Chapter 26
As the pounding rush of waters enveloped Song she struck out wildly. Her world now consisted of a roaring, boiling melee, in which she was as helpless as a leaf in a hurricane. Water battered her eyes shut, gushing up her nostrils, down her ears and into her mouth. Without warning a powerful pair of talons latched on to her paws, like a drowning swimmer clutching a twig. Something hard struck her body: a jagged peak of rock, sticking up underwater. Heavy sodden feathers flapped slowly, embracing her. The squirrelmaid forced her eyes open for an instant and found herself facing a huge, hooked, amber beak. Then an eddy caught both Song and the osprey, whirling them around the rocky pinnacle like a pair of spinning tops. There was tension pulling at Song, from the rope tied about her waist, but then it slackened off with frightening suddenness. The side of Song's head thudded against the rock, knocking her senseless.
On the rocky edge of the waterfall, Dann felt the rope go slack. Numbly he drew in the line, stunned by what had happened. Behind him he could hear Dippler yelling hoarsely, "Song, where are you? Sooooong!"
Dann sat down with a groan, covering his eyes with both paws, trying to blot out the awful realization of tragedy. Dippler slapped him hard across his face, shouting at him over the roaring noise of falling waters.
"Get up, mate! Keep an eye on the place where she went down. I'm goin' to get Burble an' the boat. Wait here!"
Galvanized into action, Dann sprang upright. He found a broken branch and tied it to the rope's end. As Dippler raced away he saw Dann throwing the branch out into the water cascade, roaring, "Grab the branch if yore there, Song, grab the branch!"
Dippler clambered off over the wet stones, muttering aloud, "Leastways he's doin' somethin' instead o' sittin' there in a blinkin' trance!"
Song twisted and turned. Grandma Ellayo was standing right in front of her, talking, but her voice sounded strange. Rimrose and Janglur had tight hold of Song's paws, and Ellayo was speaking to them. "Rrrrrr! Should've threwed dem back in. Not fishes, rrrr no, only trouble. Glockglock!"
Now Ellayo was forcing Rimrose and Janglur to release their grip on Song, though her parents' paws felt .' unusually sharp and strong. Ellayo was speaking again. "Rrrrr! Use ye beak, dumb duck, use ye beak. Rrrrrr!"
The squirrelmaid's eyes opened slowly. She could not focus properly and seemed to be viewing things through a haze. Small snakelike creatures with long narrow beaks surrounded her head. One pecked Song sharply on her nosetip. Song sat up, shaking her head, sending the creatures scattering. When her vision cleared, a big bird to one side of her was cackling, "Gluck gluck gluck! Can't eat 'em, not fishes. Gluck gluck!"
The small creatures were not snakes, they were long-necked cormorant chicks. Her paws were freed by a full-grown male, obviously the father.
"Rrrrrr, we catch fishes, gluck gluck, you catch big eagle!"
The mother cormorant, whom Song had taken to be Ellayo, chanced a peck at the osprey. It did not stir.
"Glockglock, this bird deader'n deadfish, methinks!"
The male cormorant's strange blue eyes blinked scornfully. "Rrrreek! Eagle alive as me'n'you, wait'n'see!"
Song lay recovering her senses as the two cormorants began an argument, hopping about and fanning out their wings, while the chicks scurried this way and that to avoid being danced on or batted by an outstretched wing.
"Rrrraahh! Eagle alive, squiddle too. Rrrrrr! Not in my nest thankee! Glock! They'll eat my eggchicks, gerrrrremout!"
"Gluckgluck! Don't be a daftduck, eagle an squiddle won't eat eggchicks, I saved their lifes. Rrrrr!"
"Rrrrr, glock! Shutcha beak, saved their lifes, rrrrrekk! I say gerremout, not stayin' in my nest, squiddles, eagles, chukk! Not stoppin' heeeeeere!"
While the furious debate raged on, the little chicks never let up their ceaseless cries.
"Glick glick glick glick!"
