Sky Lord by Rowan Erlking (that summer book .txt) 📕

Breakfast was a warm bowl of cracked wheat. Tia doused it with honey when Marla was not looking. Then Marla doused hers with cream in front of Tia’s eyes. Both laughed and shrugged, eating the plain grain porridge. Marla then called for Tia to bathe before they started the work that day. Tia had yet to tell her that she could not stay.

She went up to the bath as ordered, turning on the hot water. The sound of it hitting the empty basin as the steam rose echoed in the room, much like Tia’s growing lonesomeness and reluctance to leave. Every second she felt more lonesome.

Tia glanced out the window once looking at the sky and the birds. The canal below was mostly empty. Gazing at the small boats going by, she sighed once more. But then, staring, she blinked down at one boat. Groaning, Tia pulled in her head and turned off the water. There would be no bath today.

“What are you doing?” Marla asked, watching Tia open the bedroom window and climb onto the windowsill.

Tia turned around. She grimaced, aching to give Marla a kind smile. “I am sorry. I am not what you think I am. You have been too kind to me, but I must leave.”

Marla walked over to the window to pull her back. “Did you see your master out there on the canal? I’ll give that low life a piece of my mind.”

“No,” Tia said, putting her hand on Marla’s shoulder. “No. I lied to you. That man you mentioned is not my master. I ran from my mistress ages ago. I am now running from the Patriarch of Brein Amon.” She lowered her head. “I am the demon the soldier warned you about.”

She heard Marla gasped. Tia did not dare look her in the eye.

“You have been more kind to me than any human has ever been, and I will never forget it,” Tia said. “But I must go before the hunter finds me.”

She crawled at once onto the adjoining rooftop. Two seagulls were sitting there, resting their wings. Marla ran to the window after her, watching Tia take a hold of one seagull. In front of her she saw Tia’s face grow a beak, her arms prickling out with long white and gray feathers, bending as wings. Her dress fluttered into the shape of down and long white quills. The bird Tia had captured in her hands now lay limp on the roof next to an identical bird. The seagull that was Tia glanced once at the woman then flapped, launching into the sky.

Marla watched it lift higher and higher until she could no longer see where the bird had gone, obstructed by the rooftops.

“You!” a voice shouted out from below. Marla looked down where she saw the young man with bright sapphire blue eyes staring back at her. Jonis was carrying his sword. “Did you see where that gull went?”

“A Cordril hunter,” Marla murmured. 

“Hey! Woman!” Jonis trotted up to her house, hopping from his boat to the ledge and rapping on the door. “Tell me where the Sky Child flew off to!”

Marla drew in her head. She saw his military coat that meant he was working for the government. It was too late to pretend she did not see him. Taking her time, she walked down her stairs, wringing her hands in her apron. When she reached the front door, she only opened the top half.

“May I help you?” Marla asked possessing an admirable amount of calmness.

Jonis gasped for breath as if he had been running. He nodded, giving her a quick smile. “Yes, you can tell me where Tia went off to.”

“Her name is Tia?” Marla murmured. She had never asked for her name, but later she expected to learn it when she had gained the Sky Child’s trust. The fact that this hunter knew it was startling.

Nodding again, Jonis grabbed his chest. “Yes. Now please, before the Patriarch’s hunters get here, tell me where she has gone.”

Marla pulled back. “I have no idea. She kept silent about where she was going.”

His eyes flickered in a smile, and he bowed his head though still keeping his eyes on her. “I see. Well then, I hope you never change that story. It might give her a head start. Good day.”

Jonis turned, hopping back into the small boat he had been pushing down the canal with a rod. Marla watched after him.

“Stop there!”

Marla turned her head. This time she saw a team of five soldiers rumbling down the canal on their motorboat.

Jonis looked back once and snorted. He did halt though. “What do you want? I’m busy.”

“Who were you just talking to?” the head of the group shouted at him.

Sticking a finger in his ear and wincing, Jonis replied with some annoyance, gesturing towards Marla. “That lady over yonder. I was asking if she had seen any strange birds. She hadn’t. Now if you will excuse me.”

“You lying little demon,” the soldier snapped. Their boat butted his. That man hopped into Jonis’s little craft and reached out for Jonis’s coat jacket. “If you weren’t working for the Patriarch, I’d swear you were hiding her.”

“Me?” Jonis said, batting the man’s hands away from his coat collar. “Hide a Sky Child? Are you loopy? I just want to get to her first.”

Marla huffed and slammed the top door closed, locking it.

Jonis smiled.

