Clan of Redemption (24 page)

As the figure popped out of the
bushes, Logan took a defensive position in front of my body and
starting growling just to warn the person to stay back.

“
What have we here?” It was an
older lady, at least I think it was a lady, the voice sounded more
feminine than male, but it was scratchy and hard to understand. She
was tall and lean, but she was wearing what looked like a
fisherman’s hat, and a scarf wrapped around her neck. She was also
wearing a long coat, almost like a trench coat, that what made me
wonder if this person was a he, not a she.

She started to approach Logan and
my limp body, when Logan took a step back and growled deeper than
I’ve ever heard. It even sent a chill down my back.

“
I won’t hurt you, but it looks
like you could use some help with your lady friend,” she said as
she took a step closer.

“
Jayden, you need to help me out
here, we don’t know her, she could be our enemy,” he
pleaded.

“
What do you expect me to do, I’m
in a bird’s body. And the bird is starting to get irritated,” I
said as I looked down at the lady and at that moment I knew she had
heard me, because she tilted her head and below the rim of her hat
I saw he eyes staring at me and then the smile came.

I leaped off the branch and dove
straight down at the lady and made her duck while squawking the
best I could. I landed on a branch just a foot above the ground
next to Logan.

“
Jayden, you have to remember
you’re a bird, you can’t just hang out on ground level. You have a
lot more predators than you did as a dog.”

“
I’m sorry, but that lady she
looked at me, like she heard me,” I said as I kept one eye on
her.

“
Ok, ok I can see that you want to
be left alone. I’ll just leave as I came,” she said as she turned
to leave.

She made it back to the bush she
came out from, and right before she walked through it, she turned
and said, “If you don’t want any help getting back into your canine
body, Jayden, then I will leave you alone.”

“
Wait, you know who I am?” I asked
her.

“
I wouldn’t say that I know who
you are, exactly,” she said as she started to turn back towards
us.

“
But you said my name?” I asked
her.

“
I heard you two talking, you can
thank your friend that’s growling at me for that,” she
said.

“
Logan, how is she able to hear
us?” I asked realizing that I just gave her Logan’s name as
well.

“
I’m not sure Jayden, but just
because she can hear us, doesn’t mean that she’s here to help us,”
Logan said.

“
I am not here to hurt you, except
I might hurt myself if I can’t get my mixtures right,” she said as
she rubbed the side of her head.

“
Jayden, I think we should try to
get you back by ourselves, we don’t know her and you’re not at your
best right now. If something happens to this body, I don’t think
you could ever be in human form again.

The thought of never having two
arms, and two legs back again about killed me. Never being able to
lay on my bed and listen to my favorite music while nibbling on my
Mom’s recipe of chocolate chip cookies.

“
Logan, I’m not sure that I can
get back into my body, I’ve been trying, but the longer I stay in
this falcon’s body the better control he starts to gain, and he
doesn’t seem to like the sharing of minds, which I admit isn’t the
greatest feeling,” I said as I tried to get a feeling on this
seemingly harmless woman standing in front of me.

“
Jayden, I will leave this
decision up to you, because I would never forgive myself if we pass
it up and can’t get you back. Just be cautious with what I told you
earlier, don’t say too much, or feel too much,” he said as he
started to relax his stance a little.

“
I will state again, I am not here
to hurt you, I might hurt myself, which does happen often, my
abilities aren’t what they use to be, not since the princess left
us and the woman left in charge has been….well anyway. If you want
the help let me know, just follow my scent and it will lead you to
my house,” she said as she turned and walked back through the
bush.

Before either one of us could say
anything, she was gone.

“
Logan, what was that?” I asked
him.

“
I’m not sure, but I’ve some
stories about a woman that lives out here, but Jayden, I didn’t
grow up around here, my family had to follow yours, so it’s as
unfamiliar to me as it is to you. I do remember my father talking
about a medicine woman that lived out her in the woods, maybe
that’s who she is.

“
I did get a good vibe from her,
she didn’t seem like she wanted to harm us. She can’t know who I
am?” I asked as I tried to listen to see if she was still near, but
I didn’t hear anything except the trees blowing in the
wind.

“
I’m not sure that we should let
anyone know who you are yet, that might be dangerous, and who knows
maybe she’s a good liar, and besides, even if we decide to ask her
to help, how would we get your body through the woods. I can’t
carry you like this,” he said as he whipped his head back towards
the bush.

He had a good point, how would we
get my canine body to that lady that was here, she left before we
could discuss this.

“
Jayden, you need to concentrate
and get yourself back in this dog body, before a real predator
comes,” Logan said as he sighed deeply.

I could tell that Logan felt
helpless, he was born to be my protector and how can he protect me
like this. I wonder if this is how my Grandfather felt about my
mother, not being able to protect her from his own wife. I only got
a split second of time with him, and I wanted desperately to be
back next to him, listening of him talk about my Mother and what
kind of child she was, and the way he loved and adored
her.

I snapped back and thought about
being back in the canine body, but when I opened my eyes, I could
tell I was still inside the bird. Ok, Jayden, you can do this “I
want to be back in my body, I want to be back in my body,” I said
to myself as I took slow deep breaths, of course those deep breaths
were only in my head.

“
Anything, are you feeling
anything?” he asked me.

“
No, and I’m really trying to
focus. Logan, did you hear that, someone or something is coming,” I
said.

I could hear more rustling of
leaves, and few braches breaking under the weight of something.
Whatever it is, it wasn’t trying to hide the fact that it was
coming.

