Cumberland (Not A Dream Book 1) (13 page)

We stood bravely on the ledge, awaiting the air patrol to get closer. Their tiny helicopter had one machine gun on top. One man flew it, while the other began shooting. I dodged bullets as they were released

              I looked over at Mason.

              “What do we do? We do not have a single weapon that can come of some use!” I panted.

              Mason walked over to the ledge and said, “I have an idea.”

              He grabbed the medium sized cage, and tore it off the wire. He closed the latch, which reactivated the electric bars. Using the twine, he swung it above his head.

              The bullets flew by him, as the cage rotated in the air. It spun faster, and faster. His muscles tightened as he used all of his strength to spin it even faster. My grandpa yelled, “Throw it already! They are getting closer!”

              As the momentum gained, he let go, letting it fly right into the helicopter. I watched as they collided, electrocuting those on board. The guy controlling the gun, jumped off, and I could hear the guy inside yell, “May day!” several times, but was quickly silenced.

              The helicopter spun out of control crashing into the ground. An explosion erupted from beneath almost causing the ledge to break free. I could feel it begin to shake.               Olivia exclaimed, “We need to move off of this now!”

              I looked around for a safe route to go, and noticed a big nest on top of the mountain. I asked my grandpa, “Why are the aviary creatures not trying to help us?”

              “We need to get the Egg of Bravery back into that nest,” he answered while pointing at the giant nest.

              “Where would that be?” I questioned.

              “Not sure,” he answered sadly.

              I turned to check on my parents, and watched as they dangled from the Blue Crow’s nest. I exclaimed, “Mason! Save my parents.”

              He turned and realized, “I am very sorry, Mr. and Mrs. James!”

              They didn’t seem to be of any panic. My mother replied, “It is fine, as long as everyone is okay!”

              We nodded, and Mason started to go down the ledge, and was surprised to see my parents jump up on the ledge. I ran over to them and asked, “Are you guys okay?”

              “Yes, we love you,” they said while hugging me tightly.

              Olivia slowly approached and asked, “How did you guys get over here so quickly?”

              My dad was about to answer, but Jack cut him off, “The Egg of Bravery is near Carolyn’s
lair
.”

              My parents nodded at Jack. I raised an eyebrow, and turned around to look at the helicopter crash below. The flames began to smolder, and the color went from white to charcoal black.

              I asked Jack, “Where is the
lair?
”

              He explained, “On the side of the mountain. Right after the curve of this ledge, you will see a cloud bank leading straight up to it.”

              Olivia asked, “What are the clouds for?”

              Jack answered, “Behind them are stairs leading straight to it. They are meant to be hidden, so she won’t ever be attacked so easily.”

              “What does it look like?” I asked.

              He looked up into the sky and answered with a straight face, “It looks like a regular building. It has three clocks on it, and floats up in the sky.”

              My dad asked, “Is it safe to continue walking on this ledge?”

              “Probably not,” Jack answered monotonously.

              “What other choice do we have?” I chided.

              “She is right, we just need to watch our step,” Mason concluded.

              “Why does she need three clocks?” I asked.

              “She just likes to always have a backup of a backup,” he chortled.

              We edged close to the wall, careful to not tread too fast. The ledge became shaky with each step taken. I gripped tighter on the rocks sticking out as Mason followed by my side, grabbing me every time the ledge shook. I felt his hand tighten on my waist, each and every time.

              Olivia seemed to be getting angry, “I want to just go right up to Carolyn and show her who is boss!”

              “We can’t, not yet at least,” Jack told her calmly.

              “Why not?” I questioned

              “Because, if we do that then we wouldn’t be holding up our bargain with the creatures,” my grandpa answered.

              We made it to the clouds, and noticed them right away. I exclaimed, “Look, the steps!”

              I pointed at the stairs, and realized the clouds were the only ones around. They seemed to be placed there carefully. I wanted to rush to them but Mason grabbed my hand, “We still have to be cautious.”

