Chapter 213: Eagles Catch Things Right?

Ren paced back and forth at the base of the massive tree, her bare feet padding softly against the dirt.

’Why am I even doing this?’ she thought, rubbing her temples. ’Why am I trying to force him to be my friend? The man is a loner bird. He obviously likes his personal space. And he clearly doesn’t want to be my friend.’

She continued her frantic pacing, her mind spinning.

’Plus, he’s a wanted fugitive! The literal poster boy for Beast World’s Most Wanted. I should be staying as far away from him as humanly possible, not putting up neon signs trying to draw his attention. Don’t I already have enough going on? My plate isn’t just full, it’s overflowing!’

She stopped pacing and looked up at the darkening canopy. The sun had completely set now, leaving the forest bathed in the eerie, silver glow of twilight.

Suddenly, a new, much worse thought struck her.

’Wait. What if I’m just being paranoid? What if that prickling feeling on the back of my neck is just my imagination? What if he isn’t watching me at all?’ Ren’s heart gave a painful squeeze. ’What if a bounty hunter found him again? What if he’s lying hurt somewhere, bleeding out in a ditch, and I’m down here debating bird mating dances?!’

[System: Oh, for the love of coding, please stop spiraling. You are giving me a migraine.]

[System: The Golden Eagle Prince is watching you from a tree right over there. He is completely fine. Not a scratch on his majestic feathers. Now, stop wasting time. Strip your leaves and start shaking ass already.]

Ren scowled, crossing her arms over her chest. ’If you know exactly where he is, why can’t you just tell me which tree?! Just point him out!’

[System: And how exactly would that benefit me? I am here for the entertainment, Host. Giving you his GPS coordinates yields zero comedic value. You need to start the dance! Pop that booty!]

“I hate you,” Ren muttered aloud to the empty air.

It was getting darker by the second. The shadows between the trees were stretching, growing deep and menacing. Ren wrapped her arms around herself. She couldn’t bring herself to do either of the options.

Stripping naked in the dark forest was out of the question—who knew what else could be watching her? That perverted chameleon lizard was probably still lurking in the bushes.

“Fine,” Ren huffed.

She took one of the neat, green leaf packages containing the spicy Caribbean jerk elk bites she had made earlier from her inventory. She walked over to a small, flat stone near the base of the tree and gently set the steaming package down.

“I don’t know if you like spicy food, bird-boy,” Ren said softly to the shadows. “But just in case you’re hungry… here.”

Feeling defeated, Ren turned her back on the tree and retreated toward the cave in the hollow of the giant roots, hoping to get some rest until Kael gets back.

Moments after Ren’s footsteps faded into the distance, the thick underbrush rustled.

A figure slowly emerged from the shadows.

It was a ghostly, pitiable sight. The figure was shockingly gaunt, her limbs resembling brittle, fragile twigs wrapped in pale, dirt-smudged skin. Her clothes were nothing but filthy, torn rags that hung loosely off her skeletal frame. Matted, unkempt hair veiled her face, but beneath the tangled mess, her sunken, hollow eyes darted around with the paranoid, wild intensity of a hunted animal. She looked deathly sick, trembling with every step she took.

The figure’s nose twitched. The rich, spicy aroma of the roasted elk drew her like a magnet.

She practically crawled toward the flat stone, her bony fingers snatching the leaf package with desperate, shaking hands. She didn’t bother to unwrap it properly. She shoved the meat into her mouth, eating with ravenous, starving gusto. The fiery heat of the scotch bonnet peppers must have burned her throat, but she didn’t care. Drops of savory grease stained her dirty chin as she swallowed without chewing, letting out quiet, pathetic whimpers of sheer relief.

Suddenly, the snap of a twig echoed from the path.

Ren was coming back.

The sickly figure froze, a look of pure terror washing over her hollow face. Clutching the half-empty leaf to her chest, she scrambled backward, diving into the thick, dark cover of the bushes just a second before Ren stepped back into the clearing.

Ren marched back up to the base of the giant tree, her hands balled into determined fists.

“I’m going to do it,” Ren announced to the night air.

[System: YES! Cue the seductive flute music! Shake those tail feathers, Host! Give him the ol’ razzle-dazzle!]

’Not the dance, you perverted Tamagotchi!’ Ren snapped in her mind. ’The other option!’

Ren didn’t give herself the time to hesitate or doubt herself. If she thought about it for even a second longer, she would chicken out.

She stepped up to the massive trunk and grabbed the first wide indentation Vex had carved into the bark to house feet and hands.

She immediately began climbing.

Her heart was hammering wildly against her ribs, a frantic thump-thump-thump that drowned out the crickets. Her limbs stretched and strained with every reach, her bare feet finding the grooves, pulling her body higher and higher into the canopy.

Ten feet. Twenty feet. Thirty feet.

When Ren thought she was high enough—high enough to definitely break a few bones, but hopefully not high enough to turn into a human pancake—she stopped. She clung to the bark, her knuckles white.

She looked down.

The ground looked terrifyingly far away.

She took a deep breath in a failed attempt to calm her racing heart. It only made her dizzy.

’This is going to be, by far, the stupidest thing I have ever done,’ Ren thought, her entire body shaking.

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to convince herself to jump.

’He is an eagle,’ Ren rationalized, swallowing the lump of pure terror in her throat. ’Eagles catch things. They catch fish. They catch rabbits. I am basically just a large rabbit. He will catch me. He has to catch me. Right? Please tell me bird reflexes work in the dark.’

“Altair,” Ren whispered, praying to whatever Gods were listening. “Please catch me.”

Ren let go, allowing herself to fall from the tree.

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