#evahl

Shei tensed up and readjusted his grip, his breaths becoming fast and shallow.  Evahl didn’t like the look of his resolve.  Quick as a snake, he grabbed Shei’s arm.  After a bit of a scuffle, Evahl pulled the blade from his fingers and threw it out of reach.

‘I just want to fly again!’ Shei signed, tears streaming down his face.  ‘I don’t need a leg for...’

He stopped to wipe away his tears, only to dissolve into sobs.  Much to Evahl’s surprise, Shei slumped into him, whimpering and crying.  He almost felt bad to enjoy the closeness when Shei was in the middle of falling apart.

“Ya said your flock’s got a Weaver,” Evahl said, leaning into a pile of rocks and taking Shei with him.  “We’ll just find ‘em and you’ll get your Mark off.  You just gotta wait.  No need t’hurt yaself.”

Shei sat up abruptly.  ‘But then I stay and become the leader.’

Despite the mood, Evahl’s heart soared.  “You don’t wanna be the leader?”  Shei’s shoulders went lax and he hung his head.  “Do you wanna say with us?”

‘I can’t.’

“Says who?”  Shei stared at him blankly.  “If you don’t wanna be the leader...don’t.”

‘But it’s my destiny,’ he said.  ‘Wawewe’s woven this for me.  I have to.’

“I, well, uh, well what if...what if it isn’t?” he challenged.  “What do you know about Wawe’s plan anyways?”

Shei sighed.  ‘It’s obvious, that’s how I know.  Where else is my fate going to take me?  Matt’s gone, so I have to lead the flock instead.’

“But I think the obvious thing can be, just, y’know, what’cha want.  That’s the obvious thing, don’t’cha think?”

‘And what am I going to do staying with the crew?!’  Shei’s sharp movements put his anger into his signs, making Evahl shrink away.  ‘We’re a bunch of criminals and outcasts!  Where’s the destiny in that?!  How can that ever be what Wawewe wants?’

Shei grabbed Evahl’s necklace, gave it a shake, then dropped it.  ‘This is your destiny, but you’re trying to ignore it.  I can’t do that, though.  My flock--’

Evahl took his arms, pulling him nose to nose.  “Then come with me!  You get’cha wings back and we’re faster than the ship, you in the air, me in the water.  You can be a part of my fate!”

‘That’s not the way in front of me,’ Shei said, pushing Evahl away and sliding onto the grass.  ‘Wawewe has a plan for me, and you’re not a part of it.  Just like she has a plan for you, and I’m not a part of that either.  We’re just ships passing by in opposite directions.’

“And you think that’s a part of her plan?” Evahl snapped.  “Joining the damn crew, making friends, then never seeing ‘em again, is that it?!”

‘She led me to you so you could help me get home.’

“Then why send you to the fucking zoo in the first place?”

‘I don’t know!’  Shei covered his eyes, letting out a whimper.  ‘I don’t know what she wants.’

“Then why...”  Evahl growled.  “Never mind.  You’re just gonna take me in circles.  You coulda just said you don’t wanna stay with us.”

He turned away so he wouldn’t have to see what Shei was saying.  Shei whistled at him, then put a hand on his shoulder, but Evahl shrugged him off with a warning snarl.  Finally, he left.

Evahl sputtered.  “You don’t know that.”

‘You were just sunbathing.’

“Yeah, uh, yeah, building up.  Energy.  Didja know Serpents are part plant?  Need that there sunlight, ch’know?”

He raised an eyebrow.  ‘Is that why your kind live in the dark?’

“Y…Yessss…?”  He grinned.

Shei rolled his eyes.  ‘If you’re embarrassed about earlier, don’t be.’

Evahl’s face blanked.  “Earlier?”

He nodded.  ‘The reading.  I taught my brother how to read too and he messed up way more than you.’

“Oh.”  Evahl folded his arms across his chest, sinking back down to the floor of the ship.  “Yeah, uh.  Yeah, y’know, you go and git yourself in a knot over one thing and suddenly you’re just too damn embarrassed to git any’a the damn words out, ch’know?”

Shei smiled and shrugged.  ‘Sure, kinda.’

Evahl bared his top teeth at him.  “Yeah, yeah, you go an’ sign all’a damn time, ‘course you don’t have problems with it.”

Shei hesitated, tapping the backs of his fingers against his palms.  ‘I did use to talk as a kid, actually.’

He cocked his head.  “Oh yeah?  You have a cute voice?”

‘Dunno, I was just a kid.  Probably?’

“Huh.  So why’d ya stop?”

He shrugged.  ‘I think I got freaked out because my parents kept telling me not to tell each other and the flock certain things, so I just…’

“Stopped talking altogether,” Evahl finished, his expression settling into something a little more terse.  “They made ya afraid’a talking?”

‘Seems like that, doesn’t it?’

“Whole lot shittier than being too embarrassed to talk.”

‘I don’t remember much about it.  It’s no big deal.  Speaking by hand has its perks anyways.’

“Sure does.  I’ll learn it someday.”

