The Long Way Home: Chapter 9 - mid-flight snack

The day dawned bright and calm, but even with only a light sea breeze ruffling her feathers Samber was reluctant to leave the ghost ship. She had no clue how far she still had to fly to reach home and there might not be any more convenient stop-offs along the way. Putting the moment of departure off for a short while at least the bright little corva took her time over making sure her flight feathers were preened to perfection. Overhead the colours of dawn quickly gave way to a clear blue sky. Only a few small wispy clouds moved lazily across the open blue. 

 

Stepping up on to the ship's railings Samber stretched her wings wide and shook out her feathers. She was ready, time to fly. Her take-off wasn't one her best, it was hindered a little by the rotten railing breaking as she tried to push off from it, but without too much effort she recovered and lifted into the air. Slowly she climbing upwards in wide circles. When the ship below was reduced to a tiny dot on the face of the ocean Samber set her wings and turned her beak to the directions her heart told her would lead her home. 

 

The weather made flying easy, and though the rippling surface of the sea below her never changed Samber felt like she made good progress, she even forgot about her hunger and thirst for a while. The sun on her back was warm but not unpleasantly so. The wind was weak enough that she didn't have to put any effort or thought into combatting it. If it wasn't for the fact she had no idea how long she'd be forced to fly it would have been perfect flying conditions. 

 

A few times as she flew along Samber saw schools of humongous fish surfacing with a blast of mist. There where slate grey and far bigger than any creature she had ever seen before! Even a flock of gryphs would have had trouble pulling a fish that size from the water! There were much smaller fish too, some the size of humans others even smaller. She spotted them now and then. Dark outlines in the blue until they went too deep and disappeared into the darkness. So when she saw anther dark mass ahead she thought it was just another giant fish about to surface but getting closer the shape was all wrong. Instead of a streamlined body of a fish, this creature seemed to be a large roughly round dark blob. 

 

Curiosity snagged Samber gave a tilt of her wing to carry her lower and closer to the strange sea creature. As she descended she could make out a handful of larger fish swimming around the dark mass. It was only when one of the big fish swam directly threw the middle of it that the corva realised the dark sharp below were hundreds of smaller fish, not one giant creature. Going lower Samber watched in amazement. Never before had she seen so many fish in one place! There must have been hundreds! All packed in tight and very close to the surface. They made the top of the water boil and splash. 

 

Excitement bubbled up in Sambers chest. With so many fish so close to the surface she could surely scoop one up for a mid-flight meal. Mouthwatering at the prospect of fresh fish she glided downwards in wide circles. The closer she got the better she could see the individual fish that made up the bait ball. They were pretty unremarkable as fish went, just sleek and silver. Each fish was proably as long as a human's forearm. A handful of fish that size would make a welcome meal. With so many of them swimming so fast and close together it was impossible for Samber to pinpoint one target like she would have if her quarry were rabbits or deer. A little bit of luck was going to come into play with this hunt. 

 

The first pass she made over the bait ball was just a practice swoop, to make sure she didn't end up in the water. There was no land or humans close by to help her out again if she ended up waterlogged like after her battle with the blue tyto. Swooping around in a large ark Samber lined up and came at the bait ball again. This time her claws cut threw the top of the water. She felt them hit fish but failed to grip one. Undeterred by her first two fruitless passes the colourful corva made another turn and swooped in for a third try. This time her claws sunk into flesh, the end of her tail got a small soaking as she pulled up but that didn't dampen Samber's victory. Opening her beak wide she screamed her success to the sky. The fish in her claws trashed wildly but she had an iron grip on it. It took a bit of effort to get her wriggling sea-snack from her talons to her mouth but when she did it disappeared in one large gulp. 

 

It was hit and miss whether she caught a fish with each swoop. Sometimes the bait ball went to deep for her to pluck them out the water. Other times the larger fish drove the smaller one up to the surface and they practically jumped from the sea into her claws. Even with having to make a few passes for each fish, it didn't take long for Samber to catch half a dozen and gobble them down. She could have eaten more but stuffing herself with a potentially long flight still ahead of her seemed like a foolish plan. She just ate until her hunger was satisfied. It seemed a shame to waste so much easy to catch food, but with the sun in the spy and the wind calm, she wanted to make as much headway as she could and that would be hard is she ate her weight in fish. 

---- 

 

1009 words - 5AP 

Background - 2AP

Bio - 1AP 

Fishing - 2AP

Survivalist - 1AP

 

Total: 11AP