Read Echoes from the Lost Ones for Free Online

plunged into the gathered males. Their talons tore, their razor beaks slashed, and I swear I saw an ear or two come off. Despite attempts to fend off the resolute birds of prey with their sticks, the Nearlys and ‘dults fell heavy under the weight of so many. I gave in to gloat at the sight of these big proud males, that only the night before saw fit to defile a gentle creature for their sick needs; squealing like a girlygig with a tangle in her hair.
    I smirked as they lay huddled in one great lump of fear, all weeping like the yellow-bellied brutes that they were. Their hands were torn to shreds from paltry attempts at shielding their faces from the relentless strikes of owlets, buzzards, eagles and smaller raptors. Only Brennus remained standing, swishing his great cudgel this way and that, hitting nowt but air.
    The ground became red with their blood and I moved my feet away from its sticky flow. Wirt trembled and I gripped his wrist. He took in a shuddering breath and whispered into my ear, “I cannot bear to watch.” I let him turn away and stood steady for a while longer.
    How pitiful and shrill were the shrieks from these less-than-males. How satisfying to witness their downfall in all its glory. “Let us away from this scene of carnage.” Wirt nodded and headed towards the woods. I followed and amidst the cries and sobs, heard Brennus yell in defiance.
    “Down some if ye can. We must salvage something from this horror. I promised ye all some meat and that is what we shall have.”
    I stopped, ready to return, ready to bring forth more if this fearless and foolish male believed that he could win, when a shaky voice cried forth, “Nay, wait! These are not birdybirds. These are hawks and bigger. We cannot eat this meat.”
    So right he was, for raptor meat like all other flesh from animals, is poison to all hominids alike. I let out a “Ha!” and spid-sped into the forest in search of Wirt.

Chapter Five
    Encounter With Some Witchy Stuff

    I caught up with Wirt secs later, bent over, hands on knees catching his breath. I tapped his shoulder, he jumped higher that a grasshopper avoiding a snakey’s jaw and swooshed round to face me. He pulled me to his chest and held onto me with a strength I had not expected. His heart beat fast and his grip was so tight upon my clothes that it almost stopped my breathing.
    I gasped in tiny lungfuls and said, “We must keep moving.”
    “Aye, we must.”
    “Relinquish my person a tad so that I can gulp some air. At least enough to keep my feet clip-clopping fast.”  
    “Sorry,” he said and let go.
    I straightened my crumpled tunic and we ran deeper into the woods. I halted ‘bruptly when I came to what appeared to be a dead end. A large cluster of densely packed trees obstructed our progression. Wirt bumped into my back, and as one, we fell to the ground. I lifted my face from the floor, sat back on my haunches and wiped the dirt from my eyes. Wirt stared at me with an expression of terror and buried his face into my knees.
    “All clear, Wirt. We are in no danger,” I said by way of soothing his anxiety. He did not budge and I had to prise and pull his stiff fingers away from my trousers. Which, because of his manhandling, were plucked quite shapeless.
    “Birdies. Birdies. Big and nasty. They came before, when I was bub. The raptors butchered my lil’ sis. Plucked her from my mams teat. How? How ye do this thing that brings them to yer bidding?”
    Wirt put his head in his hands and rocked back and forth between soft sobs. I touched his shoulder tender-like and he stopped. He dropped his hands and gave me a fearful stare that made me feel ashamed somehow. I shrugged and simply said, “They named me well. I have talent for the voicing of things.”
    “Why didn’t the birdybirds come too?”
    “Their song is not the same. Took me more than it should to recognise the difference. Got the scars to prove it.”
    “This ye can do for everything?”
    “Nope. Only