The Beast and The Brain.

In the end J stepped outside so she could ‘clear her head’ as she put it. The Wisdom’s son poked in for a moments to make sure everything was alright, and then left again. When it was just the two of us the Wisdom stood up and dished out two bowls of stew, then handed me one. “I knew you were hungry.” He said simply.

I smiled. “I’m always hungry.”

“A curse of being a Beast I’m afraid.”

I nodded my head and spooned the warm stew into my mouth. It was made mostly with deer meat and mushrooms but it warmed me from the inside and helped fill my stomach a little. We ate in silence and when we finished I clasped my hands together and stared into the flames.

“There can only be three reasons why you do not ask what is on your mind. The first, you are afraid of the answer. The second, you are afraid of J. The third, both.”

I smiled and glanced at the Wisdom. “Both.” I agreed.

He chuckled. “Would you rather live in fear and wondering? Or would you rather know where your feet are planted and move on?”

I sighed. “I’ve been asking myself that for a while now. The time I spend with J, I cannot explain it. Yet I don’t want this forever…”

“You are wiser than J gives you credit even she sees it…though she would never admit it.”

“Thanks.”

“But I cannot give you an answer for a question you do not ask. I doubt J will stay away very long, so the time is now Asher, if you wish you have what you seek.”

I licked my lips. “What was the real reason J left me?”

The Wisdom nodded his head and leaned back once more. “Ah the question that nearly drove you into madness. And one that you are still not satisfied with.”

“Just tell me.”

“J has a past Asher, she’s told you as much. People she’s loved, people close to her have trampled and broken her heart. And as a lesson she has guarded it with iron ever since. But when she met you, you began to crack that iron and when she realized that you cared for her, she panicked and she ran because…”

He took a breath and looked at the fire.

“Say it.” My heart pounded hard in my chest, and my ears rung. Sweat trickled down my neck and my palms ached.

“…because she realized she was falling in love with you.”

There was silence and I closed my eyes. There is was. The true answer I had been waiting to hear all this time. J hadn’t run simply out of trust issues, she had run because she realized that the feelings I held for her were not one sided.

“Does she still care that way?”

“I will not say.” The Wisdom said simply. “You must take this journey yourself without my help. You have the answer you’ve been seeking and now it’s your choice on what you do with it. You love J more than you realize, yet you will not follow her around forever while she treats you like a stray dog. Something must change, whether you leave her or take the next step; well…that is your decision.”

I nodded my head. “Very well.”

The door opened and J walked in. “Asher, we’re leaving.”

I stood up. “Where are we going?”

She looked at me then she look at the Wisdom. “We’re going to the swamp.”

~ ~ ~ ~

The four of us stood outside the small house, J was speaking with the Wisdoms son in quiet whispers so I turned to the Wisdom. “I’d like to know your real name, before I leave.” I held out my hand and he smiled.

“You can call me Rob.”

“I’ve been wondering Rob, why can’t Brains just read your mind and get all the answers they want? There must be a reason you’ve been able to keep this land neutral.”

Rob nodded. “If J tried to read my mind she would quite literally go insane. Only a Wisdom can retain all that information. We don’t know if it’s just a family gene or if the power allows the bearer a more open mind, but if a Brain tried to read my mind they would get sucked into the vast amount of knowledge and history and they would never again be coherent.”
“Interesting.”

J walked over. “Thank you for everything, I hope to see you again.” J and Rob clasped hands.

“Feel free to come back anytime.”

“It was nice meeting you.” Rob nodded his head at me, “Good luck with everything. For everyone’s sakes, I hope you are successful.”

We both nodded our heads. “Come on Asher, it’s time.”

“Bye.” I waved and followed J away from their home. I waited a few seconds, “So without Gwen how are we going to sneak over the border? I don’t know if you noticed but there were a lot of people guarding the last time and now they know we’ll be trying to get back over.”

“I believe I have an answer that will finally please you then.”

“Really?” I asked surprised. “We aren’t going to have to form a diabolical plan that involves me risking my neck while you take out all the guards?”

“Nope.”

“Then tell me.”

“We’re going to fly.”

I stopped walking and a huge grin formed on my face as I watched the back of J’s shoulders. “You aren’t kidding?”

“Nope.”

I looked up into the star littered sky and continued to smile.

“Not to interrupt, but if you haven’t completely lost your head I could use your help escaping these woods so I can kill the man who’s been hunting me for most of my life.”

“I would love to.”

So I open my arms wide and let the Beast inside explode out of my skin without holding back. My wings toppled down trees and my talons tore into the earth. Wildlife scattered with terrified noises and my jaw cracked as the last of my teeth grew and sharpened. I looked at J with my new vision, she didn’t look impressed.

