Up and Down, part 5

The golden eagle swooped and perched on the edge of the nest right above Up. A bass fell with a slap to the floor of the nest right in front of Up, twitching and leaking blood from its gills and mouth, eyes bulging and gasping futilely for water that wasn't there. Up scooted farther back into the shadows as a mighty beak pecked and tore at the dying creature, ripping slimy, sinewy flesh from the fish, and gulping it down voraciously.

Up breathed in and out slowly, trying to remain calm and silent in the face of the horrifying ritual. He gripped both spears tightly, and readied himself, bending his legs in preparation to strike. The eagle's huge head came down again on the now motionless fish, burying its beak into the steaming meat. Up charged and latched onto the underside of its neck. The eagle screeched piercingly and flailed in a wild panic as Up scrambled to the beast's head. He held on tightly to the feathers and the spears as the golden eagle flapped its huge wings and took off.

"You killed him!" Up cried as they soared down the western side of the mountain at a terrifying speed. He pulled, hand over hand up onto the eagle's head, who kept trying to shake him off. They soared down the slope, and over the canopies of the forest. They flew over a deserted town below, and over more forest. The trees turned to grassy plains.

Finally, wind flying by, his ears flapping behind him, Up pulled himself on top of the eagle's head. Holding on with his back legs, he raised both of the spears above his head and thrust them down into the great raptor's eyes.

The eagle cried out in agony, it's scream echoing across the fields below. He dove sharply and rolled, throwing Up off of him. The eagle Flapped wildly in pace and reached up with his talons and yanked the spears out from his blood-gushing eyes. He turned and flew wobbly back towards the mountains to the east.

Up fell through the air, screaming in terror, tumbling head over tail. His limbs flailed and his ears whipped as he sped towards the ground. After long, horrible seconds, Up crashed forcefully into an huge oak tree that stood alone in the tall grass.