Alone in the Dark

Bird Of Prey

Nerini's first plan had been to move immediately on the castle that Keana's company had found. She had even written to Rael the day before to say that that was what they were doing and sent the message on a bird down south.

But even before she had marched her stiff and sore body down the stairs to the tavern that had been taken over and turned into a command centre, something had held her back. Nerini had reached for the surety and stubbornness to prepare for an argument with Keana, only to find her own inclination to wait. Her intuition, her gift, had never told her to wait before and she had struggled for several minutes to understand that feeling.

She was still recovering from her injuries, the healing that her body needed to do had left her tired and stiff, though she had forced herself to begin to train once more. Was it fear holding her back? She felt a certain amount of terror at the thought of the monsters and had seen it reflected back to her in the face of Keana's scout, Tomei, when the young woman had arrived with news of the castle.

When she had finally gone downstairs, she had seen Keana, her sworn Knight, turn to face her while squaring his shoulders, and she knew that he was prepared to give her one hell of a fight. He knew she had sent off a message to Rael, and she could see in his expression that he thought he knew exactly what she was going to say.

Nerini would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy seeing his look of surprise when she had said they were going to prepare and plan for a couple days, then go in. A small part of her felt guilty even as she said it, wondering if Kanny was there suffering, fighting to survive. But the moment she had verbalized her decision to hold off an attack, she felt her gift settle within her, telling her that she was doing exactly what she needed to do.

Keana recovered fast enough, though he kept casting her suspicious glances as they spent the next day mapping out and planning their approach. They had a small force of fighters, most of them rogues and street runners, though Thaner and the small force of Lansend Guards would join them by morning for the assault. Still, they could only hope that the fear that Nerini and Tomei described feeling would fade or be overcome more easily in groups.

They debated the merits between a full frontal attack versus a covert rescue mission, but without knowing just how good the creatures could hear or smell compared to a human, they had no idea if even Keana could sneak in undetected.

Even though the two days had seen an unnecessary luxury when she had made the decision, they passed by far quicker than she would have liked.

The night before the attack found her sitting outside on the roof of the inn, watching the moon rise high above the trees. Its silver light bathed the entire world in brightness and an icy beauty that allowed her to relax. Nerini closed her eyes for a moment, basking in the cold glow until she heard an eagle overhead. Still, in loathe to break the moment, she waited until it sounded again, directly above her head, before she opened her eyes to look at the night sky.

Nerini watched the darkness, frowning again as she saw the large bird as a dark shape move across the moon, looking as if it were circling above the village. Out of reflex she whistled, mimicking the sound she had heard Shiar make to his birds in Sellexu. She felt like an idiot, knowing that there was a small chance that the bird belonged to Shiar, who was across the bay with Wyn and Caelur and Lyana, and that woman he had fallen for. She had not thought of any of her friends, let alone those she had slipped away from those long weeks ago, in a long time, and realized she had no appreciation where any of them would be at this moment.

The bird let out another cry in response to her whistle and circled once more, though more narrowly on her rooftop, before it landed on the chimney a few feet from her. She tensed for a moment, tilting her head and again whistling to it, holding her arm out and bracing as the large white and grey bird of prey hopped easily onto her arm. The bird's claws gripped her firmly as she struggled against its weight until she found her balance. She recognized the bird as one of Shiar's, had seen him use it more than the others that he kept with him.