My parents were out of town for the week, which meant it was up to me to harvest the crops, fill the water tank, and keep the chickens fed until they got back. At least that meant I had some time to myself. I could spend my free time learning to read and practicing techniques with my wooden sword.
I don't even have to go out to hunt for a couple more days. All I had to do was finish organizing the pantry, and then I'd be -
"Hey, you up there!"
I turned around confused, expecting the high-pitched voice to be coming from a kid, but there was no one there when I turned.
"Hello?"
I called out, waiting for a response.
"Uhh, down here, big guy!"
The voice called, but when I looked down, all I saw was a mouse, looking up at me. Maybe I was just going crazy.
I went back to organizing the cans of food in the pantry when the voice spoke again.
"I'm talking to you, you big jerk!"
I turned again, seeing nobody but the mouse. I got down to the floor to see if there was some kid playing a prank on me, then came face to face with the mouse. It had yellow eyes and a little purple scarf. I couldn't help but laugh.
"Oh, it was you who was talking to me, little mouse, dude. Ok, what do you wanna tell me?"
"I need your help!"
My eyes popped wide open as I jumped back in surprise.
"Huh?! Wait, you can talk?!"
The little mouse jumped back in surprise as well, putting their little paw on their heart with their mouth agape.
"Woah! You can talk too? That's really strange, man."
There was a small mouse talking to me in my house. Maybe I was just in a dream. I pinched myself, hoping I'd wake up, but I didn't. The mouse was starting to give me weird looks now.
"Yeah, you human really ARE weird."
The little mouse scurried up a table leg and became level with me, standing on top of an old pot.
"Now listen, big guy, I need your help. Nobody in this village will listen to me, but you will. My name is Rosslyn, and I need your help."
I felt myself back into a wall before I heard the mouse say her name.
"Rosslyn, like the dragon?"
She snapped her little mouse fingers, which I didn't even know was possible.
"Exactly. I got my powers taken away, and now I'm just a rat, but I need your help to get them back. So what do you say, big guy?"
Part of me thought I was going insane, while the other part of me didn't believe this little mouse dude.
"You expect me to believe that your Rosslyn?"
The rat seemed offended. She climbed up a broom propped against the stove, so they were eye to eye with me, then continued.
"I'm Rosslyn, I wouldn't be a talking mouse if I wasn't."
Rosslyn jumped off the broom, knocking it over and turning the stove on. I ran to turn it off, but the broom caught fire as I did. Rosslyn was going through the tin cans in the pantry. "You got any cheese? I've been craving cheese in this new form."
I stomped on the broom to put out the flame, but Rosslyn was knocking down cans. I dove to the floor to catch them before they fall, grabbing one with my left hand, one with my right, and one with my face.
"Sorry, big guy, didn't mean to- OH MY GOD."
I gathered the cans, then put them back in their respective places, and they noticed what they were so excited about. She was hugging and smooching up on a can of habanero cheese. "Oh yeah, baby! I'm gonna eat you up."
I grabbed the can and put it on a higher shelf before she got any ideas. "No, you're not. Now tell me the truth. How can you talk."
The rat rolled her eyes, which I also didn't even know was possible, then sat down on top of a can of fruit. "I'll tell you the reason why. I used to be a dragon, but then some stupid pirate guy stole my powers. So I need your help."
I couldn't help but be skeptical. Not only was there a talking rat in my house, but they were apparently Rosslyn herself.
"Surely the real Rosslyn would still have some of her powers."
She got up on her hind legs- or feet - and put her hands together so her thumb was overlapping. She pulled her thumb to the side to make it look like it came off, then put it back. "Tadaaa!"
"You know my dad taught me that trick when I was four, right?"
She threw her little hands in the air in frustration and jumped down from the pantry. "You know what? I'll get my powers back myself! I don't need your help!"
She angrily walked towards the door, looking up at the knob. She jumped up, stretching her arms as high as she could to try and reach it, but she was too short. Instead, she cleared her throat and looked at the floor. "Um... Can you... Can you open the door for me?"
I walked up to the door, twisting the knob and pulling it open. She nodded towards me in appreciation and then angrily walked away, pointing her finger triumphantly in the air. "From this point on, I won't ever need your help again!"
