Finding Your Harpy Place (Tales of Arvia Book 2) by Willison D. H

Author:Willison, D. H. [Willison, D. H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-11-14T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Hunting and Fishing

A blob of sticky sap from that damn evergreen I slept in last night irritates the third toe of my left talon. Evergreens—yet another element in this forest that feels unnatural. That odd scent, the irregular texture of their bark, prickly little needles, the odd angles of their branches, and this too?

Jenolen would have warned me. Even Beatriz probably… nah, she would’ve let me get sap all over my talons, then laughed at me. Maybe there’s a way to wash it off after I catch breakfast. I miss the soft leaves and smooth bark of the trees at home.

Three weeks in the wilderness. I should have had a better plan than “seek out the Savaria flock and see what test they have to prove yourself full-fledged.”

Darin would have had a plan. A good one too, I bet. But he was right not to want to see me again after that horrible display I made on our vacation. Harpies have an accord with the merfolk, and I dragged Darin into a petty squabble. I can’t even truly protect him until I’m full-fledged and can speak for my flock.

I glide back and forth across a calm spot in the river, just below a rapids. Looks like a good spot for predatory fish to lurk, fish looking to pounce on creatures that are disoriented after being washed down the rapids. The Savaria flock occasionally find worthy prey in this river, so they told me.

I sway in the breeze, the updraft of cool air off the river blowing pleasantly through my feathers.

Keep the sun to your side, don’t cast any shadows on the water.

I sense the life energy of a couple small creatures in the water.

I splay my left wingtip feathers and bank right to get a better view. The sun glistens and sparkles off the water’s surface from this angle. Damn. Looks like a couple garnet trout—timid little prey fish with scales the color of dried blood. Barely a meter long. Both together not even a solid breakfast, and if I grab one it’ll spook the second.

Wait! I sense a larger life energy further downstream, moving this way. Where is my shadow? Gotta gain a little altitude. This new creature swims slowly upstream—is it stalking the trout? I catch a flash of its outline as it passes through a shallow spot. A good triple the size of a human, with an elongated form and spiny fins in strange places along its body. Could this be the bluntnose gar that the Savaria flock talked about? They called them an interesting prey.

The Savaria flock. Glad to have gotten away from them. Beatriz is positively kind-hearted compared to most of them. Hard to believe there would be harpies I like less than my sisters in the Tionora flock.

The gar slips into the shadow of a submerged log. It is stalking the trout. Intelligent hunting behavior. Must be why they are prized by the Savaria flock. Could this be my opportunity? Bring back a trophy to the Savaria flock? It’s a worthy prey, yet not a human.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.