“I understand,” she said, unbothered.“I wouldn’t expect you to divulge any details.I’m trying to warn you this curse of your ex-girlfriend’s might be sending us into a danger zone.”
“Sharshanna and I were never in a relationship as you humans define it,” he said, jaw clenched.“We were egg matched before we’d even hatched.We played together in a big group as children and attended certain classes and ceremonies together.But we werenota couple.”
“Then why is she mad enough to curse you?And me?Simply because of unpleasant gossip she might endure?”
“Her whole life has been pointed toward joining the royal family and using my family’s connections to do so,” Hagan said.“I wasn’t a person to her, certainly not a man she loved or even cared for as a friend.I was a prop in her political maneuverings.”
The whole arrangement sounded sad to Amellia, although she couldn’t muster up much sympathy for the woman who’d cursed them.They drove in silence for a few minutes before Hagan asked, “And this pearl we have to procure?Where will we find it?”
She pulled out her handheld and did furious research while he drove.“The best place to try is about an hour’s drive further east of the mawkhen colony.But then the mandrajoo grove is in the entirely opposite direction.”
“We’re committed to this plan now,” he said philosophically, although his fingers were tight on the manual controls and the tips of his claws edged out.“I’ll take to the air after we have the pearl and fly us directly.This vehicle has a limited capacity for flight.There certainly wasn’t time for us to divert to the spaceport garage and check out anything more capable.”
“The turnoff is coming up fast,” Amellia said.“We’re going to have to walk a little bit, I’m afraid.”
“My night vision is excellent and I have a handlamp in my go bag in the trunk which you can use.”
Hagan parked in the visitors’ lot at the edge of the nature preserve and Amellia led the way, handlamp in hand.She’d never been here at night but the trail was clearly marked and after a brisk fifteen minutes or so they were in the grove of trees she remembered from her younger days.“The trees look bigger in the dark,” she said in a hushed voice, feeling silly the next minute when she realized theywerebigger after a decade or so of growing since her last foray here with her cousins.“We should keep our voices down so we don’t startle the birds.The flock should be asleep on the nests right now and we want them to stay that way, not attack us.”
“Would they?You didn’t show me a holo of these birds.”Hands on his hips, he was surveying the dense growth above them.“Which tree is our best bet?”
Amellia slung the handlamp at her side and headed for a medium sized tree on the edge of the grove.“I’m thinking this one.”
Hagan hastened after her, catching her gently by the elbow to swing her around.“You aren’t climbing.”
“Yes, I am,” she said in astonishment, retreating a step.“I’ve done this dozens of times.”
“In the daylight.And I have a tail to assist me in climbing.”
“And have you ever gathered mawkhen eggs before?Slid the egg out from under the bird so she doesn’t notice, doesn’t attack?I know what I’m doing.Now give me a boost up to the first good sized branch.I have a ways to climb.”
He stared at her for a moment.
Nervously she checked her pocket, making sure she could safely carry an egg or two in the depths of her overcoat and then raised an eyebrow at him.“Well?Time’s wasting here.”
“I don’t like it but will accept you have the necessary expertise.”Hagan made a stirrup with his hands and steadied her with his tail as she stepped up and reached for the branch she’d chosen.
Puffing with exertion, Amellia hauled herself up and got a secure footing on the branch, which bent a bit disconcertingly.The night was damp and the tree bark was slick.Not wanting to give herself time to reconsider, she reached for the next handhold and then progressed to the one above it.The task was a lot harder than she remembered as a kid, scarier, andwhyhad she been neglecting to make her scheduled visits to the gym where she had her expensive membership?Or gone jogging more often or something.She leaned on the broad tree trunk and took in deep breaths.
“Are you all right?”Hagan’s voice drifted up to her from far below and holding onto a smaller branch, she leaned over to see him far below.
Putting a finger to her lips, hoping he could see it since he’d boasted of his night vision, she continued upward without answering the question.She really didn’t want to disturb the birds.One of her cousins had been attacked by a small flock during a childhood egg snatching expedition and had required stitches and nearly lost an eye.He’d worn the patch as a symbol of his courage for months until the eye healed.Yeah, we were crazy as kids.
Finally she began to hear the soft cooing of the drowsing birds as she reached the loftier branches and was able to make out a set of the big, messy nests a few feet above her current perch.She waited for a wind gust to subside, clutching desperately at the tree so she wouldn’t get blown off, nails digging into the bark, then crept carefully to the next level of intertwined branches and crawled toward the nests an inch at a time.
The birds’ white head plumage glinted in the occasional moonlight as clouds scudded past in the night sky.As far as she could tell they weren’t disturbed by her presence.Amellia hummed a song she dredged up from her childhood memories, which was supposed to hypnotize the mawkhens.She had no idea if the folklore was true or not but she’d take any help she could get.
Carefully, hand trembling, she reached under the lush tail feathers of the mawkhen on the nearest nest, gliding along the soft fluff which lined the structure of twigs and vines and other materials, until her fingertips brushed against a warm, smooth, solid surface which rocked a bit in response to her touch.Amellia locked her fingers around the egg and withdrew it as slowly as she’d probed initially, until she freed her hand and slid the egg into her pocket in one gesture.She backed away on the branch, nearly slipping off and sat briefly, head on her knees as she panted.Do I dare try for a second one?
There was no denying eggs were a fragile commodity, unlike a pearl or a root knot, which were their other two assigned commodities on this weird scavenger hunt.Taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders, she forced herself to climb to the next set of nests, rather than leave the first mawkhen seriously short of eggs.Performing the delicate maneuver required to extract the egg from under the bird, she tucked it in the other pocket and took a moment to wrap a scarf around one egg and a pair of gloves around the other before sealing the closures.
When she went to descend, vertigo struck with a vengeance and Amellia thought she was going to throw up.She couldn’t even see the ground clearly but she knew it was a long way down.With a stifled moan she leaned against the sturdy tree trunk and gathered her courage.She made it past the level where the first nest was and kept going, afraid if she paused for any reason she’d never be able to make herself resume the challenge.It was harder to find the right foot-and-handholds now, she was exhausted and terrified she’d slip.
Maybe she moved too fast, trying to end the ordeal, or perhaps her foot slipped on a slick branch but she screamed and grabbed frantically at branches as she fell, clinging onto one for a heart stopping instant before it bent and slid out of her fingers.Above her the tree shook as the mawkhens launched themselves from their nests, screeching loudly and flying in disturbed patterns.
Amellia had no time to do more than scream and she landed hard, caught in a pair of sturdy arms as Hagan broke her fall and they both collapsed onto the soft, mossy ground.“Mind the eggs,” she said, not making much sense but terrified they’d broken.No way could she get more tonight.The flock wouldn’t settle in time.Dazed, she stared into his deep green eyes.“You—you caught me.”
“Of course I did.Are you all right?”Effortlessly he rose, carrying her in his arms and headed for the groundcar park.