Just as she said that, a hawk swooped down and picked them up before flying away. All I could hear was her voice screaming, "HEELLLP MEEE!" as they flew away.
I ran up to the tree stump in the back and grabbed the axe stuck in it before running off after her.
Just like the Eagles, who the village was named after, the Hawks in Eagle Tree Village rarely hunted prey. They worked harmoniously with villagers since we fed them frequently. They'd help us hunt, point us where we needed to go, and even provide good company. So the fact that one just swept down on an innocent mouse wasn't normal.
The hawk flew fast, so catching up to it wouldn't work. Instead, I grabbed a rock off the floor and started banging it against the axe, trying to get it to stop flying away, but it didn't, so I resorted to throwing the rock at the bird.
It just barely missed, grazing their wings and flying over them. I grabbed another rock, determined to hit them this time.
I pulled my arm back, aimed it at the hawk, and got ready to throw it, but the hawk dropped, Rosslyn.
I thought she was done for, but another hawk swept in and caught her. This was organized, not a coincidence. "Hey!" I yelled, trying to get their attention. "Put her down!"
She joined me in the protest by yelling, "Yeah! Listen to him! He's crazy man!"
I definitely wasn't crazy, but I would save her.
I picked up another rock and chucked it at the hawk carrying Rosslyn. It slammed into them, and Rosslyn went flying. "I CAN'T FLY YOU PSYCHO!"
Rosslyn was spinning and nosediving towards the ground. I put the axe on my back and dove right under her, ready to catch her, but right before they landed, in my hands, another hawk came down and grabbed them.
We were starting to run into a forest. The trees around us were starting to get closer as we got deeper and deeper into the forest. It was getting harder to follow the Hawks, but if I slowed down, I would lose them.
Finally, they stopped in an open spot where the trees parted. The Hawks stood on tall stone perches surrounding me, while the one that held onto Rosslyn flew by, who I assumed was the leader.
A big grey hawk with a claw mark over their left eye, covered by a white eyepatch, leaving one piercing yellow eye to stare into my soul.
The Hawk let out an ear piercing screech, then slowly looked over at Rosslyn. The hawk carrying her threw her on the leaders' perch. "I hate Hawks, I should have burned you all when I had the chance."
The hawk looked down at her menacingly, then cleared its throat, and spoke.
"Rosslyn, former protector of the land, now turned into... a nice meal."
He looked up from her to me with a grimacing smile. I was caught off guard, not knowing Hawks could even speak, but I was more caught off guard by something else. "Eagles and Hawks are supposed to work together with the people of Eagle Tree Village."
He let out a sickly laugh, followed by all the other Hawks laughing with him.
"Oh... Eagles... they think they're the mightiest, the strongest... the ones that get all the attention... the ones that get villages named after them."
Rosslyn stood up, trying to seem as imposing as a rat would be with a hawk, ten times their size towering over them.
"You Hawks are violent and barbaric! No wonder you don't have a village named after you! You stink!"
The hawk looked down at her like he was gonna eat her, then screeched and kicked her off. I ran and dove to grab her before she hit the floor, and when I looked up, the Hawks were off of their perches and flying around us in a circle.
I cupped Rosslyn in my hands to protect her from the Hawks. One flew down, scratching my face as they passed. Another flew down, scratching my back.
Their talons were razor-sharp and burned with how fast they flew by.
I couldn't defend myself if I was defending Rosslyn, so I stuffed her in my pocket, pulled the axe off my back, and gripped its handle tightly.
I eyed every Hawk that looked like it was ready to dive in to attack me. I found myself turning my head from side to side every other second to try and catch one trying to swoop in, but it only made things worse for me. Half of the Hawks started flying in opposite way of the other Hawks in the circle, making it even harder to see which one would attack.
Finally, one swooped in, and I just barely whacked it away with the side of my axe. More Hawks came to strengthen the circle, making it even harder to tell which one would attack next. Some started cutting through the middle of the circle to confuse me even more, making it impossible to tell where the next attack would come from. One flew down and clawed the back of my head, while another scratched my stomach. More and more flew down to attack as I got weaker. Eventually, every part of me burned from the pain. I thought I was completely done for and decided to just get down to the ground and cover my head.
