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“What are we going to do, girl?” I asked. “We can’t just leave that fine fellow there, trapped like that. He’ll die for sure if we can’t rescue him.”
Ember growled quietly, and I scolded her.
“I’m sure he’s never eaten any of your relatives, so you needn’t talk like that.”
With a sigh, I straightened again. I had to find a way to get close to the bird.
A sudden shrill, chattering call pierced the air as a blur fell from the sky. On instinct, I threw my hands up to protect my head. We didn’t get many eagles down south, but we had plenty of merlin falcons, and I recognized the cry, although I had no idea why one would be attacking.
As my mind caught up with my body, I pulled my arms down, my eyes flying to the trapped eagle. Had the falcon perceived his cries as some kind of threat? They were remarkably agile and aggressive birds, and even in the air they wouldn’t be discouraged by the larger size of an eagle, let alone now, when its opponent was trapped and helpless.
“Wait! Stop!” I cried, jumping forward and throwing out my arms, as if to shoo the newcomer away.
Even as I moved, I recognized the futility of my actions. But to my surprise, the falcon had already pulled up, flying out of reach of the eagle’s snapping beak without having touched the other bird.
My mouth fell open as the falcon swooped in a second time, flying fast and low as it sped toward the eagle, only to pull up at the last moment and fly away, once again with the same chattering call. I tried to remember when I had last heard such a noisy falcon and failed. Something about this bird’s behavior was extremely strange.
As I watched, still frozen in shock, the falcon swooped a third time. The eagle waited until the smaller hunter was close, snapping its head forward at the last moment and nearly catching it. The falcon swerved out of reach, however, pulling back out from under the trees.
Staring at the eagle, I realized all of his attention was now focused on the falcon as it dived in and swooped back out, constantly threatening attack, although it never actually touched the eagle. For a startling moment, an impossible thought ran through my mind. Was the merlin doing it on purpose to distract the eagle for me?
Surely that couldn’t be the case, but the opportunity was there, all the same. I hurried forward, making sure I approached on the opposite side to the merlin, who was in the process of diving back toward the eagle.
The trapped bird was still, waiting for the right moment to strike, and I lunged forward, grabbing the largest vine trapping it and sawing at it with my dagger. As soon as it gave way, I seized another, sending a silent apology to Nik as I continued to misuse his blade.
When the second vine gave way, only a small branch remained. As the falcon chattered and dove, I gripped the branch in both hands and snapped it cleanly in half.
The moment the wing was free, the eagle swept it forward, nearly knocking the merlin from the sky. Dodging at the last second, the falcon escaped.
The eagle flapped, off balance now that it was partially free. He couldn’t go far, however, since his legs were still held in place. I scrambled forward, trying to crawl beneath the freed wing. Red dripped on me as I did so, and my breath caught. How injured had the eagle become in his time in the bush?
I considered stopping and grabbing his wing, taking the time to heal the scratches and tears, but he was further damaging himself with each flap as he tried to pull free of the undergrowth. And the merlin might disappear at any moment, taking away my opportunity.
Gripping the dagger more tightly, I reached for the tangle of thin, thorny branches that trapped the eagle’s legs. The seconds stretched out as my sweaty hand slipped on the dagger’s hilt. It wasn’t designed for a sawing motion, but I eventually managed to cut through the last of them.
As the final whip-like branch gave way, the eagle lurched free, tearing his other wing out of the ensnaring vines. His sudden movement knocked me over, sending me sprawling across the ground. I barely managed to fling the dagger free before I landed on top of it, the breath momentarily knocked out of me.
As soon as I could move, I rolled over and scrambled backward across the ground, gazing at the eagle in consternation. I had intended to grab hold of the final wing and heal the bird before freeing him completely. I hadn’t realized the second wing was less ensnared than the other limbs.
He turned on me, his eyes unnaturally bright as he made a flying hop in my direction. I scrambled further back, trying to work out why he wasn’t taking off now he was free.
He gave the same alarm call I’d heard previously, but it was even quieter and more reedy than before. And the flow of red had become heavier instead of tapering off as I’d expected in the absence of the thorns.
Staring at his body in horror, I realized I’d misunderstood the situation. His bleeding hadn’t been caused by the minor scratches from his captivity. He had clearly sustained major wounds—most likely in a fight with another eagle—and his struggles had merely been exacerbating those wounds.
My hand flew to my mouth as I realized I’d made a grave error. When the falcon distracted the eagle, I should have used the opportunity to heal the trapped bird instead of focusing on freeing him. But since I hadn’t made direct contact with him, I’d failed to realize the extent of his injuries.
I instinctively tried to move toward him, but he beat his wings powerfully, driving me back again. Tears sprang to my eyes as more blood flowed from his body. No wonder a majestic eagle had ended up trapped in the underbrush. He must have been driven down during the fight, perhaps even unable to fly. It also explained why he was still on the ground now.
He hopped toward me again, and I scrambled back even further only to collide with a tree trunk hard enough to make my head spin. I gasped and rubbed at the back of my head, staring into one of the bird’s bright eyes. It wasn’t a natural expression, and with a sick feeling I realized his behavior from the beginning had been the fevered madness of a dying animal. If he’d been merely trapped, my power would likely have calmed him. But he certainly wasn’t going to let me near him now.
Tears dripped down my face, but before I could give way to the grief, he stumbled even closer, and a more primal fear swept over me at the sight of his sharp beak and claws.
He lurched forward, swiping at me with his beak, but a blur raced through the air, spearing straight for the eagle’s head. Rearing back, the larger bird swept his wing around and finally caught the falcon. Knocked from his path, the bird was flung against a nearby tree, falling like a stone to lie at its base.
“No!” I screamed, trying to scramble toward the collapsed falcon.
But the eagle moved to block me, managing to lift itself off the ground so it could reach for me with its talons.