The soldier jabbed his rapier into the Cordril hunter’s chest, just enough to get his attention. “I don’t like you. The fact that the Patriarch has employed a demon to do his dirty work does not mean there can’t be accidents along the way. I don’t think anyone would cry if you were gone.”

“Really?” Jonis said with a darker tone than usual. “Well I might.”

He took off his glove, extending a finger to the tip of the soldier’s nose. The man stepped back, each step making the boat rock.

“And as for accidents,” Jonis gently tapped the soldier’s skin. A visible jolt ran from his fingertip to the soldier’s nose point. “Any of them in regards to you wouldn’t make me cry either.”

The soldier fell backwards into his own boat. Jonis’s tottered, sloshing in the murky water, but he steadied it by grasping onto his pole, balancing the bottom of the boat with his feet. All the soldiers stared at him with wider eyes. Jonis turned and continued down the canal without any more ado.

“So that is what a Cordril can do,” Marla murmured, looking out from her upstairs window. She closed the shutters then drew the curtains over them.

The soldiers murmured, helping their commander onto his feet. “I wonder, does anyone know how to kill a Cordril hunter?”

Their commander glared, dusting off his jacket as he stood at a more dignified height. He still watched Jonis as he continued out towards the sea. “They die just like every human dies. One stab in the heart, and they are gonners.”

“As long as he doesn’t touch you when he is dying,” another man said. “Or he’ll take your life in exchange.”

The troop clenched their teeth, gunning their motor to follow.

As the gull flies, the journey went quite swiftly. Tia could see for miles below. Now these were the wings to travel on. No extra flapping, just one good glide on the wind could take her out to sea.

Boat masts, like steeples, poked up in the bay with their flags fluttering on the breeze. The air tasted salty and fresh. Birds dived in and out among the reef, lifting crabs and fish to chomp on. Luckily Tia was too full to need to stop for a bite herself. Marla had fed her very well. However, thinking of Marla plummeted her mood, especially about how she had left Marla. Tia wondered if the woman would ever forgive her for deceiving her. She hoped at least she would.

As a seagull, Tia felt protection in the masses, but she flew onward, out into the open sea where she supposed would lead her to an island. Calculating when the three hours would give out, Tia decided it was best to swim and maybe catch a porpoise for the next length of the journey. She had yet to try to be a fish, but that did not stop her from thinking about the idea. An animal was an animal, and she would adapt as quickly as ever when she became it. Breathing underwater did not strike her as too terrifying.

So she floated on the wind, leaving behind the port city and entering uncharted territory. Steamboats floated below, honking to the gate masters to let them out of the bay. The large bay walls pulled back, regulating sea traffic. Undoubtedly they paid a toll to dock there. Beyond the wall she could see smaller skiffs, driven by sails and oars. Further out, a long steamer blew out smoke into the otherwise clean sky.

Up and out, Tia soon saw only blue above and blue below. Mankind was now behind her, and her future was before her.

There were times that Tia wished that she had carried a watch, though it was not like a seagull could wear one. Her body was screaming that time was up, and she had to fly down to take the plunge. She had soared higher up than she had expected. All the blue she saw eliminated distance perception to the flat sea below, and though she dived, flying lower at the safest speed possible, Tia found herself transforming back into the girl that had left Marla’s house in Stilson. She dropped like a rock.

“What in heaven’s name was that over there?” the man got up from his oar, pointing across the water.

The sea captain blinked then pulled out his spyglass, extending it.  He peered in. “It looks like a rather large bird just fell from the sky.”

“Can was go out for it Cap’n?” one of his crew asked, jumping from his post.

Lowering his telescope, the captain nodded. “Yes. See if it is food. If not, drag it on anyway. I have a hunch.”

They set down their oars, turning the boat. The helm steered their rudder, veering them to the port side. Eagerly peering into the water, the sailor lowered down a small rowboat, crewed by three men.

“It’s a girl!” one of the men cried.

They dragged her sagging body into the craft. Tia choked, coughing and clinging to the skiff’s edge.

“Is she alive?” the captain shouted down.

“Just barely!” another of the rescue crew replied.

They rowed back to the ship, heaving up the boat as soon as they could, hauling the dripping wet girl aboard.

The captain smiled, placing his hands on his hips. “Well, well, what have we here? Did you fall out of an airplane?”

Tia still choked on water, covering her mouth with her hand.

“Come on then,” the captain said, waving his arm over to her. “Let’s get you down below so you can change out of those wet clothes. We can’t have you dying of hypothermia.”

They escorted her straight off the deck, taking her to a wood stained door and opening it. She passed men smearing pitch on the deck for waterproofing. Others were dragging in rope. One man in a fancy silk coat called to the