The story of MIRIAMA – part 5 - The Jet Beast and the Giant Bird's nest.

As Miriama and Stellany continued along the road to Glacia that wound through the centre of Senuris they heard an enormous boom in the sky and,presuming it to be thunder,they took shelter in a nearby cave by the edge of a great lake. However, while they were sheltering within the cave they saw,landing beside the lake,a strangely armoured and visored person who was piloting what, at first, appeared to be a large orange,scaly,bat winged beast with a head for a tail and a tail for a head.

Infact the beast was a kind of dragon that flew back to front,propelled by its flaming mouth. Its pilot,who was strapped into a saddle of some kind,guided the dragon creature by reigns that were attached to its spiky tail and the pilot had landed so that his bizarre mount could drink water from the lake.

“It was not the thunder we heard”,deduced Miriama,but the roar of this backward
Dragons blazing mouth. “Perhaps it is just the thing we need to take us home”.

Creeping up behind the pilot,as he was sitting on a tree trunk eating his lunch,Miriama tapped him upon his right shoulder with the flat part of her sword blade.

“I do not know”, said Miriama, “If you are friendly or not,since you appear quite
frightening in your strange visor and you ride upon such a fiercesome beast”.

The pilot then removed her visored helmet and revealed a very beautiful and human face with cropped blonde hair,pale skin and icy blue eyes. “You have nothing to fear from me”, explained the pilot,anxiously, “I am not a warrior, just a pilot. My name is Given and I am from the land of Kyrosene which lies several hundred miles north of here. My jet beast,for that is what I travel upon,is called Nargod and he can cover that distance in but a few hours.”

“Oh, but how many people can your beast carry upon its back?”,asked Miriama,now summoning Stellany out of the cave with a gesture of her hand, “I am Prince Riam, the only heir to the throne of Glacia. I have been upon an important quest for my Mother, The Queen but I must return quickly and I must take my consort Stellany
with me”.

The pilot shook her head, “My beast could only carry two people at most,I’m afraid”,
she said.

“Oh?”,interrupted Stellany, “But as you know already Miriama, I have the knowledge
of how to change my form and thus decrease my size. If you wished I could become a ladybird again and be carried within your hand”.

Thus it was agreed that Stellany should transform herself into a ladybird and that the jet beast could then manage to carry them both back to the kingdom of Glacia.

Unfortunately,they were also forced to leave Nangy,Miriama’s faithful bull,temporarily behind but Miriama,assured that the bull had grass to eat and water to drink swore that she would return within a few days to collect him.
“Perhaps you will find a white cow here in Senuris and have some calves to
tell of your adventures, my Nangy”, she said before mounting Nargods back
behind the pilot Given.

Given had not exaggerated about Nargods speed and before long Miriama could see the mountain of Winters bite below them. “How strange”,she thought, “that I took so long to cross that mountain and yet here I am crossing over it in but a minute and how formidable it looked then that now looks so beautiful, all in white”.

It was while Miriama was gazing down at the mountain that she saw the children.Two little girls,about 4 years old who were standing in the middle of an enormous Bird's nest upon the mountain top,waving their arms and crying for help.

“Stop,stop”,cried Miriama to Given,pointing to the girls on the mountain, “We have to save those children”.

Given,pulling upon the reigns that were attached to Nargods tail,made the jet-beast slow down and circle around so that they could land upon the mountain side. It was not easy landing upon the rocky surface of the mountain but Given was
such an experienced pilot and Nargod so manouverable that,after three attempts,
they managed to land next to the enormous birds nest in which the girls were stranded

“Oh. We were so afraid that you wouldn’t see us”,said one of the girls, as Miriama and Given dismounted from Nargod’s back, “I am Leona and this is my sister Enola”.

“God guides me”,said Miriama, “And God told me that I would find children on my Journey and now god has brought me to you, perhaps you are the children God spoke of?  But how did you both come to be stuck in this enormous birds nest ontop of a mountain?”.

Then Leona,who was the oldest of the two sisters, told Miriama their story,of how, many months before, they had been orphans in the Royal Orphanage of Glacia and that the bird that had abducted them had often been seen in the skies circling the orphanage and how they had been playing with their kite one day in the Royal
Public Park and how it had caught the attention of the gigantic bird with its bright
colours and how the bird had snatched both of them in its talons and carried them away to its nest upon the mountain of Winters Bite.