“
I hear it too, this isn’t good
Jayden, if you have any control, you need to use it now!” Logan
said as he crept closer to the bush, with his hackles up, standing
ready to defend me at any moment.

The noises stopped and all I could
hear was a breeze and then BAM, through the air came a horse, it
had jumped over the bush that Logan was standing in front of. It
landed a few feet from him.

“
Logan, are you ok?” I
asked.

“
Uh, yeah, just a little shocked.
I didn’t know they had wild horses around here anymore.”

Before I could say anything, the
horse walked up to my body and knelt down until it was on its
belly. This horse was so beautiful, it had large blotches of white
and brown and its mane was all white. I remember my mother use to
take me riding right before she died, and I loved it. She used to
tell me that she grew up on horses and how free it felt to ride
them. She taught me to respect the horse, and it will respect you
as the rider. I miss my Mother telling me things like
that.

“
Logan, I think the horse wants to
help transport my body to that lady.”

“
I don’t know about this, maybe we
should just wait until you figure it out.”

“
That’s a great idea, and what if
I don’t figure it out. I do like to fly, but I do now want to be
stuck in this bird’s body forever. No offense birdie,” I said
hoping that I didn’t hurt its feelings. I couldn’t really read the
thoughts of the falcon that I had taken over, but I could feel its
fear in a strange way, almost like a panicked feeling I guess it
the only way I can describe it.

“
Ok, but this might leave your
neck feeling a little sore, but it’s the only way to get your body
onto the back of this horse,” Logan said as he bent down and bit
the back of my neck and started to drag my body onto the back of
the horse. Watching him struggle was frustrating but the strength
that had to take was amazing, how was pulling my body by his teeth.
Plus the trust that horse was showing Logan, allowing him to drag
my canine body over its back, which had to be
uncomfortable.

“
That's going to a leave a mark,”
I grimaced.

As soon as Logan had my body
placed across it’s back, the horse stood up and started to walk
towards the trees the way that lady had went.

“
Alright, well I guess we better
follow him, or we could lose your body,” he said with what have
been a smile if he was in human form.

“
You better stay with him, please
don’t lose my body, Logan, I’ve become accustomed to it over the
years,” I said as I dove off the branch and started my ascent into
the sky.

I took off up into the trees, up
until I couldn’t see the path anymore. Now this, this was
fun.

“
Logan, I can’t see you anymore,
I’m going to come back down so I can get a little
closer.”

“
Jayden, we are still walking in
the same direction, but I’m looking up and can’t see you
either.”

I flew back down to the place that
they had left and couldn’t see them. I tried flying up about 20
feet into the air and scoured the area and still no Logan and
horse. What if I can’t find them, where would I go? It’s not like I
could go home, Dad wouldn’t even recognize me, or be able to
understand me.

That made me laugh thinking about
it.

“
Jayden, I can still hear you, so
we must still be in the area, try flying low to the ground through
the bushes that we went through, if she really is a medicine woman
she might have some spell put on the path so that her house
location is hidden.

I did what Logan said as soon as I
went through the bushes I could see Logan and the horse walking
through the forest.

I stayed closer to the ground
during our walk, I had the urge several times to take off and fly
high in the sky, but I didn’t want to lose them again. As good as
the feeling was completely indescribable of being in the air
soaring with just air underneath you. But the thought of never
being in my body again, kept me close to the ground and what I held
dear. My body.

“
Jayden, what do you see ahead of
us?” Logan asked.

“
It looks clear, I do see
something, it might be that lady’s place. I do see a house a ways
up,” I said.

“
Jayden, you stay close please, be
patient,” Logan said as he looked up and could tell that I was
getting ready to fly high again.

“
Ok, Ok, sorry, it’s just so
wonderful and free up here, Logan, you would love it, it’s the most
free feeling I’ve ever had,” I said as I started to fly lower so I
wouldn’t stress out Logan.

“
Maybe that’s why you can’t get
back into your body, because you’re liking it too much.”

“
Spoil sport,” I said as I turned
back around to get back in the line with the direction of the
house. Before I was fully turned around, I lost control of the
falcon and it went flying off in the opposite direction and dove
faster than I knew that I could.

“
Logan, I’ve lost control, I don’t
know what to do,” I yelled, knowing that Logan was helpless to help
me.

“
Jayden, I can’t leave your body,
try to talk to the falcon, see if you can reason with
it.”

I started to try to talk to the
falcon and it dove for the ground, I thought that we were going to
crash, at the last minute the feet went out and grabbed a small
mouse that was running towards a tree. We flew up to a branch on a
tree and like a flash the bird was eating the mouse, fur and all.
Well mostly eating it all, it was like a peck fest.

“
Ewe, this is disgusting, I’m
eating a mouse. This is something I never thought I would be
eating.”

Logan was laughing. “Well you did
say how much you liked being a falcon, and that’s one of their
dishes, so you might want to think about that before you decide to
take permanent residence.”

After the bird was done dissecting
its meal, I kept getting after tastes, but this isn’t my body how
am I able to taste the food?

“
I can taste what it eats, how is
that possible?” I asked wishing I could down a swig of mountain dew
right now.

“
When we take animal form we have
all of their senses, taste, touch, sense, smell, and site. It can
be very helpful, unless like you, you’re sharing the birds’ body
and I doubt that you would want to eat a mouse for dinner,” he said
as he checked on my dog form to make sure that it was still stable
on the horses back.