Predator and Prey Chapter 2

Accaq

By the time I fly back to my flock's nest, night has already fallen. I look out across the familiar, sharp peaks of rock that protect the cave where we live. It was a challenge to navigate the flight pattern between the jutting rocks when I was younger, but after years of practice I can replicate the path with ease.

I watch as the guard at the mouth of the cave stands at attention as I go to land. I look up at him as my feet hit the ground, and smile at the familiar face.

"Quill." I say in greeting, dipping my head at him. His white hair practically glows in the moonlight, and the gleam on his eyes makes them look almost as pale as his hair.

He smiles back at me, spreading his massive wings out in greeting. "Accaq. What have you been up to today?"

I stretch my own wings, grinning. "Just flying about, as I usually do."

"Aren't you supposed to be practicing your dives? Father will be very cross with you if you don't have good enough form by your next lesson." I roll my eyes at his response, tucking my wings back in and nudging his shoulder playfully with my own as I pass him by.

"I've had those forms down for a week now. I'll be fine." He laughs and turns to watch me as I walk inside. "If you say so, brother."

I walk down the dimly lit path that leads to the main cavern of our nest. The cave is somewhat lit by torches that we have placed along the walls, so it's not hard for me to find my way.

The main cave is full of life as always. I take in the sight of our flock's dining table, which is almost as long as the room and is actually a bunch of normal tables pushed together. It's surrounded by a plethora of chairs, most of which are occupied by more of my siblings.

The large bonfire that lights the room is not far off from the table, so those who sit close to it have to be careful not to singe their wings as they sit.

When I enter the room my siblings look up and smile at me. "Accaq!" My older sister, Naqua, calls out and flies over to me, her pale gray wings nearly knocking over the chairs near her as she takes off. My two more of my older brothers, Quana and Iqui, follower her and land on either side of her.

"How you doin lil' bro?" Naqua asks, pulling me into a headlock and ruffling my hair playfully. I laugh and shove her away, trying to smooth out my hair as she backs off.

"I'm good. Better than good. Great, actually." I reply, walking by her and fluttering my wings a bit in embarrassment as I realized what I said. Perhaps that was a bit too much information....

I know the minute I turn around and see the expression on Naqua's face that I've said too much.

"Oh? And what made today so extra special?" She asks, leaning towards me. My brothers copy her actions, raising their eyebrows at me teasingly.

"N-Nothing!" I manage to stutter out, feeling my cheeks heat up with embarrassment. I've always been a terrible liar.

"Bullshit. Come on now, tell us what happened!" Naqua prompts. Iqui laughs and takes a step toward me, leaning his elbow on my shoulder. "Did you snag yourself a particularly tasty meal or something?"

I sigh and push his elbow away irritably. All of my siblings do stuff like that to me. I'm the shortest and one of the youngest, so I'm an easy target.

"No. Nothing happened. Completely normal day." I retort, trying to sound convincing.

"I think maybe our little lovebird found himself a girl." Quana drawls, stepping closer to me. I feel my face flush and I take a step back, attempting to hide behind my wings and pretend this conversation wasn't happening, but they are having none of it.

"That's what it is! You're crushing on a girl!" Iqui calls out a little too loud, and some of my other siblings turn their heads towards us.

"Shh!" I hiss at her, my feathers fluffing out in panic. "Do you want the whole flock to hear you?!"

"Why the secrecy?" Naqua asks, grinning.

"Because nothing has even happened yet! Just because I'm interested in her doesn't mean she isn't interested me!" I drop my wings in defeat. "She didn't seem to be overly impressed with me."

"Well, have you done anything to impress her?" Quana asks, and I tilt my head at him. "What do you mean?"

My question causes Iqui to roll his eyes. "If you want a girl to like you, you have to do something to impress her, dumbass!" He acts like this is the most obvious thing he's ever said.

"Like what?" He rolls his eyes once more.

"Bring her pretty things, fly in a complicated pattern, hunt for her, there's all sorts of stuff you can do!"

I tilt my head. "I'm not very good at any of that stuff.”

"I'll help you!" Naqua yelps excitedly, doing a little hop.

I smile at her gratefully. "Thank you."

"We'll start first thing in the morning!" She grins at me, and I give her a confused look.

"Why not tonight?"

"Because we're not wasting the entire evening on your affairs!" She huffed, crossing her arms. "I want to eat and go for a flight with Iqui and Quana. If you're really dedicated to impressing this girl, then you'd better get used to everyone else's nocturnal life."

She bumps me with her wing playfully as she and my brothers pass, heading for the table once more.

I follow them and sit in my assigned seat, leaning on the table and pouting. It would be a while before father and my eldest siblings returned with food, but pretty much everyone had already gathered around the table.

