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(86=Failure)

Today he would try again, and this time he was sure he would succeed. He wondered if the Alkara would be watching out for him this time, or if it would be satisfied with chasing him through the mountains before and just go about its day?

Keke decided it was time to find out. He clambered easily over the rocks and made his way back to the Alkara nest, watching it at a distance from the cover of some boulders. He could see the chicks napping in the soft cushion of branches and feathers, and he could see no adult bird to protect them.

He sniffed the air: no scent of them either, though they had been here recently. There were other Alkara in the area, as he had discovered before, but they were all elsewhere, more clustered around the series of pockmarked cliffs out in the wilds away from the main pass and the main roads. This nest was all alone, which was why he'd chosen it as his target.

He waited, half in caution and half in curiousity, to see if the mama bird would return soon. Satisfied, he crept out and, keeping an eye to the skies above the small bluff, stalked towards the nest. He made it to the edge of the nest, expecting at any moment a strike from the sky.

Cautiously, he reached out with his muzzle and opened his jaws to grab one of the nestlings.

Suddenly, they awoke, cheeping and peeping and making a ruckus. Keke jumped back, expecting another blast of wind from the adult's magic. Instead, three large, angry, baby birds came after him, pecking at him with their needly little beaks.

That was unexpected.

Keke ran, weaving through the narrow boulder-filled passes and peaks until he felt safe, hunkering down behind a rock. He needed to retreat and regroup, so that was what he was doing.

(317/300)