“I… I mean, yes! I’ll help you… if you promise you won’t hurt me…”

Ivory thought about it. If no one else but him and Darren knew about this, then what would it hurt to cooperate with one small owl just a little?

He looked at Darren, who nodded back.

"I promise." Ivory said and reached for his stomack. Then he picked off one of his feathers and threw it on the ground between him and the owl, that's the way the eagles of Fothan made a promise. He suddenly realised he didn't even know her name.

"What's your name? I'm Ivory and this is Darren." He nodded toward his friend.

I promise."

The white eagle said and then did something very strange. He bend his head and took a feather and threw it on the ground. For Tawny who knew nothing about the eagles ways first thought that he were going to eat himself instead of Tawny, but she realized that that was just stupid. So she just looked down at the feather and didn’t know what to do with it.

"What's your name? I'm Ivory and this is Darren."

He nodded toward the other eagle.

My name? What is he playing at? First he wants to eat me, then he wants me to hunt for him and now he wants to know my name!

But the eagle had said his name, and what Tawny had learnt was that it was impolite now not to give him hers… but she had also learnt not to give away her name to strangers…

But what can he do whit my name? he can’t take it away so…

“I’m Tawny…”

She nearly said “nice to meet you” but that would be a lie so she didn’t. she continued to stand still.

"Tawny, eh?"

Ivory glanced at the feather. Wasn't Tawny going to pick a feather too? Or maybe that wasn't the way they acted on Valonie. He ust shook his head and felt his stomach rumbling.

"Alright then... why don't you lead the way...." He motioned for her to realise her part of the promise.
"We don't have all night..."

((wallflower, Darren seems to be like your seccond charactar, maybe you can write a profile to him? ))

What am I going to do!? If I only were bigger! Or braver! …

The white eagle, whose name was Ivory, looked at her like he was waiting for her to do something. Tawny looked down on the ground and saw the feather.

Am I supposed to…

"Alright then... why don't you lead the way....We don't have all night..."

Ignore the feather! He wants me to fly! Now!

“O…of course!”

Tawny spread out her wings, and started to run and flapped with her wings at the same time. When she was in the air she had to take deep breaths to calm herself. She had to focus so she could catch something, she didn’t want to think of what would happen if she didn’t… she glanced back at the two eagles. The white one didn’t look as big in the air as he had done on the ground… and not that scary… Tawny shook her head. No, they were eagles! And they had crashed into her, threatened her, and taken her as a captive!

I have to focus

Though it wasn’t that simple, when she didn’t think of the terrifying situation she was in, she thought of her friends. She couldn’t fly anywhere near them, then the eagles maybe would take them too!
Then there was a movement on the ground. Without a sound tawny pressed her wings to her body and dived down. When she was a few meters away from the prey she spread out her wings again, as silent as when she had dived. A few seconds later, she had the little gerbil I her claws. She killed it easily and laid it on the ground as she landed.

I’m lucky that hunting is something that I’m good at…

She waited for the eagles to land so they could take the prey.

((sure!))
Ivory and Darren kept a distance of a few meters as they followed the little owl named Tawny.
"Just in case..." Ivory thougt as he tried hard not to lose the sight of her. If something happened, it would still be easy to catch up to her....

Suddenly, Tawny drew her wings to her body and dove. At first, Ivory thought she tried to flee, but then he realized she must have spotted something on the ground. His stomach growled at the thought of food.

He waited until she caught the prey and started to descend only after she laid it down on the ground.
Darren followed. Ivory froze though, as he heard another two pairs of wings join in. He turned his head and saw two golden eagles flying toward them. He recognized them as the two eagles that were harrassing Darren earlier, but what shocked him even more was that one of them had something that looked like an owl in his talons, while the other had very obviously spotted Tawny down on the moonlit sand of the desert.
"They wish! I'll catch her first!" He thought and dove at an amazing speed, straight at Tawny who was standing innocently and waiting on the ground, his talons stretched out, his eyes gaining an murderous look.

She looked up to see what was taking them so long, to see that the smaller eagle were diving towards her.

What was his name now again? Dark? … No something whit an R… Darling? Daring?

