The Shovel

Meanwhile, Rosalie was flying through the air clutched upside-down in the claws of the One-Eyed Hawk.  She was angry at being caught and began to wiggle to free her feet.  The Hawk looked down angrily and clutched more tightly.   Rosalie then lifted herself and began punching at the Hawk.  From a distance it was amusing to see a flying Hawk with angry prey.  The Hawk bent down to snatch her with its beak and she punched its open socket where there was no eye.  The Hawk screeched, released its claws and she managed to climb on its back.  They flew as a team for a few seconds before the Hawk dove and twisted to try to remove her.  She held firmly and rode on its back when the Hawk suddenly flipped its wing causing her to fall off its back. 

As Rosalie fell through the sky she observed a cloud with a door attached.  She came closer to it and as she was just about to pass, the door quickly opened, a shovel appeared that Rosalie landed into and then quickly sprung back into a room with the door shutting loudly behind her.      

After a few moments to gather her senses, Rosalie began to scramble out of the shovel.  The room was unlit but had light streaming in through cracks in the walls so that Rosalie was able to make out a table in the corner with a lamp and a frog sitting at the table writing.  The frog kept writing and did not acknowledge her.  

She stood for several seconds staring at the large frog not knowing what to make of it.  She suddenly sneezed and the frog looked over at her.  The frog put down its pencil, hopped off its chair and walked over to Rosalie.  It said to her in a gutteral voice, “I see that my shovel picked up something unusual today.  I wasn’t expecting to find a human landing in my shovel.  You will be a new category on my inventory sheet under the heading ‘human’”.  Rosalie asked “What is this place and who or what are you?”  The frog introduced himself.  “My name is Marco.  I started this business called ‘Sky Debris, LLC’.  I designed this shovel that catches debris that falls from the sky.  I then sort the debris,  determine its value and then sell it on the black market to all sorts of shady characters such as rodents, research labs, and cosmetic facilities”.

Skirmish at the water bank

On the bank, the four Hawks lunged with their claws and open beaks at the Horse and the Little Owl.  The Little Owl looked in terror as he thought he was going to be torn to pieces.  Suddenly, Sensei swooped down and snatched the Little Owl in her beak.  She placed him gently in a tree away from the skirmish and flew back to join the fight.  Sensei, the Horse and the Owls clashed with the four Hawks.  There was a blur of claws, beaks, feathers, and hooves with spurts of blood from the injured.  After what seemed like hours but was actually only minutes, two of the Hawks were lying still and appeared to be dead, two Hawks flew off with loud screeching, three of the Owls were lying nearby and sustained deep injuries.  The rest of the crew including the Horse, Sensei, and the Owls stood bewildered for a moment and then tended to the wounded.  The Little Owl was too afraid to join them and remained safely in the tree where Sensei left him.