“Finished?” I rolled my eyes and blew out a hot breath from my nostrils. “I may be capable of a lot of things Asher, but I am not a giant, I cannot get onto your back unless you kneel or something.”

I dropped my head so my nose was even with hers and grinned with my long sharp teeth. “Climb aboard.” I chuckled and dropped onto my stomach. My tail twitched from side to side like a cats, I was eager to be off into the sky.

J found the comfortable spot behind my neck where she sat when I saved her live in the ocean all that time ago. Her legs tightened like they would if she were riding a horse, “I swear if I fall off I’ll chain you to a rock and leave you there for the rest of eternity.”

“And I swear if you fall off me from a high enough height you won’t be tying me to anything. Now hold on tight.”

“Make sure you fly straight up, and go as high as you can. It will be our best bet to getting out unseen.”

I backed up a few steps tensed my back legs and open my wings. I ran forward a few steps and jumped as high as I could and flapped down hard with my wings. We cleared the tips of the trees with the first stroke. I flapped hard a few more times and the trees slowly became smaller. It was hard for me to fight the natural urge to spread out my wings and glide on a wind current to save my energy. But J was right; going straight up as far as we could safely go was our safest chance.

So I pumped hard until my wing joints ached, I went until we were with the clouds and then I spread out my wings and evened out. J was gripping onto me with her legs and arms and she wasn’t moving. Her breathe came out in ragged gasps.

“Are you alright?”

“Don’t speak to me.” She hissed. Her voice trembled and I chuckled.

“If I didn’t know any better J I would say you were scared of heights.”

“I have no fear of heights Asher when I have something to hold onto. But I’m sorry to say that your skin is as smooth and tough as steel and you do not have mane like a horse.”

“Sorry.” I chuckled under my breath and inhaled the cold night air. The stars were alive tonight without the moon outshining them. I continued to glide on the currents and when I knew we were a safe distance away I descended a little so I could see the forest and rivers below. We would make it back to Gwen’s before dawn.

J and I were silent for a long time. Her legs continually tightened and she never once shifted or moved. Though I knew even if J fell I would be able to catch her, but I didn’t tell her that. Finally J spoke softly, “It’s beautiful up here… I see why you like it so much.”

I smiled. “When I am up here…I feel like the world isn’t so big and strange. I feel that I have a better chance at taking it on. It’s nice to think too, there isn’t anyone or anything around to disturb you.”

There was a moment of silence. “Asher?”

“Yea?”

“Do birds normally fly this high?”

“Not normally, why?”

“Because there is one behind us.”

I twisted my long neck and looked behind us. Sure enough J was right, It took me a moment but once I focused I spotted it immediately. It was still a ways behind us but with my sight I knew immediately it wasn’t an ordinary bird.

“That’s a Beast.” I told J. “You can’t see from this distance but it’s larger than any eagle I’ve ever seen. And its flapping hard and using the current to catch up.”

J looked behind us again. “So they are trying to follow us.”

“Seems so.”

“Can you out fly it?”

“Probably, but I won’t.”

“And why is that?”

“Because there is a chance we could lead it straight to Gwen’s house, and I won’t let that happen.”

There was a moment of silence. “I’m not going to like what you’re about to do am I?”

“Nope.”

“Asher don’t you dare-”

I didn’t listen. I folded my wings against my body and dove. J let out an involuntary scream that was totally unlike her as the wind rushed past us in a howling fury. And as the trees rose up to meet us I open my wings and used the forced to drive us back into the air in the opposite direction. Luckily there was another air current so I pumped my wings and used the current.

The other Beast was in my sights, and by then they had noticed what I had done. They to folded their wings and dove, I brought my wings in half way and shot forward and angle downward. They were a lot smaller than me but they only had wings, a beak, and two feet with talons. I had four legs, talons, teeth, excellent sight, and size. Of course, if J hadn’t been so frozen with fear on my back she could have used her power when we got close to take them out, but she was whispering curses under her breath while she held on for her life.

The Beast was smaller and more acrobatic in the sky with sharp turns but I knew If they got to close it would be the end of them. For a while it was simply a battle to gain stronger wind currents to try to get into a position to attack the other. I had to admit the Beast was good. They knew how to use the wind to their advantage perfectly, and I was forced to counter, to try and predict their next move.

Every time I dove or rolled J would curse and tighten her hold. Finally the other Beast got the advantage; he shot into air above us and then when he was high enough he dove. I saw him coming and knew there was only one thing to do. And J would probably kill me for it later, but I didn’t have a choice.

“Sorry J.” I said and before she could even open her mouth to ask or reply I flipped over just as the other Beast came onto us, and J fell.