(Journey of Phantasia) Morthin, the Immortal 2: Grail of the White Feather

Part 1 of 2

-"You can say that again." He heard the voice behind the other say. "As long as they don't catch whatever is in the woods I fear it'll be the same." Now he did get curious. Was something eating these people's crops?
"I hope they catch that thing, whatever it is. I want real food, Görne be damned!"
Ayan tapped the person in front of him on the shoulder and asked: "What's that commotion about?"
"It's as you heard, boy." Said the man, wearing a heavy undershirt with blue and white stripes. His head was red, he must've been wearing it for long. "Some wild beast-thing has been terrorising the countryside around Harout and eating most, if not all, the crops."
"Dang..." Ayan said to himself. "I have to tell Morthin. But, food comes first."
-"You better hurry, then." Said the red-headed man. "There's almost none left."

While Morg was preparing himself for the tournament a few days after, Ayan decided now was the right time to take a bath. He put a big wooden tub outside of the stronghold, filling it with buckets of water so he could bathe in privacy. He'd found a nice clearing to place the tub in, and a good bar of soap that smelled like berries. He'd definitely 'borrow' that for later down the road.
Once he got himself all soaped up, he noticed a very gentle singing from between the trees. He looked up, to the tops of the trees, and he saw a beautiful white bird. Its head looked like that of a dove, while it had the slim body and the talons of a falcon and with the gracious long tail, almost like a peacock. It wasn't fully white, as it had brown-ish spots at the ends of its feathers, and a pointy, golden beak. It looked, apart from the tail, most like an inverted starling, and it sounded the part. Ayan waved at it, as he usually did, and because he found that the bird looked beautiful. The bird flew away, letting a white feather drop to the ground. It landed in the tub, and remained there like a beautiful white little boat.
"Nice." Said Ayan to no one as he picked up the feather and looked at it more closely. The soap from his hair began to flow down and prick in his eyes, and as he groaned and rubbed them he felt the rush of cold wind go past him, from a thing he couldn't see. He waved it away instinctively, but hit nothing. He got the soap out of his eyes as quick as he could but once he could open them, all he could see was the white bird, gripping its own feather with its talons as it perched onto another branch.
"What?!" Ayan asked, looking straight at the bird which did not bother to answer. It lifted its talon with the feather on it and inspected it just as Ayan did. That made him frown, as he thought the bird was doing it to mock him. "Don't make me come up there." He grumbled, as he reached for the crossbow he kept besides the tub. And before he knew it, the bird once again swooped down, dropped the feather onto his head and snatched away his crossbow right before Ayan could grab it.
"Hey, HEY! No fair!" Ayan slapped the air behind the bird once again, and almost got ahold of its tail-feathers, but it was too late. The white bird had stolen his crossbow. "Give me that!" He growled, gripping the edge of the tub and clumsily climbing out. He was used to swimming in lakes, not this. He now reached for the dagger he kept hidden in his boots, to throw at the bird, right before it swooped down and plunged the crossbow into the tub, making a big splash. It hit the bird too, which made Ayan laugh as it flew away. He'd definitely have to tell Morthin about this.

"Hey, Morthin?" Ayan asked as he helped his orc-friend into his armour. The blaring sounds of trumpets and a cheering fanfare were muffled behind them. The tournament was about to start, and the crowd was riled up. The first of the shining knights on their brave horses were already trotting through the gates, to the open spot of the stronghold where the tournament was being held. The sounds came from there.
Morthin the Immortal, already clad in the chainmail, wiggled himself into his breastplate and hoisted up the armour-pieces tied to the belt on his waist. "Yeah?"
"There's this rumour I heard around here of some beast that's been snatching crops and-"
-"That's nice. Can you grab me my helmet real quick?"
Ayan did as he was asked and he handed Morthin his newly-made helmet, a modified thing they scavenged from a fallen knight, sturdy but not pristine, with no feather to speak of and on the iron part where the visor had been, two long pointed pins were welded on the underside so it appeared like a pear of vicious, sharp tusks. Morthin put it on and looked proudly through the visor. "Fits like a glove, like the weapon smith said." He chuckled deeply. "Now what were you saying?"
-"Well, the crop-snatching beast, firstly. Maybe we should do something about that. And a few hours back, I was bathing, and there was some weird white bird that-"