Blue Dawn Jay of Aves Page 22

CHAPTER 17

  THE OLD ONE AT COUNCIL

  With her fingers and wrists wrapped around the base of huge feathers Kate clung to Mate to Swift Wing's shoulders as the falcon struck its first victim, some sort of blackbird Kate could only assume, since her face was pushed into the falcon’s back. “WEEchew,” screamed the big bird, as his talons struck and tore into his victim. Kate was jolted hard and almost bounced totally off the falcon, but managed to hold on. She was thankful for the vines around the bird’s neck and herself which served as a safety-system, but was determined not to test them, and dug her feet even deeper under the bird's back feathers, and renewed her hand-grips.

  Her relief at having survived the falcon’s attack was short-lived. A moment later her mount shot up with a powerful wing-stroke, then slid sideways, folded its wings and dove down to strike a second victim ... a crow, judging from its death scream. Without pause the big raptor moved on to yet another victim. Kate was glad that she was in back of the powerful bird, where she could not witness the carnage that it wrought with beak and claw, although it meant that she didn’t know when the next jolt would occur.

  As Mate to Swift Wing repeatedly dodged and struck, Kate was overwhelmed by the chaos of battle that surrounded her. Countless birds black, blue, and brown swirled in the air around her, and the sound of their beating wings and screaming was deafening.

  She couldn’t begin to comprehend the aerobatics that her nimble mount performed. Left, right, up and down lost all meaning; Kate felt as if she was being churned around inside a tornado or a giant clothes-dryer as the mighty bird twisted and spun, dived and soared, bucked and dove, while it screamed and cackled, grasped and ripped, crushed and tore his enemies. Feathers and blood droplets filled the air from the hundreds of life and death struggles going on around them.

  She was helpless to do anything but hang on with every bit of strength that she had. Wind and feathers buffeted her relentlessly, trying to pull her from the safety of Mate to Swift Wing’s back. Inertia and gravity, she couldn’t tell which, yanked her, this way, and then that. So far the feathers she grasped and her fingers held, but how much more pulling would they take, before the feathers were pulled out, or there was no more strength left in her tiring, numbing fingers? She could only hope that she wouldn't find out.

  Countless times Kate was slapped soundly by flapping feathered wings, and several times she was mashed soundly against her mount by another huge bird. After a particularly rough mashing, Mate to Swift Wing suddenly seemed to lift away from the fray, and the sounds of battle faded. "Are you alright, human?" he asked. "You aren't screaming your war-song as much."

  War-song? She had been screaming in terror, before she became too exhausted to do so. Now she was far too tired to even laugh. "I can't take much more of this. I'm out of breath and almost too weak to hold on to you," she managed to explain.

  "No matter, the battle is won, Kate; those blackbirds that still live flee," said a familiar voice from above her.

  Kate looked up to see Blue Dawn Jay flying nearby. Far above, a scattering of blackbirds retreated rapidly, pursued by several swift falcons. Far below her, a new, happy sounding chorus rose from the victorious jays. This was followed by a far greater chorus, as all the gathering songbirds in Song Wood erupted into joyous song.

  “Kreeeeeeeeeeeeee,” screamed Mate to Swift Wing. The call was answered by one of the falcons high above them; Swift Wing broke off from chasing the blackbirds and dropped towards her mate.

  The trio of birds again flew as one as they slowly glided down gently towards a great oak tree that stood higher than the other trees of the forest.

  “Queeedle, queeedle,” sang Blue joyfully, joining the other birds in song. Thousands of blue jays and songbirds of all types were converging on the great tree, filling its branches colorfully from top to bottom, like the living ornaments of an immense Christmas tree. The tree sheltered one end of a small clearing, around which still more of the great assembled host, filling the branches of all surrounding trees and bushes.

