Long Ways to Go Part VIII

Welcome. friends and neighbors.  Good to see you back.  Pretty good of you to bring some food and drink.  I’ll be finishing up my story tonight.  Hope everyone got enough rest.  Now, the reason I’m telling you all this is so you’ll have an idea if something happens to you.  We found out about how this thing works.  When and where haven’t been rightly figured out yet.  Uncle decided that warnings needed to be sounded.  Getting ahead of myself.
I was stuck in that cave for four suns, waiting for the Enemy to leave the area.   I slept  most of those days.  Uncle left me by myself for a bit while he went off to get some more food on the third day.  Petra wasn’t talkative.  He watched me with those curious eyes of his.  They were set on each side of his head, like most birds.  They glowed in dim light from the very tiny fire.  I wasn’t sure if he ever blinked.  It gave me the chills in my neck, having him watch me like that.
“We can leave as soon as it’s dark.  There’ll be a bit of moon to light the way.  Once we make it to the foothills, Petra will lead us the rest of the way.”
“How come he doesn’t talk?  All he did was stare at me.”  I tried to hide the shiver that went from my neck to my spine.  “I’d wake up and he’d be staring at me.”
“His tongue isn’t shaped to talk.  We figured out the words he could say.  I talk a bit of his language and it’s hard.
“Get ready.  We’ll have to bring most of this stuff.  Petra says it’ll be about four Suns to get to the People’s cove.”  He shook his head.  “We would have to be here in the middle of a war.  We’ll have to stick as close to cover as we can.  Your hunting lessons will come in handy.”
I finished the packing of the little Uncle let me carry.  Wondering why?  Well, it’s cause I had to carry the water bags.  He’d made some soup and filled three of them with it.  The other three were filled with water.  That’s when the seriousness of the situation settled.  Carrying soup meant no fires for a while.  I was wishing I’d stayed in the village stead of heading over to the falls to fish.
Uncle grabbed hold of the rope he’d brought in with him and tied it to his wrist.  Told me to hang on.  The blackness of the cave stunned me.  Those eyes staring at me weren’t helping one lttle bit.  Petra blinked and head out.  Sure was glad to see the stars when we got to the edge of the cave.  Uncle coiled the rope and hung it on my shoulder.
We didn’t have no trouble til we got to the foothills.  Petra was flying just above the treetops when an arrow flew out of the trees off to the north of us.  Petra fell.  Uncle dropped his stuff and motioned me to stay.  The moon seemed to fly to the horizon while I waited.
The rustling of the brush alerted me.  I turned to see Uncle carrying Petra as best he could.  I scurried out to help.  The arrow nicked his shoulder, just below the wing.   He’d kept the arrowhead and fletching.  The rest he’d broken along the trail.  We needed to find some place fast.  I aint been so helpless in years.  The best I could do was carry Petra’s load.
Uncle and Petra gabbled in that bird language for a bit, then set off.  I followed as close as I dared, trying to watch our backtrail and keep them in sight.