Page 95 of Warrior of the Wild
We start the upward incline, but it’s only seconds before we run into another wall.
“What the hell?” Soren says.
Our frustration growing, we walk along the new wall until it disappears, then continue the climb upward.
Our path turns into an invisible maze as we avoid the god’s power. We backtrack, zigzag, go in what feels like circles—just so that we can find a path that isn’t blocked by the invisible wall.
“We’ll never find the bird like this,” I huff after running into yet another barrier.
“We’re making progress,” Soren says.
“Barely.”
“Before you arrived, I’d never even set foot at the base of this mountain. Thisisprogress. Don’t give up on me now.”
That stops my complaining instantly. I’m doing this for Soren, because I want him to be free to return to the villages. And I need his help to publicly face the god. We can do this.
But all these barriers—it’s like the god is taunting me. Does he know I’m alive? Why is he protecting this mountain peak?
A bird’s call draws both our gazes upward. We can’t see the otti. Not from where we stand.
But that sound—it’sclose.
Soren flies up the mountain with me right behind him. We’re met with the god’s power only once more before we halt and drop to our stomachs.
We lie at an incline, our heads just barely grazing over the tops of the rocks. Up ahead, a nest made of branches and weeds is perched atop a circling of rocks. The nest itself is half the size of the tree house. And inside, a mess of little squawks and fuzzy blue heads.
A tail flicks upward, not that of a fowl—but the large mountain cat that had been caught less than an hour earlier. The hatchlings are tearing through it. I now make sense of an assortment of other noises. Swallowing and ripping. I cringe.
“Where’s mama bird?” Soren asks.
From our hidden position, we try to take in all the surrounding trees and cliffs, but the great otti isn’t in sight.
“Will one of the hatchlings work?” I ask.
“They’re too small; they haven’t grown feathers yet.”
Right.
“She can’t have gone far,” Soren says. “Let’s wait her out.”
“What’s your plan?”
“Well, she’s a bird. At some point, she’ll come sit in her nest. I’ll sneak up behind her and take a feather.”
I whip my neck in Soren’s direction. “You want to approach her while she’s in hernest? She’ll be the most volatile then! And, what,you think she’ll just let you walk away after yanking out one of her feathers?”
“Do you have a better idea? No matter what, she’s going to be volatile!”
I think for a moment. “What supplies did you bring?”
“Other than food and a change of clothes?” He pauses. “Actually, I did bring a net, but it’s far too small to fit over the giant bird.”
“Let me see it.”
He frees the net from his pack and hands over the tangle of ropes. I stretch it out on the ground behind us. I shrug my pack from my shoulders and pull out a coil of rope. With a knife, I cut it into four strips, then tie each strip to one of the corners of the net, lengthening the ends and giving us better handholds.
“It won’t cover her wingspan,” I say, “but perhaps her head and back? If we can just pin her long enough, you can get close enough to grab a feather.”