“The bird told us that it wanted two girls to look after its eggs while it was away
hunting”,said Leona pointing to the giant eggs that were also in the nest, “We have been its slaves ever since. It says that it will take us back home when the eggs have hatched but we do not believe it. We think that it is planning upon
feeding us to its chicks”

“Well”, said Miriama, “They will just have to go hungry now because you are both coming home with me to the safety of my Palace in Glacia”.

“Palace?”,asked Enola,the younger of the two sisters, “You live in a palace?”.

“Yes”,said Miriama, “I am Riam, Prince Regent of Glacia”, and she took a Glacian coin out of her pocket which bore an engraved picture of Riams face and held it beside her own face to prove who she was, “I am your Prince and I will take you
both home to live with me in my palace”.

The two sisters curtsied out of respect for their Prince and Miriama bowed to them.

Given,however,who had been in the background listening, was rather more concerned with something else, “Look at the size of the eggs in this nest. They are as large as two people. Whatever layed them must be enormous and it will probably return some time, so we must leave, before it does”.

“Oh yes”,said Leona “The bird would not be happy if it caught you two here. I’m sure it would eat you”.

So,hurrying, Miriama placed the two children on Nargods back and strapped them up tightly. Unfortunately with the two children on the jet-beasts back there was no room for Miriama. “Take them to my palace in Glacia and hurry back”,said Miriama to Given and Miriama gave Given a medal which was pinned upon her chest, “Take this too,it was a special medal awarded to me for ‘service to the crown’ and only I possess one. Show it to the palace guards and they will let you enter”.

“But what if the bird returns while we are gone?”, asked Given.

Miriama drew her sword, “ My armor is gone but I still have my sword and God has protected me this far so I trust that God will do so again”.

As the jet-beast rose and flew from the enormous nest,carrying upon its back the two little girls Enola and Leona, Miriama knelt to pray.

“Great mother God who lives within all things, give me now the guidance that I
need.”

In the middle of her prayer Miriama heard a sound like waves hitting a shoreline but it was not the crashing of waves, it was the pounding of giant wings upon the air which she could hear;the wings of the gigantic mother bird returning to its nest.

Miriamas prayer became more frantic and her tone more desperate as she saw an enormous bird of prey,larger than a horse, approaching,at great speed,across the sky.“Great mother,please answer me. The bringer of my death is approaching across the sky. You must tell me what I must do or I know that I will perish”.

It was then that God replied, not as a voice but as a thought flashing through Miriamas mind,an inspiration, “You must use her eggs as a shield,Miriama. She will not harm you if she thinks that she may risk the lives of her own children. Do this and you will be safe until your friend the pilot returns”.

So Miriama placed herself behind one of the birds huge eggs and every time the
bird tried to claw her with its immense razor like talons or snap at her with the
great scimitar of its curved and sharp ended beak, Miriama moved behind the
Egg while prodding at the bird with the tip of her sword because the egg, being much too fragile to resist the blows of the birds beak or claws would have broken if accidentally struck by them and thus it made the perfect shield. Eventually the bird relented in its struggle to kill Miriama and instead it waited,as one would if one were laying siege,watching its prey closely until a better opportunity to strike arose.

Suddenly a noise like a million lions roaring awoke behind the bird and,turning its great head,it could see a dragon flying backwards and seated upon it was the pilot Given. The giant bird was now placed in another dilemma: wether to pursue the dragon and its pilot,who were now circling her nest, or protect her eggs from Miriama. Choosing to stay in the nest,the bird instead picked up one of the large boulders that were on the mountainside and hurled it with a flick of her enormous wing towards the Dragon Pilot. The boulder flew towards its target with incredible speed but luckilly,just as the bird had been getting ready to hurl it Miriama had crept up behind the bird and jabbed her sword into the birds great feathery rump, disturbing the birds aim and so the boulder,rather than hitting its target,flew harmlessly past the head of the dragon and its pilot.

Now the great bird turned its attention back towards Miriama,snatching her up in one
of its huge taloned feet. Luckily for
Miriama,however, the moment that the bird turned its back upon Given, she commanded her jet beast to swoop down upon the Birds tail feathers and set light to them with its fiery breath.

The bird was just about to devour Miriama when she realised that she was on fire and,worried that she might set fire to her nest,the bird let go of Miriama and rose out of the nest and flew off to find a lake or sea that she could extinguish her self in and, as she was flying away, Given swooped down into the nest to pick up Miriama and as soon as Miriama was seated safely upon Nargods back they rose up into the air and jetted home to Miriamas kingdom of Glacia.