Stryx Monthly Challenges: Sating Thirst

Secret sprawled out across the sand, staring up at the impossibly blue sky next to the impossibly blue sea. How did she get here? She couldn’t remember. It was as if she drifted to sleep and woke up on the pristine beach, the only debris being a couple ornate shells and some fallen palm fronds. She considered, briefly, standing up and doing something. Anything. But it was so comfortable on the beach that she would rather have died than do anything. So there she lay, absorbing the sun’s rays and letting the sounds of the ocean wash over her.

 

“Secret.” A contrabass voice rumbled through her. It was as a dozen tongues were speaking in unison. The corva squinched her eyes shut in a futile attempt to ignore the sound. Part of Secret knew the voice would not be so easily dissuaded. But for a few seconds longer on the beach she pretended not to hear. The sun was too refreshing on her feathers, the scent of salt on the waves too intoxicating. 

 

Secret was just falling asleep as the voice spoke again. “Secret. I know you can hear me.”

 

She started with a rasping squawk, leaping to her feet. “I’m sorry my lord, I’m up! I’m… a little disoriented, that’s all! My apologies!”

“None required. Where did my spell transport you, Secret?”

 

Right. That’s how she got here. One of her lord’s spells misfired and put her here in this place. She mumbled something irate under her breath before she rose to her feet. Sand had worked its way into her feathers as it always did; she shook it out as she considered how to answer the voice in her head.

 

“Somewhere…. Beautiful. Um. Wet, I guess.” She admired the seascape, waves gently sloshing against the shoreline. “It seems you have achieved our aims. I’ve never seen so much water in my life.”

 

“That is most excellent to hear.” The voices grew higher and excited, some of the higher pitched ones yipping in excitement beneath the deepest. “Can you determine if it is safe to drink?”

 

Secret hesitated. She didn’t hesitate because she was worried it may be angry. She hesitated because she did not want to hurt it. Arquebus was harder on itself than they were of anyone. But Arquebus was astute enough to notice her moment of silence and interrupted her thoughts.

 

“Ah. That is disappointing. Incredibly disappointing.” Arquebus showed nothing in its voice, but Secret knew their lord well. Even in this place so far away she could feel her soul strung to his, as were all of the Corva within the Vast Dry.

 

Except she wasn’t in the Vast Dry anymore, was she?

 

“I can’t overstate how much water there is here, my lord.” She said, making certain her genuine excitement showed in her voice. “We are closer than ever before. It extends out like a sea. Perhaps it even is one. It smells of salt.”

 

“Oh?” Curiosity seemed to overtake the chorus of voices. “Can you explore the area before I call you back? I’d like a detailed account of what we have stumbled upon.”

“Yes, definitely.” Secret nodded to no one. “I will let you know when I am ready to return.”

 

Secret didn’t take to flight right away. Exploring the shoreline on foot, the perimeter, seemed the wisest course of action. The soft earth pooled between her toes as she took a leisurely stroll on the beach. Her excitement grew every moment she continued along, each step solidifying the reality of it in her mind.

 

She was on an island. 

 

If Arquebus could transport her here it could transport her anywhere. Perhaps they could even pull the water they needed from the sea and purify it somehow. Growing up in the Vast Dry she was lucky to have enough condensation to quench her thirst in the mornings. This much moisture was unheard of. Her mouth ached at the acknowledgement of her unrelenting thirst.

 

There was a distant static in the air that Secret didn’t acknowledge at first. It wasn’t a sound she recognized. It almost sounded like falling sand - but as she grew closer it became louder than any sandfall that ever hit her ears. The speckled brown stryx reached the outlet of a river into the sea. The water was choppy and violent.

 

Apprehensively she looked inland. There was so much greenery that it made her uneasy. What were plants like here? Were they dangerous? She didn’t know. But cautiously, almost trembling with excitement, she decided to follow the stream to its source. Perhaps Secret was being too careful around the plants. Almost all of her attention was placed on carefully stepping around them, lest they sting her or make her impossibly itchy.

 

Secret was so intent on stepping around the plants she hardly noticed that the sound had grown into a cacophony. Only when a spray of water sprinkled on her head did she look up from the green earth. Her beak dropped agape, her yellow eyes wide. It seemed impossible. Not only did it seem impossible that something so beautiful existed, but that it existed right before her very eyes.

 

It was a waterfall.

 

Water spilled from a high cliff, spilling into a crystal-clear pool beneath it. It dashed against the rocks and sprayed onto the earth, feeding the small plants lining the shore. There was so much of it. 

 

“Arquebus,” Secret searched for the words but found none. Arquebus said nothing intelligible but a curious murmur rose from its chest. “Arquebus. I don't know what to say..”

 

The two sat in silence for some time. Secret could no longer stand on her legs, wobbling with so much excitement she saw stars. She watched the water spatter across the rocks and flow rapidly down the river. Leaning in towards the river she took a deep breath. It smelled clear, not of salt as the big water did. 

 

Tentatively, she stuck her beak into it. The water flowed freely into her mouth and the small feathers on her face. The only time she had ever felt water soak into her feathers was when she spilled some from the skin - a tragedy. But now there was too much to drink. 

 

Secret drank until she was sated, and then she drank some more. The corva felt saturated with water. She drank until she felt sick and only just managed to stop herself from becoming ill. 

 

Secret flopped with her back onto the grass, wings stretched wide. Even when she was done drinking it was all she could think about. The clearness of the water and how nourishing it was; how it felt to spill so freely down her parched throat. 

 

It was incredible. Was it really possible she was experiencing it? Was it some sort of hallucination?

 

“Arquebus,” She started again, once again staring far into the impossibly blue sky. “I just drank so much water I nearly threw up.”

 

A chorus of chuckles and raucous laughter filled her mind. When it spoke again, some of the voices within itself continued to almost giggle with giddiness. “Then it was a success after all?”

 

Secret felt a little queasy, some of the water threatening to come back up. She groaned after she swallowed it back down. 

 

“Maybe a little too much of a success. I’m ready to come back now.”