Rune Seeker

The wind whipped past Hiral as the Dracolich devoured the distance to the islands. The sheer speed of the mount would put Hiral to the test if he tried to race it, and even more impressively, the others had no problem keeping up with him. Seena’s phoenix left a trail of fizzling feathers behind it with each flap of its wings. Bliss’s hooves clip-clopped as it—she—galloped across the sky, her legs covering an illogical distance with every step.

Then there was Thunderclaws.

Where Drake was fast, Thunderclaws was really fast. Its wings powered it through the air like it was meant to be there—despite its large, cat-like rear haunches. It literally flew circles around the others, Yanily yipping and hollering in glee the entire time. If the islands didn’t see and hear them coming, they had to be oblivious.

Hopefully they realize we’re friendly.

Another look at the large, skeletal dragon with blue-flame wings had Hiral shaking his head. Nothing about their approach screamed friendly. So, they just had to get there so fast nobody had a chance to attack them first.

“Any movement on the Rocs?” Seena asked over the party chat, the magic of it carrying her voice clearly over the rushing wind.

“Five of the six either haven’t noticed us or don’t care,” Hiral reported, eyes on the large birds circling above the distant water.

They hadn’t followed the islands as they moved over the land—yet—and continued to hunt the same large fish as before. With the storm wall visible and moving beyond them, however, it meant they’d likely be moving inland soon enough.

“What about the sixth one?” Seena asked.

“It changed its flight path to get a better look at us,” Hiral said. “It’s smaller than the others.”

“So, it thinks we might be a good meal?” Yanily asked.

“For its sake, I hope not,” Hiral said, his hand instinctively checking an RHC out of habit. With Left and Right inside of him, he wouldn’t be able to reload his weapons—that seemed to be a class ability—but they each had five shots in them, as did the Runic Blunderbuss he had in his other hand. If the Roc came at them, Yanily would try to draw it off. If that didn’t work, well, they had to make sure their mounts didn’t get hit. Any damage would instantly dispel the summons and send their riders plummeting to the ground.

Here’s hoping a blunderbuss shot to the face is discouraging enough to go back to fishing.

“How long until we get to the islands?” Seeyela asked, their mounts already starting to angle out wide to avoid the hanging curtain of water flowing up from the EnSath River to the base of Fallen Reach.

“At this speed, it shouldn’t be more than… Ah, hell, I guess we’re too interesting not to investigate. The Roc is coming in our direction. And fast.”

“Yanily, you sure about this?” Seena asked.

“I am,” the spearman said, his gryphon evening out its fight and locking its eyes on the approaching Roc. “Thunderclaws and I will take care of this.”

“Be careful,” Seena said. “And try not to get too far ahead. We can’t help you if we can’t reach you.”

“If I stay too close to you, the Roc will just change targets when it can’t catch me,” Yanily pointed out, and then Thunderclaws shot forward. If it’d been moving fast before, it was practically a blur now. Easily doubling in speed, Yanily and his mount outpaced the others before Seena even had a chance to complain.

“Trust him,” Hiral said. “He’s been… different… since Picoli. More serious?”

“He’s always been like that underneath,” Seeyela said, all three of their mounts racing towards the islands, though Thunderclaws continued to increase its lead. “Just hid it under the idiot exterior.”

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“To be fair, he is legitimately an idiot sometimes,” Seena said. “Like right now.”

Despite Seena’s words—and her glare—Yanily zipped in at the Roc, a flashing fork of lightning momentarily connecting him and the sixty-foot bird before Thunderclaws drastically changed its course. Somehow defying the natural laws of physics, the gryphon did a complete about-face with one powerful flap of its wings, then dove down at a steep seventy-degree angle.

None too impressed with a Chain-Lightning+ to the side—feathers and flesh scorched from the attack—the Roc immediately gave chase. Tucking its wings at its side, the monster let out a sky-shaking screech and tore off after the smaller target. Like a falling knife, the monster’s sleek form cut through the air, its weight barreling it downward in a line with Thunderclaws.

A flap of the gryphon’s wings pulled it to the side, but the Roc wasn’t that easily shaken. It tilted slightly in the air, its own wings guiding its practiced dive and halving the distance between them in a heartbeat. Another shift to the right lined it up once more as Thunderclaws tried again to get out of the Roc’s plummeting sights.

No good. The Roc was the king of the sky, its eyes locked on its prey and its hooked beak opening as it screeched in imminent victory.

“Damnit!” Seena swore as they all pushed their mounts faster, despite Yanily and the chasing Roc being more than a mile away. “Seeyela, can you…?”

“Too far,” Seeyela said immediately.

And then, so close it could practically reach out and peck Yanily, the Roc twisted in the air to bring its terrible claws to bear. Snap! The wings came out while the talons came around, closing their curved, spear-like points around…

Nothing.

Thunderclaws once again disobeyed all natural laws, cutting hard and back so fast it was already behind the Roc as the monster swung its claws around to trap it. From that new position, a second, full-power Chain Lightning+ shot out from Yanily’s spear. Compared to this blast, the first one had been nothing more than a tease, a light tap. This bolt of forked lightning roared like an angry beast, spreading the instant it left Yanily’s spear to stretch its own lightning wings, then reached with a ravenous maw lined with sparking, curved teeth.

Two smaller twins followed in the path of the first even as the lead bolt closed its jaws around the back of the Roc’s neck. In the blink of an eye, the three bolts of tearing lightning ravaged the Roc’s body from head to wingtips, tearing it apart even as it convulsed and spasmed in the air. Smoke trailed after the blackened, feathered body now flipping end over end with all the terrible momentum the Roc had built up while chasing Thunderclaws.

“Well, damn,” Hiral said as he watched Yanily and his mount pull up short and stop, the huge bird slamming into the ground far below. A distant thump echoed a heartbeat after the dust cloud shot into the air from the impact, and an experience notification blinked in the corner of Hiral’s vision.

“Idiot or not, I’m glad he’s on our side,” Seena said, eyes still wide as the group caught up to Yanily.

“Yan, nice job,” Seeyela said, the gryphon falling into pace with the other three.

“Thanks,” Yanily said. “Figured as long as it didn’t hit Thunderclaws, I could do whatever I liked to… Incoming!” he shouted, pointing up.

The warning was all the group had—and just barely enough to save their lives—as a streaking blur passed between their scattering mounts. But just because the falling mass had missed them didn’t mean they got away completely. The sheer size and velocity of the thing warped the air and sent their mounts spinning.

Even with the magic of Drake’s saddle keeping Hiral firmly in place, his head spun as sky and ground constantly flip-flopped positioning above him. Over, over, over, and over he flipped until Drake finally got its wings back under control and leveled out. Battling his still-spinning stomach, Hiral put his free hand on the bone in front of Drake’s saddle, then gave the Dracolich a pat of appreciation.

“Good job,” he said, his other hand squeezing around the blunderbuss he’d somehow managed to hold onto as he looked across for the others. Like him, most were recovering from the passage of… whatever that was... but he didn’t immediately spot Bliss and Seeyela. Where was… There!

Bliss galloped across the sky a few hundred feet below them, hooves pounding out flaming prints as she passed, and just barely ahead of a streaking Roc behind her. And this wasn’t one of the smaller Rocs—no, this was the Roc. Its wings stretched out to the sides so far Hiral actually had to turn his head to take in the whole thing. And it was fast, a single beat of its powerful wings practically hurling it forward.

It loosed a tremendous screech, its wide beak parting and then snapping shut with enough force to warp the air—and swallow Bliss whole.