Chapter 6: Bargaining with Beasts

Before I could draw my rapier, this “horned birdman” bustled us through our portal. Rather than stampeding, the beast shoved us with rolling layers of walrus hide that, while soft, I couldn’t help but stagger into the seahorse hallway where it guided me and Ludger.

Ludger trembled under the glare until it collapsed onto all fours. Before it could squawk an apology, the horned birdman held up a wing, and Ludger’s beak snapped shut.

Sweeping one of its disproportionately long wings toward the interior of Ludger’s home, the horned birdman’s squinting gaze snapped from the fading portals that displayed various views of the Floating Isles to the bricks in the ceiling that gradually sank back to their original elevation. Pulling itself through the portal and close enough for the dangling hem of its hood to drape upon Ludger’s bowed head, the horned birdman prodded the knapsack with its metallic beak chipped with white scars. The contents of the fish-skin bundle still shivered with remnant magic. The tiles shook underfoot as the horned birdman sat with its twisted stilt-like legs crossed, though, it still stood several centimeters above Ludger, and stared at this lump of dark, metallic-blue feathers with a silently insistent gaze that seemed to say, "What's all this then?"

Once Ludger managed to stand without stumbling, it waved flamboyantly toward me.

I tried not to flinch as it shuffled close until we stood side by side.

Dragging me from where I stood huddled behind it, Ludger beckoned to its brethren as if asking them to join the warm embrace of my companionship. Pointing at itself, the crowd, and me, Ludger bolted down the hallway while jabbing a claw toward the seahorse arch while flapping its wings vigorously. Glancing over its shoulder, the creature’s beady eyes shimmered expectantly.

While Ludger didn't fly an inch off the ground, its brethren hissed and shook their heads as if it had spat in their horned chief’s face before soaring from the palace.

My smile wavered as the birdmen closed in on us in an ever-tightening semicircle. Leaning close to where Ludger’s earhole should be beneath its “hide” of feathers: tight and rigid like scales. I muttered out of the corner of my mouth, "I thought we agreed to leave in secret. When did you plan on inviting this friend of yours? Or did you summon them here to sharpen your talons on my bones together?" Before I could demand to know how Ludger had ratted me out to this horned birdman, the creature squawked and frantically shook its head in denial.

Ludger scampered toward me while waving its wings beseechingly only to stiffen the moment I gasped and staggered away. Realizing I was staring at the hundreds of needle-like fangs that ran in tight rows inside its beak, once too dark to discern beneath its deep hood, the creature whimpered and covered its beak with its wings and stumbled away from me.

The horned birdman shook its head solemnly, and the crowd parted as it strode toward Ludger. All the while tugging the hem of its hood over its beak and shooting me furtive looks. The chief snatched Ludger’s knapsack, tore it open, and deposited its contents with a flick.

Ludger cried out before releasing a whistle like a teapot.

The scattered tableware hovered an inch before they clicked upon the ivory tiles: none of them sustaining so much as a scratch. However, violet light shone through the cracks between the hallway’s bricks, tiles, and what could be seen of Ludger’s home through the portal. Everyone stood stock still until the light and pulsing of what might as well have been a heart buried beneath our feet faded.

The horned birdman scanned the roots that bulged from the walls as if they might spew sparks at any moment. The chief tied Ludger’s robe around its shoulders and yanked its hood low to stop it from bowing incessantly in apology.

"There’s no need to blame your friend, sir.” I gave a small cough and blushed as all eyes snapped to me, but with some effort, I met the horned birdman's gaze. "That was barely a quiver compared to the earthquakes I've encountered during my travels.” I couldn’t afford to let Ludger lose its nerve if I was going to get it to accompany me back home. With a deep breath, I strode through the crowd and stood beside Ludger. “Besides, some can't help making magic look so natural."

Ludger removed its wings from its face and gaped at me.

"You think this little fellow can't control their own magic? Sir, you might not have intended to insult me, but I can’t help but take your assumption as a slap to the face! And do you know why?" Besides, how can I stand by and watch this creature get treated like dirt for being exceptional? It's almost as bad as being called crazy for believing birdmen exist. "My heart goes out to my University peers who don’t see the importance, nay, the necessity to leave their walls of books and data that has been dropped into their laps by scholars who died a millennium before they ever picked up a pen. Not bothering to conduct their own research.” I clasped my hands behind my back and nodded solemnly as I paced around Ludger and the horned birdman. I grinned to myself as the birdmen chattered among each other. They glanced at me and the special subject of my speech. "Sometimes, you have to go into the field yourself and get your hands dirty to find something truly special. Even I never could’ve comprehended the pure talent I would find on the Floating Isles.” I nodded toward Ludger.

