The soft warble of a scarlet drenched cardinal fills the crisp , November morning air as it spirals about its mate, dancing on the rising, frigid wind in the cloudless, cerulean sky. Rays of warming sunlight pierce the ever thinning canopy of the Floridian woodlands as plumes of steam float in the wake of two figures ambling down a lone dirt path, the smaller ones hand grasping the larger ones tightly.
" You scared me back there buddy its can get really dangerous out here so you can't just wander off like that"
"I'm sorry papa-" the small child begins before burying his head into his father's canvas sleeve as his voice begins to break, tears stream down his ever reddening face.
A gentle smile spreads across the man's face as he kneels in front the child and adjusts his little red beanie so that it fits a bit more snug before buttoning up the grey peacoat that was a size too big as he wipes away the tears the softer part of his sleeve. "promise me you won't do it again .."
"I promise.." The child replies burying his face into his father's chest. "I just saw some bunnies an..and I wanted to pet them"
"Bunnies huh? Well I must have missed them then. But you can't just go around trying to pet wild animals. If they are sick they could hurt you. It is strange though I haven't seen anything move since we came out here." the father quips lifting the small child up and placing him on his shoulders.
"you ok up there?"
"yup. Papa I won't do it I again I promise"
"Ok buddy thank you. So, tell me what the bunnies looked like."
"Well.. They were black and this big" the child said spreading his arms wide and displacing his weight enough his father had to adjust him carefully with a chuckle
"now that’s a big bunny.."
Far above them, nestled among the gray hanging masses of Spanish moss, interweaved branchs and a rather large squirrels nest, a pair of orbs as black as a moonless night sky track their every step, flicking with mild interest between the small child and his father. The eyes sit deep within a rather avian shaped asymmetrical skull almost like that of a large owl. Crescent shaped talons that tip it's large, splayed feet seemed to be made of the very shadow of the underside of the branch they grip , its slim frame shifts slightly against another cold wind that cuts through the tree tops like a honed blade. The curiess of downy auburn feathers that seems to almost bleed into a more subtle raw umber as it encases it's powerful digit graded legs ruffles slightly as a voice arises directly behind it.
"Huppa chahatskewaw..You have have over stepped your boundaries the boy was ours..we had all rights to him!" The voice hisses, dripping with malice and distaste.
The Huppa chahatskewaw clicks its beak in annoyance as rotates its head all the way around to face the speaker, It's lightless eyes falling heavily on a small black crow that sits precariously on the end of another branch that sways from the recording wind, rolling torrents of onyx smoke spiral away from its form as if the its presence in the sun is barely permitted by some higher being.
" For a group of parasites you certainly think highly of yourselves. He wouldn't have wandered from the arched path if one of your kind hadn't broken the treaty by stepping on the path themselves. It is and has always been holy ground in this place.."
the large creature replies in a rolling growl , their voices merely chirps and clicks to the supernaturally uninclined that would normally hear them over the blistering winds.
"We both know he would have had to touch you for you to draw him into the void, simply looking means nothing.."
The crow pecks angerly at the branch that it perches on, knocking bits of bark and leaves to spiral off into space. It's feathers ruffling in agitation.
" The prince will know how you wron-"
The Huppa chahatskewaw head tilts to the side slowly as a small space on its forehead cracks beneath its feathers, a dim green glow begins to trickle forth , rapidly growing into the intensity of a captured star as the crack widens, A large swiveling eye locks malevolently upon the crow pulsing gently as if it was a heart beating within the chest of a large creature. One it's talon tipped arms extends out Infront of its body plucking softly at the open air as though it was some sort of stringed instrument. A single strand of indigo blue light flickers to life, pulsing in rhythm with the eye as it is slowly wrapped around the chahatskewaw's finger, curling it slow towards itself in coaxing motion. A guttural choking sound arising from the mass of ever shifting shadow that once formed the crow as a strand appears looping where it's neck once was.