Song took stock of her position. She was at the center of a large untidy twig and grass nest sprawled atop a rock shelf, somewhere downstream. To her left she could vaguely see the falls and hear their distant roar. On other parts of the ledge were similar nests, all occupied by cormorant families. At odd moments one of the birds would plunge off the ledge into the broad deep stream, disappearing underwater for quite a while, then suddenly bobbing up a good distance away, usually holding a wriggling fish in its beak.
Beside her, the osprey opened one flecked golden eye. Immediately all activity ceased, the cormorants frozen in fear. The big fish eagle's dangerous beak opened wide. Song held her breath. It was a frightening sight, but then the osprey retched, spewing forth a fountain of water. Shaking its body vigorously, the big bird struggled into a standing position. Both the fierce eyes were open now, and Song quailed under their savage scrutiny. A heavily taloned claw placed itself lightly on her paw.
"Yerrah bonny beast, lassie, ye saved the life o' Megraw, an' ah'll no' ferget it. Whit name d'ye go by?"
Song shook the taloned claw warmly. "I'm called Songbreeze, sir, but you may call me Song."
Something resembling a smile hovered on the eagle's fierce face. "Ach! Don't be callin' me sir, Song mah lass. Ah'm known by the name o' Mighty Megraw, but Megraw'll do jus' fain." Then the eagle turned to the male cormorant, nodding politely. "An' mah thanks to ye, guid bird, fer pullin' us frae yon water."
The female cormorant averted her head, speaking as if to nobeast in particular as she hugged and plumped her feathers. "Rrrrr! Squiddles'n'eagles can't stop 'ere. Gluck gluck, no!"
Megraw fixed her with a murderous stare. "D'ye no say? Well, mah compliments to ye, marm, me an' mah guid friend'll no stay longer than the time et takes us tae walk away frae here. Though if ye look doon yer beak at us like that again, ah'll eat ye for sure an' give yer mate a bit o' peace. Good day to ye now. Come on, Song mah wee lassie."
Song followed Megraw as he limped from the nest, nodding a silent and grateful farewell to the male cormorant as she went.
Making their way along the bank, they left the rocky area and sat to rest on a mossy sward. Night was beginning to fall. Megraw nodded his head in both directions. "Well, which way noo, Song?"
The squirrelmaid looked back toward the waterfall. "I have three friends, but I parted from them at the top of the falls when I jumped in after you. They'll be searching for me now, I expect. Perhaps we'd best stay here until they come along this way to find me. What d'you think, Megraw?"
"Aye, we'll do that, though ah'm powerful hungry the noo."
Song undid the broken rope from about her waist, surprised that her Leafwood stick was still thrust into it. "You stay there and rest, mister Megraw. I'll go and find us some fruit and berries. Should be some hereabouts."
The osprey squinched his eyes up in disgust. "Fruit'n'berries, did ye say? YeTl poison yersel' fer sure, lass! You go an' search out yer ain vittles, an' leave me here tae fish. An' don't call me mister. The name's Megraw, d'ye ken."
Song had not strayed far when she found blackberries and some fine apples. As she returned to the bank, Megraw averted his head politely and swallowed. "A guid spot this, ah got mahseT a plump wee grayling. But fear not, Song, 'tis gone now. Ah mind how the sight o' flesh-eaters can upset those who live on roots an' berries an' sich nonsense. Nae wonder they cannae fly!"
As night drew on the strange pair sat by the stream telling each other their life stories. When Song had told Megraw about the quest she and her friends were on, he perked up immediately. It turned out that the osprey was a wanderer. A lone, wide-ranging eagle, he had come down from the far northeast. In his travels he had discovered a big inland lake, where the fish were plentiful. All pike, but that made little difference to him, he was very partial to a big pike. But one night, when Megraw was resting in a partially constructed nest he was building on the lakeshore, he was ambushed by a mob of magpies. The birds took him completely by surprise and thrashed him. The osprey managed to escape with three things: his life, a broken wing, and a massively injured pride. He had traveled far from the lake, finally settling on the falls as a place where other creatures could not bother him. Megraw stared at the stream, his wild eyes glittering with the light of vengeance.