Sway’s belly dropped, even as his gaze hardened. He knew what Veesway was about to say, even before he declared-
“The female and the youngling stay with us. If she has not conceived, then she will be tossed into the jungle to let nature deal with her. Since you and her apparently followed the laws of beasts, you might as well live like them.”
“You-”
“But if she has conceived, she will stay,” Veesway continued, speaking to the gathered crowd who were muttering again, but this time, horribly, in agreement. “She will be allowed to carry the youngling to term. But when she is delivered of the egg, we will save the hatchling. I will raise them myself. Andthenshe will be tossed to the beasts!”
“You will not-”
Sway tried to rush forward, but he didn’t get more than a single step before he was converged upon from all sides. The domini that had formed a half ring behind him had just been waiting for the moment he stepped out of line.
They grabbed him. Kicking his knees out, forcing him to the ground. Someone put their weight on his back as his face was shoved against the stone, all four of his limbs caught and pinned. He struggled, but he couldn’t do more than jerk in their grasp.
“As for you, Eefwan thePacifist,” Veesway sang with derision, looking down at him with hatred dripping from his honeyed voice. “You have stained your feathers with blood.”
The crowd began humming. Almost chanting. Singing their approval of his condemnation.
“You have proven yourself to be mindless and violent and irredeemable!”
The humming was increasing in pitch, in speed. They weren’t calling out for his blood. No. It was worse than that. They desired nothing less than his destruction.
Sway was fighting. Hurting himself, scraping his feathers against the stony ground, as he struggled in vein to get even a single limb free. If he could just get enough leverage to get one of them off of him, then…
“You are not a farasie! You are not one of us! For you, a beast, there is only one place you deserve to go! Only one place you belong!”
They were going to throw him into the forest. Without supplies. Without shelter. Exile.
Murder in all but name. A way to kill him without getting their own hands dirty.
They were all humming now. Thrumming like the beat of a massive heart. United. Joined in their hatred and disgust and condemnation of him.
“Take him-”
A loud, melodious scream of horror ripped through the air. Slicing harshly through the humming of his coming demise. Sway’s eyes roamed, trying to track the sudden change in sound. But from where he was, he couldn’t see anything.
More screams. Running. Movement. Loud commotion.
What…?
“Monster!” Someone shrieked.
A roaring rumble. Unfamiliar, but he knew that sound.
The weight on one of his legs was suddenly gone. Sway didn’t pause to wonder why or try to figure out what happened. He jerked the now freed leg back, kicking to the side, aiming for whoever was sitting on his other leg. It was an awkward angle, but he had powerful kicks. Enough to upset the seat of whoever was on him. They fell to the side with a grunt, freeing both of his legs at the same time that one of the weights on his back was ripped away.
There were still two weights on his arms, but he could finally get one of his feet under him. And that was all he needed.
With a powerful lunge, he shoved himself forward, ripping his arms out from under his attackers. The stone ripped at his feathers, yanking a few out of his skin, but he got free.
The lunge was messy, desperate. But as his arms were freed, he could bring them forward and at least prevent his face from slamming into the stone. He caught himself right on the edge of the first step of the dais and, as his legs came around, carried by the momentum, he twisted them in the air so that when they landed, he was facing back around towards the crowd.
The two domini that had still been holding him down – a male and female – were already rushing his way. Bringing up their weapons.
He leapt forward. And now, without the weight on top of him, with the slight height from the steps, there was a great deal more power and finesse.
It was easy. Too easy. He flipped in the air, the back of his heel coming down onto the head of the domini male. It hit with a crack, followed by a crunch as he was slammed face first into the ground. Sway’s other foot finished the flip and he landed on his toes. He twisted, spinning and driving his knee into the female’s side. He kicked her away with a grunt.
The crowd was screaming. Panicking. And it wasn’t just about him.