Then she saw two other big birds flying higher up. Her haeart skipped a beat. Could it be owls? Big owls who had come to her rescue? But her heart sank when she took a closer look. It was two eagles. Two more, big eagles.

…I’m dead, fried meat ready for dinner! …wait… that one is carrying something… no way… is that…?

Whatever Tawny thought she saw, she broke of in her thought when the sound of air pressed away by huge wings appeared above her. It was the white one, Ivory, who dived even faster than Darling, or whatever, had towards her with talons stretched out for her and a terribly terrifying look in his eyes. Tawny squeaked and found herself nailed to the ground again, unable to move because of fear.

I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead…

Fortunately Era sat in the hole in the dead tree. She slept with her beak under her right wing. Azel tried to wake her but Era simply wouldn’t wake up! Azel tried to talk to Era, she screamed and she even pulled a little feather from her breast. But all she did was moving her beak from the right wing to the left.

Azel didn’t know what to do. Era slept and Tawny was gone. To clear her thoughts she flew to the ground and took a sand bath. It helped her relax and afterwards she could think straight. She had to find Tawny. Even though she might have left, Azel had to know why she decided to leave without them.

The best way to find Tawny was if Azel flew. It was the fastest and most effective. She could see further if she was up in the air and her owl eyes would take care of the rest. It was final, Azel have to fly to find Tawny… She shuddered by the thought.

Azel half jumped half flew to the branch were Era slept. Her muscles were still sore from yesterdays flight. She chopped with her beak in the wood in front of Era. The branch wasn’t like other wood. It was softer and filled with water. Azel drank until she wasn’t thirsty anymore. She hadn’t realized how thirsty she was until the first drop slipped down her throat.

Her parents used to chop in the wood in front of her when they went hunting when Azel were still asleep so that she knew they would come back. The thought of her parents made her sad. It’d been several days since last saw them and she missed them terribly much.

Azel shook her head and hoped it would make it easier to concentrate to find Tawny. She spread out her wings and jumped from the branch. Desperately she flapped her wings as she fell to the ground. To her amazement she never hit the earth as she thought. Instead of colliding with the sand she soured over the ground.

Even though she was high up, about two meters over the earth, she couldn’t see Tawny. Terrified she flapped her wings little more, which immediately made her fly much higher. She tried not to look down, but she had to if she ever wished to spot Tawny. Her entire body shivered as she looked down to search for Tawny, nothing.

She flew further away from the tree where Era slept. She memorized how the moon shined on the tree, hoping it would help her find the tree again.

Suddenly Azel saw something flying through the air in front of her. It was an eagle! No, two eagles! Both of them were bigger then Azel. One of the eagles carried something in its talons. Was it an owl?

When she spotted them the pieces fell in place. Tawny hadn’t left them, she’d been taken by eagles! She felt guilty for accusing Tawny of leaving them when the horrifying eagles actually had taken her.

Then she noticed two other eagles much further away and lower then the two first eagles. One was as big as the other two and the other much smaller. Under them was a little featherball. It was an owl, they’ve captured an owl! But as she looked closer, she realized it was Tawny!

Azel realized what she had to do in a heartbeat, and she was scared. She flew higher, higher than she’d ever been. Tawny and the eagles became little dots, but she could still se them clearly. Then, she placed her wings alongside her body. She dived against the small eagle. It was smaller then her so she could knock him unconscious if they hit the ground.

But in her fall, the bigger eagle next to the small one, suddenly dived headed to Tawny!

She stretched out one wing and changed direction, to the big eagle.

He was fast, but she was faster since she’d fell from a higher place. She could barely have her eyes open in the strong wind. She dived past the other eagles and seconds later smashed into the big eagle. They collided just a meter over the ground and they crashed in a cloud of sand.

((aaah, have to get my rp soul back....))

Ivory was just a few meters away from Tawny, smirking widely at the other golden eagle who just soared, with an irritated face, knowing he wouldn't have a chance to catch up to Ivory from his position. He looked back at Tawny and noticed that she was frozen stiff.

