AECf9
As the days passed, Whadgaf longed for a past that she could never recapture. Before her time at the Auburn Order lair, she enjoyed everything as leisure. Fighting had been sport before, but at the lair it was a matter of life and death. Flying was a leisure she seldom enjoyed in the city of Jerial, but when she managed it, it was a true delight to soar and feel the wind moving her feathers and lifting her body as she maneuvered through the sky. At the lair, flying and fighting for her life are one in the same. Her meals at the Jiris building were always lavish buffets and she would pick and choose the delicacies that wet her beak from a smorgasbord of Hafjeran culinary delights. She never wondered where her next meal would come from. At the lair, Liuar forced her to catch her own food and to cook it herself. Liuar would leash and blindfold her until they reached their destination, and the two would fly in a direction that was unknown to Whadgaf away from the lair where they could go down low enough in the planet’s atmosphere to catch jara birds. The members of the order subsisted on the meat of jara birds because they could catch them without landing on the planet surface. The jara can be found in every corner of Hafjeran. They are a native species that existed there long before the Hafjeris arrived. They are simple winged creatures, not intelligent like the Hafjeris who use the jara as a reliable food source. They are very attractive birds, usually brown or black with yellow beaks, and they have tail feathers that are long and ornate that some Hafjeris wear as accessories for formal occasions. Whadgaf never had a strong affinity for jara meat and the monotony of eating it everyday at the lair only makes her hate it. The labor catching the birds mid-flight was hard and preparing them to cook was even more of a hassle. She learned to start fires by rubbing two sticks together. Liuar did not teach her, he only watched as she struggled. In the beginning, Whadgaf would give up frustrated and tear into the raw meat of the jara like a savage. The first time, Liuar chuckled to himself as she regurgitated the bird. The second time, Whadgaf did not regurgitate and smeared the blood of the jara on her face as Liuar watched. After that, he wrestled the raw meat away from her until she started a fire. It took her days to learn and in that time Liuar only watched sternly.
Whadgaf is a quick learner in many respects, and under the extreme pressure of being a captive, she was even sharper. Not only did she learn how to start a fire, but she watched the members of the order when they were in flight to learn the technique that allowed them to fly so much faster than the average Hafjeris. She knew not to let Liuar see that she was studying the members so closely; when she attempted an escape by chipping away at the stone wall of her room, Liuar found it despite her best efforts to conceal it. Liuar had a very keen eye, so Whadgaf would always feign aggression and disinterest in the members while casually watching them and remembering the subtle flits of their wings in between the long strokes that propelled them forward. She knew that she could not out fly them even if she managed to get out of the lair or to slip the watchful eye of Liuar, but she had no idea how much time she would be captive and she would use all of it to improve herself so that she could take advantage of a lapse in her supervision if it ever arose.
Soon after she had mastered fire and was eating a regular diet of jara birds, when she was sitting with her eyes closed in the room of Durfgar and reviewing a mental map of the lair in her head, Liuar barged into the room and slammed a sash of heavy, red cloth on Whadgaf’s lap.
“Frial is dead. You killed him!” Liuar shouted down at Whadgaf who slowly opened her eyes. She controlled her breathing and was careful not to betray her real reaction to hearing that she had caused the death of the man who had whisked her away from her home. She’d hit him relentlessly while she struggled to break free from him, and Frial never hit her back but did his best to avoid her fists, feet and beak. Frial was determined to complete his mission of securing Whadgaf and by the time they had arrived, he was already bloody and swollen. Whadgaf’s final blow to his head left him in a coma that he would never wake up from.
“Good.” Whadgaf said cavalierly and ignored the pangs of guilt. She would not allow the flashes of Frial’s bloody face in her memory to make her feel like a monster for ending a life.
“Good.” Liuar said firmly. He grabbed Whadgaf by the arm and dragged her from the room. Whadgaf kicked and punched until Liuar struck her with a fist at the side of her head and she went limp.
When Whadgaf woke up, she was in a room with stone walls. In the center was a stone slab and there lay the body of Frial Realfen who was not much older than Whadgaf at his passing. Liuar stood just next to the body and glared at her.
“Good? Good!” Liuar screamed and used his wings to lunge at Whadgaf. She tried to retreat but he grabbed her and shoved her toward the corpse.
“This was a son of the most important family on Hafjeran. His life was worth more than yours will ever be. Look at him!” Liuar was furious and he used his hands to force Whadgaf to look at the body.
“You’re a hypocrite.” Whadgaf said. Liuar slapped her and she fell to the ground.
“This is not the time for words, you…”
Whadgaf was bold and stood up quickly. “You say my family’s bad, but you all up here think you know what’s good for everyone below you. How could you even know?”
Liuar wound up to hit her again, but he was interrupted by the voice of Marfgad.
“Liuar! Leave!”
“She has killed one of our own! This plan of yours was dumb from the start…” Liuar heard his disrespect and stopped fast, then fell to one knee. “My apologies, Marfgad.”
“Please leave us.” Marfgad said gently. She understood the pain of losing Frial, all in the order are family.
When the two were alone, Marfgad said, “He is not wrong.” She looked past Whadgaf to Frial. “The war hasn’t even started and we already have casualties. It does not look good for us.”
Marfgad turned her attention to Whadgaf and approached her. Whadgaf swung to hit Marfgad, but she was faster and as she lifted off the ground, she kicked Whadgaf hard in the face. Whadgaf stumbled back against the stone slab.
“We cannot lose now.” Marfgad said. “And you have just made things very hard for yourself.”
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