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            Torchlight shone down on the road casting dancing shadows over the pockmarked road. Hoof prints coated the entirety of the road but here and there were strange splatters of a silvery red liquid and scuffs in the road where something large had stumbled or fallen altogether.

            “Tay, look here. What is this?” asked a cloaked figure standing just outside of the torch’s reach. He pointed at the silvery red spatter from his seat on his horse’s saddle

            The man called Tay swung down from his bay mount to look closer. He touched it examining the liquid curiously; it seemed so very familiar to him. “I do not remember.” He pulled back his cloak hood, shaggy black hair spilled to his shoulders as his gray eyes searched the road. “Brock, come here. What do you see?”

            Brock dismounted and shuffled over to Tay slowly as if afraid to answer his friend’s questions. He followed Tay’s gaze to study the surface of the dirt road. He took Tay’s torch ran his fingers lightly over the scuffs and walked forward silently reading the unseen messages in the dirt and among the hoof prints.

            Tay took the horse’s reins and silently followed the boy, smiling. Brock is his best friend and an excellent tracker too. They’d been traveling together as nomads years, going from town to town staying as long as they were welcome and leaving when were not. They had ended up here on this road to Ettree by accident. They went with the wind.

            “Tay! Tay!”

Brock’s sharp tone brought Tay out of his reverie. He sighed and turned to the boy. “Yes?” he asked in a light tone.

Brock’s eye twitched in annoyance. He despised that Tay always hid the fact that he hardly ever listened to him and the way he talked keeping his tone calm and soft even when he was angered. “The creature that dropped that liquid is hurt and that stuff is probably its blood.”

“I see.” Tay passed the reins to Brock. “This is intriguing,” he muttered to himself as he walked further down the road.

They walked on for another mile or so. Tay continued talking to the air and Brock thought of how many ways he could scare Tay out philosophical mode. Suddenly Tay stopped staring in shock at the seemingly empty road.

“Now what?” Brock snapped.

Tay stooped reaching for something on the ground. He was hesitant about it as if he thought it would disappear if he touched it. He picked up the object of his attraction with a slow movement.

Brock stopped he had never seen Tay look so wondered or fearful. “Tay what have you got there?” The normally chatty twenty year old never even glanced up he was so mesmerized by his discovery.

“Tay what is it?” Brock asked in gentler tone. He let the horses’ reins slip through his fingers as he knelt beside the slightly older man.

Tay looked up with wide eyes in his hand he held a feather but no just any feather it was a feather of paranormal existence at two and a half feet long and a glossy bluish gray color with white frosting the edges it belonged to no bird that lived on earth. He blinked slowly before speaking. “Th- this is not from a normal bird.”

Brock shook his head staring at the feather in amazement. The ends were jagged like an owl but nearly three inches wide. Brock took it from Tay and waved it through the air. It made no noise explaining the jagged edges.

“A creature so smart it could usurp even the wisest man in the village,” Tay paused waiting for Brock’s reaction.

“Well what was it?” Brock urged. “Have I heard of it before?”

“Yes, Brock, this feather belongs to a Legendary,” Tay said, standing. “An injured Legendary by the looks.”

“Let’s find it,” Brock said jumping onto his palomino’s back.

            “Brock if we find this creature we must not tell anyone,” Tay warned.

            “Why not?” Brock asked indignantly. “I may be younger than you but I have common sense.”

            “I understand that Brock but some even may try to use it for evil you can’t trust strangers or many people for that