"What am I gonna do anyway once I...."
He didn't get the opportunity to think any further as he heard one of the golden eagles cry out something to him.
"Look out!"
"huh?" Was the only thing that came to his mind as something really big and heavy smashed into him and he found himself plummeting to the ground in an amazing speed. He smashed on to the cold sand and rolled over a few times.
He did his best to somehow get to his feet and counterattack as he got pinned to the ground by a rather large owl.
To his relief, the golden eagle that wasn't holding the owl came to help and they both attacked with their talons. With their united strength the owl, even as big as it was didn't stand a chance and soon enough they were pressing her to the ground.
"Why the hell did it attack me!?" He shouted.
"Maybe it was trying to protect that small one?" The golden eagle said, catching his breath,
"good thing I was here, eh? I'm Terc by the way."
Meanwhile, Darren had landed beside Tawny and held her down carefully with his talon.
The other golden eagle landed, pressing its prey to the ground in an awkward manner, seemingly not caring too much wether he was hurting the owl.
"and that's my sis, Sena" Terc continued casually as he saw that Darren had got the small owl too.

Ivory saw that, catching the look in Darren's eyes, he continued, to get the attention of the golden eagles. He was quite amazed that he trusted Darren so much and practically knew what he was about to do.
"Well, thank you for your help." He turned to the golden eagles. "I'm Ivory."
"And what should we do with the owls anyway?"
"Well....we thought about getting them to the camp... that's why we're here anyway ain't that right? To catch owls? I bet the mayor would give us a nice reward!" Terc sounded awfully sure of himself and even Ivory hadn't much to say to that.
"....I suppose..."

Darren bent down to Tawny and whispered only for her to hear.
"You should run. Now. It's your chance." He glanced at the dead animal she had caught earlier.
"Thanks for the mouse anyway. Now run."

Everything was happening very fast in a slow motion kind of way. It was like she could see every detail of what was happening up in the air. How Ivory dove and would probably be the first one to hit her, how the other eagles just stopped to watch since they never would have a chance to catch her before Ivory did, how then Azel (!?) appeared out of the blue and smacked into Ivory, and how the both tumbled down in a faster speed to the ground and hit it with a dust cloud surrounding them. And all Tawny did was to watch. Tawny also just watched in terror how Ivory and one of the other eagles from the air together pushed Azel down on the ground so she couldn’t move. “She came to help me… and I am still just standing here! Oh what a coward I am!! And now they’re taking both of us! At least Era seems to have gotten away…” then suddenly the smaller eagle was there.

"You should run. Now. It's your chance. Thanks for the mouse anyway. Now run."

Tawny glanced down at the mouse and then she looked into the eagles eyes. There was something endless about his look, like he could go through any danger without to even flinch… courage. So much courage Tawny couldn’t even dream of. Finally she managed to look away from his hypnotizing eyes and think of what he said. “Run”. He’d let her go? Why? And what about Azel? Was she supposed to leave her here when she had come to rescue her? Was that right?

“N, no”

she wouldn’t run, she didn’t even know if she could, or if her legs just wouldn’t listen to her, like they had the last past minutes. She had been too frighten to run earlier, now she had to find all her courage to stay, as said, not courage to make her legs to be still, but enough courage to not faint. With a steadier voice she said.

“I’ll stay, I wouldn’t leave her.”

Darren couldn't help but open his eyes wide as Tawny spoke. He looked at the little owl and wondered where she could have mustered so much courage. From where she got enought courage to even say something like that.
"No, I'll stay, I wouldn't leave her."
Darren was also amazed by how unreasonable that was. It was obvious that she had no chance against four eagles larger than herself. He had to try to persuade her to leave. He didn't think it was right to hurt someone who had helped them... besides, this little owl didn't seem like someone posing a threat to the eagle race. Terc and Sena were still talking to Ivory, but he didn't have much time. He drew his last card, maybe he could still reach the part of her that was afraid.

In one swift move he pressed his talons against Tawnys small body, causing her to fall on her back. He held her down and put on some pressure.
"I'm not telling you this because we like you... you get that? I'm telling you to go, because I'm in a good mood right now..." He pressed one of his talons againt her neck, keeping the pressure on the verge of painfullness.
With his beak right by her face he repeated his offer.
"I'll say it one more time. You can go. Now. Or maybe we'll eat you too...."