A War for the Avian

Her long, auburn hair waved gently with the wind as she stood at the edge of the cliff-side, staring at the scene in the valley below. Ghastly shrieks reached her ears, cries of the dying humans fighting her war. She sucked in a sharp breath and leaned forward. Clumps of dirt broke off the cliff and tumbled down to land in the battlefield. Feathers intermingled with her pin-straight hair as the wings jutted from her skin and tore through the back of her shirt. The mottled brown color of the winds flashed in the clear sky. She jumped in mid-transformation, while only half of her hair had taken it's brown hue before slowly morphing into feathers. She breathed in the sharp, dry, air, claws replacing nails as she plummeted. The ground came nearer, and the tiny human warriors came into focus. She could see them individually....

With a quick beat of her wings, she soared above the heads of the sparring men. As the enemies began to notice her, projectiles were aimed and thrust at her.

But she cut through the air elegantly, searching for a head of feathers to match her own. The straw-colored feathers of a man like her who chose to fight with humanity. She had broken his wing, but it wasn't too late to save him.

There. Spiked feathers that looked like straw set afire with all the blood in it. He sliced his sword through men without a pause. A single wing broke the skin of his back, acting like a shield to protect a child clinging to him.

She narrowed her eyes and plunged forward, clawed hands outstretched.

***

In this story I imagine our heroine as a half-human, half-bird creature with hair that changes into feathers when she releases her wings. Her race is 'rare', but powerful. They use humans as animals, as slaves, and in this story the humans are fighting a war for her, for an unknown reason. I added in the male half-bird creation to add purpose to her flight, and the child clinging to him I imagined as the key to saving the lost race of the Avian creatures.

I liked writing this scene with the knowledge that my character didn't have a name. At first I was lazy and just didn't want to pick one, but it ended up being kinda cool, trying to capture the image of an unnamed heroine

First day of summer, first scene for my "A scene a day" challenge. How'd it go?