Violet watched as the soldiers from the Queendom rifled through their possessions. They emptied the bags one at a time, looked over the contents, and then repacked the bag. Food was confiscated from their bags, but clothing, tools, and blankets were all repacked. It was annoying how slow they were being. They were treating each item like it might be a possible bomb.

Once their hands were tied, the elves from the treeline stopped pointing their arrows at them. “Sorry folks, this is common practice when we find strangers where there should not be any. Once you get to the capital, you can plead your case.” The centaur said as he was watching their supply inspection.

As they were packing up their last bag, the worst thing possible happened. Violet felt a quick burst of air behind her, followed by the sensation of someone picking her up by her shoulders. It was over so quickly nobody had a chance to react. She saw a few arrows fly by her that she was thankful missed. If the missiles had hit the bird carrying her, she would have fallen to her death. Having the arrow hit her would also be a terrible outcome.

The bird that had stolen her was massive. Its feathers were all shades of blue. The bird had dark blue wings that turned lighter as you got closer to the body from underneath. She was unsure what the pattern looked like on its back. What she was sure of was that the claws holding onto her shoulders were wicked sharp.

The leather vest that she was wearing is what saved her from being impaled by claws. She would have bruises on her shoulders, but so far, the claws had not broken her skin. There was no way she could think of using her magic that would not end in her death from being dropped. Using her shadow blade, she cut the ropes off her hands. She discovered that she could create a knife from any part of her body, so removing the cord from her wrists was simple.

Going over the aspects she had, she decided her best bet was to use Disguise Self to make herself look like the bird carrying her. She was able to disguise her clothing as well as her skin with that aspect. The feathers she could create were an optical illusion, but she took the time to study what they should look like during her flight. Looking down would likely cause her to panic, so she took this time to center herself and perfect the illusion she would create on herself.

After ten minutes of flight, she was starting to lose her patience. Her arms were aching, and she just wanted to feel solid ground beneath her feet once again. It was when they began to lose altitude that she finally looked down. They had flown north along the mountain. In a clearing not far from the mountain summit, there was what looked to have been an old monastery. There was rubble on the ground where each of the buildings had once stood.

There were quite a few birds nesting in the rubble. Many of them used the bricks as one of the materials for their nest. The rocks were shaped into a bowl, and grass and vines were used as bedding in the center. Many of the nests they flew by had eggs in them that had not hatched yet.

She chose to give herself shades of purple feathers for her disguise. It was not a unique color from those birds she had seen on her way. She was unsure if she had gotten the beak to look correct without a mirror, but she hoped her captors were not very smart. Her kidnapper flew into the largest and most intact structure and dropped her gently beside a gigantic nest with four eggs nestled inside of it.

The eggs were the same size as she was tall and bigger around. Making sure to move slowly, she crept away from the nest and looked along the walls for an exit. She had only made it a few steps away from the next before the most giant bird she had ever seen landed on the nest.

The plumage on the bird was breathtaking. Starting on the tips of the wings, it had an entire rainbow of colors, starting with red. Each feather blended perfectly with the one next to it, so there was no clear line of where one color started, and the next began. “You don't smell like a bird, little one.” The bird screeched in a high-pitched voice.

Violet took that moment to run for all she was worth to the closest wall. The bird started to laugh at her when Violet began running. “The only way you are getting out of here is if those wings work. Caw caw caw.” The bird let her run around the walls twice before it stuck a claw out to stop her.

Finding herself cornered, Violet used Dazzle to blind the bird and get away from the claw. The Dazzle was timed and aimed perfectly because the foot retracted, allowing Violet to run away. When the bird cornered her the next time, she tried to use Hypnotize, but that did not work at all. Attempting to use Fear was useless as well.

Violet used Dazzle one more time and immediately used Cloaking to hide. Unfortunately, the bird was not affected by the Dazzle a second time and was watching her when she turned invisible. “Little one, I can still smell you, and I can see your body heat. Are you quite finished running around like a hatchling yet?”

To make her point known, the bird picked Violet up in her claw. The claw was large enough to wrap around Violet’s body easily. While she had a few more tricks up her sleeve with Shadow Blade and Water Manipulation, she realized trying to harm this bird would be suicide. She let her body go limp and said, “What do you want with me? Please let me go.”

“That is so cute! You were meant to be food for my babies, but it has been so long since I had myself a pet magician. I think I shall keep you.”

Violet was unsure of how to respond to this. She decided that she would play nice and run away at the first opportunity that she found. “You have met other people who can do magic?”

“Oh, dearie Ms. Avery has been around for a long, long time, and let me tell you, your magic reeks of the stuff the ancients used back when I was a chick.”

As Avery talked, vertical bars started to rise around the center platform where the nest was. The bars were one foot wide and spaced six inches apart. They stopped growing when they reached a height of ten feet and were all connected with a horizontal beam along their tops. The beam jutted out two feet on each side of the bars to create an overhang at the top.

Avery did a quick hop into the newly created jail and set Violet down. “I know what your thinkin, your thinkin that lovely birdie just did magic right before your eyes, mmhmm. That’s right, girlie, I have both Air and Earth magic at my disposal. Don't be using any more of that Illusion magic on me, or I’ll be changin my mind bout keepin ya alive ya hear?”

After seeing Violet nodding in agreement, Avery went to her nest to incubate her eggs and promptly fell asleep. She wasn’t sure if Avery was asleep and suspected she wasn’t, so she rested her back on one of the bars and sat down to think. ‘Great, not only is the bird sapient, but she also has magic. Based on the way she grew these bars, I’m not the first prisoner she has kept. Even if I managed to climb up the smooth bars, I would have to reach two feet out to try and get over the top.’

As the sun began to set, she faced another more pressing problem: she had no food. Her stomach was growling when Avery woke from her nap. “Hungry little one? No worries, dinner should be on its way here shortly. I made sure to order you some berries for tonight. I don't much like fire, so I will not allow you to have one for meat until I trust you a little more. When you get cold, you may climb in the nest with me. Be warned, if there is any funny business, you will be food, no second chances. Ain’t no way you can hurt me, but some idiots always try.”

“What do you get out of this? I don't understand why you are keeping me here.”

“Oh, honey, I’m bored out of my mind sittin on these eggs day and night. I need something to amuse me. Those other birds can mimic the sound, but they can’t hold a real conversation. Besides, half of them are dumb as the rocks they use in their nest.”

True to her word, an entire berry bush was brought for Violet’s dinner. There were enough ripe berries on it that she had enough to fill her belly for the night and a little bit more for the morning. The berries were similar to a raspberry, rich in both water and fiber. Her father had picked them multiple times to supplement their meals.

The temperature fell when the sun vanished for the night. She toughed out the cold the best that she could by curling herself into a ball and tucking her arms into her dress. After two hours of shivering, Avery spoke up, “Girl, you ain’t provin nothin’ by shivering over there in the corner. Come here, or I will move the bars, so you have no choice but to be in the nest with me at all times.”

When Violet did not move fast enough, she felt herself in Avery’s beak. The movement was so fast she didn’t even see it coming. She was dropped unceremoniously next to one of the eggs in the nest and then covered in warm feathers shortly after that. It did not take long for her to fall asleep after that. The day had been a long and stressful one.