The Eagles’ Tale
? Chapter Fourteen
THE STORY SO FAR: On top of the mountain and face-to-face with the Eagles, Rainera has finally summoned up the courage to speak to them.
When Rainera asked, “Are you Eagles?” the woman’s face became serious. She looked at the other giants, nodded, and said, “You see? Her question goes to the heart of the matter.”
Then she turned back to Rainera. “We are the ones your people call the Eagles. Please, what are your names?”
“Rainera.”
“And you?”
“Dalton, ma’am. If you please.”
“Well, Rainera and Dalton,” said the Eagle woman, “though you are not the Emissaries we expected, you are clearly the ones both time and circumstance have destined for us to meet at this crucial time. Come with us, and do not be afraid. We have a special … gift for you. Please follow.”
The woman turned, and she and the other Eagles started off.
Dalton stood unmoving, so Rainera took his hand. “Come on, Dal,” she said. “You didn’t let me turn back before. Let’s follow them, like she said.”
“Right,” said Dalton. “Just give me a moment, will you, Rain? My, uh, feet just don’t seem to want to move.” He stood stuck, as if paralyzed. Then he took a deep breath and exhaled. “All right,” he said decisively. “Let’s go.”
The two young people set off at a run to catch up with the Eagles, who were already far ahead; they soon settled into a swift, steady pace, quick enough to keep up with the giants’ much larger steps. As they hurried along, Rainera thought, “She walks with such dignity and assurance. She’s clearly in charge, the leader. She’s … why, she’s Eagle Mother!” Rainera dug her elbow into Dalton’s side.
“Dal – look at her,” she whispered, nodding toward the giantess as she walked ahead of them. “She’s Eagle Mother. The real one!”
Dalton’s eyes went wide. He gulped. “I think you’re right.” Then he added, “Rain. What do you think their special gift might be?”
“Hmmm. Improved medicines?” answered Rainera. “Or a laser scalpel! I know Father would like that. Maybe some weather-changing machinery, or some new kind of computer. I don’t know. But whatever it is, it will be exciting.”
“Yeah,” said Dalton. “Yeah, I’m sure it will be.”
They continued across the meadow, sometimes nearly running again, taking three steps to match each of the Eagles’ one. The warm sunlight shone down on them with such force that by the time they reached the bower, they were hot and sweaty. And yet, it was deep winter!
The green, leafy shade of the bower was now more than welcome. Three big chairs, which had that poured look, greeted them. There was also a low bench of the same smooth material. The Eagles motioned, and Rainera and Dalton sat gratefully down.
Then the giant woman, whom Rainera now thought of as Eagle Mother, began:
“You call us Eagles, but it is a name given in error. One of the first of your people to see us, long ago, saw us wearing our helmets.” She pointed to the table nearby. Three helmets – not heads – sat there, the visors raised, so that from the side they resembled gigantic birds’ heads.
“That error was useful to us in teaching you, so we let it persist. Till now. Well, that necessity is finally past. So part of our gift to you, Most Honored Emissaries, shall be our story. Our whole, true story. You will be the first of your people to know who and what we really are.”
Rainera and Dalton looked at each other in surprise. Rainera was thinking, “‘Most Honored Emissaries’? What’s that about?” But what really puzzled her was something else. So what she asked was, “What do you mean, who you really are? Aren’t you Eagles?”
“No we are not. We are people – that is, Earthlings – just like you,” said the giant woman. “Only we have traveled more miles than you can imagine. Trillions and trillions of miles. And we have journeyed not just through the vastness of space, but through time as well. More than one thousand years have passed since we first left Earth.”
“What! How can that be?” exclaimed Dalton. “Even if you’re not Eagles, but really people like us, as you say, you have to be from space! That’s what we’ve been taught.”
“And you’re giants,” added Rainera. “And you live forever. That’s not like us at all!”
“As you say, we are giants from space,” answered Eagle Mother sadly. “Yet at the same time, we are people from right here on Earth. And no, alas, we don’t live forever. We live no longer than you do. And yet, we have seen times past and present, and more than a thousand years have passed here on Earth since we left. But – and please listen carefully now to what I say – while over a thousand years have passed on Earth, little more than a decade has passed for us.
Rainera felt her fists clench with tension. Her head seemed too heavy, and she felt dizzy. She tried to understand this puzzle, but without success. “It makes no sense! None at all!” she cried.
“No, I agree, it doesn’t,” the giant woman said gently and sadly. “But it is true, much too true, nonetheless. Dear Rainera and Dalton, let me say it as plainly as I can: We are you. We left Earth from near this very spot in that spaceship thirteen years ago.” She pointed to what Rainera and Dalton called the Eagles’ flying house. “There was a great city below this mountain then. You’d call it a big – a very big village. It was our home. We lived there. We flew into space from there and journeyed for over a thousand years. And now we are back. We … we are your own ancestors, returned from the stars.”
• NEXT WEEK: The Truth?