Chapter 300 (1/2)

Chapter 300

It took a htThe inside of the Spear Beak elder’s hut was diht that flowed in through gaps in the woven sticks and fro

The hut’s interior was sirass, and tufts of fluffy white fur dole copper wash basin full of water rested next to the doorA thin layer of ice had for around the hut from the small loose ends of the branches hat looked like trophiesThere were several necklaces s and snize, and even a row of feline skulls lined up neatly

‘Quite the ht

We can’t be sure they’re friendly yet, I warned,from item to item until my attention landed back on the necklace made of talonsDon’t those look pretty similar to the ones left at the altar?

As the elder shuffled into his bed and squatted down, his spindly legs folded beneath hiot a better look at his clawed toes

‘I think you’re right,’ Regis affirer question is, did they put theis’s voice was drowned out asAs the elder shuffled in his nest, for just a liThere was some kind of relic hidden within, I was sure of itMaybe even a piece to the portal

“Sit, sit,” the old bird croaked, waving his wing around the hut

Giving no indication that I’d noticed anything, I sat on the hard-packed earth floor around the bed, thinking itplace, and Caera took a seat next to meUnsure where to start, I stayed silent and waited for the Spear Beak to continue

“Silence is wisdo his black beak up and down“Long, very long since an ascender has visited us”

“We have many questions, elder, but first, what should we call you?” I asked politely

The gray old bird clacked his beak and honked in a way that I couldn’t hope to replicate, then it laughed, a sound like grain beingat the accuracy of Old Broke Beak’s name, I held my hand toover the words as I nearly revealed lancing at ely from the corner of her eye, “and I’m CaeraIt’s an honor to meet you, Old Broke Beak”

“How is it you’ve co to move the conversation past ency to leave this zone, I was incredibly curious about these Spear BeaksSince being reborn into this world, I hadn’t ent as these creatures

Had the djinn been so powerful that they created sentient, intelligent life simply to populate their trials? It seeh to listen, taught me when I had only just learned to fly” The elder clacked his beak several ti underneath hie, and shared your words with every ascender to find us since—or triedMany are not wise enough to hear the words”

I nodded along as our host spoke, iht have reached this zone only to attack every aether beast they saithout realizing they weren’t ht off ascenders powerful enough to arrive in this zone…

‘Then these guys is finished

“I a wisdom with you,” the old bird went on“We need you, and you need us”

Caera leaned forward, her scarlet eyes boring into the Spear Beak’s purple ones“You knohere the broken pieces of the portal are?”

“The clans keep theive them to you, no” Old Broke Beak shook his wizened head, his long beak cutting back and forth in the air like a sharp blade

“The clans?” Caera asked

“Four clans, yes, and the wild things, the s, they carry one too, but they always hunt for the othersThe wild things are sleepless and fearless and forever greedy” The elder leaned forward, looking froain“But the clans are worseCruelStupidFour Fists, Ghost Bears, Shados…only the Spear Beaks knoisdo of the invisible bearish creature we fought under the do far below us now at the bottoryhis feathers as if shi+vering“Ghost Bears kill as if it’s a gahtIf you find one”—he leaned forward again, his cracked beak co within inches of my face—“kill it, or it will hunt you foreverGhost Bears never give up a kill”

I only nodded, carefully keeping hts from my faceThe Ghost Bear we’d seen hadn’t see machineIn fact, it had see any of us

‘We could’ve just scared it,’ Regis pointed out‘The…Ghost Bears or whatever can’t have seen many people, much less someone that could actually see theht, I adive away our knowledge of the Ghost Bears, though, so I instead pressed the Spear Beak elder for more details about the other clans

“The others…just as bad, yesFour Fists clan are like you, yet not like youShort legs, long arly faces, with teeth like this” Using its feathered wings, Old Broke Beak s

“Shados live to fight, to kill” Old Broke Beak indicated the row of feline skulls“They stalk us, clis fro somberly to the old bird speakShe shook her head when he s“That’s horribleI’m so sorry, Broke Beak”

“You said we needed each other,” I re the conversation back around to the portal pieces“So each of these clans holds a piece of the portal out of this zone? Why?”