  Not all the song was joyous. Haunting, plaintive cries of sorrow and pain were mixed in with those of triumph. On the bloody ground lay hundreds of dead and wounded, mostly blackbirds but also many blue, casualties of the great battle that had just been fought. Victory had come at a terrible price. There were even a few raptor bodies, as great numbers of smaller foes could overcome even the mightiest raptor. Injured ground-bound birds that could limp about were doing so; jays moved towards the oak-end of the glade, while ground-bound wounded blackbirds cowered away from the converging songbirds and jays. The injured enemies were allowed to limp away unhindered. The battle was over.

  Blue, Swift Wing and her Mate landed on a lower branch of the Great Oak, Blue landing next to another great jay that had preceded them, who playfully pecked at Blue. Around them perched the Great Council members, exhausted and overwhelmed, but glad to be back. Still filling the thick air with joy and sorrow, all living birds sang and sang.

  "My quest is complete, father," sang Blue, to the bird beside him. “I have returned to the Council to present what I have found.”

  "You returned early and in time to help drive away the Black Flock, Blue Dawn," noted Strike True. "I will listen with interest to your accounting of how you completed your task in so impossibly short a time. Is that small, strange, frail looking creature atop Mate to Swift Wing truly an Old One?"

  "Perhaps not an Old One, but it is a human, father, and it is friendly and anxious to sing with the Council."

  “Queeedle, queeedle,” sang Strike True loudly, to announce the beginning of a Council meeting, and after only a few moments relative silence reined, as thousands of birds quieted their voices in response. Soon only the sound of a few flapping wings could be heard.

  “In joy and with great relief the Great Council of songbirds again meets,” sang Strike True loudly. “True to our pledge, we jays have flocked to defeat the Black Flock which had attacked the Council. We also sing with sorrow and thanks to those brave jays that now fly endless skies, so that we that remain may enjoy freedom of song and flight.”

  A burst of loud affirmation erupted for several seconds.

  “We sing also in gratitude to the many raptors who have helped us defeat the Black Flock,” continued Strike True, “to owls, hawks and falcons. Without them, we could not have won this day.”

  "Skreeeeeee," sang the harsh voices of dozens of raptors in agreement, most from high overhead, as most hawks and their swift falcon cousins only now were returning from chasing the fleeing blackbirds. There were also many hoots from the surrounding trees, where most of the darkness loving owls kept to the deep shadows. There followed unprecedented songs of grateful praise for raptors, from all the jays and other songbirds.

  At last the song died down, and the assembled birds again listened attentively for whatever would come next. "We invite all of you here to take part in our Council," Strike True sang to the huge throng of birds that surrounded the clearing. "We have won a great victory, but I fear that we are not yet through with fighting. This may only be the beginning. Many surviving blackbirds fly south. Many more blackbirds flew south already, before our battle with them started. They must be massing in the far South, in far greater numbers than we defeated here today. We have won a great victory, but there may be a much greater battle ahead."

  "They will fear us now and flee," sang a Council woodpecker. "I say it is finished."

  "Perhaps," sang Strike True, “but before we can sing such glad tidings we must know far more. Most of the Black Flock flew south before the battle. Why did they leave before the battle, and risk losing Song Wood? No, I fear that it is not finished, and there is much happening that we do not yet understand. My son Blue Dawn was sent on a long quest to learn more. He has already returned, and he has brought with him someone that may help us understand what is happening."

  Blue Dawn sang strangely then, plain noises that held no meaning to nearly all of the assembled birds. Fr
om off the back of the falcon that stood near him a strange crawler climbed out from were it had been partly hidden under feathers and slid down off the falcon awkwardly to stand erect on two feet. The crawler was small compared to most birds and unimpressive, but incredibly odd.

  "What is that strange crawler?" sang a finch.

  "It's an Old One!" sang a thrush shrilly, the alarm in its voice plain.

  Startled song erupted from hundreds of feathered throats, and several birds edged further away from Kate. "Old One! Old One!" Many raised voices showed fear, but curiosity was stronger still, as thousands of birds trained their attentions on the small, odd looking crawler that most of them were only just now noticing.

