Flight of the Five Swans
Feathered Chapter 18

The Swan Princesses

The flockflies away from the sun over the forest where owls call, with Raia Our Otherhanging in between. Raia Our Other isheavy, but the flock is strong together. Our wings are strong so that we can fly, our will is strong so that wecan fight, and our minds are strong—so that we might escape.

Escape with Raia Our Other.

Escape together.

But theflock knows that Bad Others will soon follow and this will be very bad indeed,for the Bad Others must not beallowed to catch up to the flock. TheBad Others must not be allowed torecapture Raia Our Other. They will takeRaia Our Other away again; they will take her back to the Dark Other—and theflock hates the Dark Other. The Dark Other is full of evil and magic anddanger; he has lied and he has killed, and because of this, he must be defeated.

But theDark Other is protected; he cannot be bitten or scratched or touched at all,not by wing or beak or claw. The flockhas tried many, many times and every time, the flock has failed to hurthim. Thaleia Who Fights is angry thatthe flock has failed, for the Dark Other deservesto be hurt. The flock knows that theDark Other must be stopped.

But CalliaWho Knows is wise, as is Cliodne Who Leads. And our plan is wise, too. Weknow that to defeat the man, we must thwart his plan. And so the flock will not fail again. The flock mustnot fail again.

The Dark Other must not get Raia Our Other.

So the Bad Others who follow theflock will follow the flock—and theywill be led away, far away. But first,Raia Our Other must be left safe, where the Bad Others cannot replace her at all.

Cliodne Who Leads honks twice, andthe flock knows that it is time to land. The flock settles on soft grass near a large cave, with midnight insideits depths. Cliodne Who Leads has beenin this cave, and she knows that it is safe. She has searched it and watched for Others to enter, but no Otherhas. This cave is hidden and will not befound by the Bad Others. It is a goodplace for Raia Our Other to wait—as wait she must—for the flock to lead the BadOthers far, far away from the safe cave.

Raia Our Other climbs out frombetween the flock onto the soft grass. She lifts small rocks and puts them down again where she was before, onthe white fabric between the flock. Therocks will be heavy, but not hard for the flock to carry, for the flock isstrong together. And the rocks areimportant, for they will trick the Bad Others to follow behind, and to be ledaway.

The flock rises again, but Raia OurOther does not rise with them. She isOur Other, but she is still Other. Herwings cannot fly, so she is grounded. She must wait in the cave for the flock to return.

The flock flies together back overthe forest where owls call, back towards the castle, and back towards the DarkOther. The Bad Others are looking forthe flock, and now the Bad Others will be allowed to replace the flock.

It is Petra Who Steals who sees theBad Others on the ground below, and hisses. The Bad Others are travelling away from the sun and towards the safecave, towards Raia Our Other. But theymust not replace Raia Our Other.

The flock flies closer to the BadOthers so that they will be seen, and it works. The Bad Others shout and point at the flock and follow behind on theirhorses, which is good. This means thatRaia Our Other will still be safe in the cave.

The flock does not rush, for theBad Others must follow. The flock fliesfar away from where Raia Our Other waits, flies to where the new forest beginstowards the Homeland of the flock. Thesun rises high in the sky above the flock, but the flock flies on, and stillthe Bad Others follow below. And moreBad Others come, riding on their horses to keep pace with the flock.

The sun starts to fall and it istime. Cliodne Who Leads keens once tosignal to the flock, and the flock drops back as if to land on the Bad Othersright below. But the flock does notland. Thaleia Who Fights hisses, and theflock releases the fabric from between us, releases the small rocks so that itfalls down, down, down. The rocks do nothit the Bad Others, and Eurielle Who Honks is sad. She wants to hit the Bad Others. She had triedto hit the Bad Others.

But the BadOthers are fast on their horses, and they move out of the way so they are safefrom the falling rocks. Yet they aredistracted all the same, and so the Bad Others are not looking when the flockflies away. The flock does not flytogether. We fly in differentdirections—towards the setting sun and away from the setting sun, towards theHomeland and also towards the Dark Other’s castle—to confuse any who mightstill be following. And soon the BadOthers are gone, lost in a place where Raia Our Other is not. So the flock can return.

But thereis a pull that the flock feels deep in our bones, a pull towards the DarkOther’s castle and towards the Dark Other’s lake. And oh, it is hard for the flock to pushagainst the pull. It is hard not tofollow the path to the lake, and to become Other once more.

But thepull of Raia Our Other is stronger than the pull of the Dark One’s castle andthe Dark One’s lake. Raia Our Other isOur Other, and she waits for the flock in the safe cave. The flock will not leave her to wait alone.

The sun is low before the flock isable to return to the safe cave where Raia Our Other awaits. Thaleia Who Fights arrives back first, and isglad. Raia Our Other sits alone on theground in the cave, her wings busy making the garments that the flock sodesperately needs. She looks at ThaleiaWho Fights and there is water on her face, but Raia Our Other is happy. She is smiling. Thaleia Who Fights lies beside her andwatches her busy hands, and they wait together for the rest of the flock toreturn.

And one byone, they are there. Petra Who Stealscircles many times before landing, and is the last to arrive, but at last, theyare all there. Petra Who Steals comeswith food in her beak that is for Raia Our Other to eat, but Raia Our Otherdoes not eat. She is smiling and she ishappy, but she is not hungry, so she does not eat. She touches each of the flock’s heads andwings and feathers with her wing, and there is more water on her face. The flock gathers around Raia Our Other,sitting around and on her legs and watching her make the garment that is soimportant.

Then it is dark.

It is dark and there is pain.

There is pain in our wings and ourfeet and our bones and our feathers there is pain in our eyes and our beak andour minds there is pain and pain and nothing but pain.

And then it is over.

The pain has stopped, but the flockremains. The flock have not become Otheras we did the night before and the night before and the night before. And though the night pain has gone, it isalso still there, and it is deeper, for now there is sadness.

Raia Our Other has water on herface, but she is not happy this time. She does not smile when she touches our heads, our feathers, ourwings. Each of the flock lies her headdown on Raia Our Other’s legs, and the pain is not so bad when it is sharedtogether. For yes, Raia Our Other issad, but the flock is together. And theflock is strong together.