Element Animals: Legends Rising

XI - In Which Bramble is Rescued

One suncircle, one moon, and three nights old

My mind reeled, and my beak fell open in shock. "S-s-silverfang?" I stammered, shivering under the influence of thoughts of my battle with Silverfang. "And--wait, her 'motley crew of villains'?" I frowned, perplexed. "Word choice, Silentwing. Elaborate." Despite her mortification, Silentwing managed a small smile and a shrug. "That is what S-silverfang called her cohorts. Her 'motley crew of villains'. I guess she was feeling, er, a bit..."

Silentwing seemed at a loss for words, so I covered for her, deciding quickly, "Silverfang-y." Silentwing gave me a strange look. "Are you sure that's what they were called, exactly?" I continued, wanting to make sure Silentwing had heard and relayed correctly. Silentwing pretend-rolled her eyes (no birds could roll their eyes; our eye sockets prohibited it). "Of course I am!" she almost snapped.

I shrugged and left the manner alone. "Okay," I mumbled. "So...should we look for Silverfang and her 'motley crew of villains'?" Silentwing nodded. "Definitely. We should have started immediately, but..." She shuddered, trailing off and staring into the distance as if she were nauseous.

I nodded in understanding. When Silentwing looked less nauseous and somewhat normal, we flew in the direction of Bramble, wherever he was. I did not know if Silentwing knew, but I brought with me a ball of moss soaked in water, held gently in my talons. I wanted to be prepared in case we had to fight Bramble, or Silverfang, or both. 

As Bramble had been captured by Silverfang and her "motley crew of villains", I thought it quite unlikely he would fight us, but I was determined not to take any chances, however small they were. As we neared our unknown-to-me destination, I grew more and more apprehensive, feeling as if I had swallowed an entire butterfly migration. Silentwing similarly looked as if there was a migration of winged insects dancing about in her stomach. 

"Are you ready?" I asked, then mentally whacked myself with a wing. Why should she be ready? We were about to face an insane, megalomaniac, pyromaniac wolf bent on world domination (it was always world domination with antagonists, I noticed, no matter their species). Don't forget about her "motley crew of villains"! a mental voice chirped, irking me. Oh, shut up, I told it. You have no right reminding me about her cohorts. Thank God, the voice remained silent.

Silentwing looked as if she pitied me and was graciously quiet. I thanked her mentally.

Finally, we neared a clearing, from which raised voices could be heard: "Moonsliver, what by the stars were you doing? You know that if Silverfang catches you, you are dead--literally!"

"Well, I have not eaten since two nights ago, Cloudcover!" another voice--presumably Moonsliver's--whined, bringing to me an image of a dirty, matted wolf with its eyes squinting, its muzzle turned down in a pout.

"That does not matter!" Cloudcover snapped. "You know that as a part of the Silver Pack, we follow the alpha's rules, and Silverfang is the alpha. Therefore, if Silverfang says you cannot eat, you cannot eat. You definitely shouldn't eat without permission, even if she did not say you could not eat. Silverfang will punish you greatly!"

The argument continued on as Silentwing and I exchanged glances. I could tell we were thinking the same thing: Silverfang is a pack alpha? "I wonder if all of the Silver Pack is as crazy as her, besides 'Moonsliver' and 'Cloudcover'," Silentwing mused, a thoughtful look on her face.

I shrugged, wondering why, if Silverfang was a pack alpha, she wouldn't tell me what pack she was from when I first met her. "If those two are whining, and Silverfang treats them so harshly-- after all, 'I haven't eaten since two nights ago'--then there's bound to be more who disagree. Still, we should avoid being seen as much as possible." Silentwing nodded, her thoughtful look slowly dissipating, and we flew down to the trees, where Silentwing whispered some words to help us hide from any wolves. Then we continued on our journey carefully, flying slowly through the thick forest, which surrounded us on all sides with nets woven of green branches and vines, until we reached the edge of the clearing of where we had heard "Moonsliver" and "Cloudcover" arguing. As we peered out, our eyes widened in surprise: The Silver Pack was much larger than we had imagined. 

There were dens for the alphas (if there was another alpha other than Silverfang), betas, subordinates, and omega; there was a large, clear area in the center where wolves gathered, presumably for talking or when Silverfang announced things to the entire pack; there was even a separate area for eating the prey that was hunted and brought back. "Silverfang has been busy," Silentwing whispered. 

"I wonder if she fought the previous alpha of this pack, was the beta before, or created the pack," I added. Silentwing shrugged, and we turned our attention to seeing if Bramble was there. I searched the clearing for any unusual activity and found a large clump of dour-faced wolves, all huddled around one particular thing. I squinted, barely able to make out a huddling silhouette in the center of all the grim wolves. I nudged Silentwing with a wing. "Over there," I  whispered. "Do you see that creature in the center of the wolves? It probably is Bramble." 

I waited for Silentwing to get what I was pointing at, then I tried to see what the creature was clearly. I could make out black and dark brown, but that could easily be grey and tan, merely darkened by shadows. I sighed. I won't be able to be sure, but I might as well do something with water that will not be too suspicious, so if the creature is Bramble, he will know. I whispered to Silentwing my plan. "Okay. Maybe make it rain or something? After all, there are no clouds in the sky."

I nodded and closed my eyes, entering the elemental world. The water reached out to me, spreading when I told it I wanted to make it rain quickly. Then it whirled, scattering drops of water which passed through the rip in reality, traveling through the elemental world to the physical world. I opened my eyes to find it pouring severely, hail accompanying the rain. Lightning flashed so close it left a bright imprint when I blinked, and thunder rumbled warningly as a companion to the lightning bolts. Silentwing grinned, almost wiggling with excitement. "I think this is enough," she said, almost shouting in order to be heard over the din of the storm.

"Now we watch and wait," I told her, peering at the creature we thought was Bramble. Surely enough, the creature raised its head, and a flash of its eyes reached me, as if saying, I am Bramble, and I know. To make it completely clear, the creature whipped its tail, and the wind howled, blowing so hard Silentwing had to wrap vines around us to keep us from flying away. "That is Bramble, by the stars," I yelled, grinning with relief.

Silentwing nodded, and together we watched as the wolves danced around in confusion, their paws scrabbling as they raced to gather up the pups and take shelter in their dens. Bramble was forgotten in the tumult; this was the perfect opportunity to save him. "Now!" I shouted, and Silentwing let us go. 

I went hurtling through the trees towards the creature, propelled by the tailwind Bramble had created. I grimaced as the air tore at my wings, ripping feathers loose, but pushed on, angling my battered wings towards the creature. As if suddenly realizing we were suffering, a gust of air pushed Silentwing and I, battling the other winds and sheltering us from the brute of the force. I reminded myself later to thank Bramble. Then we were at the creature, and even though I was getting pelted by my own storm, I could lucidly tell it was Bramble. 

As if reading each other's minds, Silentwing and I unfolded our legs, and Silentwing wrapped a vine around both, leading down to Bramble in case he needed help. Bramble clamped down on the vine with his mouth and used the air to help him. Suddenly, we were flying at double the speed we had before, even when the wind had tore at us in its furious passing. I closed my eyes quickly to tell the water to only rain over the wolves' camp but also make sure not to make it too suspicious, and then we were flying off into the glimmering, star-filled sky. I even forgot, for a moment, what I should've been doing.