Radiance

Chapter 82: A Roost With a View.

Hill and the Avian woman simply stared at one another for what felt like an eternity before he decided that saying anything was better than the soul-crushing silence and scrutiny that had surrounded him.

"Umm hi," Hill said watching the woman very carefully for a reaction to his words and he got one even if it was kinda small.

The woman cocked his head and he saw her large golden eyes narrow as she scrutinized him but she didn't speak, she simply watched him.

Hill sighed it was probably too much to hope for that she wanted to have some kind of meaningful conversation with him given that her people had just plucked him off a battlefield having been caught trying to infiltrate their territory and kill their people, even if it was an order that he had wholeheartedly been against it wasn't like he could exactly prove that now could he?

"Look for what it's worth and I'm not even sure if you understand me here but here goes anyway, I'm sorry, I really don't want to be here fighting with you people, hell I'd give anything to be just about anywhere else right about now, I didn't join the Brotherhood for this shit, I wanted to make a difference to the normal people of the wastes, to give them something to aspire to and to believe in, not to be some fucking purist stooge trying to 'cleanse' the wastes of everything that our Elders have deemed a threat to humanity or impure, hell it's beginning to feel like I joined a fucking cult rather than an army but I gotta say I was impressed with how easily you took us all down though you might just regret it when the reinforcements arrive," he said leaning back against the wall of the cage.

"We will fight regardless, you invaded our lands coloniser not the other way around," the woman suddenly said in perfect English which surprised Hill and caused him to sit up and stare at her in shock a fact that she easily read on his face.

"What did you believe that because we are not of your species or that because we do not live in high-powered stolen airships or walk around in powered metal suits we are all savages? Or did you simply believe because you are human that you are the pinnacle of all creation, that the Great Pheionix blessed your species above all others simply because you are you?" she said with a burning look of anger in her bright golden eyes.

Her accent was rather odd almost like it had been mimicked as he swore that he could hear a variety of different accents all meshed together as she spoke, almost like he was hearing five or six different people all speaking at once and saying the same thing so that his brain pieced the words being said together to make the sentence spoken.

Hill felt the sting of that one has heard so many of his brothers and sisters refer to them as such, "Not personally no and before you say it yes I know how many of my kind refer to you but it is not a view that I personally hold, I believe that all life is important in its own way," Hill said with a sigh and the woman cocked her head as if either curious or unbelieving of his words.

"Then you would be in the minority of your kind, having witnessed the barbarity of your people I can say wing on heart that if there was ever a species that was far from blessed it would be yours, never before have I seen a race so self-destructive," she said scowling at him through the bars of the cage and hill just couldn't help it, he had to ask.

"Where did you learn your English honestly it's better than mine," he said and she made a clicking sound with her beak as she snapped it shut.

"What you believe that we are incapable of learning your simple language? I speak several human dialects some of us far many more, your languages are nothing special, just like your species," she said huffily ruffling her feather and fluffing them up around her head and neck before flattening them and glaring at him again.

"I didn't mean it as an insult I was simply curious was all, there is no need to throw insults at me," Hill said and she cocked her head to one side to focus a single large eye on him.

"Oh really? Do you believe so? our kind come into our lands in an attempt to exterminate us for nothing more than daring to exist and you get offended because I dare to throw insults your way, I do believe you should consider yourself lucky human if it were up to me you would be suffering a far worse fate than being insulted, your kind have murdered mine for no other reason than our existence offends your delicate fucking egos and delusionary belief that you are the top of the fucking food chain of this cursed place, well I have news for you human, I do not care a single fuck what you think or if you are offended by my words, you have a lot to answer for and it is my distinct wish that our elders see the wisdom of stringing you up at the border of our lands as a warning to the rest of your kind of what will happen to them should they set another foot on them!" the woman snarled angrily before banging her hand on the bars of his cage making Hill jump and stare at her with his mouth hanging open.

He took a deep breath trying to find a rebuttal but he was truly struggling, she really hadn't spoken a single lie in her accusation, it seemed that since Elder Maxim's great cleanse of the wasteland had begun the Brotherhood had made more enemies than ever and since it had ramped it up after his death to 'honour' his memory it was just getting worse if they didn't rethink their strategy soon Hill could see them winding up going to war with pretty much the entire wasteland.

"I'm sorry," he said softly and the woman went to shout something else before freezing in place with her feathers all puffed up like she had been expecting him to argue with her not actually apologise to her.

"What did you say?" she asked very slowly and Hill lifted his head to look her right in the eyes.

"I said I'm sorry and yes I know Icannot speak for all humans when I say this but I can at least speak for myself and I have always tried to be an honest and at the very least a good person so its all I can do in this circumstance, I am sorry for what your people hav suffered at our hands and I wish it was in my power to change or even reverse it but it's not and I know my apology carries zero weight given the circumstances but it's all I have to offer, it was not my choice to be where I was or to be doing what I was doing but I am a good soldier, I follow my orders even if I do not agree with them because that's what a soldier does, but please belive me when I say this, this is not what I wanted at all, I don't want the Brotherhood to be reduced to armoured thugs, the Brotherhood I know and love is made up of good people who simply want to make things better but they have become disillusioned and poisoned by ideals and seductive ideas which are born of hate, so I am sorry for what i have done and what my people have done, it's all I can say really," Hill said softly.

