried to walk. I looked at Andrew as I bumped into him on accident, and he smiled and laughed as he pulled me to him.

He held me close, his wet tears hitting my face. I immediately felt guilty and vowed that I would never do something that caused so much turmoil. As he held me, I felt for the first time in a long time, a sense of happiness, true happiness.

We began to walk again, this time down a small trail that Ella made through the desert. All around us was sand again and it began to bring back my memories. I tried only to focus on the mountains ahead. The heat was diminishing and the sky was turning to magnificent colors. Then, it occurred to me that I must have been asleep for a long time. "How long was I asleep?" I asked.

"Well, about five days actually," Andrew told me.

"Oh man, that's more than I thought," I mumbled, "You must've been worried."

"Of course we were, but James's recently acquired talent of telling the future sort of helped out a bit."

"Hey, as payment for your getting us behind schedule, you should fly us around for a while," James said harshly to me.

I began to realize that that might make a good plan. "We should Rose," Andrew said cheerfully.

"I don't know if I can hold a person and fly at the same time," I said.

"Oh, you can, we're light," Ella said smiling.

So, when we changed, Ella climbed on Andrew and James climbed on me, because James refused to ride on another guy. I knew there were other reasons for his request, but I kept my snub to myself.

When we lifted off into the air, Ella yelled in wonder. Her eyes flashed with more life than I had seen in a while. I soared through the air, riding the currents and feeling to wind beneath my outstretched wings. I dove in and out of the clouds, secretly hoping that James fell off. The ground flew beneath us and I realized that James hardly seemed to be there. He was light. It occurred to me, that I had no idea what Ella and James actually were. I made a mental note to ask later. I twisted and twirled, dancing with the clouds. This was a million gazillion times better than any amusement park ride. It was at this moment that I didn't mind being who I was. Right now, it seemed that the silver lining in every cloud was bigger and more genuine than I had ever believed.

James whooped as I spun through the air. I did a loop and I felt him grip me tighter. I laughed as he yelped and pulled himself back up after I flew sideways. The mountains passed below us like mounds of marshmallows. We soared on. I was glad of this freedom. Freedom from death and grief and self-pity. By now, the sky was dark, and I lifted my eagle head to look at the stars; they still looked no bigger than they did on the ground. I wondered if we were still on Earth.

The stars passed us quietly, and when I saw one shoot across the sky, I didn't make a wish, because I couldn't think of anything I'd rather be doing at this moment.

Andrew and I wove our way around the tallest peaks and dipped down into the valleys. As soon as the first sun poked out above the horizon, Ella yelled, "Look! We're here!"

I looked through my eagle eyes and saw the castle. I saw its gray stone peaks and its flags that waved gently in the night air. It was far larger than I had ever imagined. Giant trees spotted the landscape and a valley between the mountains served as the moat without water. It was only in my dreams that I had ever seen a sight anywhere near this one. I looked to the courtyard where it looked as if there were an orchard.

Above me, James sighed. He held onto my neck and I could feel his heart beating quickly. Suddenly, he grew very still. The only sounds were the wind whipping through my feathers and Andrew flying behind me. I flew on, wondering what had happened. When I finally felt him move again, I heard Ella yell at him. "What did you see James?"

He had been having a vision. "I saw Kenelm. He was standing there and then he just disappeared."

"But what does that mean?" Ella sounded concerned.

"I have no idea. He hasn't bothered us at all on this trip. I hope it doesn't mean he's showing up soon," James answered.

"But you saw him disappear, not appear, so he couldn't be showing up, could he?" Ella wondered.

"Hey, land here," James said to me.

I flew, spiraling downward. When we landed, Ella and James jumped off and looked at Andrew and me. "We'll have to keep an eye out for Kenelm, he is a skilled tempter. Rose, I know he's related to you, but you must show no mercy if he ever shows up. Do you understand?" Ella asked. I nodded my head, knowing I wouldn't be able to do anything if I even wanted too. "So what now?" Ella continued.

But James had become still again. Ella stared at him, as if she were reading his thoughts, then looked away discouraged. When he collapsed, she ran to him. "What is it? What did you see?" she yelped.

"Nothing bad, I just felt really drained from that one. I saw mother say that Kenelm was no longer in our kingdom."

"That's good news isn't it?" Ella said.

"Yeah, but unfortunately, even if we knew where he was, there would be no way of tracking him if he's in the human realm. He could be at the border and we wouldn't know," James said.

"Where would he go now? I was sure he would go after us when he found out we were looking for the feather, because of its other powers," Ella pondered.

I looked over at Andrew. He was staring intently into the night sky above us. I looked up, focusing on the tiny specks of light and tried to clear my mind of questions. The moon was large and bright, almost full and the sky was dark blue and calm. I suddenly remembered why I had been in a rush, my father. I felt a growing sense of urgency in me and I looked at Ella. Her eyes told me that we would stay here until Andrew and I changed back. I let myself slip into a half sleep and I slept restlessly for a while.