4 Chapter 4: Crimson Hawks (1/2)

Nadran climbed quickly up the cliff, his amethyst eyes seeming to glow in the dark of the night as they reflected the determination resolve within him.Nadran had never had much trouble seeing things at night, and he honestly found it a bit amusing to watch other people stumble around in the dark when he could see the obstacles without much trouble.”Maybe having purple eyes gives me good eyesight,” was something Nadran had jokingly said in the past, but there was no way for him to actually find out if the two unusual attributes of his eyes had anything in common.

In just a few minutes, he had climbed a significant distance, and he could already see the reddish nest of the crimson hawks above him.[There's the nest… I really hope that there's a lesser blood lily nearby, otherwise I don't know what else I can do.]

Crimson hawks were terrifying creatures that were nearly as tall as an average adult human, with a wingspan that was easily 10 feet across.They were fearsome predators, attacking and eating anything that entered their territory.Even creatures much larger than them feared these intelligent birds, and if it weren't for the possibility of the Lesser Blood Lily being here, Nadran would never have come anywhere near their nest.

Nadran took great care to not make any sounds that could wake and alert the ferocious beasts that were sleeping nearby.[I need to find the lily and get out without waking them,] Nadran thought, trying to stay calm and careful at the same time.Luckily, Nadran had plenty of experience being quiet, as he had attended hundreds of sigil lectures without ever being caught, and so he knew how to conceal his presence when needed.

Nadran began closely examining the rock around him, looking for the rare herb that could heal his father.He forced himself to move slowly and methodically so as not to miss anything.Nadran was unable to see any Lesser Blood Lilies anywhere on the cliff face with a cursory glance, so his only chance was to hope the lily was hiding in some place that was currently obscured from his view.

The crescent moon moved slowly across the sky as he searched every nook and cranny of the rock face.Despite the passage of time, Nadran couldn't find the faintest trace of red, other than the scarlet nest which housed fearsome birds that could tear him to pieces in seconds.[I can't find it.I've already checked all around the nest.I need to get closer to the nest to keep looking.]

Nadran had been trying to avoid getting too close to the nest, as awakening the birds could easily mean his death, but he didn't have a choice any more.With more than a little trepidation, Nadran edged closer to the nest and continued his search.

When he was only a few feet below the nest, Nadran noticed a particularly deep fissure in the rock.Looking inside, he saw a glint of red within, and his pulse involuntarily rose.[Could it be…] Nadran thought, trying to keep calm so as not to alert the sleeping birds nearby.With trembling hands, Nadran reached in and pulled out a delicate flower.Its delicate petals shone a deep red that almost seemed to exude its own light, and its stem was a pure white that looked hard and brittle, and yet was surprisingly flexible.

[It really is the Lesser Blood Lily,] Nadran thought, trying to ignore the lump that formed in his throat.[I was worried that I wouldn't find any, that I was wasting my time looking for something that wasn't there, but it really is…]

Tears began sliding down Nadran's cheeks as he looked deeply at the flower that could save his father. Nadran stood frozen in place as though he was in a trance, overwhelmed by emotion.All of his fears and worries, the subconscious feeling of helplessness in the face of his father's injuries, all of it began fading away as the spark of hope he had been grasping at for the last day ignited into an open flame.[W-with this, dad can be healed,] Nadran thought, smiling as the tears continued streaming down his face.

As he was lost in his thoughts, Nadran shifted his footing, accidentally dislodging a loose rock that was stuck in the rock face.The sudden sound jolted him out of his thoughts, causing him to look around quickly, only to see the rock bouncing off the cliff below as it fell over 200 feet to the ground.Each time it struck the cliff, the rock made a crashing sound that felt deafening to Nadran's ears compared to the silence of his surroundings.

Fearfully, Nadran looked up to see an avian head looking down at him from the nest just above his head, its piercing yellow eyes meeting his.Its vicious beak, capable of piercing rock as though it were made of butter, opened before it let out a thunderous screech.

[Uh oh, this is really bad!] Nadran thought in alarm as he heard the sound of several flapping wings as the Crimson Hawks took off from their nest.Nadran looked down again before immediately deciding that jumping off a 200-foot cliff was not the best course of action.He quickly put the lily in his pocket, then began climbing down as quickly as he could, sometimes dropping several feet from one set of handholds to another.He hadn't made it more than 20 feet, though, before the predatory birds had caught up to him.

With a screech, one of the hawks dove toward him, apparently intent on impaling Nadran against the wall.Nadran threw himself to the side, barely managing to avoid the beak that cracked open the rock where he had just been.Reaching out his arm, he barely managed to grab a small stone outcropping to prevent him from falling to his death.