| The Flight Of the Kaw |
| Part 5 |
| By Fibbi |
| The night was cold and fierce to Linka, who had once again been roused from her soft bed by the callings of birds. All kinds of birds, singing in harmonic dissonance, sang their luring songs to her with voices fabled to be those of the thrice-three muses. These winged singers yelled and squacked at Linka, forcing her to get dressed and go outside. She had enough time to pull on an overcoat, and pull open the heavy oak door. Then she realized it had locked behind her... She was at the mercy of these birds, whom she did not exactly trust. They led her into the woods, the same woods where she had once been with Wheeler, picking forget-me-nots by the river. Then it had been sunny and bright with love in the air...now the night was so cruel and the same banks seemed so different! Fog crept over everything. Visibility dwindled. Then everything went black... When Linka woke up, she was in a sapphire palace. The light shone off each jewel beam that held up the sapphire roof...everything was built from sapphire, with an indigo hue so brilliant it would make even my tired eyes sting. Linka opened her eyes slowly. In the sparkling building stood a small girl, no more than eight years of age, standing over Linka. She was applying a mixture of herbs to her forehead. Upon Linka's awakening, the girl looked very scared and ran away. Linka closed her eyes again. Her forehead stung...where was she? Gathering all her will power, she opened up her eyes and struggled to sit up. She was on a table of sapphire, and it was as hard as diamonds. Her back ached. All she could see anywhere were sapphires. No, wait...the girl was standing in the corner, staring at her. Linka stood up and went to talk to her. The girl backed away. Linka held out her hand to show that she did not mean to hurt her, and the girl took a step forward. As Linka took a step forward too, the girl started to run away. Linka started running after her, but the girl was too fast. She seemed to fly almost. Watching the girl run was like seeing pure strength. She sprung with coiled power, almost cat-like. In a second, she was gone. Sore and tired, Linka sat by a sapphire column and thought. She was in a strange land. Was this the Kaw's doing? Or an Eco-Villain's? And who was the girl...Linka drifted off to sleep again. When she woke again, she felt the stinging sensation on her forehead again. The girl must be back, cleaning her wounds, she thought. Linka didn't even dare to open her eyes. This girl was her only ticket out, and if she made any sudden moves, the girl would run away. With a quickness almost instinctal, Linka opened her eyes and grabbed the girl's sleeve. The child dropped the mixture, which she held in a white ceramic bowl. The bowl shattered on the floor. The girl's eyes were as wide as saucers, and as brown as the Kaw's. Her hair was a little lighter though, but was a uniform brown. She was incredibly thin, not anorexic, but so thin her bones showed where there was no muscle to cover them. The child was incredibly strong. She looked like Strength itself...but now she looked like Fear. Linka struggled to speak. "Who are you?" Her words echoed through the sapphire. With a voice like music, the child spoke, "Helenadia." In harmonies sweeter than a thousand church choirs, ringing clear and strong in the sapphire hall, the words almost made Linka faint. It was enough to make anyone cry. Ther very word rolled off her lips like that sweetest melody ever sung. "Helenadia, could you tell me why I am here?" Helenadia did not looked scared anymore. In fact, she laughed. "This is the home of my mommy, Katharine the Kaw. Hail, long live my mother the Queen!" "Could you tell me where she is?" "Are you mad at her?" Linka had to think about that question. Her forehead stung so badly...it was the Kaw's fault... "No. I am not mad at her." At this, Linka let go of Helenadia's shirt. Like a tiger pouncing on its prey, she scooped up the pieces of the broken dish and ran away. Part 6 |