" The prince will know of how you attempted to deceive one of his guardians, how you attempted to sully his very name and how your master put you up to it. I'm sure after his punishment you'll have plenty of time to wish for your own death."
With that its head swivels back to face forward in a blur of light and feathers, it's lightless eyes yet again resting on the two forms getting smaller as they carry on into the distance, withering forms of blackened mist hang suspended were the crows brethren had lurked, now caught in a web of flickering indigo. One of them having been caught inches away from the little boys swinging feet. With a tap of his claw the web of glistening energy snaps with resounding crack almost like that of a gun in the distance, the wavering forms that had been caught in it like condemned flies, shatter like panes of obsidian glass shifting into droplets of bluish black ectoplasm that fade before they even reach the ground.
Reaching down the chahatskewaw hooks one of its talon like fingers into the blood red cape of a small action figure from an abandoned nest nearby, lifting it so it was eye level, it swung , twisting from side to side slowly. As the young child had fled his devilish pursers it had slipped from his grasp to come to rest and otherwise be forgotten among the tall grass and this for some reason bothered it. Humans leave things all the time so why should this be any different it wondered to itself before gazing out into the horizon, the glowing green eye locking on to the heartbeats of the two humans he had been watching earlier.
For reasons beyond even its centuries of understanding it leapt from its perch. As if weightless it seemed to effortlessly leap from one tree top to the next with such ease the branchs barely bent from foot falls. The canopy below it becoming a blurring cascade of browns and greens as it navigated its way towards the rumbling metal carriage the humans sometimes referred to as a car as it began to back out of its temporary place of rest and pull onto the dirt road leading back to civilization. The fluttering of a black trash bag, haphazardly duct taped to the space were one of the rear windows had been draws the attention of the ever roaming green eye as the chahatskewaw lands with such finality that you wouldn’t have thought it had ever been moving in the first place, its taloned fingers griping the figure tighter ever so slightly as it began to will a cloak of glamour about it. Over eons it had begun to realize the shift in perception of human children and how they reacted to seeing its true form. At first due to the legends many welcomed his presence but now it seemed to awaken a great fear within them, so since they were among the few that could see it naturally it , it had decided against spreading such poison if even on accident.
The small child sighs, leaning against the armrest of his grey car seat as he cranes his neck to see out of the window. Warm tears had come and replaced the ones that had dried some time ago as he thought of his favorite toy laying out in the woods somewhere. He hadn't meaned to drop it but when that one bunny had jumped from the bushes so violently it had scared him quite a bit. He hadn't even noticed it was gone until his dad buckled him into his car seat. With another subdued whimper he rolls his head slowly to gaze out the window into the azure sky only for his eyes to catch a fluttering blur of red and blue just beyond it's edge. Sitting up a bit, he cranes his little neck as far as it can go to try and get a better look. The ever flapping of the trash bag drowns out his squeal of excitement as the blur begins to clear ever so slightly, he rubs his eyes tiredly in disbelief as the inadvertently widen. Running along the top of the telephone poles, gliding across the connecting wires so effortlessly with a cape as red as the setting sun was the one , the only superman.
"Ok buddy , one second I just got to get beyond all these ditches before I can stop, we don’t need to get stuck..again" the father murmurs as he taps the hazard lights of the car, carefully pulling over to the side of the newly paved road, the smell of newly poured asphalt still heavy in the frigid air as he places it in park and stepping out of the car with a roll of duct tape clutched in his hand. " I really need to just get this damn thing fixed " he grunts stumbling slightly as he steps to the back of the car , his son had fallen silent a few minutes ago , today must of warn him out he thinks to himself as he opens the back door slowly. His son sits crookedly like all children seem to in carseats, a trace of a smile on his lips as he snores softly. Smiling to himself he adjust the tike gently before pausing, his eyes drifting to the action figure they lays on the floor just barely peeking out from under the seat. "huh" he mutters to himself . It hadn't been there when he had buckled him in , that he could have sworn or ..had it been?
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