Chapter 14-5

One of the healers serving the griffon-riders cast a spell-prayer upon Zakhin'Dakh, easing the worst of his fatigue. Still, he felt slow flying after the other griffons, struggling to keep up with them. By the time he reached the mountains around Midport they were well ahead of him... and already engaged in combat. Dozens of twisted monstrosities had risen into the air to meet the griffon-riders, and now arrows and blasts of magical fire and ice sailed through the air between them.

Almonihah added his own arrows to the fray as soon as he felt he wasn't likely to hit an ally, the blessed projectiles gleaming as they arced towards their targets. Garkhen chanted a spell-prayer as they drew close, holding up his symbol of Bahamut and then breathing a bolt of lightning through it, his prayer turning it to a lance of holy energy that blasted one of the Javni'Tolkhrah from the sky. Then Zakhin'Dakh was there, his talons and beak slicing through muscle and bone as he crashed into the largest Madness-Touched he could see.

The midair battle raged fiercely, though to the exhausted friends it seemed almost a blur. Here, a griffon fell, rider screaming in fear as they plummeted. There one of the chaos-twisted monstrosities tumbled from the sky, head and chest pierced by more arrows than any creature should take to put down. Garkhen had to focus mostly on warding Zakhin'Dakh, for the big griffon was determined to stay in the thick of the fighting, but was too tired to evade properly. Almonihah simply continued firing arrows, aiming at whatever Javni'Tolkhrah he had a clear shot at.

The battle seemed to last forever, though it couldn't really have been more than a few minutes. But then the rider captain looked down.

“The ones on the ground! They've almost reached the city!”

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Even short posts must end on semi-cliffhangers.