              “We need to get there quickly,” I hasted.

              I looked back at the stairs and realized the first few steps were covered with clouds. I edged closer to them and tried to figure out why. I saw a chain leading to the steps.

              I pointed at them and asked Jack, “Why is there a chain?”

              The chain moved and I looked, but didn’t see anything moving.

              “I must be going crazy, because I swear I just seen it move,” I said.

              “No, you’re not going crazy,” Jack said.

              A shadow of a creature, with a razor sharp beak, immersed out of the clouds. It was yellow and smaller than the Blue Crow. Olivia exclaimed, “That bird has teeth!”

              “That is what you call a Cikavac,” my grandpa claimed.

              “A what?” I asked.

              “A Cikavac protects its owner, and guards very well. They are more deadly than a pit bull fed gunpowder,” Jack said.

              Its spike collar shook as it growled. I looked behind the Cikavac and asked, “Is that the egg we need to get?”

              My grandpa nodded and said, “Yes, but first we need to find a way pass Carolyn’s Cikavac.”

              I looked at Jack, and saw him raise an eyebrow, “No duh, genius.”

              My grandpa nodded at Jack, and laughed, “I know I am.”

Joking aside, we quickly began contemplating how we would get past the bird. We tried to stay out of its sight, as we crouched low. I peered at the bird, and saw how it always tried to bite anything that blew by its side.

              “Let’s try to distract it,” I offered.

              “A distraction just might work,” Mason agreed.

              I looked down at the ground and saw a few pebbles. I picked one up and tossed it to the side of the Cikavac. It quickly hopped to the tossed pebble and I said, “It is easily distracted.”

              The bird looked around and Mason said, “Doesn’t take it long to get back on focus though.”

              Olivia stated, “Make noises instead.”

              My grandpa cusped his hand over his mouth and used a bird call. The sound echoed through the sky and the Cikavac stayed focused longer.

              Jack said, “We can’t let it know who is making the sound. If it knows, it will attack.”

              “We need to disguise my grandpa,” I said.

              “How?” Olivia questioned.

              Jack pointed at the fog, surrounding the mountain, and said, “We can hide him behind that and hope it doesn’t move off of him.”

              “So we base our safety on hope?” Olivia chortled.

              “Yes,” Jack nodded.

              “We need to move quickly, then. The winds are picking up,” my grandpa noticed.

              I peered over the ledge and started to see gusts of wind raising and falling. I nodded in agreement and my grandpa took place behind the fog. We stayed lowed until the bird was fully distracted.

              I nodded at him to do the first call. We moved a few inches closer to the egg, and then the bird got back into focus. He continued with the bird call, as we kept moving forward. The Cikavac looked up to the sky, as the call echoed.

              I felt a gust of wind blow my hair back, which made me look at my grandpa. The winds blew the fog off of him, and the Cikavac looked at him. I saw its eyes narrow. The bird flew up and began squawking repeatedly.

              “Jack!” I screamed. I continued, as I caught his attention, “The Cikavac!”

              He turned and looked at the bird. The Cikavac noticed us nearing the Egg of Bravery. I looked at the egg and back at the bird. It swooped down at us, trying to take bites out of us.

              The egg started to shake with the ground. I looked up at my grandpa and hollered, “The Cikavac is going to make that egg crush us.”

              My grandpa ran over to the egg, and put his weight against it as a stopping wedge. He did not seem to struggle. The bird continued to swing down and chase us. We ran and I joked, “Maybe if we keep going in circles it will get tired!”

              Jack dropped to the ground, barely losing his head to the sharp beak, and yelled, “I highly doubt that!”

              We pulled back from the egg and tried to get out of its reach. My grandpa stayed firmly against the egg, as we had its entire attention. It squawked and growled, and yanked at its chain. The Cikavac flapped its giant wings and pulled once more on its chain.

