Luky and the Birdmen

His leg hurt like an iron thorn. Ezra had woken in a small wooden cabin filled with smelly incense.

His healer, an old Gaelisi bloke with druid-like powers, had cured the infection with algae and salt. His wound, almost entirely healed, was wrapped in bandages, butsomepain was still there.

That was something no healer could do anything about. Ezra could have lost his leg had they waited longer, but did it really matter? He’d lose his leg soon anyway.

It had started with a simple itch in the knee that had slowly spread to his ankle. Elders usually get these pains, but it was already there when Ezra didn’t even have a single white hair on his frizzed head.

He’d gotten his leg examined by the best doctors, the most cunning of magi, and even the Shinto druids of the Kanjuunese mountains. This was just the way it was.

A pain he would have to bear for the rest of his life.

A pain that was getting worse year by year.

It hadn’t stopped him this far, even after his countless adventures. But it probably would, one day. Ezra dreaded the day the pain would become unbearable.

Though right now, it wasn’t nearly as sharp as his other, more subtle pain. The one he never talked about.

The one he, as he stared into the flames of the Common Plot, could not get out of his heart.

“How are you feeling?” Her Highness asked as she returned.

Her voice distracted him from his thoughts. She’d gone to change into a brown tunic similar to his.

“Could be better.”

As soon as Ezra spoke, Luky was startled awake. He gasped and examined Ezra, head to feet.

“You’re back!” the boy-cat exclaimed like he didn’t believe it. “How...how did I not hear you?”

Ezra smiled slightly. “You’re not the only one who’s good at stealth.”

Luky jumped to his feet and hugged Ezra. The man noticed the pyramid vial dangling from the boy-cat’s neck. He couldn’t think of a safer place for it.

“How did you even get into that cave,” Luky asked.

The man cleared his throat; the boy-cat still hugged him.

“The evasion spell took me to those rocks outside the cave. I went inside for shelter. Dumb call. Turns out, it was their nest!”

Ezra started laughing at the situation that could have gone horribly wrong. It wasn’t funny then—now, it was hilarious.

Luky was laughing too. One thing was sure, Ezra would never use a Vial of Evasion again!

Once Luky released Ezra, his pupils narrowed, and his face changed from relieved to determined. “We need to get out of here.”

Ezra rounded his eyes. His healer had told him the stories of the settlement. They didn’t really have a way to get out of here.

“Why are you looking like this?” Luky challenged. “Come on, I bet you already have an idea!”

Ezra felt...awkward. How could he tell this sindur cub with big and eager yellow eyes that he was out of options? Something inside him hurt at the idea of disappointing this young boy.

Perhaps it was because the realization that he was stuck here had just fallen on his shoulders, and the weight was too heavy to bear.

“Come on, Ezra!” Luky insisted. “This can’t be it. Don’t you want to go home to...where are you from? Tazman? If I’m right then we’re practically neighbors! Don’t you want to go home to Tazman?”

Tazman—wow! Ezra hadn’t thought of that place in a long time. Tazman, the land of queens with golden brown skins and righteous warriors.

Ezra hadn’t seen Tazman in almost twenty years.

He sighed. “Boy, I haven’t set foot in Tazman in two decades.”

Luky crossed his arms. “My father tells me Tazman has the most beautiful forests he’s ever seen. And my father is a ranger of the Fae, so he would know.”

“I thought your father was a soldier.”

Luky corrected himself. “Ah, that’s my other father. I have two fathers. Well, they’re not my real fathers—I don’t know where my real fathers are—but they love me like their own son, and I love them.”

Ezra chuckled. This boy-cat would never cease to surprise him.

“What?” Luky asked and smiled. His eyes lit up. “You’re smiling! Does that mean we’re going?”

Aurielle joined the conversation. “Luky, you heard what the Elder said.” Her voice was soft. “She’s right. If someone had gotten away from here alive, the world would have heard about it.”

“We don’t know how many tried!” Luky raised his voice. His patience was fading. “Maybe it was just ten or twenty. Maybe we just need twenty-one people to try before one succeeds!”

“Considering the odds, I don’t want to take my chances,” Aurielle said. She looked down at the ground.

