Blood and Feathers: Part 4

            Chickadee the eagle dodged to the left, deftly avoiding Rattlesnake’s fangs. Thrusting his beak downwards, he narrowly missed the back of the snake’s head. He reached with a clawed foot and seized the back of Rattlesnake’s tail, maneuvering his body away from the snake’s mouth.

            Though his adversary twisted and writhed on the ground, Chickadee held firm. “Where is your bravado now? You have made a fatal mistake, worm.”

            “Damn you!”

            “Poetic last words.” Seizing Rattlesnake’s head in his other foot, Chickadee dug his talons in, piercing his enemy’s skull and extinguishing his life with a savage crunch.

            Chickadee satiated his hunger with his fallen foe’s corpse. Rattlesnake, it turned out, did not taste much different from the snakes Chickadee was accustomed to eating. A tinge more bitter, but nevertheless, delicious all the same.

Something stirred in the air above him. A gust of wind brushed against his feathers as three eagles descended into the forest, perching in branches and landing on the ground.

“Chickadee,” said the largest eagle, Winter, a magnificent specimen of sheer power. His white head accented his brown-feathered body splendidly. “You survived! We witnessed your battle with Red Tail in the clouds, and when you both fell to the earth, feared the worst. I take it she is dead?”

“I have vanquished our foe. And what of the battle? Has it been won?”

“We three are all that’s left. But of the hawks, no more remain.”

Chickadee chuckled darkly. “So much bloodshed, all due to the greed of a few. But it is for the better. The red-furred mouse has been avenged.”

“Indeed. Come, we’ll guide you home. Your injuries will no doubt heal in time.”

Chickadee nodded his head several times in quick succession as he walked towards them. “They better. I fear dark days are ahead. The rattlesnake I slew spoke of someone called Serpent. Perhaps another war looms on the horizon.”