Page 154 of To Free a Soul
The woman’s scream ended about halfway down as she passed out from the inertia of falling, and Lindiwe kept her wings close to her body as she dived.
Curses. I’m not going to make it,she thought, when the ground came hurtling towards her.No. I can do it.
She flapped her wings to go faster, and faster, trying to beat her falling speed.
“Lindiwe. You mustn’t hit the ground. You may injure–”
She gave a bird shriek to shut him up.I know I can’t risk my own death!She would never do anything to harm her unborn child just for the sake of this woman’s life, or Fennec’s potential happiness.
Lindiwe rotated her own body and managed to lock her talons around the woman’s side and a leg. She spread her wings right before they could hit the ground, caught the wind, and shot into the air. She flapped her wings when she began to lose height, and the unconscious body swaying made her veer to the right.
Fuck!She threw herself to the side before the woman could smash into the rock wall, and they were shunted to the left.She’s too heavy.Lindiwe could only fly with the equivalent of what she could carry, andanysize of person was a struggle.
She’d seen from a distance that the woman was a little plumper than most, but that hadn’t deterred her.We don’t have to go far.She could see the entrance to Fennec’s cave and the salt circle he had carved around it.
I just need to place her gently down in front of it.
Her talon slipped from where it gripped a soft torso. Lindiwe released her hold to avoid clawing into the poor woman’s skin, and she screeched when all she held onto was a leg.
Oh shit!The momentum of her body swaying was too difficult for Lindiwe to counteract with her tenuous hold on one foot, and they swung sideways. The woman’s body dropped hard, and her wings couldn’t battle the fall. She tried with all her might to flap and regain control, but she just couldn’t do it while carrying another person.
She was only so strong, especially in the air.
Damnit!
She let go to save herself, hoping the woman could survive the small fall without bleeding out. It was too late. Lindiwe shrieked when she crashed into the wall of the Veil’s cliff headfirst.
She instantly blacked out when she made contact.
A time unknown, but of worried disgruntlement
Watching the situation unfold, Weldir called Lindiwe to his realm when she hit the rock wall, passed out, and began to fall. He caught her owl form in his weightlessness.
Blood coated her feathers around the crown of her head, and it leaked from her nose holes and beak.
And Weldir could do nothing.
She was physical and out of his touch. He couldn’t heal her and merely had to wait and hope she’d wake up on her own. Unbridled fury gave his growl a dark edge, and he called her soul to his side so he could inspect it.
The wound doesn’t appear to be too bad.It hadn’t left a permanent mark on her soul, so she should hopefully wake on her own. He noted that their unborn offspring was fine and hadn’t suffered any damage – that’sifthey could be harmed at all while in gestation. They were indestructible until they gained their skulls and horns.
That wasn’t enough to soothe his anger.
He drifted his gaze to his mate and the way her snowy owl form appeared brighter in his shadows. The smear of blood was stark against her white feathers.
He hated that she was hurt and there was nothing he could do about it. Like always, he was stuck onthisside of life and death.
His mist shimmered and vibrated around him as his growl deepened.We will have words about this, Lindiwe.
Had he known this would happen, he wouldn’t have told her about the human female. He wouldn’t have helped, even if it appeared they seemed to have had the same idea.
Orpheus had a bride; hopefully Fennec could have one as well.
His viewing disc showed that the little female Lindiwe had tried to save had surprisingly survived the small fall – and had landed right on top of an unsuspecting Fennec. Weldir believedthis had actually saved her from death, or any major bleeding wounds that would have made her a meal for his offspring.
There was hope for her yet.
Closing his clawed fist and sending his mate’s soul away, he thought angrily,This better not be for naught.