Everyone except for mother, who likely would be the last one to join us. She likes to sleep in, which none of us blame her for. I usually stay up late to say hello to her, before I head to bed.

I'm the only one in our family who isn't nocturnal. My eyesight is bad, so flying at night puts me at a higher risk than the others. I can see in the dark like everyone else, but everything is still blurry, so my parents decided I'd better stick to the day to help with impaired visibility.

The room falls quiet as my father suddenly enters, my four eldest siblings in tow. Father is a very intimidating person, even to other predators. None of us would dare go against him.

He is tall and well built, with dark hair that is clipped short. He has a long scar down the side of his face, which he received in a fight to protect our nest.

I can barely recall the night when we were attacked by another flock, as I was quite young, but my older siblings have told me the story a few times.

The siblings who went hunting with Father walk into the room behind him, each of them carrying their own catch, as well as a few creatures that must have been Father's kills.

They make a pile on the ground across from the table and start to remove their boots.

Generally when we walk around the nest we go without shoes. When we go flying we wear leather boots that Mother made, and when we hunt we wear special boots that Father made, which have built in iron talons that you can control with a simple mechanism inside the boot. They're uncomfortable, but functional.

All of the hunters remove their boots and walk off down some of the tunnels leading out of the main cave, likely heading to their private caverns to put the boots away with the rest of their belongings.

Everyone else gets to work with skinning and gutting the animals that the hunters brought back. Putting together dinner is always a massive family effort.

Quill has been relieved from guard duty for the time being, and is helping me skin a deer that was brought back.

Father is standing not far off, watching us all work with an approving expression. Mother appears from one of the tunnels in the cave and smiles, crossing the room to stand beside him.

Once all the animals have been cleaned we start cooking, spearing chunks of meat on skewers to season and roast, and taking certain internal organs and meats to make a stew.

Mother watches over us and instructs us on what seasonings to add to the food, while Father instructs some of my other siblings to take the bits we aren't going to use to the woods to feed to the wolves and coyotes.

We always give the extra bits to the scavengers of the forest so that nothing from the creatures we hunt goes to waste. We keep the bones for making tools, and the hides for making blankets, clothes, and leather. Everything has a purpose.

Once the food has finished cooking, some of us are able to sit at the table and wait for our meal, while those on serving duty hand out skewers of meat and wooden bowls filled with stew. Fortunately I'm not on serving duty, so I get to eat right away.

There is a bit of chatter at the table, but everyone falls silent as Mother and Father sit down in their spots.

"Some of you need to help salt and dry the leftover meat from dinner. Who would like that assignment?" Father's voice rings out in the cavern, and a few of my siblings raise their hands. He nods and gives those who volunteered a small, approving smile.

Once they put their hands down, Mother speaks up. Her voice is light and beautiful, severely contrasting Father's dark and strict tone. "We need more herbs to be gathered for seasoning and healing. Accaq, I assume you will taking care of that for us again?"

I sit up a little straighter in my chair as I am called on, and nod in acknowledgement, giver her a small smile. I always get put in charge of looking for herbs, as it's much easier to find the correct plants in the daytime.

"Good. I'll give you a list of what we need after dinner." I nod once more and turn back to my food, lifting my bowl of stew to my lips and drinking in a huge mouthful.

It's as good as always, and after a moment I have completely emptied my dish. I wait politely as my parents assign different jobs to my siblings, and once the meeting is done and normal chatter resumes, I get up to serve myself a second helping of the stew.

A few of my siblings stop my on my way to the pot and request that I fill their bowls as well, and I do so begrudgingly.

Once dinner is over everyone gets to work with their nightly jobs, while I walk over to where Mother and Father stand, supervising everything.

As I approach them Mother smiles, walking up to me and cupping my face in her hands. I lean into her touch, comforted by the gentle contact.

"And how are you doing this evening, my little parakeet?" She coos, and I feel my face flush at the embarrassing nickname.

"I'm well." I respond softly, giving her a warm smile.

She lowers her hands from my face as Father speaks up. "Have you been practicing for your lesson with me next week?"

I nod, smiling at him as well.

Father gives all of us flight and hunting lessons, but there are so many of us that we have to take turns. I only get to have them once every two weeks.

"Are you off to bed then?" Mother asks, her smile a bit sad. She hates that I have a different schedule than everyone else. I barely see her.

"Yes. I'm sorry that I couldn't be around more." I murmur, dipping my head and looking at the floor.

"It's alright." She replies, pulling me into a tight hug, which I eagerly return.

"I love you." She murmurs, pressing a kiss to my cheek.

"I love you too." I reply, releasing her from the hug and offering one last smile before I head to the one of the tunnels that branch off from the main cave.

