*****Audio File***** "Chapter 41 - Hell Hawks - Audio File" [The White Raven, Chapter 41, Hell Hawks] [Haliae City, Sidewalk, Eagle Cliffs, Planet Darai] Raen sat on a crate in the middle of the sidewalk reading the endless volumes of mail House Aves had finally delivered. A simple rain shelter was erected over the crate so Raen could work in relative dryness. The backlash from House Swan had come quicker than he anticipated. The new Lady Swan, more commonly referred to as the Black Swan, had kicked Raen out of the Swan Theater for failure to pay rent. Raen paid the back rent immediately, though there had never been a contract to pay rent in the first place. The Black Swan hadn’t stopped there, Raen received bill after bill for all manner of made-up charges. The Parking lot fine for not providing adequate parking had been Raen’s favorite; there were only two ground vehicles in Eagle Province, and not a single real road. The ‘roads’ were just worn down patches of sand the Eagles drove or walked on the most. He had paid each and every trumped up charge within an hour of signing for the package from Swift Courier Services. There had been so many Courier messages arriving that House Swift had requested to place an office in Eagle Province. Prince Falor gave House Swift a ten-year rent free sorting office at the airport next to House Aves’ mail sorting facility. There wasn’t much worry of competition between the two mail delivery Houses, they dealt in totally different types of services, and they did augment each other nicely. The latest drama with House Swan had been when Raen refused to sign a contract for new movie releases. The Black Swan then claimed fraud and insisted that House Eagle had to reimburse House Swan for the construction of the Theater. Raen was getting the hang of dealing with House politics and immediately issued a bank draft for the entire cost of the Theater. The Theater was now being held by an Escrow Company and ownership would transfer to House Eagle in three more weeks. Raen was pretty sure the Black Swan had over-estimated her position; she had played Raen wrong, thinking his temper would ignite and give her leverage to use in court to stop the royalty payments. There wasn’t anything left for House Swan to do but cut their losses and move on. Even the High Priestess had been impressed with the way Raen had dealt with the situation. Several days ago a message arrived from House Swan, one last Swan dance to try and save the political war the two Houses were engaged. House Swan had filed a wrongful death suit against House Eagle for the crashed plane. Raen counter-filed a motion to dismiss on the grounds that the aircraft had departed from the airport, which was the sovereign territory of House Falcon. The case had been rejected by the court before it could even get started. The little truck Aves Postal and Swift Services shared bounced up to the edge of the sidewalk and stopped. The Swift Courier was driving this time, probably with another message from House Swan. “Message for Lord Raen,” says the courier, hunching over as he ran around the truck in the rain. “I told you to stop calling me that,” says Raen. “Yes, my lord,” replies the man. Raen rolls his eyes. “How’s the causeway holding up?” “Lord Robin says this is the last trip I can make today,” replies the Courier. “He says the water is rising too fast and they have to start sandbagging.” The Courier handed Raen the message envelope and rushed off, presumably to make it back to the airport before he was trapped on this side of the levies. Raen ripped the envelope open and read the message. “Vas,” shouted Raen jumping up. Vas was sitting on a crate under the awning of the Eagle Mercantile reading mail. “Yea?” says Vas looking up. “Where’s Peli?” shouts Raen running across the street. “Inside, where it’s dry,” says Vas. “Tell her to get the Cargo Ship warmed up, then meet me at the warehouse,” says Raen. Vas threw the mail aside and ran inside to get Peli. Vas caught up with Raen just outside the warehouse where most of the hatchlings stayed. “What’s going on?” asks Vas. “We’re going to the mainland,” replies Raen. The Tarlocks had the Hatchlings inside the warehouse to keep them out of the rain. Several teens were rebelling slightly by standing just outside the door and looking sullen at having to stay inside all day. Raen whistled to get everyone’s attention. “I need volunteers, six-year olds only,” shouts Raen. Not a single hand went up, even the six-year olds were far to wise now to raise their hands for one of Raen’s work details. “The Eagle has gone public, he is attending the Hawk Temple,” shouts Raen. “House Eagle