The others would all assume that he’d happened upon a predator on his patrols. An ambitious hawk could have snared him in its talons. A possum or a raccoon, awake at odd hours, could have caught him in powerful claws to make a meal of him. He could have gotten hurt and fallen somewhere for a snake to happen upon him. Anything at all could have befallen him out in the woods to leave no evidence of Bowman Leafwing, and it’d make no difference to them.
The others would all assume that he’d happened upon a predator on his patrols. An ambitious hawk could have snared him in its talons. A possum or a raccoon, awake at odd hours, could have caught him in powerful claws to make a meal of him. He could have gotten hurt and fallen somewhere for a snake to happen upon him. Anything at all could have befallen him out in the woods to leave no evidence of Bowman Leafwing, and it’d make no difference to them.
“Well, Bowman, let’s get going,” the giant said, putting a teasing sort of emphasis on Bowman’s name. The tupperware soared into the air. Bowman’s heart tried to stay behind.
“Please,” he said, for the first time since he’d begun his shouting at the giant. Now, his voice was reedy and quiet. “Please just let me go.”
Bowman lurched to his feet and pressed his hands against the lid, but his strength was no match for the giant. It snapped into place so loudly that he thought his eardrums might have popped. Bowman could only see vague shapes tinted red through that lid.
Everything else around him was the same, except tinted grey. Bowman was stuck inside a container barely half the width of his wingspan.
“Let me out right now! ” he demanded, slapping his hands against the lid above him.
“Shut up.” “I didn’t say anything!” “Don’t care. Shut up.”
A fun dialogue prompt for Jacob. And, honestly, who else would he have this conversation with but Bowman Leafwing?
Jacob pursed his lips in an effort to school his expression. He’d definitely heard the sound of Bowman’s landing, though he hadn’t expected it at all. He tread carefully on grassy patches and whatever stones he could find until he could catch up, and then he squatted down so he could see.
Bowman sat up and lifted his arms and wings out of the mud he’d careened right into. Globs of soaked earth dropped from the limbs with tiny plops and Jacob bit determinedly on his lower lip. It wouldn’t do any good to laugh now.
Even covered head to toe in mud, it was very easy to tell when Bowman was about to boil over.
Wild, dark green hair matted down to his head and Bowman’s eyes shone especially bright in contrast with the mud dripping onto his face. Jacob could hardly even see his lower half stuck in the mud puddle.
Bowman whipped his gaze upward. “Shut up!”
“I didn’t say anything!” Jacob insisted, his voice shaking with laughter he refused to let out.
“Don’t care. Shut up.” Bowman’s word was final, though even Jacob could pinpoint the embarrassment in his voice.
“What even happened?” Jacob asked, his voice gentler than before. He hesitated to pick Bowman up and help him out of the mud until he got permission. With the tiny sprite’s pride, one couldn’t be too careful.
Bowman grumbled to himself and tried to brush more globs of mud off his arms. His wings were coated and heavy with the stuff. “Flew through a spiderweb,” he mumbled.
Jacob’s eyebrows shot up and he was caught somewhere between amused and concerned. “You’re not gonna get bit, are you? Got any passengers?”
Bowman shook his head and some drops of muddy water flew away from his hair. “I don’t think the spider was in the center. She’s probably upset that I took her net down, though.”
Jacob sighed and a low, quiet roll of thunder rumbled overhead. As if claiming its own innocence in the whole ordeal. The rain pattered lightly against the canopy above, but only a few drops here and there fell on him so far. Bowman had happened to land in the path of the small storm’s runoff.
“How about I get you to the stream?” Jacob offered, holding out a hand towards his small friend. The fall had been amusing, but poor Bowman’s wings were drooping and it was kind of pathetic.
Bowman shot him another glare. “Fine. But not a word to anyone else, do you hear me?”
Jacob shook his head. “Not a single one. Promise.”
Bowman nodded sharply in approval, and then leaned towards Jacob’s hand. His own tiny hands left smears of mud on Jacob’s fingers as he scrambled for purchase, and when he finally managed it he had to tug himself out of the mud as it tried to keep him. As soon as he could, Jacob curled his fingers up under Bowman’s middle to help tug his legs free.
Bowman crawled to Jacob’s palm, wings dragging and his clothes sopping wet.
“What would you do without me?” Jacob asked, lifting Bowman up and nudging him with his thumb. Bowman swatted at it and glared, so he was probably alright.
“I’d die of shame,” the sprite answered ruefully. “Just get me to the stream before I decide to throw mud in your hair.”
A tent, colossal enough to fit the giant and made out of a strange shiny cloth sat nearby. The ground was scattered with things Bowman couldn’t stare at long enough to name. He only saw enough to know they were big and alien to him. His eyes lingered on a rough circle of ashes filled charred wood. The remains of a fire.
The giant had built a fire, and recently. Bowman thanked the Spirit that he hadn’t ended up cooking on the flames.
Bowman let out a cough when the thumb tightened against him and then shoved him upwards along the palm without any warning, and then the fist closed around his body from the waist down. No matter how much he kicked his legs and pushed against the index finger curled in front of him, he couldn’t escape. That pulse surrounded him and the heat from the giant’s skin encased his lower half.
The giant snagged one of Bowman’s frantic wings in a pinch grip to hold it still. It twitched and Bowman tried to pull it free, but he might as well be trying to push a tree over. The giant was too strong and Bowman’s heart pounded with the worry that it would only take one little tug for the giant to lame him for life. “You’re okay, little guy. I’m not gonna hurtcha.” The giant’s dismissive reassurance rumbled around him.
“Just imagine my great relief,” Bowman shot back despite his fear. “Let go of my wing and let go of me! How many times to I have to say it?”
The giant’s mouth twitched. “This knife isn’t for you, little guy,” he said gently. “It’s for the strings. I don’t wanna try untying anything and pinching you.”
With the explanation, the giant decided to move again regardless of what Bowman had to say about it. The knife closed in, and Bowman wriggled like a worm to try to keep away from it. It was in vain. The thumb resting over him was more than enough to immobilize his chest, and the rest of him was hindered by the tangled ropes. He couldn’t avoid it.
Bowman heard the sounds of things clattering together, but they didn’t sound like anything he recognized. Finally, after an age, the hand opened and allowed the sunlight to fall on Bowman and the breeze to cool him after his long time stuck.
There was a knife in the giant’s other hand.
Bowman released a cry of horror and moved to roll himself over on the hand, give himself a chance to crawl away and escape.
Brothers Apart 