‘Why don’t you master reading first?’

Evahl scoffed.  “Yeah, yeah, whatever.  Got a pretty okay teacher, so I’ll get there.”  He grinned and leaned in.  “You’d be perfect if ya didn’t smell so damn good, always distracting me.”

‘You’re the one who usually makes the distractions,’ he retorted.

“Oh sure.  Just be careful, why don’t’cha, or I’ll go an’ eat you up in my sleep by accident.  Wouldn’t that be a damn shame?”

‘You’d miss me too much.’

Evahl seemed to choke on his laugh.  “Ha, yeah, you, uh, you keep telling yaself that, Snack.”  He wheezed a little, covering his mouth with his hand.  “Fuck, I oughta, hh, fish?  Ya, gotta fish now.  Gotta bring in supper!  Talk to ya later, Snack!”

He stood up on his tip toes to try to see past the rails of his exhibit, but all he could catch were the flitting shadows of some of the pirates running past.  He couldn’t quite make out what they were yelling about either. With a growl of frustration, he paced the length of his rock.

Someone close by shrieked and fell into the exhibit, going still and quiet too fast to be alive. Shei scanned the ledge again. Still nothing.

His eyes roamed the exhibit, settling on a tumble of rocks near the wall.  It was the only place he could plausibly get out, but he would struggle to pull himself over once he got up, enough time for someone to come along and beat him back down.  Maybe amid the chaos, he had a chance.

Without a chance to hesitate, he took a running start and leapt up the rocks, wings up to catch as much wind as possible.  He leapt, arms outstretched for the wall.  He collided awkwardly with it, scraping his knees, but it was worth the injury when he managed to hook his fingers over the lip.  With powerful beats of his wings to give him a boost, he got his elbows over the edge.

His luck ran out, though, as he looked up into the dark eyes of the reason the alarm was blaring.  The Serpent’s teeth were bared and glinting in the pale moonlight.  Shei stared at it, unable get the thought to his arms to let go and get the hell away from it.

Fortunately, it wasn’t eating him.  Just staring. Shei tried to take back his mind from the fear, but the Serpent unfroze first.  It grabbed one of Shei’s arms and pulled him over the ledge, throwing him over its shoulder.  Stunned, Shei didn’t even think to struggle, and didn’t think he could get enough of a grip to struggle what with how cool and slimy its skin was.

At least he wasn’t being eaten.  He didn’t know why he wasn’t being eaten.  That was all Serpents did, eat and kill, generally all in one sitting. Why wasn’t he being eaten?  Unless it was just taking him some place safe to eat him, that’s what it was.  It’d broken into the zoo looking for a snack and he was the snack.

That was a thought good enough to spurn him into action, squirming and flapping his wings.  And he nearly got away, too, but the Serpent tightened its grip, reining him back.  It even took a second to adjust its grip around his wings (he cringed, waiting for the crunch of bone, but it was shockingly gentle with him).

“Stop wrigglin’, y’lil hen, I’m tryna save ya,” it snapped.

Serpents could speak?! And did it say it was saving him?  What did that mean?

At first he thought knew why, when he looked down at the Mark on the back of the Serpent’s shoulder.  Had someone sent it to come get him?  Was that why it’d been staring at him so intensely earlier?

No, it was deactivated, no longer hot to the touch, probably disrupted by whatever had put that nasty scar through it.  If no one was giving it orders, then why was it here?  What was it doing?

Didn’t matter, though, he had other things piling on his plate.  He spotted one of the pirates who owned the zoo when they rounded the corner behind them, readying their musket.  Shei tapped the Serpent’s face, getting it to turn and see the pirate.

“Put down that Wing, you damn pest!” the pirate yelled.  “That ain’t yours!”

The Serpent snorted.  With a swing of its tail, it slammed the pirate into the rail edging a different exhibit.  A shot went off before they toppled over, making Shei flinch.  Fortunately, it hadn’t hit him, and the Serpent was moving again so it couldn’t have hit it either.

Shei craned his neck, realizing they were headed to the back of the zoo. It was quieter back here, but there was no way out.  But then again, it was a Serpent.

He yelped when he was plopped on the ground in front of the beast.  It squinted at him, like it was trying to figure out something about him.  When it leaned in, big sharp teeth a little too close for comfort, Shei turned to run. The Serpent caught him and yanked him back.

“No, down there, hen,” it sneered, pointing into the exhibit they were standing beside.

Shei followed his finger into the waterlogged cage, home to a couple of water puppies, to the very back.  The bars over the pipe where the exhibit river escaped had been bent out of shape. It certainly didn’t look big enough for the blubbery Serpent to have squeezed through, though.

“C’mon, hen, git down there,” the Serpent snapped, giving him a light shove. “I’m lettin’ ya use them damn wings for something, so go on an’ use ‘em.”

He knew it was a bad idea as soon as he climbed onto the rail.  He hadn’t glided down from a distance like this yet, and he sorely misjudged how damn hard it was to brake when he had less feathers to do it with.  The bliss of flight was quickly replaced by the sting of a clumsy crash landing.