The angry Avian woman seemed to deflate and her feathers ruffled and fluffed as she seemed to consider his words while trying to make sense of him, it was obvious to Hill that his response had not been the one she had been expecting and it confused her.

"You are lying, you would say anything to get out of that cage," she said finally and Hill shook his head.

"Not true, I'm not expecting mercy here though I would be lying if I said I wasn't at least hoping for some, but I am under no illusions of what is most likely to happen to me all I can really ask for is that you at the least give me a quick clean death rather than a drawn out one, so if my last words are to mean anything at all I'd rather have my intentions heard and understood so maybe just maybe you can at least see that not all humans are bad people, but some of us have embraced bad ideals and that has poisoned many others, I know an apology from a captured soldier carries little weight and seems pretty hollow but it is all I have to offer given the circumstances, it was not my choice to be where I was or doing what I was doing I simply followed my orders and did my duty as a soldier, nothing more, I just hope you can understand that," he said.

The eagle woman made a deep snarling noise and snapped her beak a few times as if the fact that his words confounded her angered her, it was like she wished him to lash out so she would have an excuse to further taunt and insult him, but in Hill's experience it is really difficult to throw animosity at one who shows you empathy and this seemed to be the case among her kind as well.

The woman stomped around the prison area as if battling with herself over his words till eventually she came to a conclusion and stormed back to his cage, "What is your name human?" she demanded.

"Adam Hill, Knight first class of the Brotherhood of Steel," he replied and she looked him up and down.

"Very well Adem Hill, if our elders do decide that you are to be executed for your crimes against us I will advice them to show honour and mercy in granting you a quick painless death, your words have shown honour that I would not have expected coming from one of your kind and it would be deserved for that at the least," she said and before he could thank her for that she was gone obviously to report what he had said to the elders.

Hill sat alone in the prison now with the weight of what she had said crushing down on him, it had been a crawling squirming thought at the back of his mind the entire time since he had woken up in this prison that he faced execution but now the words of this native woman had pretty much confirmed it and it planted a hard kernel of fear in his heart.

Now it wasn't death itself that caused him to fear, death was a harsh reality that every living being faced down at some point, it was inevitable, no what caused him to develop this fear was more the manner in which his death arrived because at the end of the day who wanted to experience a long, drawn out, painful and humiliating death?

He tried to rest but the fears kept swirling around in his heart and he began to think about some of the things he'd read in the historical archives in his spare time about the old world, more specifically about the old prison systems and something called Death Row.

This was where prisoners that were sentenced to die for their crimes were sent and he wondered to himself if this was the same sort of fear that they had felt?

Sitting there simply waiting to die with the ever-present knowledge that with every single day that passed they were one step closer to having their life forcibly taken from them, how does someone live with that existential reality?

As he thought that through memories of his life swirled among the thoughts and he experienced flashes of these memories showing him some of the more beautiful moments of his life, things like the day he passed his training and was bandaged a full-blown Knight and not an apprentice, or like when he first sat on the roof of Rivet City watching the sunset over the water.

Now all these beautiful moments in time would be lost in the void, gone just like their owner, but then does one ever truly own a moment in time despite it forever being etched into their mind? He supposed it could only ever be immortal if it was a moment shared with the world so others could see it in their own mind's eye as well, a moment shared was a moment relived by many, a moment spread through time rather than lost to it like all of his were about to be.

After what felt like a mixture of hours and mere seconds the woman returned only this time she brought with her four others all of them armed with unusual-looking bladed weapons as well as firearms.

They also looked to be a mixture of subgenus as well from the look of them, two of them looked like they were related to Ravens while one of the others kinda looked like an owl, and the last one who was blatantly a male looked like a rather angry Goose as he glared in at Hill breathing out a hiss at him.

"You are to be taken before the elders for them to pass judgement upon you and to answer for your crimes, do not resist Adam Hill or it will be a lot more painful for you than it need be if any of the words you spoke to me earlier be true then show the dignity and honour that you have spoken of," the Eagle woman said.

Hill sighed heavily and nodded rising to his feet he held out his wrists to the guard closest to the gate who was carrying a pair of what appeared to be manacled, the Goose guard actually seemed surprised by this action and glanced at the others in surprise who all simply shrugged as if they were equally baffled by his behaviour.

"No stupidity human," the Goose hissed and opened the cage door before stepping inside and snapping the manacles over his wrists and attaching them to a chain which he used to pull Adam along with him as the four guards formed a box around him with the Eagle woman leading the way, that's when Hill got the shock of his life.

As they stepped out of the door of the dark prison the flare of the sunlight hit him like a slap and he shielded his eyes causing the Goose guard to yank the chain nearly making him fall which made him smirk, especially when he recoiled in fear when he saw the drop on either side of the small bridge they appeared to be on.

