Black Wings

Her sweat poured like rain down her back, she cried in pain. Her wings had started to cramp a long while ago. Such delicate things they are.

“You can do this, Palis,” the nursemaid said, her hands at the ready. “Just one more push.” Palis gathered all her remaining strength, straining her muscles. Her turquoise wings spread wide out as she tried to bear through. This might be the happiest night of her life. She felt the immediate release of pain’s grip on her and relief throughout her exhausted body. Only, something was wrong. The nursemaid screamed. Her husband came sprinting into the small room, along with his trusted friend, Filous.

“What-what is it, Alexasio?” Palis panted, laying her head back, out of any energy. Her husband gasped. Alexasio didn’t know what to think. He had to do something before anyone else saw the child.

In terrible desperation, he said, “it’s dead, my love.” Palis could barely believe her ringing ears. In all of these hours of desperate pain and sweet suffering, nothing is the reward? She broke out into peels of blood-curdling cries. Her child was dead. Alexasio scooped up the baby, covering it in his beautiful canvas of blood-red feathers quickly before she saw it. He turned to Filous, who had seen the child as well.

“Make the nursemaid swear on the thing most precious to her that the child has died this day. Swear it yourself, Filous. I will decide what to do. Please calm that nursemaid down!” His friend nodded, grabbing the nursemaid’s wrist, gently tugging her into another room. “I will be back, Palis, my dearest,” he promised. His heart twisted in knots every time he heard his heart-broken wife moan a desperate cry.

He crossed his small house, glancing at Filous with his amber wings tense as he swore on his very soul. As soon as Alexasio was out of his dwelling, he kicked off the ground, soaring into the heavens above. He watched the child as it squirmed in his arms, crying from the cold of the altitude. He began to hum a low tune to ease the child’s mind. Children are supposed to be born in a peaceful environment, nothing like this. It’s taking its first flight a few minutes after conception. It stopped moving soon, listening to the soft thrumming of his deep voice. The eyes of the child were intelligent, even after just a few minutes in this world. They were eyes like his, grey like the far sea.

Alexasio soared over fields, entering into the country. His hum echoed over the ground, his voice was powerful. The night air battered across his face, it dried his tears. He hated lying to Palis. She was such an innocent woman. Better for everyone to believe the child dead than watch it die in a royal execution. The emperor would stop at nothing to see it killed if he knew it existed. Maybe someday Alexasio and Palis could meet the child as a grown-up.

Alexasio swooped down, landing on the porch of a house he knew very well. He pounded on the door with a panicked but firm fist. It opened, an elderly woman poked her head out.

“Alex?” Asked the woman. He nodded, sweat dripping from his brow. She would have beckoned him in, but they both knew his wings were much too big to fit through the doorway. She gasped at the child in his arms, naked and sleeping.

“Please, Calilea, please take it. Hide it. You know this child won’t survive, the emperor will kill it.” Calilea exited her house, her small yellow wings easily fit through.

“They’ll kill me, you know that too,” she whispered. Alexasio got on his knees in an act of desperation.

“Cal, I beg you. I would never forgive myself if they found this child existed. You’ve done so much for me, but please, this will be the last favor. Palis would never forgive me if this child actually died because of me.”

“You told her it was dead?!”

“That’s not the point. Please, help me,” Alexasio gasped through terrible tears. Calilea sighed, this was a life-changing decision. One she was willing to make for Alexasio. She took the child in her arms. The shaken man wiped his sweat and tears. “Thank you, Cal.” She turned to leave but stopped.

“What name will you give your daughter?” Alexasio had thought of names on the way over the countryside.

“Sophiena. Palis would like that. And call her Sophie, if you’re not using formalities,” he said over his shoulder. After a short sob, he flew away, the tears of the sad sky following his departure.

Calilea entered her house, wrapping Sophie in a warm blanket. She had just taken in a person that could get her killed. On the other hand, who but her would ever take in a child cursed with black wings.