  "Quiet! Quiet!" admonished Strike True. "Let Blue Dawn sing first, and tell how his quest fared."

  Using plain language Blue dawn sang for several long minutes, of how Falcons had carried him south, of how he had seen the crows attacking the humans, of how the jays and falcons had rescued the humans, of becoming acquainted with the humans and their song, and of how humans had come to be on Aves.

  Mate to Swift Wing translated some of Blue's report into Human language for Kate, but only a bare outline of it, as even Plain Song of birds was a much more efficient means communications than was human speech.

  The gathered birds tried to listen quietly, but couldn't help squawking, whistling, and chirping on numerous occasions, as heads bobbed, wings stretched, and feet shuffled, while the astonishing tale unfolded. At several points members of the Council asked questions, and Blue had to amplify and explain particularly vexing concepts. The humans had things that moved without being alive? They had songs and ideas recorded for following generations to see and hear? They had boxes that produced song and scenes of things from memory? They rode in great homes that moved between twinkling stars? Many things that Blue understood easily were difficult for most of the Council members and the others gathered to comprehend. Blue's apprenticeship with Song Flame had rendered him uniquely capable of understanding many such things. At last, however, Blue thought that he had provided sufficient background to introduce Kate.

  "I object," stated a Council woodpecker, "on the grounds that the Council is for songbirds, not crawlers. Does this crawler song or fly?"

  "It flies only with help from birds or strange non-living things that they make, but it sings a Plain Song of its own making," replied Blue. "I believe it is too slow to learn good bird-song."

  "Then we must understand its own Plain Song, if it is to sing with us," stated the thrush. The other Council birds nodded and chirped in agreement.

  Blue nodded his head, and again sang, this time alternating between the plain language of the birds and the equivalent but much slower human words and phrases, though sung much faster than would humans. Kate realized that, astonishingly, Blue was teaching rudimentary Human language to thousands of birds, as he had previously done with Bob, Nod, and the falcons. She was very glad that she was recording all of this with her COM.

  “These birds learn human song now,” confirmed Mate to Swift Wing to her softly. “Smart birds like Blue will learn all; not so smart birds learn less.”

  It took close to half an hour, but the birds seemed to have an endless thirst for ‘song’. At last Blue stopped singing, and Strike True hopped closer to Kate.

  “Welcome to Song Wood, Kate human. I am Flock Leader Strike True, father of Blue Dawn. Welcome to the Great Council of songbirds. As you are friend to Blue Dawn, you are also friend to Strike True.”

  “Thank you, Flock Leader Strike True,” Kate replied with a loud voice. “Blue Dawn and his friends and raptor allies saved my life. I am very happy to be here and to sing in friendship to all of you.”

  Strike True nodded his head and returned his attention to the Council. “Kate will sing to Council now. Sing about humans on Aves. Sing about Old Ones. Sing about Earth and birds on Earth. Sing about blackbirds. Sing about worms.”

  “I object still,” sang the thrush, this time in the human language. "Plain song is good enough for raptors and crows, but this is a council for songbirds. Blue sang that humans have good song, though without words. I would hear such song first. Only those that sing may be heard at a Songbird Council."

  Kate shrugged and fiddled with her COM. Then for the next half hour the sound of the Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major filled the glen. Thousands of giant birds silently listened, transfixed by every alien sounding note and passage.

  When it was finished, thousands of birds sang their approval. “I drop my objection,” conceded the thrush. “Good song. Slow, simple, plain, but very good. Many humans made this song, using many instruments? I count 42 separate sources of song.”

  “Yes. Many humans must work together to make such music,” Kate acknowledged.

  “It is good, for humans to have song called music,” added the thrush. “As many humans are needed to make music, they must work very hard and closely together to make such song. I conclude that song must be very important to humans.”

  "Yes, it is," agreed Kate.

  There were squawks and nods of approval from the other birds.

  “Now Kate, sing about humans,” said Strike True.

