Page 126 of Tiger's Quest
Now that he had the smell of the birds, we could follow his nose to the nest. It took another hour of climbing, but we finally came upon a giant nest resting on a trio of tree limbs.
“Wow, that’s huge! Much larger than Big Bird’s.”
“Who’s Big Bird?”
“A giant yellow bird on kid’s television. You think any of the birds are close?”
“I don’t hear anything, but the smell is everywhere.”
“Huh, lucky I have a tiger nose nearby. I can’t really smell anything.”
“Count your blessings. I don’t think I’ll ever get this smell out of my mind.”
“It’s only fair you get to fight nasty-smelling birds. Remember, Ren got the Kappa and immortal monkeys.”
Kishan grunted and kept moving toward the giant nest. Old droppings bleached the surface of the tree branches, weakening them. If we stepped too close to one, the branch’s surface crumbled into white powder and sometimes broke off altogether.
We crept closer and depended on Kishan’s hearing for warning of approaching birds. The nest was the size of a large swimming pool and made of dead tree limbs the thickness of my arm all woven together like a giant Easter basket. We climbed over the top and dropped into the nest.
Five massive eggs rested in the middle. Each one would have filled a Jacuzzi. Bronze and gleaming, they reflected the sunlight into our eyes. Kishan lightly tapped on one, and we heard a hollow metallic echo.
I circled the egg and gasped. The eggs were resting on top of the most beautiful diaphanous material I’d ever seen.The Divine Weaver’s Scarf!The cloth looked alive. Colors shifted and swirled in geometric patterns on the Scarf’s surface. A kaleidoscope of pale blue shifted into hot pink and yellow, which twisted into soft green and gold, and then slid into blue-black raven billows. It was mesmerizing.
Kishan scanned the sky and assured me the coast was clear. Then he crouched down next to me to examine the Scarf.
“We’ll have to roll the eggs off one by one, Kells. They’re heavy.”
“Alright. Let’s start with this one.”
We gripped a gleaming egg and rolled it carefully to the side of the nest, and then went back for the second. We found a feather near the second egg. Normal bird feathers were lightweight, hollow, and flexible. This one was longer than my arm, heavy, and metallic. Kishan could barely move it, and the edge was as sharp as a circular saw.
“Uh, this isn’t good.”
Kishan agreed, “We’d better hurry.”
We were rolling the third egg when we heard a loud screech.
A far-off bird was making its way toward the nest. It didn’t sound happy. I shaded my eyes to get a better look. It seemed small at first, but my opinion of its size quickly changed as it sped closer. Mighty wings held the creature in the air as it rode the thermals.
Thump.The sun hit the metallic body of the giant bird and reflected the light, blinding me.Thump.It had now come much closer and seemed to have doubled in size. It screeched out a harsh wailing call. A quieter screech echoed an answer as another joined the first bird.Thump.
The tree moved up and down as something landed on a nearby branch. A bird screamed at us and started making its way toward the nest. As always, Kishan stepped in front of me. We moved backward quickly, keeping the trunk behind us.
Thump. Thump. Thump.A bird flew over us. It was more monster than bird. I got a good look at it as it swooped overhead. Its head was tilted, so it could fix its eye on us. I estimated the wingspan to be around forty feet, or about half the length of Mr. Kadam’s plane. I strung my bow, drew back an arrow, and shivered as its shrill, high-pitched shriek vibrated through my limbs. My hand shook, and I let the arrow go. I missed.
The body of the creature was like a giant eagle. Rows of dense, overlapping metal feathers covered the bird’s torso and grew larger along its long, broad wings. Its feathers were about the size of a surfboard. The wingtips were tapered and widely separated. The iron bird beat its wings and spread its tail feathers to help it brake and swoop into the sky again.
It moved like a raptor. Powerful, muscular legs with razor sharp talons stretched out to grab us on its second pass. Kishan pushed me face-down into the nest so that the bird missed us, but only by inches. Its head looked something like a gull with a stout, longish hooked beak but there was an extra hook resting on the upper mandible of its beak, sharp on both sides like a double-edged sword.
When one of the birds came closer, it nipped at us, and I heard a metallicshearas the sharp edges of its beak snapped together like a pair of giant scissors.
Another came too close so I zapped it with a lightning bolt. The energy hit the bird on its chest and bounced off, scorching the nest not a foot from where Kishan was standing.
“Watch it, Kells!”
This was not looking good. I shouted, “My lightning bolts just bounce off!”
“Let me try!” He threw the chakram. It hurled through the air in a wide arc past the bird.