“Were you considering the odds when you went on your quest?”

Her Highness did not respond. Her eyes met Luky’s, and sadness turned into…

“Luky, that’s enough!”

Anger.

Her voice was now whole and heavy. Luky’s hairs stood on end.

“I’m sorry, Luky,” Aurielle said. She was obviously troubled. “You’re right; I wasn’t considering the odds and look at where that got me! I’m stuck here, on this island full of predator birds and lost people, with no way out.

“Rallis will declare war, Vanhaui will be destroyed, and I won’t be there with my kingdom. I got stuck following some silly quest to find a stupid artifact that probably doesn’t even exist!

“I’m supposed to be a queen one day, and my father doesn’t even believe in me. I was going to prove them all wrong, that I could put our kingdom’s needs first and stop this war from happening!

“No, I wasn’t considering the odds,” Aurielle continued. She had to get it all out. “I won’t make that mistake again.”

Luky turned mute. Silence had won.

Her Highness had lost hope and seeing her like this pained Ezra too. He had to admit that he’d grown fond of these two over the past few days.

If he had to spend the rest of his life here, his new friends would be with him at least.

“Vanhaui won’t be destroyed!” Luky broke the silence with a confident voice.

His eyes gleamed, and his smirk was back. “Because you’re going to find that artifact. You’ll save your kingdom, and one day, you’ll be the most loved queen of all.”

Aurielle scoffed. “The most hated queen... Half the people don’t even consider a woman to be a fit leader. Why would they consider me, someone so naive they get lost at sea chasing myths?”

Okay, that was enough. Ezra wouldn’t let Aurielle talk about herself this way. He knew, deep down, that this woman here would make a hell of a queen. She was already a hell of a person, taking so much risk to save so many lives.

“That’s not true,” Ezra injected. “Plenty of people—”

“Oh, please. You don’t think any different.”

Ezra frowned. “Your Highness, I don’t know what sort of image you have of yourself, but if these last few days have taught me anything, it’s that Vanhaui will be lucky to have you as their queen.”

Sure, Ezra was grumpy most of the time, harsh, and disapproving of a lot of Aurielle’s decisions, but that didn’t come from the belief that women couldn’t lead. How absurd of an idea was that?

“The only reason why I might be hard on you is because you are too valuable to risk your own life for this mission. And even if you don’t know how valuable you are, your father does. And he would probably bet his life on it.”

Ezra wasn’t sure if Aurielle was smiling or frowning.

“Trust me, that’s what fathers do,” Ezra added. This was something he knew for sure.

Ezra realized here that he had made a decision. Maybe it’d been there from the start, and he was only now aware of it.

There was a kingdom to save, a boy-cat to bring home to his two fathers, and a beautiful Taz forest to retire to.

Ezra turned to Luky and smiled.

“You seemed to have it figured out better than us, boy,” Ezra said. “How do we get out of here?”

Luky opened his mouth slightly. “Eh...” He paused. “We find a boat?”

“And then?”

“We steal it.”

Sure, Ezra could go with that plan. It sounded wild and like the total opposite of a well-thought-out plan, but what else could they do?

Ezra wasn’t going to stay here, neither was Luky.

And neither was Her Highness.

She stood up and took a deep breath. She nodded a couple of times like she was convincing herself that she could do this.

“I saw sailboats by the shore,” she said, then pursed her lips. “The village doesn’t have patrols or anything. It should be easy.”

“It will be,” Luky pledged. “Let’s go quickly before I fall asleep again!”

Aurielle took a bite of cold rice. Ezra hooked his red scabbard to his belt. Luky still wore the vial around his neck. Ezra would leave it there for now. He didn’t have pockets in this tunic anyway.

They were about to leave when Luky turned around. He was the only one who hadn’t changed into new clothes, so his leaf and fur tunic were still folded by the fire.

Luky grabbed a twig and started writing something in the dried mud.

Ezra checked what the cub had written.

Even if it was a boy’s handwriting, he could read it clearly. We live brave. We die free. An old soldier’s phrase.

Luky took one last glance at his work. “She’ll know what it means.”

Ezra smiled. That boy-cat would never cease to surprise him.