  Painfully aware that she was acting as spokesperson for all humanity, Kate carefully outlined the discovery of Aves and what humans were doing and why. She held nothing back, including descriptions of the deadly strife that happened between birds and humans for the first two years, and the more recent cooperation of the blackbirds with humans.

  She told also of the deep mystery regarding the origins the birds on Aves; as Aves birds were copies of small birds on Earth, and her suspicion that long ago the Old Ones, not humans, brought life from Earth to Aves and changed it for reasons unknown to be huge, compared to life on Earth. She told them that she was on a quest for a great council of humans on Earth that wished to learn the truth about Aves and its birds.

  The silently listening birds became highly agitated when she told of the monster worms. “It is the Scourge!” sang an excited woodpecker. “The humans have brought the Scourge!”

  “Perhaps they have caused it to happen now, but it was here on Aves long before humans and even birds,” sang Blue. “They did not bring it. Further, if what they have done has caused the Scourge to now come, they did not knowingly do this. The humans and their food were attacked by Scourge.”

  “That is true,” said Kate. “We humans want to stop the worms. They are our common enemy. We should be allies to fight them together.”

  “I agree,” sang the thrush. “Consider, that if humans are not the Old Ones, they did not know of the Scourge. Only birds of Aves knew. The humans have done great harm, but out of ignorance. Yet they are at fault. They should now be held accountable and help keep the Great Balance.”

  “Perhaps then the Scourge is a plan of the blackbirds,” suggested the goldfinch.

  “No,” said Kate. “The blackbirds saved humans by attacking the worms. That was strange, if they are our enemies.”

  “Perhaps not so strange,” sang Strike True. “Perhaps that is why most of the Black Flock flew south. Perhaps they have done so to attack the Scourge. All birds must fight Scourge when it is seen. Perhaps they would do their duty to kill the worms, but to also keep the food they share with the humans for themselves.”

  “Perhaps,” sang Blue, but he sang of doubt in sub-frequencies.

  “Perhaps this is the New Order they sing of,” sang Strike True. “Humans and blackbirds sharing the world. A world without songbirds.”

  “Almost correct, jay,” sang a deep voice. Several jays scrambled from their perches on a nearby holly tree to make room for a huge owl that swept down from the shadowy forest.

  “Red Claw,” exclaimed several songbirds nervously. Kate was herself unnerved as the largest living raptor she had ever seen landed close to where she stood. The great horned owl was mostly shades of brown and tan but it was also spattered with much red blood. In one huge set of talons it
carried a grackle that appeared to be in much worse shape than itself.

  “Red Claw, Red Claw, Red Claw,” acknowledged the other raptors present, from the sky above and the surrounding forest.

  “I sing for the raptors and the Raptor Council,” announced the great owl, in human.

  “We welcome you in peace, great one,” said a Council woodpecker nervously. No objections rose that the raptor was not a songbird.

  “Of what would you sing?” asked Strike True.

  “Of blackbird treachery and of the Scourge,” replied Red Claw, who turned her full attention to Kate.

  “You sing human song very well,” noted Blue, who knew that he had not included the word ‘treachery’ in his recent lesson. “How is this so?”

  “I have not seen a human until now, Blue. I learned human song from this sorry creature.” He shook the grackle slightly, and Kate saw it lift its head and look at her, as the owl also studied her openly. “Ugly, but not very frightening, humans are. And evidently very puny.”

  “They are clever,” said Blue.

  “Yes, they are very clever,” agreed the owl. “I do not mean to sing unkindness, human, but we birds see things differently from your kind. What is your name? Do you speak for the humans, small one?”

  “My name is Kate. I am not a human leader, but I do my best to speak for humans, as I am the only human here.”

  Red Claw nodded. “It is good, that birds and humans sing together at last. Too much fighting, too much death. Too much raptor food wasted. Killing should only be for food. Wars are bad for all, even though sometimes they can’t be avoided.”

  “Wars are bad, bad, bad,” sang several of the Council birds in agreement.

