*** Chapter Seven: Santos Day 2 ***

The birds didn’t give up the chase on me, once I was far enough away from the smaller bird, the bigger one tracked me down. It was much faster and agile, keeping my lead was impossible. The only way to survive the bird was to find a place I could defend. I found that in the form of a giant tree, the forest was full of them, but this one in particular had grown in such a way that climbing it was incredibly easy.

When the big bird eventually caught up to me I was already above ground on the thicker branches. Unfortunately, the tree was very climbable.

Squawk!

It cried out as it made its effort to climb the slanted thick trunk of the tree.

“Ha!” I yelled, swinging the impromptu club. It was too far to be hit, but the swinging kept the bird at bay as I got my footing on the branches. Here I would hold the advantage, without arms the bird was more likely to be knocked down than I was.

Squawk!

It propelled itself upward, its legs scrambled to get a foothold. I took the chance and took a cheap shot to its head, even though the bird took the full brunt of the blow, taloned legs managed to get a grip on something and it climbed onto the primary branch I was on.

“Grah!” I raised the club above me trying to make myself appear bigger. My legs were tense as the footing was bad on the branch and it was only made worse by the rocking of the bird’s weight.

It cocked its head back cautiously.

Squawk!

It shot its head forward trying to get me in its beak, but I dropped low even as it lunged swinging with all my might at its legs. I caught one perfectly in the ankle and made it lose its balance. The back leg was poorly positioned and even though its talons dug into the tree bark, it lost its grip and slipped. Before it could fall it caught the branch with the other leg I had struck and used its beak to bite down on the branch.

The blow had made me lose balance as well, but my footing was steadier and more secure. It took me a moment to scramble back up without losing my grip on the club, before the bird could do the same I was on it.

I thought of its beak as a nail and swung down trying to dig it deeper into the branch.

Thunk!

Grugrereeek!

It made a strange sound that was a cross between a gurggle and an attempted squawk.

Thunk!

Grugreek!

Thunk!

Eeeek!

Thunk!

…

Thunk!

…

Thunk!

Crack!

Thump!

The bird’s face was a mess of blood and pulped gore, the beak had torn from its face and it fell and remained motionless on the ground below.

The blood in my veins pulsed so strongly I felt it in my vision, my hands shook from the adrenaline, and I could feel myself become incredibly tense. Just before I could start to think it was over, two more birds appeared, one was the small greyish bird I had struck before, it had a strange gait, and the other was another big bastard.

“Grah!” I roared, challenging the bird. “Come on!”

Squawk!

Squaw!

The two made their way towards the fallen comrade, the bigger one kept its eyes on my while the smaller one went towards the fallen bird. It nudged it as if trying to wake it, but the bird wasn’t moving. I couldn’t tell if the bird was dead or not.

The bigger bird started a slow approach towards me, it carefully made its way up securing its footing. I looked around and found that the tree had some pine cone like seeds. I took one in hand, it felt hefty in hand, and threw it at the bigger bird. It hit it on its neck, but it brushed it off, clearly unfazed by my projectile. I grabbed another and chunked it then I grabbed another and another.

Though the bird kept its head low and cautious, it was largely unbothered by what I was doing to it, until I noticed that it guarded one eye. It was bloodshot and swollen half shut. Once I started aiming for it, the bird squawked repeatedly as it constantly shifted its head around protecting its eye.

Squawk!

Angered, the bird made a mad dash for me charging up the trunk of the tree, it constantly lost its footing getting up the trunk, but it approached with a single minded focus. It used its beak like an arm and got itself up faster than the other one did, but I wasn’t about to let it up the tree and onto my branch. With adrenaline fueled bravery I went at the bird and swung down at its neck getting a squawk out of it as I pummeled it.

The second swing did not connect, the bird took a shot and bolted forward trying to get at me, before I could hit it again. I released one hand on the club as the bird’s beak clamped on it and quickly brought my hand around to grab at the other end of the club. The bird lost its footing, but so did I, however we did not fall. With me grabbing onto the club and it biting down on it, we created a sort of balance that kept either from falling.

It had the clear advantage in the situation.

If I did nothing to turn the situation I was going to very soon find myself very much dead. Seeing no way out of it without a gamble, I decided to go for it.

For mere instances we played a little game of balance, both fighting to regain their footing first as we used the other to keep from falling back, but not anymore. I turned my body with all my might turning its head along with my movement. The balance was broken once my weight shifted more towards its side. For a single instant I regained my balance, but could not keep it, I did not waste it either. In that brief instant I pushed off the branch with all my might pushing the bird back and off the tree with everything I could muster.

We fell down.

The bird was the first to strike ground and here is where my gamble paid off, it had not reacted to what I was doing when I pushed off, it should have let go of the club, but the bird had been stubborn. This cost it now as I was the second to fall, the only difference was that I focused my weight on my arms and the club.

It's the things that happen in a single moment that sometimes have the greatest impact, in this case, as the bird struck the ground its jaws slacked by a fraction and that was enough. The staff of the club endured the forces exerted on it and dislocated the creature’s jaw, possibly even breaking it with a sickening cracking bones and squelching of flesh.

Without caring to check if I had succeeded I rolled off of its body and made a break for it leaving behind the club unwilling to risk the moment it would take to recover my footing and the club. I heard some garbled hissing and the shuffling of a large body behind me, but I did not look back, I ran.

I was still a long way from home and there wasn’t enough sun left to make it back before nightfall.