Bird of Prey, Man of War
I
flapped my wings furiously, trying vainly to stay aloft. The wind whipped about me like a hurricane,
which it was. The day had started
normally, although it had been kind of dark and dismal. The events which started on that day would
change my life forever.
My
name is not important. I am a red-tailed
hawk of the buzzard hawk family, a bird of prey, a raptor, an Accipitridae buteo jamaicensis, found naturally only in the
I
had gone out early on the cloudy, dark, cold winter morning to find what food I
could. There was no snow. Actually, I had never seen snow, although my
mother had often told us, my sisters and me, about the fluffy white stuff. In spite of the fact that there was no snow,
there was still very little to hunt for.
The rabbits had vanished, along with the mice and snakes. Squirrels were still abundant, but they were
cunning little beasts, and I sometimes found them not worth the effort it took
to catch them.
So
it was that afternoon, while I was idly searching for some food, that the
hurricane hit. I had been in hurricanes
before, but never such a beast of a storm as this one was. I hurried quickly back to my nest, but it
still was not enough to avoid the storm’s wrath. My tree started to topple onto its side, and
instinct made me spring into the air, the worst move I could have made. I was lifted into the air, whipped around by
the amazing force that the wind brought down upon me.
I
was no longer the master of my own fate.
The hurricane guided my life, deciding if I should be smashed into the
ground or thrown into the sea. I knew
better than to fight the storm. I would
only tire and fall prey to the ravaging wind.
Thus, I flapped only when it was necessary to stay aloft.
At
one point, there was a brief calm in the storm so I quickly checked to see
where I was. I found myself horrified, knowing
that this was the end. I was over the
ocean, with no land in sight. Then my
sharp eyes, eight times better than those of a human (a race which I did not
know existed at the time), saw something, the dim outline of a shape which
resembled a tree, sticking out of the water.
This was my only hope, I thought, so I winged my way over to it, using
the last of my reserves. It was a
strangely shaped tree, with no branches, and it sat upon another set of
floating trees. It was a bizarre object,
but I had no choice but to land on it, my energy was failing. I grabbed on to the ends of one of the
strange trees, and held on tight, my claws digging into the wood. I closed my eyes and waited.
After
a while, I knew not how long, the storm passed, and I slept.
I
woke to the sound of loud noises. I
opened my eyes and peered around.
Strange animals, large ones, which I had never seen before, were
prowling around on the deck, talking and shouting. Amazingly, I could somewhat understand what
they were saying, although they did not speak the tongue of All Birds.
I
had always enjoyed meeting new species, so I watched with intent interest. From what I could understand, they called
themselves “Men”. The object which they
controlled over the water was called a “Boat”, a “Port-of-Geese-Man-of -War”,
or something sounding like that. The
name vexed me, because I had met some geese before, and there seemed to be no
relationship between them and this “Ship”.
The
men were vicious, some of them striking others repeatedly, making them scurry
faster, pull on ropes, or move a furry stick over the ground. This went on for a while, then things
changed. A man walked out of the bowels
of the ship. This man walked slowly, and
looked around carefully. He held his
head high, and was much cleaner then the others. One of the men who did not beat but yelled,
called to the others.
“Admiral
on deck!” Everyone stopped what they
were doing and lined up. The Admiral,
for that what it appeared to be, walked idly around the ship, peering closely
at certain parts of the boat, ignoring the other men completely. I gathered from this that this man was
somehow superior to the others.
A
strong gust of wind blew up, and I had to spread my wings to keep my
balance. The Admiral looked up towards
me, then stared straight at me. His
mouth curved up, in something which I could only assume was an expression of
pleasure. He waved at me.
“Hello,
friend!” He called. “A fine day is it not? Come down, you must be hungry, and we can
supply you with some food.” I did not
know what to think of this. None of the
others had noticed me, let alone spoken to me.
