Hunger

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Linee and her daughter approached the entrance to the Harpy’s nesting ground one day. The guard Harpies stop them. Linee had hoped that they would recognize her by now. The guards call back into the nesting ground and soon Speaker comes flying out saying “Hello! Hello!”

Linee says back “Hello, Speaker.”

Speaker stops and thinks, then says “Why here?”

Linee says “We have food for Grandma.” She shows her basket to Speaker.

Speaker stops and thinks, then says “Okay, careful” and turns to head back in after saying something to the guards.

Linee quickly catches up to Speaker saying “Why be careful?”

Speaker stops and thinks, then says “Eggs soon.”

Linee has to stop and think for a moment then she realizes that the Harpies are going to lay their eggs soon. But Linee soon hears loud crying. One she has learned to recognize herself. She rushes to check on the source of the cry.

New Mother chick sits alone in its nest crying and flapping about. Linee rushes to try and calm it down, but is bitten in the process and pulls back. Linee says to Speaker “What’s wrong? Where is her mother?”

Speaker has to think long and hard, then says “Chick hungry, need to eat to grow fast. New Mother hunt, trying to keep up. Can’t.”

Linee says “What about the other Harpies, can’t they help?”

Speaker says “Hard to fly now, need to save strength for their chick.”

Linee looks up and sees all harpies sitting in their nest watching. She looks to Grandma and the Elder Mother. She can see Grandma wants to help but is too weak to fly a lot. The Elder Mother is still caring for her chick who is still learning to hunt.

Linee turns to her daughters and says to one of them “Go back to the house grab whatever meat you can carry and bring it back now.” The girl nods and runs off.

 

Linee’s daughter moves as fast as she can. Even running past her father as he and Glato sit outside smoking. Glee yells at her “what the rush about.”

His daughter returns saying “A chick is very hungry. The mother can’t keep up.” She rushes back in.

Glee and Glato share a look. Glato gets up and runs in after her. The girl is grabbing what she can when Glato stops her and pulls a large pack of meat. Glato says “Here take this. It’s boar meat. It should fill that chick’s belly.” The pack is almost too big for the young girl to carry. So Glato puts it in his sack and takes off with her back to the nesting grounds.

Linee gave the chick a loaf of meat bread, which it devoured in seconds, sending pieces everywhere. Linee is afraid of the chick now, she doesn’t know if it knows the difference between friend and food. She hears her daughter returning and sees Glato is with her.

Glato pulls out the package of boar meat and tosses it to the chick. Glato says to Linee “That’s boar meat. It should keep her busy for a bit.” The piece of meat is almost as big as the chick. The chick tries to eat the meat quickly, but the boar meat is a bit tougher than bread. The chick starts settling down as it fights with the meat, tearing into it. Soon the chick has picked the meat clean off the bone, even chewing on the bones and breaking them open. The chick then goes to sleep after it finishes up.

New Mother comes flying in quickly with a kill and stops when she sees her chick asleep surrounded by bones. Linee can see the poor Harpy looks exhausted and looks like she is about to collapse. Linee has one meat bread loaf leftover after giving one to Grandma. Linee looks at Grandma, who just nods, then Linee walks over to offer the loaf to New Mother. New Mother takes the loaf and sits down to eat. Glato takes the kill and starts a fire to cook it.

 

A couple of days later, some farmhands have cornered a boar on the fields. They have called for Boar Killer and are just trying to keep the Boar from running around. Boar Killer dives in and grabs the Boar. The farmhands watch and wait for Boar Killer to drop the Boar. But instead, she just flies off with it.

 

The farmhands go to Glato to find out why Boar Killer didn’t drop the boar. Even Glee is surprised by her actions and wants to why too. The leader of the farmhands says to Glato “You know we get a cut of the money that the boar brings in when we sell it.”

Glato says “Yes, but she doesn’t!”

The leader says “Can’t you talk to her?”

Glato says “No! But I’ll see what I can do.”

 

Glato gets his hunting Harpies to get Speaker. He meets her near Glee’s home with Glee and Linee nearby. Glato says to Speaker “The farmers want to know why Boar…I mean the Great Sky Hunter didn’t drop the boar like she usually does.”

Speaker thinks for a moment then says “I check!” She flies off. Glato watches Speaker approach Boar Killer’s nest. Boar Killer squawks at Speaker and Speaker quickly flies back to the house.

Speaker says as she lands “Can’t get near. She has Egg now.” Glato drops to the ground.

Linee says to Glato “What did you expect?”

 

Glato heads to the Harpies nesting area and climbs up the crevice to get to the top. He then walks to Boar Killer’s nest. He can see a half-eaten boar carcass near her nest, but far enough away to keep the smell down. Glato even wonders if she is using it to attract prey for her.

Boar Killer sits nearly on top of her nest, guarding it. Glato slowly approaches and waits for her to make the next move. She shifts her body a little to show him an egg about the size of a newborn. Glato slowly moves closer to get a better look. He is able to sit next to the nest and looks up at Boar Killer with a smile. She smiles back. She settles back down on the nest. Glato sees she doesn’t sit on the egg but uses her body as cover for it.

 

Soon Grandma is making her way to them. Grandma moves slowly and keeps low at first, but once she senses that the Great Sky Hunter isn’t going to attack. She moves in next to Glato, then moves next to the nest. Grandma then starts looking the egg over and even smells it. Boar Killer keeps a close eye on Grandma. Grandma looks up at Boar Kill and nods before starting to head back. Glato realizes that Grandma was just checking the egg and she would know more about their eggs than anyone.

Please read the main story.

Human Myth: Vol 1

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