Stupid birds. Roderick scoffed when the eagles were lost in the blue tone of the sky.

Roderick's descent began from there. The climb down would have been tough even for a professional climber with harnesses.

Roderick had found plenty of cracks to keep holding, but the heat of the cliff was unbearable. Roderick's hands had started turning red after a minute of climb. And still he had more to go. Will I make it before they return? I should have said twenty miles. Shit! Roderick lamented for no significant use of his own big brain. He reached to a shady part of the cliff. Roderick feared his hands would get roasted if he didn’t stop for a breather. He leaned on the wall with closed eyes. When he opened them, he saw an old eagle looking straight at his face. Its weak eyes couldn’t decide if he was his prey or not, but Roderick's flinch gave the answer away. "Why didn’t you take part in the race?" Roderick found nothing other worth saying. "I am old, so I can't do it." The eagle spread its claws, "But I am smarter than them." "So you can't fly?" "Not much." Saliva dripped from its beak.

"This is why I will win." Roderick said and moved aside before the beak could pierce his abdomen. Its beak collided with the rock, causing throbbing pain in its beak.

Roderick pulled the eagle's leg. By the time it could get over the pain and realize what was happening, he was going through a free fall. The eagle felt palpation of strangulation around his neck from behind. Roderick was holding its neck tight during the fall, hoping the eagle would take the fall's impact instead of him. Old eagle gained its senses after a short while and tried to open its wings, but Roderick stomped on its wing. On the third kick, the wing bone broke, which didn’t let the eagle to lift itself. The duo fell on land in more speed, making Roderick fear whether or not everything was going according to the plan. They landed. The eagle had its intestines and blood spilled everywhere. Roderick was also very stunned by the impact. He had not expected it to be so much rough. It took some time for Roderick to confirm he had all of his bones intact. The same couldn’t be said about his balance. In the attempt to balance himself, he leaned on a white rock and watched the dead eagle. Leaning on it drained the trauma out of him.

CRACK!

Roderick heard it from the rock which was supporting him. When it cracked another time, he realized it was a hatching egg. No! Roderick stepped away. As the shell of the egg broke, a duckling came out of there – quacking in merry. Roderick took a breath of relief on it not being an eagle. The duckling quacked. And kept on quacking. Taller than him, the duckling had come near him. Roderick clenched his fists after finding out it was following him. "Follow someone else!" He snapped at the following bird, but the duckling continued chasing him, nevertheless. Roderick's speed was nothing compared to the duckling. He had to stop several times for a breather while going for the camp where his companions were held captives. But the duckling didn’t know any word related to rest. Every time Roderick stopped, the baby duck caught up with him. There is no way I can get back to the camp anytime soon. He was feeling exhausted after the run under the scorching sun. The duckling also showed up. "Susshh!" Roderick shoved the duck cuddling with him, "Go and find your mother." It quaked in reply. "Don’t tell me it means I am your mom." Roderick sighed.