City of Stone

[MadEmperor]

[ @DragonSong Continued From ]

After saying their goodbyes to Rosamund, the trio set off into the mountains. They intended to hike to the Skyspear and, well, figure out the rest when they got there.

Currently, they were passing through a small, windswept valley between two jagged peaks. It was desolate, devoid of any signs of life. Or so they believed.

[DragonSong]

Nani was huddled under three different layers of specially tailored coats and sweaters and she was still cold. The wind felt like it cut right through her, and she hated it.

She had no idea of Ein's seeming imperviousness to the weather was due more to his heritage, or to hers in comparison. Vander didn't seem too bothered either, but then, he wasn't exactly the best frame of reference for what might be considered a "normal" response.

"How many days did you say it would take us from here?" Nani asked through slightly chattering teeth, so intent on just getting one foot in front of the other that she wasn't paying as much attention to their surroundings as she probably should have been.

[MadEmperor]

Ein thought over his answer. "Rosamund told me four days if the weather cooperates. But storms crop up quickly in the Thunderblacks, so we should count on adding a couple of days to that."

In fact, the sky was starting to look a little angry as they spoke.

"Me and my big mouth," he said, motioning skyward.

[DragonSong]

Nani glanced up and cursed in Yoreiqi, but then gave him a wry smile. "Unless gargoyles have some affinity for controlling the weather you haven't told me about, I doubt it was the fault of your mouth."

She considered that a moment, then shrugged and amended, "Not completely, anyway."

[MadEmperor]

Ein chuckled briefly before taking his eyes off of the sky. Not one for playful banter, he simply resumed walking. "We should try to find shelter before the weather completely turns against us."

His roaming eyes fell upon a cave mouth a little ways up-slope. Pointing it out, he said, "That should do."

[DragonSong]

She glanced up where he was indicated and nodded, then looked down to Vander. "Can you go check it out, boy?"

The ex-dog woofed an affirmative and went bounding up the slope ahead of them, pausing every once in a while to sniff the air before he reached the cave and disappeared inside.

A happy bark echoed back down to them, which Nani took to be an all-clear.

[MadEmperor]

Ein chuckled. "I take it he thinks it's safe."

As they climbed up to meet Vander, the storm sprang to life, pouring rain down upon them. Ein shielded himself with his wings as he clamored the final distance to the cave. Flicking the rain from his wings, he folded them around himself like a cloak and looked back to see if Nani was close behind.

[DragonSong]

The rain had caught Nani off-guard, and she stumbled a bit on the suddenly slippery rocks that littered the slope. She went down on one knee hard enough to split her skin and hissed quietly, pausing to try to get a look at the small cut.

It wasn't that big a deal--she'd wrap it when she got in the cave and it should be fine in a day or so--but it left a small streak of blood on the rocks behind her as she finished the climb.

She shivered when she ducked in after Ein and cast his featherless wings an envious look. "Wish I could do that," she sighed, nodding to how he easily flicked the water from them. "Feathers take ages to dry."

[MadEmperor]

"I won't lie, it is convenient," he responded, leaning on the wall of the cave.

Spotting her bloody knee, he gave a sympathetic hiss, even though he had never actually done that. "Is your knee okay? You're bleeding."

Vander gave a worried whine and trotted close to lick at the wound.

[DragonSong]

Nani tried to wave the concern off with one hand, a gesture that changed to offering Vander pets when he trotted closer.

"Slipped on the rocks," she explained with a shrug. "Stupid thing to do—I'm fine, I just need to clean it and wrap it."

She shuffled further into their makeshift shelter as she spoke, both wings and shoulders hunched against the rain at her back.

[MadEmperor]

Thunder crashed and the storm raged as they huddled in the small cave. Luckily, the shape of the valley kept the wind from blowing rain into their shelter.

Peering out, Ein couldn't even make out the other side. He briefly thought he saw something move, but believed it was nothing but loose rocks shifting. Surely it wasn't what his eyes suggested.

Why would there be a giant chicken out there? Or anywhere, for that matter?

[DragonSong]

"Everything alright?" Nani asked from where she was knelt with Vander leaning heavily into her side—-she assumed in an attempt to provide some sort of moral support—while she wrapped her cut.

All he was really doing was making the process more arduous, but even in his no-longer-strictly-canine form she didn't have the heart to push him away when he stared at her with worried puppy eyes.

[MadEmperor]

Ein nodded, dismissing the idea. "Yeah. Just my eyes playing tricks on me."

But then Vander stood straight, his attention riveted on the cave mouth as he caught a scent he didn't like. He stepped between them and the opening and released a low growl.  Lightning flashed, briefly revealing a large creature, but it was no chicken. It was more akin to a wyvern, though with the head of a rooster.

"Or perhaps they weren't..." Ein said quietly, tensing. He put a hand on Vander to shush him. Maybe it won't notice them.

[DragonSong]

Nani glanced over to see what had them both so on edge, then quickly scrambled to her feet and limped backward further into the cave as fast as she could.

"What is that?" she hissed, half in fear and half in disbelief.

[MadEmperor]

"I don't..." Ein began, trailing off as a memory ran through his head. Hadn't one of his men once told a campfire tale about such a monster? Nobody had actually believed him; who would believe in a chicken wyvern whose gaze turns men to...

"Don't look it in the eyes!" he whispered with urgency just before the beast snapped its gaze towards the cavern.

[DragonSong]

"What--"

Years of hunting the jungles had instilled an instinct never to take her eyes off a dangerous predator--which this creature clearly was--but Ein's warning had her flicking her gaze just fractionally toward him.

Just enough that the creature's eyes only met hers for half a moment.

Still, it seemed to be enough.

She felt her body lock up, a frozen prey response...but something more than that. Something that made her limbs feel heavy and fogged her brain, where the usual petrifying sort of fear would have sharpened her senses.

She couldn't move. She couldn't move.

[MadEmperor]

Noticing that his warning was too late, Ein prayed that the tales were inaccurate or that her special nature protected her as it had before. With nowhere to run, he was going to have to fight it off, so he had to be doubly sure to avoid its gaze in case his stone properties failed to protect him.

"Protect her," he told Vander before stepping out into the rain. He spread his wings wide to make himself seem bigger and roared a challenge, hoping he could drive it off.

[DragonSong]

The creature cocked its head, seeming momentarily puzzled by the fact that its intended victim was still flesh--albeit frozen flesh. But it was swiftly distracted by Ein's challenge, puffing up its own plumage and squawking angrily as it jerked his head from side to side. Trying to catch his gaze with its own.

Vander had planted himself in front of Nani, growling menacingly.

[MadEmperor]

Ein kept his gaze on the creature's body as he strode forward. He didn't believe he could fly in such a storm, and he wouldn't abandon Nani anyway, so he spread his claws and took up a fighting crouch. He wanted it to make the first move.

"Alright you ugly chicken, come at me if you dare."

[DragonSong]

The cockatrice jerked and twisted its head from side to side again, even as it started to slowly circle to Ein's left. It made a low, growling squawk and darted its head forward to snap at his wing with its razored beak.

Vander barked a warning, but didn't move from his guard position in front of Nani--whose only sign of life was the short, rapid rise and fall of her chest.