He flapped his wings to try to dry them off after tumbling into the stream. The Serpent caught up, eyeing him with a sniff.  “Thought you’d be better at that.”

‘I can’t fly!’ he signed, quick movements as sharp as the look he gave.

He raised a wing to show the Serpent his clipped feathers, but it gave him a blank look.  What was he even doing?  Of course it wouldn’t understand it was a Serpent for crying out loud.  And even if it was smart, what would it know about wings?

“Good thing you don’t need ta fly ta get outta here,” it said.  “Git in the pipe.”

Shei flapped his wings a couple more times in a last attempt to dry them off before folding them.  Wet feathers on bare skin made him shiver, reminding him that he didn’t have any clothes. He’d gotten a little too used to nudity while at the zoo.

“So y’ain’t deaf,” the Serpent said, squeezing into the pipe after him, “but’cha ain’t talking none either.  You got’cha throat messed up or something?”

He whistled a no, since it was too dark for a shake of the head.

“Huh.  Weird. It from a Mark?”

The questions were getting him paranoid, fingers twitching.  ‘Nope.’

“But’cha can talk, then, but don’t…?”

Shei slammed his fist into the wall of the pipe, about as close to a shut up as he could get.

The Serpent grumbled.  “A’ight, there, just curious.”

After some time, they emerged at the other end of the pipe (the bars here were also bent out of shape) onto a private cove.  There was a sloop at the cove’s entrance.  Was it the Serpent’s or did it belong to someone else?

Shei turned to the Serpent as it was pulling its fat body through the bars. ‘Why did you get me out?’

It frowned at him.  “Uh…”

Shei wrinkled his nose.  ‘Is it because I’m royalty?  Who sent you?’

“Yeah, that,” it said quickly.  “Royalty. We, uh, got hired to…save you.”

‘By who?’ he demanded.

It shrugged.  “I ain’t the captain.”

He rolled his eyes.  ‘Guess that should have been obvious.’

Wrong move.  He fell backwards and scrambled away when the Serpent lunged at him.  He threw his arms up, eyes shut, and goosebumps running the length of his arms when he felt the Serpent’s hot breath on him.

“What?” it snarled.  “Cus I’m a Serp, is that right?  Well?!” Shei peered through his arms, but all he could see were teeth.  “We ain’t all stupid people eaters, just like you Wings ain’t all flighty, wishy washy bastards.”

Shei nodded vigorously.  The Serpent backed off a little.

“I’m Evahl, by the way,” he said.

‘I’m Shei,’ he signed, then spelled it out.  Halfway through, the Serpent was already shaking his head.

“Never learned how to spell,” he said.  “Think before you comment on that, by the way.”

Shei tapped his fingers into his palm, thinking.  ‘The beginning of shoe, and the end of stay.”

“So…Shei?”  He nodded. Evahl grinned.  “Cute name, hen.”

He scowled.  ‘Don’t call me hen.’

“Feathers?” he suggested, to which Shei crossed his arms.  “Drumstick?  Chicken wing? Snack?”  He licked his lips.  “How about dinner?”

Shei shot him a withering look.  ‘This is all a trick to eat me, isn’t it?’

“If I wanted ta eat’cha, snack, don’t’cha think I’d’ve done it by now?” He was looming again.  “Can’t help looking delicious, though, can ya?”

This was the weirdest Serpent he’d ever met.  Not that he’d ever met any, besides brief glimpses at dead bodies. He even looked weird.  All the Serpents he’d seen were dark through and through, but this one’s skin was interrupted by almost white patches.  They were on his hands and fingers, around his eyes and armpits, and seemed to stretch outwards from his middle, both in the front and the back.

Then he spotted the gunshot wound in Evahl’s side, oozing thick, greenish blue blood.  He waved his hands, pointing it out to him.  The Serpent appraised it with mild interest.

“Thought something was stinging,” he said, grabbing a handful of fat around the wound.  “Shit, bullet’s still in there.  That’s a pain.”

‘Shouldn’t you be more concerned?’ Shei said.

“I would be if I was all skin and bone like you,” he retorted, still poking at the wound.  “Or was a Wing.  You things are damn fragile compared to Serps.  This is gonna sting in the water.  Ah well, let’s go.”

He slid over to the water, but Shei stopped at the edge, thinking about waterlogged wings and cloying liquid.  About drowning.  He’d had enough of that after the storm.

“What are you waiting for?” Evahl said from the water.

‘I don’t like water.’

“I thought Wings dived to get food!”  Shei shrugged.  “You’re shitting me.  And you can’t damn well fly…fine.  Get on my back.”

‘So you can help me drown?’ he retorted.

“I haven’t killed you yet, have I?!”  Shei glared.  “You know if I kill you you’re just going to haunt me until I’ve fulfilled your fate, right? This is a win-win for you.”

‘There’s no win about dying.’

“I’m just saying I don’t want your annoying ass in my face for the rest of my life.”  Shei crossed his arms.  “Just git over here.  I ain’t gonna drown ya.”