I follow it for a while before I am greeted by the familiar sight of my own cavern. I duck into the small opening and head to my bed, which isn't much more than a couple animal hides, hay, and some feathers.

I check to make sure no one is walking by my cavern before I strip out of my day clothes and pile them outside of my cave. Whoever is on laundry duty tonight will take them and wash them for me to wear tomorrow.

I quickly pull on a pair of sleeping shorts and collapse into the bed, letting out a sigh and tucking my wings in close to keep them from hitting the ceiling.

I quickly fall asleep, dreaming of the girl with brown eyes and beige wings.

"Up and at em' sleepyhead! I'm not staying up all day for you!"

I'm jolted away by Naqua's voice, and she gives me a light kick. I sit up and sigh, rubbing my eyes a bit to wake myself up.

"I'll be waiting outside of the nest. Meet me in five minutes or I'm going to bed." Naqua commands, leaving me to get ready.

I pick up my clean, albeit slightly damp, clothes from outside of my cavern and get dressed, before jogging down the tunnel and heading for the main cave. There I grab a couple pieces of the dried jerky we store for breakfast and run for the mouth of the cave.

Naqua is waiting as promised, and she gives me a small smile as I stop beside her.

"Alright. So take me to that little cliff where you're meeting her." She demands, nodding at the guard on duty before spreading her wings and taking off.

I do the same, taking the lead and flying her to the cliff where I had met Eve. I unconsciously smile as I land, unable to keep my thoughts away from the girl as I stand where she stood only a day before.

Naqua looks around, spreading her wings and getting a feel for the way the air moved on the plateau.

"Not a bad place..." she murmurs, before turning to me.

"Alright, listen up. I'm going to be drilling you and flight patterns and maneuvers, because let's be honest, your hunting is hopeless."

Well, that much is true. With my nearsightedness, it's practically impossible for me to pick out targets on the ground.

I nod a bit and watch as she takes off, hovering in front of the cliff for a moment before she folds her wings and goes into a dive, dropping until she could almost touch the tops of the trees before she abruptly extended her wings once more and soared upwards, executing a delicate curve before she turned to me.

"Alright, we'll start with that move. I hope you got a good night's sleep, because we're going to practicing until your wings fall off."

I sigh and look up at her, extending my wings and taking off to join her in the sky.

Eve

When I awake the next morning, sunlight is already streaming through the small, dusty window in my room. I sit up and sniff at the air, catching a whiff of something cooking in the kitchen.

I stand and stumble to my partly open bedroom door, unsurprised by the familiar sight of my mother in front of the stove, cooking breakfast.

My father is sitting at the kitchen table, his large wings folded in a bit awkwardly as he avoided bumping any of the items on the counter.

His round glasses sit crookedly on his nose, and his silver hair appears thoroughly ruffled from sleep. He smiles at me tiredly as I move to sit across from him, offering him a friendly smile.

"Good morning darling." He murmurs, smiling back at me. My mother turns and serves us each a latke, and presses a quick kiss to my forehead.

"How did you sleep?" She asks, moving to sit beside my father and brushing a strand of her wild brunette hair out of her eyes.

"Fine." I reply, more focused on eating my breakfast than making conversation.

"Do you have anything important going on at school today?" My father asks, poking gingerly at his food. My mother gives him a pointed look, and he takes a small bite.

"Not really. Just normal stuff. Thori and I might go somewhere after school though." I finish off my meal and smile at them from across the table.

They both smile back, and mom nods a bit. "Alright. Just be sure to drop by the house and let us know if you plan on visiting your friends by the river. We have a day off today, so we'll be here." She replies, and I nod in acknowledgment.

After breakfast, I shower and get dressed in my school uniform, braiding my damp hair back and tying it off with a small yellow bow.

I don't generally pull my hair back unless I'm flying, but with my hair being wet it’s easier to manage while tied back. I grab my bag and bid my parents farewell, pushing out the door and into the street.

As expected, Thori is waiting for me on the sidewalk.

"About time you showed up." He huffed, smiling at me as we began our walk to school. "What's your plan for today? Got anymore forest adventures planned for after school?"

"I don't know." I reply honestly, smiling a bit as I look at the canopy of leaves above us.

Only a few rays of sunlight make it through the thick cover of leaves that conceal our settlement, so it's generally pretty dark. Only houses on the outskirts of the settlement, like mine, get any real sunlight.

The covering of leaves may make the settlement feel dull, but it was one of our few lines of defense against airborne predators.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Thori asks, derailing my train of thought.

"I mean I don't know. That boy I told you about, he asked to see me again today."

"You aren't seriously thinking of going back there, are you?" Thori asks, his yellow feathers puffing out in alarm.

"I don't know yet. I'm kind of curious about him. I've never seen him around before." I reply, perhaps a bit dreamily.

