Warpaint

She dipped her beak down and accepted the hunk of meat that Bodo offered, lifting her head up and jerking it back several times to move the food down her throat. She finished and looked at him expectantly, but he just talked to her instead of feeding her again. It was all in German so I had no idea what he was saying, but it sure sounded like endearments to me.



“Jealous?” asked Peter, whispering in my ear.



I shoved him gently, trying not to bother the bird. “Hush, freak.”



“Do you want to watch her hunt?” asked Bodo.



“Yeeah,” said Peter hesitantly. He leaned over and whispered in my ear. “Do I want to see her hunt?”



“I think so, yeah.” I whispered back. “So long as it’s not our eyeballs she’s after.”



“Yeah, right,” he agreed, moving one of his hands up slowly over his eyebrows. “I’m ready!” he called out.



Bodo launched the hawk into the air and she rose up with a great beating of wings to fly some lazy circles above us. She stayed gliding on a current of air for what seemed like too long. I half expected her to just fall out of the sky for lack of effort.



When she finally did change trajectory, she nearly gave me a heart attack. She went from being a diamond-shaped feather in the air, to an arrow, rocketing down to the earth, aiming for something on the ground that I was just glad wasn’t me.



I moved closer to Peter and stroked Buster’s fuzzy back as he sat innocently in Peter’s arms, oblivious to the murderous predator above him.



“Are you as glad as I am that Buster’s not wandering around out there?” asked Peter.



“Yes, definitely.”



The hawk landed on something and looked like she was stomping around on the ground a little bit, her wings flaring out a few times before folding in again. Then she bent down and tore at something beneath her feet. I could see some of its flesh hanging from her beak.



Bodo tooted on his harmonica twice, and Nina lifted her head, immediately hunching down for a second before launching herself powerfully into the sky again. Her wings beat with hard thrusts, her amazing strength evident with each stroke. When she was high enough up, separated fully from the ground and the trees and grasses serving as her backdrop, I could see she had a snake in her claws. The thing was flopping around all over the place as she moved closer and closer to Bodo.



I put my hand up to my mouth, speechless, thinking, holy shit, I hope that thing is dead and not poisonous.



The hawk landed on Bodo’s arm and allowed him to take the snake from her, opening her sharp-looking talons and letting it drop into his hand. He lowered it slowly, letting it hang limply at his side.



I tried not to gag when he casually stuck the tail of it in the back of his waistband. He pulled out some more meat from his pocket and fed her, stroking her feathers as she gobbled it down like before.



I shook my head. I had seen her before, but I was still blown away by her now. She was almost magical. I was reminded of movies I had seen before the world had changed so much, with knights riding around on horses wearing chain metal and cloaks, living in castles and fighting battles against armies of men in kilts. I sighed, imagining Bodo dressed like that. He’d totally fit in.



“Swoon-worthy,” said Peter. “I have to admit. He goes from goofy to hot just like that.” He snapped his fingers.



“I know, right?” I looked at the snake hanging down over his backside. “Except for the whole snake in the pants thing. Not so swoon-worthy.”



“Yeah, right. Gah, that’s disgusting. Why’d you make me look at it?” He turned with Buster in his arms to slap me, but lost his grip when Buster wiggled at just the wrong time.



“Buster, no!” yelled Peter.



But Buster had other plans that didn’t include being coddled in Peter’s arms. He took off running, his leash trailing behind him, heading out into the grasses in the distance.



The hawk took one look at him and shrieked, throwing her wings out at her sides and flapping them frantically.



Bodo leaned back to get out of their way, hanging on to the leather straps that were wrapped around her ankles, yelling the whole time.



“Get him, Peter! Schnell! Quickly!”



Peter took off running daintily through the grass, yelling, “Buster, come back!” He went faster than I would have thought possible, quickly putting distance between us.



The hawk shrieked again, breaking free of her tresses and taking to the air.



I didn’t have to be a hawk expert to see that she had locked in on her target and she was going to go for it. It was Team Hawk against Team Fuzzy Pink Poodle, and I was absolutely sure who was going to win. It was no contest.



I took off sprinting after Buster. I had no plan in mind, other than to just tackle him and hope my back didn’t get too torn up from those talons. For a brief second I wondered if she would be able to rip out my spine. Her feet looked like they had knives on the ends of them, even from far away.



Her shrieks echoed around us.



I was closing in on Buster, but not as fast as winged death was.



I was just about to give up hope when I saw Buster stop.



His head disappeared for a second underground and then a rabbit jumped up out of nowhere, sending Buster out of the hole and into a barking frenzy.



The hawk swooped down, nearly taking Peter’s head off, causing him to scream like a girl on fire and drop to the ground.



The hawk continued on, gliding just over Buster’s back to grab the rabbit and tackle it to the ground.



Buster came up short, standing just two feet away from the hawk, dropping down into a prone position.



We all froze in place, watching the imminent tragedy playing out in front of us.



Buster whined, his butt wiggling with the effort of his tail. He clearly wanted to share the kill with the hawk, but was smart enough to ask permission first.



Peter gained his feet again and tiptoed over, talking in a quavering, high-pitched voice.