The creature seemed to shrink inside its robe as all eyes turned to it. Glancing at every other birdman within view, it finally pointed a shaky claw at itself.

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"Oh, you better believe I'm talking about you. Here I thought I was just coming to perform a routine excavation of whatever the old colony might have of worth, but who would’ve thought I’d be offering the first invitation to the Empire in... well since forever. Far from the mere ape’s ability to root around in anthills with sticks, this creature has displayed true magical innovation and top-notch service, might I add. Raising the ceiling on our debate regarding whether to allow live animals into Freylor and preventing guests from bumping their heads in puny homes. Oh, you must be so proud. You have a very, very lucky birdman here, sir!" I strode toward the horned birdman, studied it until I was certain it wasn't about to claw at my face, and shook its talon furiously.

Ludger gaped and stared from me to the horned birdman.

The latter narrowed its eyes at me.

“On that note, I understand you lot have a source behind your magic, yes? If you could just fetch that, this little fellow and I will be on our way. Truly a generous friend and guardian you are."

The horned birdman's eyes widened. It sprang between me and Ludger. A guttural growl rose as the mismatched patches of feathers that peeked through its robe bristled.

I staggered backward while keeping my eyes on the surrounding birdmen. Many among the once-enthralled crowd crouched low and growled too.

With a deep breath, the horned birdman turned from me. The chief made a placating gesture with its wings, and once its brethren fell silent, it blew a sharp note toward a wall.

Bricks began to shift, but before the rippling film of a portal leading to a stretch of untouched snow that stretched to the horizon formed, Ludger trembled before shuffling in front of the portal. It shook its head.

Lowering its beak, the horned birdman gaped at its puny follower. Then, the chief marched within an inch of its fellow creature, puffed out its chest, and uttered a series of growls their kind passed off as language.

With its head bowed, Ludger muttered in between whatever gaps in the one-sided conversation it could find while pointing frantically at me.

I smiled back at this one decent birdman I had found, but I felt like pulling out my hair. What is this nonsense? It was never this hard to salvage discoveries from the other ruins my crew and I scrounged through. Sure, none of those excavation sites were quite this… populated, but that’s no excuse. They should be jumping at the opportunity to leave this frigid rock. For the Empire taking such an interest in them! "I'm doing you all a favor, you know. It's not like I need you."

Ludger made a sound like a deflated balloon and stared at me with watery eyes.

Cripes, why did I have to say that? What happened to keeping this creature’s hopes up? Now I'm about to be turned out, and why? Because this lot can't handle people taking a healthy interest in their magic without getting their hackles up… well, apart from Ludger. I've seen it all, but that creature’s little magic show had me falling out of my seat! If this lot can't appreciate that, then maybe I ought to bring Ludger and a bit of the magic they’ve got running through their walls back with me so the University can. "I just wanted to give one among your kind the chance to show their magic to the world, but I’ve already figured out exactly how it works. Care for me to explain?" I offered a small smile.

The horned birdman’s features went rigid.

I inched alongside the roots that clung to the walls: gazing with mild curiosity at everything except the nautilus-shaped tree I made a wavering path toward. "The fact that these roots are essentially electrical currents would be obvious to anyone, but I am not just anyone. I’ve done my research too." I patted the coat pocket that contained the only University record, the only evidence, that agreed with everything I had witnessed in this palace, but it needed to show me one more impossibility to prove both me and the record right. "There’s something else your palace can do that you're not telling me, but you needn’t lift a finger, or claw in your case, for me. I'm perfectly capable of fixing a broken circuit." Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the marble egg suspended in the middle of the contorted tree. The roots and branches could barely reach for the water that flowed by in their trenches. The few sparks that sprang from the ashy bark faded by the time they reached the egg. Good thing I knew someone who would make the sparks reach: someone who made magic look so natural. “Because last but not least, I know how radios work. How different can an electricity-conducing egg be?" I bolted for the nautilus-shaped tree. I flourished my rapier toward either side of the parted crowd while the birdmen kept as far from me as possible. “Stay back, or I might consider introducing you to the cold sting of my steel.” I grinned while envisioning the duel that would unfold. My grin and thoughts of heroic swordfights vanished when a blunt force hammered me into the wall and knocked the air from my lungs. I yelped and clutched my side, but I kept my body bladed toward the threat and poised my rapier toward where the blow had come from.

A pair of arched eyes burned from within a portal that hung upon the wall opposite me. Clinging from a web of sparking branches in an otherwise pitch-black room, the horned birdman raised its lance-like beak and bellowed a series of booming notes.

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