I was suspicious of this race of men who hurt each other. The Admiral smiled. “Perhaps I should introduce myself. I am Lord Roberts, Admiral of the Portuguese
Navy, acting Captain of the Man of War, Iridescent. I will not hurt you, you beautiful
bird.” Again, I was confused. My feathers had to be ruffled from constant
wind and rain, so there was little about me that could be considered beautiful.
After
a moment of vacillation, I conceded. I was hungry, and I did not care for the
taste of fish. I unfurled my wings, and
glided downward. I circled the Admiral’s
head twice, then hovered in front of his face.
He held out his arm, and I took it as an indication to land. The Admiral turned slowly, but I still had to
unfurl my wings slightly to keep balance.
I was not accustomed to this mode of travel, and it unsettled me. Perhaps it was just because I was hungry that
my stomach made roiling motions, but it could have been feelings of doubt.
The
Admiral waved his free hand at the other men, and the shouter dismissed the
men, sending them back to work. The
Admiral led me into the ship, talking as he went. He explained how his ship was on a mission
for the Queen, the leader of all the men, and he was lost. The storm had blown them off course, as it
had me. This Lord Roberts was turning
out to be a very nice creature.
After
a while, about thirty or forty nights, we encountered land. Lord Roberts did not seem as surprised as the
other men, and I questioned him.
Although he could not understand me, I think he got the gist of what I
was trying to say.
“You
are here, are you not? You are a
land-bound creature, and had to have been blown from some near-by land, so we
had to find land somewhere.” He was
right. The men, or this one at least,
seemed to be very smart.
Lord
Roberts allowed for the men, crewmen he called them, to go ashore. That night, he joined them. I never left his side, as he was the only one
of the men who would talk to me and explain what was going on. The men scoured the land for food, and Lord
Roberts asked if I could find him some fruit while I hunted. I agreed, and hoped he understood.
I
caught and devoured three small rodents, and one medium sized one. The food the Admiral gave me was good, but
not enough. Then I found a tree which
had some large fruits hanging from its branches. I flew back to Lord Roberts led him to the
place, then settled on his shoulder to rest.
I
woke to the roaring sounds of rain.
Instantly alert, I peered around.
I cried out in alarm. Lord
Roberts, whose shoulder I was still clutching, replied to what he though was a
question from me.
“The
storm is back! We can’t make it back to
the ship, so we will stay here, and hope the ship does the same.” I realized that he was correct. With their unsteady mode of transportation,
going by sea, they would have as much trouble as my going by air. Again, I settled down to wait out another storm.
The
next morning, the storm was gone, but, unfortunately, so was the ship. It was not that it had disappeared, but it no
longer existed. There were pieces of the
Iridescent scattered along the shore,
along with bodies of men who had refused to come to land. Lord Roberts was upset, and almost seemed
scared. In all the time that I had know
this man, he had never been scared.
“We
are stranded, lost, and without supplies.
What am I to do? The men will
turn against me, now that they don’t really need me, and will blame me for
this, this. . . disaster.” Again he was
correct, for I had observed how the crewmen disliked him. Lord Roberts and I fled into the woods. I commented to him on how I could find food
for him, and that I would not leave him.
He had gotten pretty good at comprehending what I said, and seemed
brightened by this.
“Yes,
my friend, you are still with me. You
are a deadly fellow, and can help me hunt for meat. You have good eyesight, and can spot a good
place to stay. I fear I will be without
human company for the rest of my life. I
hope you can comfort me.” I realized
that this was a great commitment, but I had grown to like this man, more than
any other creature that I had met.
So that is the story of my life. For
the five years after that incident, Lord Roberts and I formed a strong bond,
one which could not be broken. We could
almost read each other’s minds, and we got along splendidly in this unfamiliar
land. We never encountered other humans,
just as the Admiral had predicted, although we often saw foot prints. We died together during a snow storm. I perched on my friend’s shoulder, him huddled
inside the house which we built together. Friends forever.