              The strength of the grounded spike, which held onto the chain, was no match for the bird. It started to pull out of the ground, and I noticed the Cikavac getting closer to Mason.

              I picked up a rock and chucked it at the bird’s eye. The bird shook its head and charged after me. The chain broke free and I ran. The Cikavac cornered me against the mountain wall, and landed in front of me. I covered my face trying to block it from biting me. I looked at the bird through the crease of my arms and heard a bird call.

              I looked at my grandpa and his hands were occupied with holding up the Egg of Bravery. Mason and Olivia helped him hold it up evenly. I looked over at Jack and noticed him and the Cikavac looking up into the sky.

              I followed their gaze and heard the bird call again. I noticed a silhouette of a giant bird, and three small birds coming down towards us. The Cikavac looked back at me and raised its talon foot above my head.

              A blur of feathers passed by me, and I looked to see the Blue Crow and her babies taking down the Cikavac.

              I watched in amazement as the four Blue Crow’s pecked at the Cikavac. I heard the bird cry in pain, and fly up to scratch at the Blue Crow’s. It kicked and growled. The baby Blue Crow’s attached themselves to the back of the Cikavac.

              I cheered on the Blue Crow, as Jack seemed to be getting into it as if it were a wrestling match. We all watched attentively, and I felt useless to the Blue Crow. I ran over to Jack and asked, “What could we do to help?”

              Jack smiled and said, “They seem to be doing just fine.”

              It twirled in the air and tried reaching back to bite them off. They dodged the sharp beak, and the mother Blue Crow bit the Cikavac’s neck. The Cikavac squawked loudly, scaring the baby Blue Crow’s.

              One of the baby Blue Crow’s flew up and pecked out the Cikavac’s eye. They each took turns nipping at the Cikavac. The Cikavac flapped its wings vigoursly. The mother Blue Crow got bit on her wing, and backed down for a minute.

              I screamed behind my hands, covering my mouth. I dropped my hands and raised my voice to Jack, “We have to do something!”

              Jack said calmly, “Just watch. What can we do? We will die trying to stop that darn Cikavac.”

              She then took one more bite at the guard bird, and the Cikavac dropped where it stood.

              I looked around for my parents and watched as they came out from behind the Egg of Bravery. I asked them, “Where were you guys?”

              My dad answered, “Trying to keep the egg from crushing you guys. What? You didn’t think your grandpa could hold that egg up by himself, did you?”

              I smiled and said, “Yeah, I guess you are right.”

              I approached the Blue Crow slowly, and noticed part of its wing was hurt. I looked at my grandpa and asked, “Can you help her?”

              He nodded and said, “It looks like a small injury. I can bandage it.”

              He walked up slowly to the Blue Crow and put out his hand. She sniffed it and nodded. He ripped off a part of his coat and wrapped it around her cut. She sniffed it and made him pet her beak.

              I smiled, “Now how do we carry that giant egg up to the nest?”

              The Blue Crow looked up at the Egg of Bravery and walked over to it. She looked up at the nest and held out her good wing. Its giant wing glimmered in the rays of sunlight.

              I reached out my hand and petted the blue wing, and watched as the feathers wiggled at my touch.               I smiled and asked, “What does she want us to do?” hoping someone would answer me this time.”             

              My grandpa answered, “I think she wants us to get on her back.”

              We climbed up on her, as quick as possible. I asked aloud with a big grin, “What are we doing?”

              “Flying a Blue Crow!” Olivia squeaked.  I laughed, as everyone laughed with me, I patted the Blue Crow’s back.

              My mom rhetorically asked, “She is soft for a bird, isn’t she?”

              I nodded my head, anyways. I agreed with my mom, she was soft. Her little baby Blue Crow’s sat in a row on their mother’s head. They sat and stared at us curiously. I just smiled patiently at them.

              She flapped her wings and hovered over the Egg of Bravery. My grandpa answered, “She wants to put the egg back for us.”