has now been declared Darai’s fourth Raptor House, and we are required to send a House Guard Detail. The Detail will be training alongside the Eagle, it will be dangerous and hard work, and it is a life-time commitment.” Every six-year old in the warehouse raised their hands and ran forward to crowd around Raen and Vas. “Vas, we’re allowed to send eight, choose the best candidates,” says Raen. “We leave immediately.” ***** [Hawk Temple, Hawk Province, Planet Darai] “Codae, just stay down,” shouts Aro. Codae rolled to the side and pushed back to his feet, he had no intention of staying down. “It’s just sparring, Codae,” shouts Turae. Codae rushed his opponent again, jumped into the air and tried another kick. The Hell Hawk boy Codae was sparring dropped down under Codae’s kick, grabbed his foot and yanked hard - Codae slammed into the ground for the third time. An older boy, Captain Lavaen, the Hell Hawk Barracks Commander, strode into the sparring ring. “Alright, that’s enough,” ordered Lavaen grabbing Codae by the back of the blade wings. Codae tried to twist away. “Damn you’re strong,” says Lavaen struggling to hold the angry young Screech. Master Solae stood watching the boys struggling to calm Codae back down. “Captain Lavaen, bring Codae here, I have a task for you,” orders Master Solae. Lavaen drags Codae by his wing-blades out of the sparring ring. “Yes, Master Solae?” “Captain Shay is busy with the fifth-years on the weapons range,” says Master Solae. “I want you to take Codae to the inner Temple.” “Yes, Master… and do what?” “Determine the source of his anger,” replies Master Solae. “That’s easy, he doesn’t have any discipline yet.” Master Solae tips his head to the side slightly and Captain Lavaen drops his head at the silent rebuke. “Yes, Master, I’ll do my best.” Lavaen drags Codae half-way to the inner Temple before Codae stops struggling and walks voluntarily. The inner Temple is an imposing building situated at the center of the Temple Fortress. Stone columns carved in the image of female Hawk Warriors hold the domed ceiling. “They’re girls,” says Codae. “Yea, the Fortress was built by girls. So, have you finally calmed down?” Codae ignored the question, the sparring fight was already forgotten. “How come there aren’t any girls here now?” asks Codae. “Thousands of years ago the male warriors killed the Priestesses and took over. This is the only place on Darai that Priestesses don’t rule, but it came at a cost.” “What cost?” asks Codae. “The Hawk Goddess hasn’t spoken to us in five-thousand years, and the Priests never go into this building,” explains Captain Lavaen. “They say something bad will happen if a Priest enters this building.” “Is something bad going to happen to us?” asks Codae. “Naw, the story is that when the Hawk Warriors attacked the Priestesses, the kids formed a defensive circle around the High Priestess. They walked with her all the way to the woods at the edge of the lake, and of course the Warriors weren’t going to attack their own hatchlings, so the High Priestess got away.” “Oh, so kids are allowed to come in here because of what we did back then,” says Codae. “Yea, I come here all the time, it’s the only place I can get a break from you Screeches, and the tunnels are fun to explore.” Lavaen pushed the doors open and Codae followed him inside. The interior was a fairly plain big round room with more columns, a few stone benches, a statue of the Hawk Goddess, and stairs in the center of the room going down into the darkness. “What happened to the High Priestess?” asks Codae watching Captain Lavaen push the door shut. “I don’t know. I guess she wandered the land alone forever.” “No, darling, she lived the remainder of her life in the Falcon Temple,” a soft pleasant voice replied. “And the story as you know it is not accurate.” Codae and Captain Lavaen spun around. The statue of the Hawk Goddess was walking towards them. Lavaen’s mouth hung open, and then he turned and tried to pull the door open, but it was locked - he pulled desperately on the door. “There was only one Barracks of students at that time, and they were just as traitorous as the grown Warriors,” says the Hawk Goddess stopping and looking down at Codae. “The attack on the Priestesses occurred because the High Priestess had taken six orphans into the Temple, but the male Hawk Warriors were quite elitist about who could be warriors. The High Priestess refused to send the orphans away and that was her downfall, but the orphans smuggled the High Priestess out of the Temple through an ‘Eye of the Needle’ gate that used to exist behind what is now the Hospital - it has since been bricked up to prevent