"Water&Wings(CHapter Five)" by Katherine Nicole ´dys´ VanHoorn

Dear Sparrow,
I'm writing this in this tiny little closet of a room Asadd Mua'nii gave me. There's a mattress in the corner, with a blanket, and there's a pillow. Feathers come out of the pillow. They are white, but some of them have brown spots. They remind me of you.
I don't like him, Sparrow. I want him, and that's more than I've ever felt for almost anyone. But I don't like him. He hurts me, hits me, you saw my eye. He hurts me in other ways too, ways I don't want you to hear about because I'm afraid it'd hurt you too. It probably would. And then, well.. then I would feel like utter and total crap. So please, I just want you not to hate me for this. I can't help it, Sparrow. He just looks at me, and his eyes glow red, and I'm lost. He makes me want to dance with him, he makes me want him. You were right, Sparrow. I am under a spell. I am caught in a net. But there's absolutely nothing I can do about it. I can only ask you one thing. Just one, tiny thing. Well, not so tiny, I guess.
Please save me.
Jagkie.

THe letter was on off-white paper, written in what looked like a quill pen, and there were runs where the ink had had tears fall onto it and smeared. SParrow held it with trembling hands, sitting in the inn room he and Tenku shared. It had been a month since he had last seen Jagkie, since the day with the black eye when Jagkie had sounded so desperate. Sparrow had spent days worrying about him because he hadn't seen him. But this proved he wasn't dead. Or too injured to be coherent. It releived him and worried him at the same time. Tenku sat behind him,a rms around him, looking over his shoulder. Tenku coudln't read so he simply watched. And pitied, Sparrow thought.

"We have to help him, Tenku." Tenku nodded, its watery hair flopping into its face and it let go of him, climbing out of bed, looking at him. It looked serious for once, and SParrow frowned slightly. Did it know how to help? He'd give anything to save Jagkie.. he'd give all of himself if he had to... Jagkie was his best friend. Had been like a borhter, the closest kind of brother, the twin that is perfectly matched with you...

"We'll have to get magic on our side to do it, Sparrow. We need to go talk to Reannara." He smield a little again, even showing his fang-teeth and pulled Sparrow out of the bed and to him, brushing little kisses on his cheek. "Reannara's a Wanderess who's been around since I started Protecting. She'll help us.. I think. If I ask her the right way she will." Tenku fingered the pearl necklace at his throat. The black pearl and blue pearl glinted and Sparrow suddenly knew what Tenku meant by it.

"Oh, Tenku... those pearls... they're special to you. I know they are. You don't have to give them up to help me." He knew Tenku would anyway. This Protection business also appeared to involve giving upo ANYTHING you cared about for the person your life had become dedicated to. He hated to be that person, the one who was taking things away instead of giving them back. Then his mind went back to Jagkie, as it always had the past few days. It was all he thought about.. everything in him. Tenku watched him and slipped the necklace with the pearls off and walked over, pressing them into Sparrow's hands. Its own were dry and wamr and SParrow wished he could just fall asleep forever and have someone like this holding him. Didn't have to be a boy or girl. Just as long as it was someone.. someone..

"We're going to go see her. And we're going to find the magic we need to save Jagkie and get rid of that guy that's hurting him. Okay?" When Sparrow nodde,d Tneku smiled faintly and hugged him again. "Please believe me. I can help you. But you have to believe in me. YOu have to."

Sparrow nodded and swallowed. Then they went out again, wandering about the market, looking for this Reannara woman. Finally, Tenkus topped and looked into an alleyway. Sparrow grabbed onto Tenku's hand and held tight. The alley reminded him of the alley from his dream. Tenku walked right down it, though. A man walked past them and murered 'faggots' under his breath and Sparrow looked away from him. Tenku ignored him entirely and walked down into the deepest, darkest shadows. "Lady Reannara?"

"Here, my child." The voice was soft, and like the sound ice makes whe you pour cold water on it. The crackling noise. The woman it belonged to looked ancient, her hair matted gray strings attached to a pink skalp that showed through. She had exactly three teeth, and her eyes were almost frighteningly young. Tenku smiled and slid the pearls into her old, clawlike hand. "Help us rescue our friend."

"Just a moment." The old woman looked at the pearls, whistling through her three teeth. "Good, good. Of course I will help. You must go to the place where he is captive, and bring him out yourselves. Destroy the man who has taken him or he will never give you peace. Only you and your own Wild Magic can do it." Tenku nodded and slid his hand back to Sparrow's, walking out of the alley back into the light.

They walked the streets and Tenku looked faintly glowing to Sparrow. No one else seemed to notice it, but SParrow saw. Finally they came upon a large, four story house and Tenku nodded. THis was it. Sparrow looked up. Everything painted three colors; green, blakc, and gray. Yes, this was it. Sparrow and Tenku found the back door unlocked and slowly crept into the house. Sparrow's hair stood up on the back of his neck, and he was frightened. But he knew they had to do this. They had to save Jagkie, or he'd be broken. They went along, Tenku still faintly glowing, until they found the right room. Of course, Asadd had to be gone or he'd have felt their presence by now. Tenku looked up at Sparrow and he noded, slowly. Tenkur eached out and opened the door, pushing it in after turning the doorknob, looking into the room. Sparrow caught his breath, felt his eyes widening and his face paling.

