Queen of Vultures
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Vultures
26th September 2022, 02:36 PM
The Rescue Attempt
"While I cannot retrieve your children for you, I can promise you this: if you join me, I will make sure my husband never has another one of your young kidnapped ever again. That goes not only for you, but for the entire vulture race. What do you say, your ladyship?"
The vulture queen looked the witch up and down, studying her. She saw in the witch's mind that she was not lying and would follow through with her promises. But yet, the vulture was grieved. The most recent kidnapping had left her heartbroken, especially once she learned that her daughter had not died as she thought she had. That she had been rescued from the sea and was now being used by the Dark Lord in an attempt to win power over the vulture race.
"I agree to it," the vulture replied heavily. "Though you will not mind if I make an attempt to rescue my daughter myself." The guilt weighed heavily upon her. How could I have left my daughter behind when she needed me most?
"Queen, I know you feel as though you are at fault for what happened. And yes, it is true, you are at fault for some of it, but I do not advise that you should make any attempt to save her. You will fail and it will only bring more harm to her."
"Lady Snowfalls, I must do this. I must try."
With those parting words, the vulture queen took flight, heading east towards Das. The vulture encountered no problems as she flew, but she was spied in the night sky by a black mass, who reported what it saw to Pythas.
Pythas laughed malevolently, figuring why the vulture was on this mission and had her daughter summoned before him. He sent the black mass back to welcome the Vulture Queen to Das and to make sure she would have a good perch to witness what he was going to do to her chick.
And so the black mass did indeed greet the Vulture Queen and had her perch on a window looking down into an evil chamber, which was currently devoid of any people but full of various devices of torture.
"The Dark Lord bids you welcome to his great land and requests that you rest for a moment and take in this great show, which is being put on specially in your honor," the black mass informed the queen.
She had a great sense of foreboding as she sat there waiting. Finally, a dark servant entered the room carrying a bird cage. The servant placed the cage on a table and left the room. Inside of the cage was the vulture's chick. She could hear her chirping in fear, calling out for someone as she was scare of being left alone in the cold dark evil room.
The Vulture Queen's heart ached at the frightened sound of her daughter. She tried to fly into the room but found the window was just barely too small for her to fit through and the black mass restrained her from flying away to seek another entrance.
"This is your last chance to accept the terms of the Dark Lord. Complete power and control over the Vulture Kingdom in exchange for your daughter," the black mass informed the queen.
The vulture said nothing, she was too proud to give up her rule over the Vulture Kingdom.
"So be it then. Enjoy the show." said the black mass. It demanifested itself and went to inform Pythas of the Queen's decision.
The vulture looked on and watched Pythas enter the room. The chick stopped chirping as he took her out of the cage, feeling comforted as she was no longer alone, but her comfort did not last for long. He held the chick so that her wings were spread and then started plucking the flight feathers out, one by one. The chick screeched in pain and terror at the painful removal of each feather, the chilling sounds of her cries amplified by the size and shape of the room.
When he was done, he placed the chick down. She staggered a few steps before falling down, fainting. Pythas looked up at the window where the mother sat.
"If you return to this land again to try to save your daughter, I will do much worse to her. I will torture her until not even Este will be able to heal her," he said darkly, his voice filling the entire room. Then he started to laugh his evil laugh.
The Vulture Queen took off and flew back to her land. She was consumed with guilt. The sounds of her daughter's cries of pain and the laughter of the Dark Lord echoed in her head. She would never again try to rescue her daughter.
Estrella 
