Thank you to all of my readers. Your support encourages me to create these essays, poems and stories. If you haven’t yet, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber, or drop a little something in the tip jar to keep me in coffee. None of my work is paywalled, but I'll need a bit put by if I'm going to retire early from the day job to write more…😉
Maven ran through the forest, long legs pumping, stones and splinters stabbing into her feet. She had been stupid. Her breath came in ragged gasps as the pain in her chest became more urgent. She could not carry on running like this and started looking for somewhere to hide. The Black Forest was mostly conifers and pine trees, their needles blanketing the ground beneath them, suppressing any useful undergrowth. She looked up at the tree trunks. Not easy to climb and she'd need to get pretty high to be hidden. It was hopeless. She wondered again what on earth had drawn her to the human base, who had called her. She had found no People there. Just people with guns and their dogs.
In a split second of inattention she went from running full pelt to flat on her face. Winded and head-sore it took a few seconds to register the sharp pain in her shin from the fallen branch she had tripped over and the dull ache in her ankle. She rolled over on to her back and lay there, long raven-black hair spread over the pine needles, chest heaving as she tried to quiet her ragged breathing. She listened for the sounds of pursuit, hoping that maybe she had run far enough. Sadly not. The sound of barking dogs in the distance signalled that she was still being hunted, but Maven figured she had time to catch her breath and think her way out of her predicament.
The portal was probably another mile ahead of her. The dogs would be on her long before then, but she could handle them. It was the humans and their bullets she was worried about. Such a frustrating species. So much promise from their creative and inventive endeavours, but they just didn’t seem able to get past their bloodlust for long enough to really achieve anything. They should be colonising star systems by now, but they were too busy killing each other most of the time.
She sat up, slowly, still feeling woozy. Raising her face towards the tree tops she uttered a raven's call. A few seconds later she received an answering cry. She zeroed in on the bird and slipped into it's mind as it flew high above the treetops. Ah. There. Over to the right there was an edge to the forest where the ground fell away several hundred feet down to a river. She could escape them that way then circle back to the portal at a more leisurely pace.
Still berating herself for being so stupid as to get caught snooping round an army base, she carefully heaved herself up off the ground and gingerly tried putting weight on her ankle. As expected, it was sore. She bend down to grab the branch she had tripped over as a crutch and set off, hobbling, towards the gorge as the sound of the baying dogs came ever closer.
Shortly she could see more light through the trees in front of her. She was nearing her destination. Just as well - the dogs were nearly upon her and the soldiers wouldn't be far behind. She kept limping towards the light as she heard the rythmic thudding of paws on ground behind her. Three large, powerful Alsations came skidding to a halt next to her, panting hard, tongues lolling. She held out her free hand and they came forward, leaning gently into her as she ruffled the fur between their ears.
Aquaintances made, she continued on, a tall, slim, tatooed figure, dogs padding beside her. She could hear cracking twigs. The humans were close. Just as she finally broke the tree-line, she heard a shout of triumph behind her. She carried on, picking her way out along a ridge jutting out from the cliff edge towards a single, tall pine overlooking the river far below. More shouts suggested that the other humans had also caught up with her, but she was nearly there. She just needed a few seconds to gather her thoughts. She slipped into the dogs minds briefly, sending them back along the ridge to slow down the humans by taking up space on the path, then took up position on the other side of the pine tree, away from any bullets. Taking some deep breaths, she calmed her breathing and her mind, shutting out the pain from her ankle. She concentrated, reaching inside for the switch. She nudged it over. Then she jumped off the cliff.
As she plummeted head first towards the water far below, she morphed from her humanoid disguise back into her true form. Huge, raven-black, wings extended, long tail trailing behind, Maven's wyvern form was an awesome sight. One that hopefully no-one would see if she timed it right. She kept diving until the last possible second, then pulled up sharply to fly flat along the river, feet and wing tips skimming the water. She risked a look behind her with large amber eyes, pupils slits in the bright sunshine. The soldiers had made it to the old pine tree, a gathering of ants in the distance. With a bit of luck they would think Maven had jumped to her death.
She glided along the river, huge cliffs lined with trees rising either side of her, slowly getting closer as the gorge narrowed. When stone threatened to graze her wingtips she banked upwards to skim just above the trees, a huge black shadow ocassionally flapping above the forest. She reached the portal and banked upwards again, slow, powerful wing beats taking her vertical this time. She felt the electric tingle over her scales as she passed through to safety, relieved.
In a dingy cell back at the base was a tall, slim young man, with long raven-black hair. He slept on a camp bed. His amber eyes closed, he dreamt of soaring through the great wide air above snowy mountains, simple houses dotting their flanks. He called out as he flew. But no-one replied.
Nice work! I liked the unexpected twist. The snippet at the end was also intriguing.
Good take on this, very creative and good descriptions. I could see the world you built.