Old Broke Beak closed his eyes, his long neck swaying gently as if he were singing a song in his headWhen his purple eyes finally opened again, there was a sense of the ancient about him, a weariness that rolled off hiht on thisAlways the Spear Beaks have tried to spread wisdom to the other clans, but now I know they cannot learn itThe others will not give you the piecesYou must destroy themAll of theive you the piece long guarded by the Spear Beaks”

“My apologies for being blunt, but why can’t you give us your piece now?” Caera asked, studying the elder closely

His neck twisted to the side to such a degree that his head was nearly upside down“If the ascenders fail, if they die in the snow, under the claws and teeth and rage of the other clans, then ould have lost our own piece of the Creators’ tenized the sense in his words, I was distracted by so, dark beak moved up and down slowly“The other clans sense only the Creators’ energy within the relics, and so hoard them and worshi+p themThey are too dumb and too vicious to think about the pieces’ purpose, yes”

These clans, it seey around the djinn, the dome, and the arch withinIf the portal pieces exuded aether, and these creatures could sense it, then it would make sense that they coveted theifts to heal the portalYou can do this?”

I noddedJust like the mirror room, we only came to the snowy zone because I already had the tools required to move past itTest upon test, I mused silently

At that moment, Caera’s sto down at her htly“Food, yesI have been a bad hostSo eager to share words, while you go hungryComeWe have satWe have talkedNow, eat, yes”

The elder’s legs creaked audibly as he stood up and led the way out of his hutOutside, we discovered several Spear Beaks lingering nearby, staring intently at us as we followed him back out into the cold mountain air

Old Broke Beak snapped, clacked, and cawed, and the others nodded respectfully and began to follow us, for lines

Caera’s brows furrowed in concern as she looked at me, but I just nodded and walked up behind Old Broke Beak

The Spear Beaksof their features growing louder as we followed Old Broke Beak through the villageOthers peaked their beaks out of the many huts and shuffled into line in the impromptu marchSeveral of the Spear Beaks wheeled in the skies above us, their strange song falling down over the mountain hollow

We followed the elder to another, nearly identical hut with a faded gray door coveringHe snapped his beak three times and the crowd behind us fell silent as the dark-feathered Spear Beak we’d seen upon entering the village appeared in the doorway

There was a short exchange in their own language, then the black Spear Beak pushed aside the hanging with its beak and the elder entered, waving us in with a wing

I glanced back at the flock; they were all entirely silent and still, their violet eyes following us closelyThose that flew circles above us did so in an unnatural, interweaving pattern like an aerial dance

Caera vanished through the shadowy doorway ahead and I followed, a surreal, drea over me like a heavy blanket

Inside, the hut was nearly identical to Old Broke Beak’s, though there was no copper wash bin, and the only trophy on the as a sht eye socketIt looked rown bear

A second Spear Beak, nearly identical to our guide but with a fringe of feathers that stood up from her head, was nestled into the bed, but stood and shuffled to the side at a few clacks and squawks fro in theCaera eyedfor Old Broke Beak

The elder walked slowly across the hut, his claws crunching through the dry grass and feathers of the nest-bed, then gently tapped at the egg in several different spotsWithout turning to us, he said, “This egg will not grow a hatchling”

Then, without warning, he drove his keen beak through the shell of the egg, puncturing it with a sharp crackI looked on, horrified and fascinated, as he began to pick away pieces of the shell, crunching the the the golden, gooey yolk

‘I did not expect that,’ Regis le beakful of the egg, then crossed beaks with the fringed Spear Beak before she too ate froThey both repeated the ritual with the dark-feathered Spear Beak, who took his portion

“Eat,” the elder said si us expectantly

I could see Caera’s thoughts written plainly on her face as her hunger and disgust waged a ithin her

It was obvious that there was soious ritualis for consu their own eggs was distasteful, I expected they would not understand our hesitation, and ht even find it rude if we declined their offer

Besides, Caera couldn’t live forever on snow alone

Bowing respectfully to each of the three Spear Beaks, I stepped carefully into the nest and leaned over the eggThe insides were thick, war both hands like a bowl, I scooped out a small portion and slurped at it indelicately

It had a musky, rich flavor that wasn’t distasteful, exactly, but was foreign and strangeDespite this, I quickly finished the handful of sli else about it

The raw Spear Beak egg yolk i it allowedto refill is, are you—

‘Feeling it? Oh yeah…’ Regis answered, enjoying the huy that we absorbed fro

Caera watched me with pursed lips and a pinched sort of look on her faceI nodded toward the Spear Beak egg, widening my eyes pointedly