The eagle woman let out an angry-sounding explosive burst of language which Hill had absolutely zero chance of unscrambling, it sounded like a rapid burst of bird song mixed with chirps, whistles, clicks and beak snaps.

But whatever it was she said it seemed to work as the guard looked suitably chastised and simply lifted Hill back to his feet in the middle of the box, it was now that his vision chose to clear and truly show him the scope of what his eyes had hinted at, they were thousands of feet in the air!!

As hill looked around his mouth just dropped open in disbelief, the Avians had built a city in the sky, for a moment he had thought that maybe they were atop a giant tree or mountain but that's when he saw the truth, the whole place was a series of huge interconnected islands that sat atop of massive gas bladders with huge propellers correcting their flight constantly, no wonder the Brotherhood had never managed to find their home base, the ground sites were merely staging posts, they lived in the sky!

The islands were tethered together with huge rope bridges that flexed and swayed constantly but appeared to be made of a material that was both elastic and solid, it kinda reminded him of silk in a way and was woven to a such thickness that the strands would probably be far stronger than steel plus given the moisture in the air thanks to the height would be slightly damp at all times making it even stronger and denser.

It beggared belief that what appeared on the outside to be a tribal people could ever imagine such a thing let alone actually construct a technological marvel, it look like it had flown right out of one of the Steam Punk style vids that Hill liked to watch when he came across them in the wastes, these people had created an actual floating city in the clouds.

Hill was led like a chained animal through the streets of the city which to his eyes had absolutely thousands of Avians of a truly impressive variety living in it, it was like looking at a living explosion of colour as they all stopped to watch him being led across their flying lands to its centre where stood what they had referred to as the temple of the elders.

It amazed him not only in its scope but in its surprisingly primitive nature, these people were buzzing around in fancy vehicles or using high-tech tools for everything, they seemed to pride themselves on the simple life a point that was hammered home by the fact that he saw a brahmien pulling along a plough what was being driven by a group of Pidgeon like farmers on a floating farm island that was off to the side of the main island that they were currently walking over.

He also noted that the vast majority of the people simply didn't need the bridges and they were merely an alternative for the people who were carrying heavy loads as most people simply flew everywhere rather than walked.

As they finally reached the temple Hill felt his amazement subsiding and giving way to a kind of finality, it was like this last amazing memory had been burned into his mind for him to live again only to have the chance to do that taken from him by what was most likely about to happen to him and that actually made him sadder than his impending death itself.

There was a set of stairs that led up to the large building at the centre of the floating island, on either side of it were what appeared to be statues of a variety of the Avian subspecies all in rather heroic poses.

Hill found himself wondering just how powerful the floatation systems must be to support the weight of all this but then the statues didn't look like metal exactly or like rock come to think of it, if he had to place it the stuff was more like a dyed and polished resin of some kind, infact all the houses and buildings seemed to be made of the stuff come to think of it, it must be incredibly strong and light for it to remain afloat like this.

He was guided into the dimly lit building which seemed to get its light from a series of mirrors which seemed to use a rotating system that was attached to a large rotating mirror set into the roof that directed sunlight down and bounced it off another series of them set around the room, each one of them was held by another statue of what must be Avians past, just how old was this species?

Around them was a series of tables where what looked to be scribes dressed in what looked like a mixture of traditional tribal attire and robes were sitting and writing down things thaat were being added to large ledgers that were kept on shelves that were set all around the outer walls.

In the centre of the room where a single shaft of the light was angled down from the ceiling-mounted mirror hit was a group of older-looking avians dressed in beautiful looking silken robes that were decorated with large heavy looking feathered headdresses containing little amber and silver charms.

These must be the elders that he was being brought to see and Hill could see that already did not look pleased to see him, oh this was not going to be a fun conversation he could already smell it.

"On your knees prisoner, you will kneel before the elders," the female Avian said before his escorts pushed him down to his knees as she turned to face the gathered group.

"Honoured elders I have watched over and now brought the prisoner known as Knight first class Adam Hill as you have instructed me to, my duty is done," she said bowing to them.

"Very good honoured Feather Guard Jewel Lighttail, is there anything to report about the prisoner's conduct?" one of the elders a rather large male who looked remarkably like a horned owl asked.

She glanced at Hill and her eyes seemed conflicted but then she turned back to them and nodded, "Yes his conduct has been both honourable and dignified, he has given no trouble or resistance, he has conducted himself befitting a man of honour in my humble opinion and if I may honoured elders I have given my word that if his punishment should be death that he is granted an honourable and quick death befitting this conduct," she said.

This actually seemed to both surprise and impress the elders and they glanced at one another before glancing at him and Hill could feel their gazes penetrating his soul like firey hot needles.

"Very well thank you for your honesty Feather Guard Lighttail we will most certainly take that in onto consideration," the horned owl said before turning and stepping towards Hill making his talons click on the hard resin-like floor.

"So your name is Adam Hill and you are Knight first class correct?" he said and Hill nodded.