Free A Whisper of Wings by Paul Kidd Page B

Kotaru rocked her gently back and forth, murmured softly in her ear. Finally he drew away, holding the tearful child at arms length.
    “Alright now, what’s your name, eh?”
    The child looked back at him with eerie silver eyes. She seemed to be remembering his face in every detail.
    “Kï-Kïtashii. My name’s Kïtashii.”
    Kotaru smiled his fine lop-sided smile.
    “Aaaaah, that’s a fine name, now so it is! A brave name, but I’ll not have you fighting any more hunters.”
    The girl combed aside her long white hair. Kotaru gently wiped her skinny cheeks and brushed away her tears.
    “That’s better now! That’s my bonny lass. Now Kïtashii, do you know somewhere to hide?”
    His answer came as a wide-eyed nod.
    “Go quickly then; hide there and be quiet. T’will all be over soon.”
    The girl backed away, her face still numb with shock, then suddenly she spread her wings and darted through the brush.
    Kotaru sighed and stood; the incident had left a vile taste in his mouth. He dusted off his hands and turned to face the Katakanii village…
    …Just as a spear impaled itself through a sapling by Kotaru’s head.
    The hunter stared, then frantically dove aside as a second spear ripped past his fur. It rammed through a treefern to hang thrumming in mid air.
    Two nightmarish creatures exploded through the trees - demons with sharp black bodies and heads like shrieking skulls. They caught the scent and screamed in hunger for their prey. Kotaru fled through the trees, fronds ripping at his wings; he dove through a gully and plunged into a dripping world of ferns.
    The demons lost sight of their victim and clattered to a halt. Mad eyes stared down into the green; Kotaru flattened himself against a tree and prayed as he had never prayed before. He slipped down into the ferns and tried to glide for deeper cover.
    They sensed the flaring of his aura; with a demented scream of fury the demons were on his trail, narrow female bodies twisting through the air. Kotaru span and hurtled his spear, deliberately aiming to drive the creatures back. The demons ducked, and Kotaru took his chance to speed off through the ferns.
    A spear ripped out towards Kotaru’s back, and a Ka inside the weapon gibbered for his blood. Kotaru desperately tried to warp the ïsha in its path, but the spirit flicked his bolt away. Kotaru rolled, and the spear swerved and stabbed into his wing. With a hideous crash the hunter slammed into the ground.
    “Kaaaaah!”
    Somewhere in the darkness, demons howled for blood. Kotaru sobbed and desperately dragged himself to cover, fangs clenched against a scream of pain.
    Suddenly the open air yawned before him. He had scrabbled to the edge of a precipice, and a cliff plunged a hundred spans below him towards a tangled mass of rocks.
    “Kaaaaah!”
    Kotaru tumbled across the brink, flailing out in panic until ïsha bit and caught beneath his wings. With a sickening crash Kotaru plunged down through a stand of wattle trees. Reeling with triumph, the hunter crawled into the shade.
    Lost them! Lost them at last!
    “Kaaaaaaah!”
    Kotaru gave a croak of horror, then clawed back to his feet as the shriek of the hunters echoed through the air. He staggered deeper down into the gully with blood dripping thickly from his wounds.
    Somewhere in the dark behind him, a demon screamed in hate.
     
     
    Shadarii climbed from her bath as the Ka fluttered in warning around her. The creature swirled, tugging Shadarii down into hiding. With no idea why she did so, Shadarii ran to do as she was bid, a thrill of fear rippling through her heart.
    ïsha flashed as Shadarii dried her naked fur and brought her clothes whipping up around herself and fastened into place. She made to hide amongst the rocks, but the Ka pushed her onwards towards a bare, blank stretch of cliff.
    The Ka’s presence began to fade as it reached the limits of its domain. Shadarii stroked it with her mind and bid it hurry back where it belonged, and the