"That just seems like even more of a reason to stay away, if you ask me." Thori huffs. "You know nothing about him. I would just forget about that guy if I were you."

Thori's advice fell on deaf ears, however, as I was already too caught up in my own thoughts to truly hear him.

School couldn't end soon enough. The entire day I was restless, thinking about that boy from the cliff. I couldn't even properly enjoy PE, even though it was my favorite subject.

When the chime rang out to signal the end of the school day I made a beeline for the door, not even waiting for Thori to join me.

I ran for half a block before he caught up with me, looking disheveled and out of breath. "What the hell are you doing?" He pants, leaning against a fence post as I stop to let him rest.

"I'm going to go meet him." I blurt out, not really thinking before I spoke. His eyes widen, and I realize it may have been a mistake to tell him.

"You're crazy! You can't!" He gasps, pushing off of the fence post and standing up straight. "It's too dangerous!"

"I don't care. I have to know more about him. How often do you find mysterious strangers in the woods?" I don't even wait for his reply, and instead resume walking back towards my house.

The entire way home he tries to persuade me to stay within the settlement, but my mind is made up.

I head home and change clothes, abandoning my awful school uniform for a pair of baggy blue jeans and a school t-shirt with lettering that is almost entirely worn away.

I leave my hair in the braid and consider removing the bow, bit quickly decide that it's more effort than it's worth.

After preparing myself I head out, bidding a quick goodbye to my parents before walking out the door and taking off for the woods.

Thori told me to wait for him so he could tag along, but there was no way I was going to let that dull dud ruin my second meeting with, what was his name? Accaq?

I try not to dwell on my lack of knowledge about him and run through the woods, heading eagerly towards the cliff where I had met the boy the day before.

By the time I get there, the sun is just barely starting to slip below the trees. I should have plenty of time to talk to him before the setting sun sends me running back home.

I fly up to the plateau from the previous day and look around eagerly. At first, I don't see him.

Leaning back against a large rock, with the sun setting behind him, he is very well concealed within the shadows. He spots me and steps forward, a smile lighting up his face as he approaches.

I can tell he's nervous, despite his friendly expression. His wings are tucked tightly against his back, and he seems to move stiffly as he walks closer.

"Hi." He murmurs, his voice betraying his nerves even further.

"Hey." I respond, my wings twitching a bit.

Wow, this is incredibly awkward.

For a moment neither of us knows what to say, but he eventually coughs and decides to speak up.

"So, um, I've been, uh, practicing my flight patterns today." He murmurs shakily, turning his head to stare at the ground.

I notice, with a bit of amusement, that someone has tied his relatively long hair into a braid along the side of his head.

"Do you, uh, want to see?"

I blink at the odd question, a bit confused but still very intrigued. "Sure. Let's see what you can do." I reply, crossing my arms and trying to be aloof.

Accaq releases a deep breath when I say this, and he takes a few rigid steps back. "Alright then." He murmurs, more to himself that to me.

After a momentary hesitation, he spreads his wings and takes off.

My first thought: Holy shit, those are huge.

I have never seen such an impressive wingspan in my entire life. I’m considered to have a relatively decent set of wings, but his easily surpassed mine by more than a few feet.

My second thought, however, is about the way he flies. Despite having such massive, bulky wings, he manages to move with a sort of elegant grace.

Most males I’ve met seem to just throw their weight around whilst flying, but Accaq is totally different.

He dips and soars and turnswith perfect precision, making the rather difficult flight maneuvers he displays seem like child's play.

By the time he lands back in front of me, I’m speechless.

He’s panting a bit, and a light sheen of sweat covered his forehead, but he’s grinning eagerly and looking to see my reaction.

"That was..." I hesitate, and for a moment his expression falters.

"Amazing!" I finally manage to gasp out. "Where did you learn to fly like that?! I've never seen someone with such clean dives! How often do you practice?"

Accaq's whole face seems to light up, and his chest puffs out a bit with my words of praise.

"I practice every day." He replies, grinning ear to ear.

"Do you think you could teach me how to fly like that?" I ask him eagerly, my expression pleading as I step towards him.

His already flushed cheeks turn an even brighter shade of pink, and he nods quickly. "O-Of course! We could meet here everyday, and I could teach you more about flying."

I jump up and down in excitement, repeatedly shouting thank you's and pulling the boy into a quick hug.

He stiffens for a moment and I hesitate, realizing that it probably wasn't the best idea to hug an almost complete stranger, but he doesn’t seem to mind.

Rather than pushing me away his arms pull me closer for a moment, before he quickly lets go and coughs awkwardly.

"We should, um, start right away." He says, avoiding eye contact with me. "I have to be home before the sun sets."

"Same here." I laugh, watching as he smiles in return and following as he flaps his massive wings and takes off.