InsaneJournal

Fairytales walks among the trees, clad in lincoln green, her feet making no sound as she moves through the underbrush. She knows this forest like the back of her hand. She knows the moss on this boulder with the cut in it, a crafty way of noting the path. She knows this broken branch. She knows the particular knot on this particular tree. She is being lead home, to the heart of the wood.

A scream rents the air and she turns, losing her way. A red-tailed hawk, caught in a snare, but no Lancelot this time to free her thrashing wings. She beats and screeches, trying to fight free. Fairytales moves forward, curious, but stops when she sees another figure on the other side of the clearing. A tall, dark man dressed all in black, deceptively gentle hands reaching to cut the trap, but he slips a tether around the bird’s ankle, keeping her from flying away. But she will not be tamed, and she flaps and pecks and scratches at him when he offers her sweetmeats. Fairytales follows him as he drags her home, having to run to keep up, losing the path.

He leaves the hawk on a perch, tied in a window, and the hawk screams angrily and flaps her wings, and after a time a cat spies her, and he smiles a toothy, hungry grin as he pounces on his captive prey and bites and scratches as she screeches and cries. Fairytales starts forward to shoo the cat, but she is voiceless and no sound comes.

With a shout, the hunter grabs the cat by the scruff and throws it out the window, not caring where it goes, and he coaxes the frightened bird with gentle words, smoothing her torn feathers, settling her on her perch, and as her panic begins to settle, he lowers a leather cap down over her eyes, and ties the thong firmly at the back of her neck, and he looks down at Fairytales standing below, flicks his hair back, and smiles a heartless smile of victory…


Elaine flew awake, eyes wide, and a moment later was out of bed, her long nightdress flapping around her legs as she ran to the window and threw it open. Cold air flooded into the room, the wind whipping around her. Somewhere out there, her hawk was in danger. The woman she had sheltered and grown to love as a dear friend was losing her way, falling into a dark, dark place. She looked up at the sky, her heart bursting with emotion, and screamed.

“MARIAAAAN!!!”