That's when it all stopped. Slowly, the sound of Hawks flapping their Wings began to cease. When I opened my eyes, there were at least a hundred of them around me, in trees, on perches or just on the floor around me. The leader stood in front of me, looking down at me imposingly.
"Give up the rat... and we'll make it easy for you." Just their gaze alone was enough to make my wounds hurt even more. I had no clue what I got myself in the middle of, but the thought of giving up Rosslyn didn't seem right. If she was telling the truth about being Thee Rosslyn, then giving her up would doom the land, and for some reason, I could feel myself believe her.
"... Leave us alone... and the village won't hunt you to extinction." Every single hawk surrounding us besides the leader started hysterically laughing. The leader just stared at me with their one eye, waiting for the laughing to cease.
"We outnumber your puny... little... village... by at least a hundred fold. If they even considered going to war... with us... we'd tear them apart..."
The thought of Eagle Tree Village going to war with all of the Hawks seemed insane. The Hawks were vicious but helped our village to keep peace with the Eagles and reap our benefits by helping to protect us.
"We would do it all in one... fell... swoop... leaving Eagle Tree Village... to the Eagles... and no one more."
The forest was beyond dead quiet, as if everything alive around us held their breath. The silence made me feel as if I was being waited on to give up Rosslyn, and the tension made me think I'd get cut open by a hundred talons if I didn't.
But I still felt like something didn't make sense.
"If you kill all of us... the Eagles will destroy you." The leader stepped closer to me as if I said something they have been waiting for me to say this entire time.
"If we kill that rat... we'll be powerful enough to level the entire Eagle species... Zyloff will make sure of it. After all... this is all his game... and if we win... we'll have no need for this measly village... we'll be unstoppable."
Just then, my heart stopped in its place. Rosslyn really was telling the truth. She really was the guardian of the land, which meant someone stole her power, and that meant the land wasn't safe anymore. I always thought Captain Zyloff was a myth, just a story to tell kids, but he was real.
"Now... give her up... or we'll all tear her from your pockets... and take her ourselves." I didn't feel Rosslyn in my pocket anymore. She was standing before the Hawk.
"Listen here, you tubby, off brand owl. Here's what's really gonna happen. You're gonna quit being an idiot and take me straight to Zyloff so I can kick his butt. Then, I'll make you the stronger than all the Eagles, and even give you your own village. So what do you say? Being stupid? Or Smart?"
The Hawk stared at Rosslyn for a moment, then smiled. "Ok... I'll be smart."
Immediately, he grabbed Rosslyn and threw her in the air, opening his mouth to swallow her whole. I thought everything was over, and all of Roslantica would be plagued with evil without its true guardian. But right before she fell in her mouth, she disappeared in a quick swoop.
The Hawk opened his eye, then checked the floor and all around him.
"Where did she-"
Just as quickly as when he snatched up Rosslyn, he received his answer with the talons of an Eagle at his throat, pinning him to the floor.
The Eagle was twice the size of the Leader, with Rosslyn on his head.
"So much for being smart, you idiot!"
The Leader of the Hawks was fuming.
He screeched and then called out to his people. "Get that rat!"
But before any of them could jump to it, more and more Eagles came flying down, pinning them to the floor with their talons. A man came out from the woods, and as he did, all of the Eagles bowed their head in respect.
The man was bald and wore a white robe. In his hand was a wooden staff with an Eagle engraved at the top. He whistled, and the Eagle with Rosslyn on their head flew over to them, landing on their shoulder, only then did I notice how big the man was. He was easily eight feet tall with shoulders thick enough to act as a roomy perch for the Eagle. His voice boomed throughout the forest with nothing more than a whisper.
"Hawkmus. I trusted you to keep your word of protecting this land."
The Hawk leader, Hawkmus, scrambled to stand up. His feathers shook as the Eagle man spoke.
"You know who this rat is, yet instead of helping her, you tried to kill her."
The Hawk couldn't speak, so he did the next most rational thing. He flew away, abandoning the rest of the Hawks.
The Eagle man smiled, then looked down at me.
"So, you're the hero that saved Rosslyn."