I flew very slowly after that, spending a lot of time in thermals. I passed several other troupes of Horsemen and, of course, myriads of caravans of Farmers and others. At one point I passed a caravan that had pulled off the road and were all swimming and relaxing at bend in the stream where the water, because of the bend, had formed a large beach surrounded by placid water.
As I flew It thought over the Horseman’s offer; not the marriage, obviously, that was impossible in a couple of different ways. But the job. Eagles didn’t have ‘jobs’ obviously, but given I had Farmer parents… and given who my Farmer parents were… I felt an obligation to *do* something. And he was right. I could be of great use here.
And it was beautiful, oh so beautiful. The coast, with it’s incredible cliff, these plains, and… I looked forward, those mountains. What beautiful mountains!
I didn’t have too long to contemplate their beauty, however, as coming down from my right was a line of clouds which threatened some ugly weather. I looked around for a good place to weather the storm and wasn’t very impressed. I didn’t really look forward, as an Eagle, to weathering out a storm out on the plains, with nothing for me feet to really grip.
I was in a thermal, and, while thinking about this, I turned in my circle back to the caravan by the stream, and decided to try something.
They had noticed me before, but they all stopped what they were doing as I came closer. As I came even closer they all started to dress, and mothers to call their children to them, and back to their wagons. The Fathers and older boys, on the other hand, dressed and armed themselves. Luckily none of them seemed to have any long distance weapons, so I should have time to talk to them.
I came in a long glide parallel to the stream, and as far from the wagons themselves as I could manage. I didn’t want the men to get upset about their women and young. And I tried to make my glide as non-threatening as possible, landing slowly and decently in front of them.
//Greetings!// I yelled in Farmer, as soon as I had landed. It is rare that you see anyone look quite as startled as these men looked. I even noticed several young heads popping out of the wagons to stare at me (and being pulled just as quickly back in).
//Ummm, greetings,// one man managed after a few seconds pause. He was standing toward the middle of the group with an adolescent male and, although I hadn’t been a Farmer for a long time, I thought they looked like Father and Son. //We weren’t aware, at least I wasn’t aware, that Eagles spoke Farmer.//
(I almost had to laugh. A decade ago he would almost certainly have said ‘human’, but relations had really changed since then.) //I think I am the only one,// I said, //And I only speak it because I was born a Farmer.//
//You… you have transformed?!// the adolescent male said, //Into an Eagle!?//
//Yes,// I said. //I was kidnapped as a young child.//
//Wow, I wish I could do that,// the boy said, stepping forward toward me. His Father looked for a second like he might object but, with a glance at the other Father’s, he said nothing.
//Well,// I said, //I think you are a bit old to sleep under a mother Eagles wing like I did for years. And, from what I am told, I won’t be able to change back. So unless you want to be an Eagle permanently.//
//But you were once a Farmer, like us?// another boy asked.
//Yep. I was up mountain climbing with my Dwarf friends, and I was captured.//
//You got to know Dwarves?// Yet another boy asked. They were all beginning to crowd around me, a couple of them reaching shyly out to touch my feathers. //I had never met a Dwarf until I was on Schip… I hadn’t transformed either, but I did on Schip. Into a Fisherboy. That was fun.//
//Yes, I always liked being a Fisherboy.//
//You’ve been a Fisherboy too?!// My original friend said.
//Yes, my Family took lots of trips even when I was young, so I got to transform to Fisherboy and even Elf, once.//
//And then Eagle!//
//Yes, well, we didn’t do that on purpose… at least it wasn’t me or my parent’s idea.//
//What’s your name?// the first boy said. //My name is David.//
//My name is Jonathon,// I said, and soon the other boys had introduced themselves. We were going on to other subjects when a gust of wind ruffled m feathers and reminded me. //Do you think I could stay here during the storm?// I asked. //There is a pretty big storm coming.//
//You could stay with us, couldn’t he Dad?// David asked. Without waiting for his Father’s answer he turned back to me, //we have lot’s of room in our wagon, Mom and all the kids stayed back at the house. We’re on a trading trip, setting up trades for our estate. My Dad is the chief trader. We took samples down to the Castle, you’ve seen the castle?//
I nodded my head, and we came up to his wagon. It wasn’t an easy jump… to short to use my wings and a little tall to just jump… not counting the cover of the wagon that I had to avoid with my wings. //We took them down to the castle and met with a lot of people there. We already sell to the Dwarves and them, of course, but we are hoping to branch out and sell to the other new colonies. Have you seen any of the new colonies?//
I shook my head, doing my best to move over so the Father (and then several quiet other boys who seemed to hope we wouldn’t notice them) could come into the wagon.
//I haven’t either. But there is one down by this really huge marsh way East of here. They are hoping that trade will really take off there. But it’s hard to get goods down the river, so we think we are going to have to Schip them to the Castle, and then by Schip from there. We have great goods too…//
As the boy talked on (and on, and on) I got a good idea of how this, the first colony, was doing. The estates, anyway, seemed to be doing very well. //Do you have problems with Beasts, or Dragons?//
//Not Beasts, not usually. But the Dragons are horrible. We thought you were a Dragon, at first, which made us really nervous as we don’t have any Spearmen, or even any Horsemen. They don’t usually come this far from the mountains, you know.//
//Do they attack you much? Have they killed many of your friends?//
//Oh, they don’t attack Farmers so much anymore. We lost several people when we first moved to our estate, including one of my brothers, my older brother. But not so much recently, as our defenses have gotten better. But they attack herds and things. We have several Trolls that live near us, and the Dragons have really hurt their herds.//
//But, I thought we were killing Dragons.//
//Oh, we are, but they are breeding more. So far we have only ever found one female with eggs. So, well, we can kill all the males we want and it doesn’t do that much good. And the mountains are so big, it is hard for us to defeat them. We only even live in a small part of the mountains.//
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Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von
I'm really enjoying this story. Great concept.