“That’s a good boy. Come on, Buster, come with me now. Leave the vicious, poodle-eating pterodactyl alone. Let her eat her fuzzy rabbit. Look! I have some snake for you!”



Peter reached into his pocket and pulled out a hunk of his dinner.



The hawk took one look at him and threw her wings out to the sides, opening her beak in a silent scream, no sound coming out.



“Don’t do dat! Put dat away!” shouted Bodo.



Peter quickly threw it at the bird in a panic.



Buster saw it leave Peter’s hand and followed its trajectory over his head, watching it land a couple feet on the other side of the hawk. Buster crouched down even lower and army-crawled around her.



I couldn’t frigging believe it. That stupid dog was going to try and take that snake meat away from her.



“Buster, no!” I growled out, but he ignored me. “Peter! Get him!” I whisper-yelled.



Peter took a step forward, and the hawk shrieked menacingly at him, fluffing her wings a little as she did.



“Oh, crap,” said Peter, now frozen in place. “I just peed a little.”



“Oh for shit’s sake, you people make me crazy,” said a voice from the trees. And out strode Coli, plain as day, marching over and picking Buster up in one hand and then walking over to grab the snake meat too and shove it in the dog’s mouth.



The hawk just watched her go, doing nothing.



Buster rode happily in her arms over to Bodo.



“Here. Take your stupid dog,” she said grumpily, dumping him unceremoniously into Bodo’s waiting hands.



She was walking back to the woods before my voice started working again. “Coli!”



“What?” she said, stopping and turning around.



“What the hell?” I couldn’t think of anything more intelligent to say, my brain still misfiring over all the unexpected action and barely avoided tragedy.



She shrugged.



“How did you know we were here?”



She laughed. “Are you kidding me? You’re like a herd of buffalo. Then you’ve got goofball over there blowing on that damn harmonica all the time.”



“How long haff you known about Nina?” asked Bodo, coming over to stand by me.



“Since the first day you came,” she said, less sarcastically.



“Why didn’t you say anything? Sell Bodo out?” I was so confused right now. Coli was impossible to figure out. Just when I thought I knew exactly what she was going to do, she threw me a curveball and did the opposite. She made no sense at all.



She shrugged. “I don’t know. It didn’t seem to be hurting anyone. Plus Bodo gave me his snakes and stuff for our dinners.”



“You didn’t belief dat I found dem?”



“No, of course not. Not when I saw your hawk bring them down.”



“You’f been watching me?”



“Yeah. You got a problem with that?”



“No. Dat’s nice. I hope you like her. Becauss if anyone here tries to hurt her, I will leaf and you will never ever see us again.”



Coli’s face took on an angry expression. “No one’s going to hurt her. She’s beautiful. And she’s completely safe with us, I can promise you that. We respect the hawk.” She pulled something out of her back pocket and spoke more calmly. “I found this.” She held up a feather, brown with some white parts. It looked familiar.



“Dat is from my hawk.”



“I know,” she said softly, staring at it. “I saw it fall one day when you were working with her. I came back and found it.”



Bodo looked at her carefully before saying, “You can haff it if you want. She won’t mind.”



Coli smiled genuinely, the joy lighting up her face with a stunning beauty. I was struck speechless when I saw it; it was so unexpected and weird on her.



“Thanks.” She turned and walked noiselessly away, leaving us standing there in the field.



Once she was gone, Peter turned to me and said, “Have I died and gone to some alternate dimension, or did Coli just smile?”



“No. Or yes, and we’re both there. Wow. She’s really pretty when she does that,” I said.



“She’ss very sneaky, dat girl. I never saw her. Not one time.”



“I wonder if she’s told anyone,” I said.



“I don’t think so. I’ve never gotten any indication of anything going on with Bodo from anyone I’ve worked with,” said Peter.



Bodo pulled his harmonica out of his pocket and blew out a short set of notes. The hawk looked at him and then bent down to her rabbit, tearing it apart. I had to look away to keep from feeling sick at the savagery of it. I knew it was all a part of nature, but it was a little too raw and real for me.



“Let’s go back to the hut. I need to go calm my head before I have a stroke,” said Peter, taking Buster from Bodo. He talked to him softly, walking into the trees, murmuring scoldings and concerns for his future welfare as he went.



“That was mind blowing,” I said, making my way through the swamp next to Bodo, following Peter on the path.



“Yeah. You can repeat dat.”



“You can say that again, you mean.”



“Yeah. Dat’s what I said.”



I tried to work on my silent walking, but quickly gave up. Coli was right. We were like buffalo.



“I like your hawk’s name. Nina. It’s like bold and kind of badass, too.”



“Like Bryn.”



I smiled. “You think so?”



“Yeah. I like dat you like her,” said Bodo, taking my hand.



“What’s not to like? She kills snakes and didn’t eat Buster. She’s my kind of girl.”



“Good. Because she is going with us to get dose canners.”



I frowned, thinking about all the reasons that shouldn’t happen. “I think that’s a really, really bad idea, Bodo. They have guns.”



“I know. But we are going to be gone for two days. Dat’s too long to be away from her. Don’t worry. I will be sure she is safe.”