A Whisper of Wings Read Online Free PDF Page B

glorious icy cold.
    Fishermen swarmed through the forest, shimmering the river with the reflection of their wings. Deep down in the current, netmen ploughed though the foam, while overhead a glorious feral figure swooped and dove.
    “Up! Keep that side up! Team two, stay set until my signal.”
    Zhukora had been soaked from head to foot, water making slick runnels through her fur as she dashed through the icy spray to direct her fishing teams. Hundreds of hunters had converged on the riverside to obey the girl’s commands.
    Zhukora had laid a wickedly clever trap. The rapids would tire the fish enough to take the sharp edge from their fight. Nets would close off the escape routes while spearsmen charged in from the banks. Rather than gathering fish in ones and twos, Zhukora would trap them in their thousands.
    New faces swarmed through Zhukora’s hunting group. Young hunters flocked to her, eager for a single glance of her approval. Association with Zhukora held high rewards; her rebellious charisma had a growing reputation.
    Zhukora remained unaware of the opinion others held of her. She was a creature who utterly despised anyone less motivated than herself. She saw no difference between male or female, nobleman or commoner. She valued only talent and ability. Her chosen ones were the elite; hunters, thinkers, rebels, poets - anyone who had found the courage to be angry.
    Todays challenge seemed a simple one; the tribe screamed out for meat. Something strange was happening to the world. Ten years of wondrous bounty had suddenly come to an end, and the swollen population no longer had enough to eat, and so children hungered and babies cried.
    Year by year less catfish seemed to come. The Kashra were predators; the young and old would sicken without fresh meat inside their bellies. This year there could be no failure. Zhukora would make sure that not a single fish slipped past her claws.
    The hunting teams were ready. Blonde, slim and serious, Daimïru hung at her station once again as Zhukora’s self-appointed body guard. Daimïru kept a squad of trusted netmen close at hand to swiftly patch up accidents before they became disasters.
    “There! Coming around the second bend!”
    The shout came from far down river as the first fat catfish hurtled itself into the air, flinging itself skywards as it leapt across the river rocks. With an almighty splash the catfish struck the water and dove clean out of view.
    There was another, and another. In the blinking of an eye the river suddenly came alive as hundreds of fish swarmed up between the riverbanks.
    “Keep back! Keep down. No one spread wingshadow across the water!”
    Zhukora pumped her fist and sent her teams into action. As the school of catfish thundered past the rapids, nets instantly snapped into place, and with a whoop of joy the spearsmen wheeled into the air. The water exploded into fury as harpoons whirred and stuck, transfixing scaly shapes that writhed in torment. The catfish were exterminated with terrifying speed; pregnant females, breeding stock - Zhukora’s henchmen swept the river clean.
    Suddenly something exploded from the deeps. A nightmarish, monstrous fish blasted up across the rapids and charged towards the killing zone. A solid ton of horror rose into the sky, smacking down across the nets like a gigantic falling moon. Fishermen screamed and dove aside while pregnant catfish dashed frantically upstream to safety. Zhukora turned about in clear mid air, bellowing out across the chaos.
    “Mother of… SEAL THAT BREACH!”
    Snapping into action, Daimïru folded up her wings and dove onto the monster’s back, snarling in a frenzy as she stabbed home with her knife. The titan bucked and thrashed, and Daimïru span off into the water, landing tangled in folds of net. The last of the catfish crop fled past her to safety, and with a sudden surge of foam, the monster catfish turned and dove. The net snapped tight around Daimïru’s throat, dragging the