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They soared onward
for a couple of hours in silence, Garkhen concentrating on his ward,
Almonihah and Zakhin'Dakh focused on their surroundings. It was the
griffon who spoke up first.
Something there!
He screeched, nodding his head to one side.
Almonihah peered
forward, then got his bow ready. “Looks like we caught up t' the
Javni'Tolkhrah.”
As they neared, it
became clear this was only a half-dozen of the monsters that had been
harassing them. But this time, when Almonihah sent an arrow soaring
just past one, they all turned around and started flying towards the
three friends. Zakhin'Dakh shriek-roared a challenge at them and
flapped harder, ready to meet them with his own beak and talons.
They were smaller,
weaker Javni'Tolkhrah, but still dangerous. Garkhen switched from
warding against the chaos around them to warding Zakhin'Dakh from
claws and teeth, while Almonihah brought one of the monsters down
with his arrows. Then they were upon them, and Zakhin'Dakh tore into
one with his talons. It died swiftly, but the other four struck with
claws, teeth, beak, tentacle, and stinger. Garkhen gritted his teeth
as he held his wards against them, but none penetrated to harm the
big griffon... quite.
Then they were past
one another, Almonihah pivoting to keep his bow in play. Both
Zakhin'Dakh and the Javni'Tolkhrah turned, angling to attack once
again, while the Ranger blasted another arrow into one of the
monstrosity's sides. Its flight faltered for a bit, but it steadied
after a moment... just in time for another arrow to hit it, this time
in the shoulder. It still struggled on, until a third arrow pierced
its skull.
Zakhin'Dakh's
slashing talons accounted for another before the last two struck...
this time aiming for the half-dragons on his back. A stinger glanced
off Garkhen's armor, but Almonihah didn't quite dodge the other
Javni'Tolkhrah's claws, and got a nasty gash on his arm. Cursing, he
almost dropped his bow, but managed to catch it with his other hand.
Of course, that did
involve hurling himself to one side, which lead to falling right off
of Zakhin'Dakh's back.
Injured, and
suddenly far too busy flying for himself to aim his bow, Almonihah
could do nothing to fire at the remaining two Javni'Tolkhrah. As he
felt his friend fall off, Zakhin'Dakh turned as sharply as he could
to interpose himself between the half-dragon and their foes. Garkhen
tried to summon up the energy to do something, anything, but his
vision wavered as unconsciousness tried to claim him, and he soon
found himself clinging to the saddle in spite of the straps holding
him in.
Almonihah managed
to get himself under control and started heading towards his griffon
friend, but the Javni'Tolkhrah returned before he could get back.
Zakhin'Dakh intercepted one and quickly bit through its spine, but
Almonihah had to dive to evade the other one. It shredded the sole of
one of his boots as it flew by, but didn't quite get its claws deep
enough to draw blood.
By the time it came
back around, Almonihah was clinging to the back of Zakhin'Dakh's
saddle with his good arm, and the giant griffon's beak made quick
work of the last Madness-Touched. Garkhen reached to heal him, but
Almonihah shook his head angrily.
“Save it,” he
growled. “We need t' land, 'nd then I can patch myself up a bit.”
**********************************
Sorry this took so long. I'm not sure why I'm struggling so much with this section. Maybe I just want to make sure I'm making the finale appropriately interesting.
