The Eye of the Falcon Read Online Free PDF

a low rumble, like a distant river; the fledgling found it oddly soothing. Human, she thought. This is a human.
    After picking off the ants, the human placed her in a warm dark nest, which was such a relief that she went to sleep.
    She woke in a Windless place with two humans: the male who’d saved her from the ants, and a smaller female. Like the male, the girl had neither wings nor beak, but the fledgling was fascinated by her brilliant colors. Instead of feathers, the girl had an odd loose hide that was orange, yellow, and green, with red fur like a fox on her back, and long black hair on her head, streaked purple and blue.
    Slowly, the girl reached toward the fledgling, holding a scrap of meat in her big soft talons.
    Alarmed, the fledgling rose to her full height, gaping and spreading her wings. Then she snatched the meat in her beak and flung it scornfully aside.
    The girl held out more meat. She neither stared nor loomed, she simply spoke in a gentle rumble. Her strange pale face lacked feathers or fluff, but her eyes were as dark as a falcon’s, and in them, the fledgling glimpsed a spirit as trapped and flightless as her own.
    The fledgling stretched out her neck and took the meat.

    Pirra watched the fledgling snatch another scrap of mouse in its outsize beak. “Are you sure it’s a falcon?” she said doubtfully.
    Userref’s lip curled. “Of course I am.”
    Pirra snorted. “It’s not like any falcon I’ve ever seen.”
    The creature huddled in the pouch was a scruffy brown-and-white bundle the size of a pigeon: mostly feathers, except for a few bizarre tufts of white fluff on its head, with lots more on its legs, like fluffy white leggings. It had large yellow-green feet and long black claws, and it was glaring up at Pirra with big, dark, baleful eyes.
    â€œWhere’d you find it?” she said.
    â€œOn the ground, below a crag. I heard her squawking; she must have fallen out of her nest. It’s early in the year for fledglings, but this is such a strange time, the wild creatures don’t know if it’s winter or spring. This falcon is a good omen. Maybe she’ll bring back the Sun.”
    â€œHow d’you know it’s a she?”
    â€œI don’t, but I feel it.” He paused. “If she lives,” he said carefully, “she’ll want to fly. Whether or not she does—that’s up to you.”
    â€œWhy?” Pirra said suspiciously.
    â€œYou’ll need to look after her.” Again he paused. “If she lives, she’ll be the fastest creature in the world. The female falcon is bigger, stronger, and faster than the male.”
    â€œWell, that’s as it should be,” muttered Pirra.
    â€œA falcon is proud and quick to take offense. She never forgets an insult. You can’t tame her and you can’t punish her into obedience. You can only gain her trust, and persuade her to stay with you.” He glanced at Pirra. “And she will never try to please. So I thought you two might get along.”
    Pirra snorted a laugh.
    â€œFor now, she’s a captive, like you. But if you look after her, you could teach her to fly. You could set her free.”
    Pirra repressed a spark of excitement. “You’ve thought it all out, haven’t you?” she said drily.
    Userref smiled and shook his head. “Not me, Pirra, this is the will of Heru . Why else do you think this falcon came to you?”

    Pirra named her Echo, because of her ringing eck-eck-eck . She was clever, moody, and fierce, and she either liked something or she didn’t, and that was that.
    Luckily, she liked Pirra. She liked Userref too, but she hated Silea, and had a horror of ants. If she spotted one, she went into a frenzy and wouldn’t calm down till the entire chamber had been searched and rendered antless.
    The days sped past, and Pirra forgot everything but Echo. She kept her chamber dim to reassure the fledgling,