Drifter loved travelling so high in the sky. The greens, browns, and blues of the land far below them and the light blue sky above thrilled him. He was at the base of the diamond now following the others at the swift pace the large, brown eagle had set for them. The Bright Light had risen for the third time since they had started The Quest. The sparrow flew below, flapping desperately to keep pace with the rest of them. The eagle pulled his wings into his sides and began to dive down. He had done this a few times during their flight and the geese mimicked him, folding their wings to their bodies and dove with him. Drifter yelled with joy as he cut through the air with increasing speed. He squinted his eyes as he plummeted down and he could make out a small body of water, growing bigger as he got closer.
The eagle raised his head and spread his wings to begin to slow himself down. Again the geese replicated him, raising their heads, and spreading their wings. Protector began to circle, and the geese lined up behind him as they slowly glided lower and lower toward the ground instead of remaining in their V formation. The body of water was a small pond with a wooded area on one side of it. The sparrow was with them now, flying at the shoulder of the eagle. Protector glanced sideways at Simeone and nodded toward the trees. He angled around to approach the trees from across the water in order to allow the geese more of it to land on. The shadows of the birds flying across the water as they crossed and lowered themselves to it. The geese landed on the water as the eagle and sparrow continued to the trees.
The geese looked around as they floated toward the trees. Stalks of light, green grass bordered the entire rim of the pond including the beach at the base of the trees. They spread out, floating beneath the eagle who was resting on the tree nearest the water.
“Okay,” Mattias said. “Why are we here?”
Protector bent forward and quietly said, “This is where I talked to Deke.”
“Really?” Ack said, as he turned to survey the pond and its surroundings.
“I think this would suit him,” Liza remarked as she looked around, too.
“Me, too,” Daniel agreed. “When the grass gets even higher in the hot season there will be plenty of protection.”
“And a food source,” Ack said.
“Plenty of bushes for cover and more food in there,” Protector informed them. “Those bush berries he likes so much. I found him in there.”
“Seems to be a perfect,” Liza summarized for all of them.
“So what’s next?” Jake asked.
The answer was simply silence. Something dropped into the water to their left and no one jumped in surprise. After a discussion, they decided to rest for a while. The geese spread themselves around the pond, sampling the small fish as they swam. Eventually, they hid themselves among the grass and slept. The sparrow disappeared. The eagle flew to the top of the tallest tree and watched over them. Jake left the water and waddled up the beach into the woods where Deke was last seen.
As he left the water behind him, the trees filtered the light from the sky above casting random shadows on the ground before him. He wandered through a few rows of trees unevenly spaced, eventually exposing a clearing of green grass sprouting on the ground at his feet. He stepped into the midst of it and slowly turned to survey the edge of the clearing. Across the edge, directly across from the spot from which he came, a hedge of bushes ran all across the curve of the clearing. He noted that Protector was correct about these being the bushes that will bear the berries that Deke enjoyed. Beyond them were more trees, denser than the ones he just came through. To his right, more trees and turning to his left, still more trees. He continued to walk toward the bushes and began to look beneath them. Near the center, he noted a small indenture filled with leaves. He looked closely and spied a few feathers within the leaves. He smiled to himself and said, “This is where he slept.”
A noise behind him interrupted his inspection and Jake turned to look. Liza emerged from the trees and headed toward him.
“Find anything?” she asked as she waddled.
“I think this is where he stayed,” Jake told her.
She looked at the spot he was observing and said, “I think so, too. This looks like a place he could call home. Still a lot of danger spots among the trees but certainly a good food source and close to the water. He probably liked to sit in the middle of the clearing to bask in the Bright Light. I would.”
Jake nodded in agreement and waddled past her. He stopped at the center of the clearing and plopped himself down. Liza laughed and went to sit beside him. They sat in silence listening to the breeze skipping through the new leaves of the early warm season. The eagle flew down from his roost and settled on the ground beside them. The two geese waited for the eagle to speak but it, too, remained silent. A brief fluttering of wings interrupted the quiet as the sparrow flew into the clearing and landed on a nearby tree branch. It grew silent again with only the noise of the occasional rustling of the leaves moving in the breeze. First, far away but drawing nearer, snapping of twigs and the muttering of geese making their way through the woods toward them. The sound paused as four geese entered the clearing. They slowly approached the birds sitting on the ground before them.
“What’s going on?” Ack cautiously asked them.
“Not much,” Jake answered him. “Just waiting.”
“For what?” Drifter asked as he sat beside them.
Daniel continued toward the bushes, looked at the indention beneath them and turned back toward them. “Looks like he was beginning to make a home.”
“That’s what we thought, too,” Jake admitted to him.
“Protector,” Drifter addressed the eagle sitting beside him. “I have never seen you on the ground. What is with that?”
“I thought I would try a new perspective,” Protector admitted to him.
“And?” Ack asked wanting to know the answer.
“It is different, but it was nice and quiet,” the eagle turned his dark eyes toward Ack.
“What is the next step? We have no clue where he might have gone.,” Mattias quizzed the group.
“That is true. We have no idea where he went,” Daniel agreed.
“I don’t think he went far, though,” Liza commented as she rose to her feet and began to pace as she spoke. “He liked this place and he likes this area.”
“Still, we don’t know where he went,” Mattias stated.
“Maybe we should split into teams,” Daniel suggested.
“I think so, too,” Liza agreed. “I think we should go in different directions and report back here to make our next decision.”
“What if one team finds him?” Ack asked.
“Then one stays with him and the other comes back here to get the rest of us,” Liza said in response.
“Why not bring him back here?” Jake asked.
“He may not want to come,” Daniel explained. “I think it might take all of us to talk him into returning to The Flock.”
“I expect that will be the case,” Liza agreed with Daniel.
“We could stay together as we look for him,” Mattias suggested. “That way we could save some time when it comes to convincing him to come back with us.”
“Drifter,” Ack directed himself toward him. “We haven’t heard from you.”
“I am okay with either way,” Drifter shared for the first time. “Let’s just decide so we can get going.”
Ack nodded but didn’t answer him instead directing his attention to the eagle quietly sitting on the ground. “What do you think, Protector?”
The big bird rose to his feet and looked around at the group of geese surrounding him then slowly looked up to the sparrow who sat silent on the nearby tree branch and simply said, “Teams.”
“Okay,” Jake spoke. “Let’s do teams.”
Again, the group became silent until Daniel spoke, “And the teams would be?”
“I think, Me and Jake, Drifter and Mattias, Daniel and Protector, and Ack and Simeone,” Liza offered.
“Fine with me,” Drifter stood and walked toward Mattias.
“Directions?” Ack asked.
“How about Liza and Jake toward the direction the Bright Light rises, Drifter and Mattias toward where it sleeps at night, Ack and Simeone to the right of the Bright Light’s rise and me and Protector to the left,” Daniel offered.
“We return here tomorrow when the Bright Light sleeps,” Jake reviewed with them. “And if, no, when we find him, one stays with him where he is found.”
They all nodded as the groups of two birds gather together and one by one each group rose into the sky until only one remained watching the others disappear. Liza and Jake looked at each other.
“What do you think?” Jake asked her.
“We will see what we will see,” Liza shrugged, spread her wings, and flapped them to rise above the water.
Jake mimicked her, spread his wings, and rose with her. They flapped harder and continued to rise above the clearing of trees. Once above them, they angled around to place the Bright Light at their backs and toward where it rises in the morning to begin to look for Deke.
To be continued…
My First Stories 