  “You carry a box that saves song and sight,” stated the owl, nodding towards Kate’s COM unit. “Does it save what we now sing, to show other humans?”

  “Yes,” responded Kate in surprise. The intelligence and insight of these creatures was astonishing.

  “Good,” replied Red Claw. “Then save for human ears and eyes what the one you call ‘Blackie’ sings now.”

  Blackie? From Spaceport City? Kate tried to identify the battered, blood covered grackle that Red Claw held in front of her, but couldn’t.

  “Sing, blackbird,” commanded Red Claw, as she shook roughly the blackbird that she held in her terrible talons. “Tell them what you told me, and maybe you will live, for now. Use human song.”

  “Too late, raptor,” croaked the blackbird. “The New Order comes, and you will all die, songbirds and humans, and even raptors.”

  “Humans are to die?” asked Blue. This was something new! “Explain.”

  “The Black Flock flies now against the humans. In the third coming morning all the humans will be dead and all the food they grow will be ours. Humans will also be our food! Worms and humans die, and blackbirds will eat well, and be too strong and many for songbirds or raptors to stop."

  “In only a little more than two days?” asked Kate, in disbelief.

  “So sings Black Heart,” hissed the grackle. “He leads the Black Flock against the humans and the worms. The humans will all come to the fields in early morning, as is his plan. Stupid humans!”

  “Why kill us?” asked Kate. "Humans and birds have been helping each other.”

  “Why not, stupid human? Humans are no longer needed. Blackbirds have learned how to plant seeds for food and to clear away forests. Blackbirds will finish what the humans have started. All of this world will become a world of grain for blackbirds. A blackbird world. Those few birds that we let survive will only serve as our slaves and our food.”

  “More humans will come,” said Kate.

  “Perhaps,” replied Blackie, “but not many and not soon. Most spaceships of humans are on Aves now, and there will soon be no humans to fly them home.”

  “You will fail, black one,” stated Strike True. “In the south the blackbirds will fail, as you have failed here.”

  “I have not failed here,” sang the blackbird. “I was to stay behind and occupy the attention of our enemies and weaken them, and this I have done. It is now too late for you to do anything against our plan. Jays cannot fly so swiftly from here to stop it, and are too few even if they could. The raptors also are too few. I have succeeded very well.”

  “He is right,” said Red Claw. “The Black Flock is too strong and flies a day ahead of us, and for most of us it is too far to fly in two days and three nights anyway, at least by third morning.”

  “It is not too far for us,” sang Swift Wing.

  “Yes, my sweet,” agreed Mate to Swift Wing. “But not even all the falcons here could worry the Black Flock. And besides that, it is not clear that we should interfere. Perhaps it would be best for Aves if the blackbirds and the humans destroy each other.”

  “Yes,” agreed a woodpecker. “Perhaps the Black Flock will be too weak to attack us if they attack the humans first. Also, the humans destroy the forest.”

  “I see no solution to save the humans,” sang Red Claw. “The humans will be blackbird food in two days, and we are powerless to prevent it. What remains of the Black Flock will then return to finish the Council and any others that stand against them. Perhaps, if we can rally the raptors and all songbirds, we will win a second time, but it will be a battle far worse than today’s battle, and it will come too late to save the humans.”

  “Far worse still will be the revenge of the humans, if what the blackbirds plan does take place,” said Kate firmly. “The grackle is right, it will take time for more humans to arrive from Earth, a year or more perhaps, but there are many more hungry humans on Earth than there are birds on Aves. Humans will come to Aves again, but when they come it will not be as farmers of food and loggers of trees. Human warriors will come seeking vengeance as destroyers with weapons of death so terrible you can not imagine them. Humans have weapons that could kill all birds here in Song Wood in a moment. I would not be surprised if in their anger they were to kill all the birds of Aves.”

  “Do you speak of fire-sticks?” asked Swift Wing. “Even the raptors avoid humans because of fire sticks.”