it from ever being used as an escape route again.” “Raen adopts orphans,” says Codae. Captain Lavean was still trying to get the door open and flee. “Yes, Raen is not the only Daraian to ever adopt orphans,” explains the Hawk Goddess. “House Falcon was very small at that time, the Hawk High Priestess helped the Falcons become a great House and set them upon the path to become the great Empire they are today. The youngest of the orphans was adopted by Lord Falcon and in time became Lord Falcon.” “But… the Eagle High Priestess is a Hawk,” says Codae. “Where did she come from?” “There are Priestesses in this Province, but they are restricted to running the Hatcheries,” explains the Hawk Goddess. “Lavean, darling, you can stop pulling on the door, it will not open.” Lavean gives up on the door and turns around and presses his back against it. “Tell him the truth,” orders the Hawk Goddess. Captain Lavaen looked at Codae. “The Hell Hawks are the oldest Barracks, we’re the ones that attacked the Priestesses,” whispers Captain Lavaen. “But I thought it was just a made-up story.” “Take Codae into the tunnels, find the source of his anger, and then return here,” orders the Hawk Goddess. Captain Lavaen would have tried to walk up the side of the wall if it meant getting away from the living statue of the Goddess, he grabbed Codae’s arm and ran for the stairs down to the tunnels. “I thought you said the Goddess never talks to us,” says Codae. “She never has, I’ll bet anything Master Solae knew something would happen as soon as you came in here.” The boys ran down the stairs and into the tunnels under the Temple. Torches were lit along the wall and provided light, which only further upset Lavaen, the torches had never been here before. “Where are we going?” asks Codae. “I don’t know." “What are those?” asks Codae stopping to look at shelves built into the wall with small crystal vials lined along the shelves. “I don’t know, but you can’t touch them. Codae tries grabbing one of the crystal vials, but something stops his hand. “Oh, a force-field,” says Codae. “You watch too many movies, force-fields are science fiction. It’s probably just some kind of advanced glass.” Lavaen runs his hand across the invisible barrier, leaving a smudge that disappears a second later. “See, it’s just fancy glass.” Codae had already lost interest in the shelves and was looking down a side tunnel. “There’s a light on down there,” says Codae. Lavaen looks down the tunnel. “There isn’t any electricity down here, there has never been a light here before.” “There is now,” says Codae heading down the tunnel. “This is fun. Hey, it’s sunlight, it goes outside.” “The only way out is the stairs, there isn’t any other exits,” says Lavaen following Codae. Vines are hanging over the tunnel entrance and Codae pushes through and steps out on a ledge. Lavaen follows and grabs Codae before he can spread his wings and fly away. The boys were looking out over a heavily forested valley with trees taller than any they had ever seen before. “We didn’t walk far, we should still be inside the Temple,” says Lavaen. “I don’t think this is the Temple,” says Codae squinting an eye at the Captain and pointing up. Lavaen looked up where Codae was pointing, there were two moons visible in the sky. “I thought we only had one moon,” says Codae. “We do, lets go back inside." “Okay.” Lavaen released Codae’s arm and turned back to the tunnel. Codae used the opportunity and leaped off the ledge and soared out over the trees. Lavaen sighed and followed. “Look, there’s people,” shouts Codae banking around and spiraling to the ground. Codae showed no fear and ran up to a large man with wings the same coloring as his. The man was dressed in a primitive loincloth and held a spear. “Codae, wait!” The man lowered his spear and charged towards Codae, Lavaen drew his short-sword, he was old enough to carry a real weapon, like all the older boys. The winged-man charged into… and then through Codae and continued running. Lavaen heard a noise and turned in time to see a large three-horned beast run through him. The winged-man spread his wings, lifted into the air and dived onto the beast and plunged his spear into the creature. “He went right through me, are we dead?” asks Codae. “I don’t think any of this is real, it’s like we’re watching a movie or something.” “They have the same wings I have,” says Codae. “More than that, you look just like that man, he could be your father.” Other hunters came and the beast was cut up and the meat put into baskets. The boys followed the hunters back to their village, though it could barely qualify as a village. The village was located