Chapter 46 Peace
Northern Province.
Snowfall: I see many bipeds riding horses.
Hernando: The message said the Count wants to know what types and quantities. I need to count the banners. Be careful when you approach, we do not want to be seen.
Snowfall: I need to fly to the other side. If the sun is behind me, they will not see me.
The Pegasus turned south and flew until she lost sight of the army. Then she turned west and set the sun behind her. She was a good hunter. She flew straight towards the horses and bipeds.
Hernando: It is just calvary, nobody is traveling on foot. We need to fly further north.
After a half an hour of cautious flying, they approached a group of soldiers marching southeast towards the Ridges. Hernando counted to seventy and stopped. He knew it was a terrifying force.
Hernando: We must go back soon. Do you need a break before returning?
Snowfall: Yes, it is a long flight back. I saw a valley to the east that looked good.
She landed in a long, wide valley. A herd of buffalo grazed at one end. She kept her distance. They were large and easily frightened. For Hernando, it was a marvel. He had never seen such an animal in his short life.
Hernando: The royal army is marching south. When they reach the defensive walls, war could break out.
Snowfall: The All-Mother believes that bipeds fight without rest.
Hernando: She is right. Do you never fight against other Pegasi?
Snowfall: Females sometimes fight to prove their strength to the males. But if one inflicts a bloody wound, the fight ends. If a male from another nest tries to steal food, the other males attack him until he leaves. But if he is injured, the matriarch will stop the other males.
Hernando: Why would a male try to steal?
Snowfall: If a male has a pregnant female and cannot hunt well or there are some who were rejected by many females and became bad feathers.
Hernando: Bad feathers?
Snowfall: Males without nests. They live alone and steal from nests. They have no other Pegasus to help them clean their wings. Their feathers become dirty and smell bad.
Hernando: Why do they not kill them?
Snowfall: You are young like me, right?
Hernando: More or less. A lucky man lives four times my age.
Snowfall: One hundred and twenty years is not uncommon for a Pegasus. How many bipeds died in war during your lifetime?
Hernando: Thousands of dead, I do not know.
Snowfall: Have the lives of bipeds improved after thousands have died?
Hernando: Some, yes. Most, no. Many are worse.
Snowfall: But bipeds never stop killing. The First All-Mother understood that killing another Pegasus would not improve the nests. We have not killed another Pegasus in thousands of years.
Hernando: How many years will I have to take care of you when you are pregnant?
Snowfall: Months, not years. I will be flying and hunting a lot for eighteen or twenty months. For the last three or four months, I will need you and the males.
Hernando: Will they both help you if you mate with both?
Snowfall: Of course. One is the father and the other the brother. Bipedal vision is poor and short-range. You cannot see that rabbit eating some flowers to the right, near that bush. You do not realize that all bipeds are your sisters, your mothers, your grandmothers, and your daughters.
Hernando: I understand a little. Why do you always use the name for females, not brother or father? Will you attack the rabbit?
Snowfall: Why do you have two names for bipeds that are the same? Yes, I am hungry.
Hernando did not move. He breathed slowly. He tried to relax his body. If Snowfall jumped to catch the rabbit and his back was stiff, he could break a rib.
Snowfall: One more little jump, big, fat, tasty rabbit.
The rabbit jumped. In one fluid motion, Snowfall leaped, spun, and spread her wings. She flew for a second until her foot struck the head of her prey.
Hernando nearly doubled over, and his head came dangerously close to his left knee. He was dragged in the opposite direction as she landed twenty times her own body length to the right.
After her meal, Snowfall was ready to fly. Hernando was worried about his back pain.
Isla Oveja.
Grey Wing and her rider Nestor had flown together for nearly thirty years. During the reign of Reynaldo, they were the daily messengers to the royal islands. With years of practice, they had dropped messages to Isla Pájaro and to Isla Tortuga with impressive accuracy.
Grey Wing: I need to land on the next island.
Nestor: I understand. My beautiful matriarch is getting old.
Grey Wing: I still have hair on my head.
Nestor laughed: Yes, I am old, but I have accepted it. You only have gray feathers, like a grandmother.
Grey Wing: My feathers were grey when I was born in the air, above the mountains, Fool.
Nestor: Is your daughter ready for tomorrow?
Grey Wing: I think so. She is ready inside. She started sensing the presence of a rider a few weeks ago. She is very young. If the rider does not live to an old age, I could see my daughter die.
Nestor: I understand. Chara comes from a family that lives to advanced age. Her parents died in the Puerto Blanco uprising, but three of her grandparents are over sixty and one died at seventy-five. Your daughter could fly fifty years or more with Chara.
Grey Wing: You always look after us. The others do not understand us like you do. You took very good care of me and each of my daughters. The male was old and could not take good care of me anymore. But he gave me two strong daughters before he died.
Nestor: Brown Ears was a good male. He was a breeding partner of the All-Mother, White Cloud, on one occasion.
Grey Wing: You are a good rider. I am glad you have a family now. Your little daughter suits you well.
Nestor: I do not know if there will be any more riders after Chara. The kingdom is on the brink of war. The powerful believe in the Unicorns because they will fight for them.
Grey Wing: If we had an All-Mother with memory and magic, we would receive help. The All-Mother functions as a great matriarch, but she cannot guide us like the previous one, who was killed.
Nestor: I hope to one day hear the voice of a complete Mother of All.
Grey Wing: We are waiting and hoping too. The island is close. Tie your hair back so the wind does not mess it up.
Grey Wing let out a snort of laughter and began to slow down.
Nestor: My other wife is nicer to me.
Grey Wing: She has only been with you for four years, her treatment of you will change when she gets to know you better.