Chapter 2 The Woodpecker

I stagger back in disbelief. I hid my face, turning away from him, I shielded my face with my hood, looking away and plastering my wings to my back. I grab my bag."I don't have anything..." I said, quietly, sheathing my talons and backing away from him.

I glanced at his great wings, they were speckled, his hair, the most beautiful brown-red-ish hair. It was definitely the mark of a Royal. He is one of the Woodpecker family. He got up, dusting himself off. He flapped his wings, folding them.

"That was rude of you," He said, putting his hands on his hips sassily. I scoffed quietly. I stopped myself from making a remark that probably would do me no favor in this situation. I put the dagger back. I didn't expect a member of the royal family to be so sassy and...unhinged, I thought they were poise and stayed out of the forest and mud.

My eyes darted around before I gave in. I took a small step back and kneeled, bowing my head and trying my hardest to be respectful to him. Suddenly I felt the hairs on my neck stand up and I felt breath on my forehead. I looked up and he was right there in front of my face. How did he do that? He was 10 feet away from me. He started circling me, inspecting me.

I let him, I felt nervous and scared, but I didn't show it. When he got to my backside he aggressively grabbed my wings, pulling them to their full length. It hurt since he pulled on my wings when my muscles were tense at the moment. I winced under my breath and then leaned into my knee.

"Oh, I gave you a little scratch on your wing muscles...oops," I tsked silently. The audacity he had. He didn't let go of my wing, still. His fingers ran over the scratch. His hands were so delicate with the small fluffy feathers that were close to my back.

I sighed. A second later he let go of my wing, I immediately folded my wing back and shuddered. I looked up at the strange royal. He looked at me. "You can stand, never asked you to kneel anyways" He placed his right hand on his hip this time, swinging his hip leftwards.

I got up, not bothering to swipe the mud off my knees. I was really getting annoyed by his stamina and sassiness, but somehow I am charmed by it. He looked at the sky and then looked at me, a cheeky smile on his face. He held out his hands.

"Hey, sorry for the rough meeting, My name is Vence, what's yours?" I feel surprised by this. I hesitate before giving in and taking his hand. I was about to speak but then he shook my hand vigorously. Then he stopped and held my hand with both of his and then burst out "Wow! Your hands are freezing! Are you cold?"

I looked at my hand, confused. "I'm cold?" I said. My mind suddenly flashes to a memory.

It was a sunny day, the leaves blowing in the wind. My mother was there, she smiled and hugged me. I hugged her back, burying my face in her chest, absorbing her warmth and the sun's combined. She pulled back, rubbing my freckled arms with a confused look on her face.

"You're cold to the touch, do you-"

Her voice blurred into mixed blubbering, my head started spinning. I looked around and pinpointed her, her face was gone, she was standing in the middle of a black sea, violent wind surrounding her. Suddenly her voice rang out. "You are an outsider, fowl scum" it echoed over the crashing waves and the roaring wind.

I closed my eyes and covered my ears with my hands and suddenly I was teenage me again. Tears streamed down my cheeks. I tried calling out. 'Help' or 'I'm drowning!' but nothing came out, nothing saved me from the terror. I opened my eyes as lightning struck the water and the ground around me, my mother was gone.

I looked up. A bright bolt of lightning struck the water's edge and the winds pounded against me, my wings nailed into the ground. Blood spilled from the horizon, filling the once-full water with horror and the stench of death, surrounding me.

"Hey!"

A voice came through the sky, echoing on the ground. The blood retreated, and the wind cooled to a breeze. I search for the source of the voice.

"Wake up, c'mon!"

I felt pressure on my shoulder, gently shaking me. The nightmare around me slowly fogged, dissipating away and I opened my eyes slowly, blinking the glare out of my eyes. When I fully awakened I saw Vence leaning above me. My head was on his lap, his hands shaking me. When he realized I was awake, he stopped and sighed.

"You almost gave me a heart-attack! You were crying and struggling in your...sleep? What was that?"

I sat up, dusting off my pants. "It's none of your concern," I said, knowing fully well what it was. I sat on the edge of the clearing, making sure I was fully conscious.

Vence was sitting in front of me. Twenty minutes later, I got up and turned into a dark part of the forest. "Hey! Weird guy!"

I looked at him, surprised. I was halfway stepping over a large tree root and tripped. I caught myself and then looked back at him, stubbornly. "Yeah?"

He was leaning against a tree and sheepishly looked sideways in thought and then looked at me. He grabbed something from his belt and tossed it at me. I caught it, I realized it was my dagger in the sheath that used to be around my thigh. How did he slip this from my possession? Especially since the sheath was placed in a sensitive area.

"Will I ever see you again?" He called out. I looked at him, then looked at my dagger's leather and rubbed the engraving on it. It read 'It's not the looks, it's the people you hang around'. It was written in Avish, a language everyone wrote in. I flipped it, my mother's signature on the back.

"You will." I put the dagger in my bag and smiled. "By the way, my name's Lanci" Then I left and disappeared into the thick of the forest.