  “Fire sticks, or guns, are only very small human weapons, they are not true weapons of war for humans. Humans have weapons of war powerful enough to destroy entire forests full of bird life. They could strike like thunder and destroy all of Song Wood in a flash of fire as hot as the suns. They could poison the air you breathe and the water you drink. They could make sound so loud and terrible that it kills you. They could make you all sick and die without even coming near you, all of you, and then take what is left of Aves after you are gone forever.”

  “We are not hatchlings, to be frightened by mere song,” sang the goldfinch, though he was shaking with fear.

  “I sing the truth,” replied Kate. “Most humans do not like war, but there are always some humans, like your crow and grackle leaders, that want war, are ready for war, like to kill, and will take advantage of war to do so and to take for themselves what they have not destroyed. Until now there has been some conflict between humans and birds, yes, but not all-out war. Humans have war machines that are more deadly than a thousand thousand crows. Attacking the humans on Aves would force humans on Earth to go to war against Aves birds. Here, I’ll show you one weapon.”

  With her COM unit, she found and displayed an historical viewing of an early nuclear bomb test. The shocked birds watched an atomic blast devastate dummy houses and other buildings and produce a titanic mushroom cloud that soon towered over the desert landscape. “Humans keep these weapons only for emergencies now, but in their anger could use them here to kill all birds.

  “But if war can be stopped now and the humans saved, and it is understood on Earth that birds on Aves are intelligent and friendly, then your voice in the great councils of Earth will be strong. Earth will still need food from Aves, but Earth humans will work with you to get it. You will learn much from us and we will learn much from you. If instead the humans are attacked and k
illed, it will make no difference that you are intelligent. You will be seen to be dangerous enemies, and even more dangerous because of your intelligence. They will have all the reasons they need to go to war and destroy you all.”

  “So then, to save the humans now would be to save ourselves,” concluded Blue.

  “That is what I believe,” agreed Kate.

  “There is also the problem of the Scourge,” said Strike True. “If we birds war among ourselves, who will stop the Scourge? If the Scourge is not stopped, there will be no forest or birds for humans to war against. The Scourge will destroy all.”

  “So say the old songs,” agreed the thrasher song master.

  Blue turned an eye towards Blackie, who was still held in the harsh grip of Red Claw. “Blackbirds also hate Scourge. What does your master Black Heart sing of the Scourge, grackle?”

  “We will kill the humans before the Scourge strikes, than kill the worms. Nothing can stop us.”

  “Are you sure of that? How big are the worms?” asked Blue.

  “I can show you how big they were a few days ago.” said Kate. She again unfolded her portable COM screen and positioned the proper data cube into it. In a short time the Council was seeing and hearing monster worms attacking humans and grackles attacking worms. The frenzied birds destroyed the smaller worms, but the larger worms mostly fed on the blackbirds, rather than the other way around. Hundreds of grackles died. The largest worms didn’t seem to be bothered by the blackbirds at all.

  The birds watched, transfixed by the carnage being shown. Death screams of humans and birds filled the air. At last it was over.

  “Here is a memory of a great human nesting place on Earth,” said Kate, as she displayed New York City. The view zoomed in on a busy street teaming with thousands of people and vehicles, then zoomed out to show hundreds of buildings that towered higher than the great trees of Aves. “This is only one of hundreds of such places. The weapon I showed you can destroy such a place and kill all life.”

  The huge owl was first to break the shocked silence that followed. “I believe your song, human,” sang Red Claw. “The worms will soon grow too large for birds or humans to stop them. I also believe your song of other things. Killing humans now would mean war with humans later. There must be humans beyond counting on the Earth world where great flying ships can be made, and great weapons are very possible for creatures as clever as humans. We must seek human friendship and not human wrath. No, killing the few humans here on Aves would not be good. But I see no way to stop the Black Flock in time to save the humans. By my reckoning most of us would arrive several hours too late, except for perhaps a small handful of our very swiftest fliers.”

  “Perhaps there is still hope," sang Blue. "I have a plan.”

  ****