A short story for Gwaihir Day
What price do you place on a life? Especially when it is your own? I remember well the arrow which almost took mine.
*Searing Pain* My flight faltered when the arrow hit. Out of control, I
circled downwards. The whipping of the tree branches was painful as I
crashed through them, but they slowed my tumbling body. I lay where I
had landed, battered and bruised. I don't think anything is broken, not
that it matters. I can feel my life slowly draining out through the
hole in my breast.
A gentle touch rouses me. A quiet voice is speaking. What are you
saying? My pain is so great, it is difficult to focus. A sudden
agony.....then all is dark.
I awaken slowly, confused. What has happened? My body aches. There is a
deeper pain in my breast. I open my eyes. I remember my first sight of
you, my friend. You have not changed in all these years.
I think of our first meeting as we fly together once again. You have
offered to make this final flight payment in full of my debt to you.
Such a small return for the care you gave to me in my time of need.
There they are! I have spotted your small friends. My brother and I
gently lift them from their perilous location. Swiftly, we bear them to
a place of safety.
"Thank you, Gwaihir," you tell me. My debt to you is now discharged. I
no longer must answer to your call. Maybe so. "Call on me again, should
the need arise," I say to you. "I will respond," out of friendship.
I watch you hurry away toward the small ones as I lift off. I have seen
how you care for those you think of as your friends. It is an honor
indeed to be considered as such.
'Till we meet again.