The room was full of paintings, sculptures, sketches. All of themw ere of Jagkie. There was a painting of Jagkie crying, the tears equisitely rendered. There was a sculpture of him laying on his side. There was a sketch of him, smiling, ever so faintly. And there looked like peices of a hollow statue in the corner. A life size one. The bed was filled with paintings. And curled on the floor, in the midst of all this, lay Jagkie.

He was really more sitting than layling, but only because he was leaning against a painting. His hair was dirty with streaks of paint, there was dust on his atms. He wore a strange sivler necklace with a dragon on it and there was a black blindfold tied tightly over his eyes. Sparrow's stomach felt cold.. horribly. Jagkie's pants were smeared as if someone had wiped their paint-covered hands on him. And the bruises.. oh, theyw ere horrible. They covered him, so that barely an inch of skin was left. His collar was gone and he had bruises shaped like clutching hands around his neck. SParrow looked down at him, miserable and alone even though he really wasn't, and fell to his knees in front of Jagkie. He leaned in and kissed him, softly. Sparrow used to drema about kissing Jagkie. Not because he felt that way for Jagkie, but he had wondered what it was like to kiss someone who knew you, inside and out, and who could probably tell you exactly how you would react to situations like this. Sparrow closed his eyes and let the kiss mean something, knwoing Tenku watched, jealously maybe, but made no move to stop them. Tenkuw ent to make sure Asadd didn't come back.

Jagkie's mouth trembled under his and tried to fight him for a moment. Then, realizing who it was, he relaxed, sagged even. Sparrow's hands went to Jagkie's blindfold and untied it, dropping it away from his face, touching one of the bruises at his neck with the slightest touch of his fingertips. Jagkie winced. "I'm here, Jagkie," Sparrow whispered against Jagkie's mouth. "we've come to save you."

Jagkie looked up, hope making his gold eyes turn amber and Sparrow tried to help him up. All at once Tenku came in, crying that Asadd had just entered the house and SParrow sighed and retied the blindfold, saying they'd be back very soon, and he and Tenku ran and found another room nearby to hide in. Tenku walked in first, Sparrow after. Once they liut the room, Tenku's eyes and mouth widened and just before he screamed, Sparrow grabbed him and pressed a hand over his mouth, pressing his lips together. No, no! he thought. Not now.. then he too saw and he shivered along with Tenku.

There was a statue of an Airfish lying on the gorund, on its side, in mermaid form. It appeared to be female. Something about the set of its face, the way its eyelashes were, suggeste dit was female. It looked sad though, its hair draped all about it, even he water droplets were carved into its wings and hair. The rest of the room was filled with other pictures, sculptures, paintings of the creature in all manner of forms. Tenku pulled away from Sparrow and walked forward slowly. He shook the hollow statue in the center a bit. And what they heard... the dry rattle of bones. Tenku made a soft sound that might have been a scream if he wasn't in shock. Sparrow grabbed him again, held him, kissed him until he stopped feeling like a statue himself. "I want you older," he whispered, "I wish you to age until you're a year older than me in looks and so we can face Asadd together and be even stronger than we are..." he closed his eyes, feeling one of the Airfish's tears brush his cheek. He had never seen the Airfish cry yet. The tear tingled, made that part of his face feel somewhat numb, the way your ahnd feels when it had fallen asleep.

He felt the body changing underneath him, in his arms, felt the legs lengthening, the hands growing bigger, the fingers longer. Felt the head becoming elss round and more oval, felt the hair grow a bit longer, still like silk underneath him. He opened his eyes and saw the most beautiful young man he'd ever seen staring back at him. Their wings intertwined. "We will get out of this," Sparrow whispered. he hated to have to be the strong one. He'd never been exceptionally good at it. Jagkie had always been the strong one. "We will escape with jagkie, we will destroy this man, and we will go home. You will see my home. And I.. I will give you whatever you want if you stay strong."

He felt Tenku breathing harshly underneath him. "I only want you... you know that..." its voice wavered, its eyes strnagely calm. Sparrow knew it was thinking that was the one thing he would never give. He shook his head slowly, feeling its disppointment,a nd whispered, "Anything you want, Tenku. Even that. Because you're beautiful, and you love me, and I should probably love you too."

He felt Tenku getitng hismelf under control and eventually they stood. "We'll face him now, if you're ready," Tenkus aid softly. Sparrow took a deep breath and put Jagkie's face in his mind. Thinking of how much older he'd looked in that tiny room, the way despair had made him olde.r And Sparrow nodded. He was ready. And he knew what he had to do.

They went out of the room, sticking to the shadows, close together. "Well, i see you've finally come," A voice said behind them. They both turned around, willing themselves to be strong. Asadd watched them, his eyes glowing brightly red, Jagkie nowhere in sight. Still in the room then. Sparrow nodded. 'We're here. And we're going to destroy you."

"YOu two children? I doubt it." Asadd's eyes went back to their usual pinkness, alced with the anger and malice and intent to KILL Sparrow had always seen there. He felt Tenku take his hand. Tenku's hand was large now, cool and long-fingered in a lovely way. SParrow took strength from that hand and looked up at Asadd. His eyes narrowed. He knew what to do. And so he called out, calling his own Wild Magic the way the woman had said to, putting his whole being into it.

"I call the birds!"

No one expected it when his wings began to change.


END OF CHAPTER FIVE