Nanoseconds of Musing

Animals of Alesia

Scree: raptor-like birds who could follow any target with relentless ease.

They are about fifteen inches in height, with a wingspan that was enormous inc comparison, their wings being folded in such a peculiar way that they could fly with shortened span for tight spirals or dives and at full stretch, about thirty inches, wingtip to wingtip, for long journeys or riding the air currents.

They were voracious but lazy carnivores, preferring to pick of the young of midsized mammals rather than fight adult smaller ones. They would sell their loyalty to anyone who fed them enough fresh kill, but if not fed at regular intervals were not loath to turn on their so called masters and strip their limbs of flesh instead. They could not be confined, in anyway, if one tried to keep them captive by means of metal restraints or walled enclosures, they would merely curl up and die, useless to any.

They were therefore more like ninjas or mercenaries than slaves, with skills that could be purchased and directed but not forced or cajoled. They have no better instincts, or at least that is what folklore says.

Thankfully they are few and far between, found only on the highest scrags of the northern hills, the numbers kept down by the fact that too many would mean the supply of prey would soon give out, even if they came down to the valleys in search of it. Then too, the young ones could hatch only in that area and mating season was dictated by the march of colours on the hillside in some uirk of Nature. When the Green Aureum Trees sported their crowns of yellow and the air was thick with the heady scent, then and then only would the females stop clacking razor sharp beaks at any amorous males approaching.

The mating ritual was conducted in a slow and solemn backing and shuffling dance around prospective nesting sites, the nests being built and offered by the now oh-so-humble males. If the female liked the site and let titupped her way towards it, lowering her cumbersome bulk into the interior, then and then only could he proceed to culmination.

The egg would be laid almost immediately, a large black and green speckled one, usually only one. It took a full three months to hatch and the little popped out with the trademark appetite full-grown. It would progress from worms to insects to small rodents within days and by another two months be ready for launching as a rapacious fledgling.

There might not be another mating for that pair for another couple of years at least, since the task of feeding their child would have taken a lot out of both parents, reducing them to shriveled shadows of their former sleek powerful selves. So, thankfully, the populace was not troubled much by them, not until the Naragonians had taken to using them to trace runaways much as trained hounds might. Only these tracked through air and were not lost by tracking or doubling through water. The handlers wore thick leather gauntlets and boots with metal links overlaid to guard against bites, but the use was limited by the fact that to follow the outfits must be light and pliable and hence vulnerable to attack.

There was a paucity of applicants for the role. Most died young, their families well provided for but only a desperate person would apply to commit suicide. It did pay well though, having one Scree and Handler ensured that anyone pursued would be cought, they never gave up the scent. Of course, to give them the scent, only blood of the enemy, fresh blood would do, but handlers were skilled in shooting small bolts from one handed bows, not to kill, but to wound.

For, it was the secret opposition that needed to be curbed and to be curbed has to be found. So one has to catch the minnows and question them to find the carp and then perhaps, eventually the big fish.

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