partially in a shallow cave and extended out to some poorly constructed shelters. The man they had first seen was obviously the leader of this village, and incredibly cruel and selfish. Hatchlings tried to gather for a portion of the meat, but the man chased them away. The hunters ate first and amused themselves by throwing scraps to the hatchlings and watching them fight over the filthy meat. “I’m not sure what we’re supposed to be seeing,” says Lavaen. “That guy yells a lot,” says Codae. “He’s always mad.” The boys tried to return to the tunnel they had come from twice, but each time it was no longer there. They returned to the village and watched and waited. Codae had fallen asleep when Lavaen shook him and pointed - the Hawk Goddess had walked out of the forest and now stood in the middle of the village. “Is that the real Goddess?” asks Codae. “I don’t think so, I think we’re watching something that happened a long time ago. While you were sleeping I’ve been thinking about it, I think we are watching a tribe of prehistoric Daraians.” “But this isn’t Darai,” says Codae. “I remember Master Auryon saying once that some scientists think we didn’t originate on Darai, maybe this is where we came from.” The Hawk Goddess raised her arms and everyone in the village collapsed on the ground. Then she knelt next to the tribe leader and put her hand inside his chest. She pulled something out of the man that shone like a little light, and then the Goddess held up a crystal vial and poured the light into the vial. “Did she kill him?” asks Codae. “I don’t think so, give me a moment to think, I think maybe I’m starting to understand something.” The Goddess lifted the tribe leader into her arms and the forest faded away and the boys were standing on a cliff above an ocean. “Hey, I know where we are,” says Codae. “This is the Eagle Cliffs.” The Goddess lay the man down on the sand and stood back. The tribe leader stood and it was as if time sped up for the boys. They saw the sky fill with the man’s hatchlings. The cliffs faded away and now the boys were standing inside a cabin. Two Daraians lay sleeping under a blanket holding each other. Codae fell down beside them and tried to wake them, but his hands just past through them. “These are your parents, aren’t they?” Codae silently nods his head. The Hawk Goddess appeared and knelt next to Codae’s mother. The Goddess held up the crystal vial and poured it over the woman’s stomach. The light from the vial spread over the woman and she mumbled a single word in her sleep. “Cody.” “Goddess, I understand,” says Captain Lavaen. The cabin faded away and… “What happened to the High Priestess?” asks Codae watching Captain Lavaen push the door shut. Captain Lavaen pulled at the door before it could latch shut and spun around. The statue of the Hawk Goddess was right where it had always been. “The Goddess told you, before we went to the prehistoric forest,” says Captain Lavaen. “Huh?” Codae tips his head to the side. “Don’t you remember the forest?” asks Captain Lavaen. “What forest?” asks Codae. Captain Lavaen grabs Codae’s arm and pulls him out of the Temple and pulls the door closed. “I thought you were going to show me the Temple,” says Codae. “Some other time, come on." Codae and Captain Lavaen heard the shouting on the practice sand before they got there. Everyone was in their Barracks formations and shouting at the top of their lungs. A Cargo Ship was sitting next to the main gate. “It’s Raen,” shouts Codae running ahead to great his arriving friends. Captain Lavaen listened to the shouts of enthusiasm at the arrival of eight more Eagles. Lavaen wondered if they would be so enthusiastic if they truly understood the Eagles were all orphans. Lavaen stopped a respectable distance from Master Solae and Lord Raen and waited to be acknowledged. “Well, did you discover the source of Codae’s anger?” asks Master Solae. “No, Master, we went into the Temple, waited, and then we came back here,” says Captain Lavaen. “Codae’s just a normal kid with a little bit more temper than some, that’s all.” “I was certain there was more,” says Master Solae. “Perhaps I’m just over-thinking the situation. You may go.” Captain Lavaen turned and walked back to his unit. How could he have told the truth? How could he ever tell anyone that there wasn’t a source of anger because Codae was the source of anger - all anger, everywhere, on all of Darai. Codae was what… a clone… a copy… the reincarnation of a vicious prehistoric Daraian. But even more than that, Codae was the first Daraian, and the source of all Daraian cruelty. “Why me?” whispers Captain Lavaen. “What am I supposed to do with this?”