Swords and arrows

[Anadwen]

"Not all riders and dragons are like that. For the sake of the gods, he's my mount. Not my lover." Athran growled, gripping the saddle with his hands. The wind was screaming in his ears, blowing his hair and clothes back, but it was much softer than when riding with Maigrod.

"Maigrod is more of a friend to me. Not a slave. It's not like having a horse." he explained Dram, and  slightly moved to the side to look over his shoulder at the woods beneath. They appeared dark and deep...

[Lion]

"Watch your temper, Athran.  You would burn off a man's face if he breathed on you strangely," Dram said.  "I meant no offense by it.  I mean simply to say that was my assumption.  And I sit corrected."

Bane was flying gently rather than swiftly, as Athran might have compared it to his own mount.  But the great bird could fly at speeds that could match a dragon.  And in great turmoil, out match them.  Dram was flying for sdistance not escape.  "But it would be interesting, you know, to see a dragon," Dram mused.  "I have never seen one before."

[Anadwen]

Athran nodded. "I apologize. I didn't mean any offense by it, neither... Some riders do stick with their mounts in everything. Maigrod and I don't follow each other like shadows, though." he explained him.

At his second statement, he raised a brow. "Have you not? Hopefully one day you'll get the opportunity. And hopefully it will be a civilized, not wild one." he uttered. Bane's wings were beating into the air by his sides, and another thought slipped into his mind.

"We should create a plan or tactics if we were to get to a battle. We can't be unprepared. Can Bane grab me with his claws during the flight?" he questioned his companion and leaned forwards to look at his face.

[Lion]

Dram peered behind him and blinked at his companion.  He wasn't sure he understood the question at first and made a face at Athran.  He nodded and gestured to the bird.  "Of course, if need be.  What do you want me to do?  Throw you from the saddle?"  Dram laughed.  "Bane can handle himself well enough in an aerial flight if need be.  He's gotten out of death-defying scrapes enough times that I would never doubt him, or his ability.  He may not have dragon fire, or a rider than can mimic it, but he can fight.  And fight well."

Dram turned back to face the path ahead of them, curving between the mountains as Bane glided gently along.  The air was cold this morning, and despite the natural warmth of the Thunderblacks, there was a chill that coursed down Dram's spine.  It was unpleasant and raised the hair on his arms.  His grim expression only deepened and he was starting to get a sour feeling that they were being followed.

"Look behind you," Dram said, sitting up slightly.  "What do you see behind us?  Another on a winged beast or something moving through the trees below?"

[Anadwen]

"You don't need to do anything... I will make sure I'll slip from the saddle down into his claws. Bane just has to catch me and not let go." Athran explained him calmly. "I am fully aware of his abilities - while you were hunting for that deer, I watched him closely... Maybe my mouth says less than my eyes see, but I can imagine what he can do."

The bird was similar to Maigrod - elegant, intelligent, and deadly with his sharp beak and claws, not too different from a dragon, though not as big. The flight was as natural as if he was sitting amid his own mount's black shoulders...

Athran blinked in surprise at Dram's question. "Behind us?" he muttered. His head turned around and his azure eyes peered over his shoulder into the distance, searching through the landscape with sight as sharp as that of a falcon. There were shadows moving through the woods below and a dark shape in the sky... "About three miles behind is something in the air. A bird, or beast that's close to it... Something quick and nimble in the forest under us. It's not horses, but it's moving in a scattered group. Maybe wolves, or something riding wolves." he concluded after a while.

[Lion]

Dram's soured feeling continued to go south in his stomach and he gripped the reins of Bane's saddle with sweaty hands.  He didn't know how.  He didn't know why, but he had a feeling it had something to do with the map that lay rolled in its tube strapped onto his back.  With Athran's assessment, it was Dram's turn to look behind him view the shadow that was carefully trying to stay out of view.  The clouds were thick  and Dram pulled Bane back a little to get a closer look.

Better the devil you know than the devil you don't, right?

But as his eyes cut through the shape of the creature, it seemed more reptilian than avian.  Birds had broader wings and less leaner bodies than dragons.  But if it was a dragon...  Dram narrowed his eyes and focused on the creature until something suddenly popped up from the clouds, a flaming spear and he pulled Bane back harshly, narrowly missing the projectile and from out of the clouds came not a bird, nor a dragon, but a massive winged mammal, one that Dram could only compare as a bat.

A massive bat and riding on its back were two green-skinned beast men with crude weapons and large iron mechanism strapped to it's back, almost like a giant crossbow and upon it was loaded another javelin, which the second beastman sparked to flame and carefully turned the contraption, aiming it toward them.  They screamed a harsh language, that was unknown to Dram, but it was clear that the first had been a warning shot and the second was meant to kill.  But what they wanted, he could not say.

[Anadwen]

Athran's face twisted into a hateful grimace. "Orcs..." he growled, and reached for his bow. He had no doubt that those green, crude creatures were orc-kind. And in his heart, there was nothing but eternal hate for those of which he has slaughtered hundreds.

"Take care of Bane and maneuvring. I'll shoot them..." he said, and slipped from the saddle into the eagle's claws. A long arrow, ended with a black feather at its shaft, was prepared at the bowstring, leaning against the beautifully carved wood. He aimed for the head of the beast, right under its jaw. Under that weight, it would surely collapse and the orcs would plunge to their death...

All the muscles in his arms were tense, stretched and prepared to fire the deadly arrow. Athran's fingers let go off the shaft, and the shot pierced the air at incredible speed. It hit the beast where he aimed it, but even despite that, it only sunk a bit lower... Something wasn't working right. Fortunately enough, it shook the mechanism and the riders were forced to load the crossbow again. Another arrow sprung from the bowstring, and crossed through the head of one of the orcs. The other one shouted something back...

Athran replied with a roar. "Die in fire, you dirty orkish filth! Curse you for all of eternity! Rot in the damned pits of hell!" he screamed, launching another arrow at the beast.

His hatred for orcs could be hardly matched by anything...

[Lion]

The bat screamed and the echo of it bounced off the mountains and back to Dram.  He could feel the vibration and the sensation of it almost seemed to daze Bane.  He was an expert flyer and Dram knew he could trust the great eagle to get him out of any sticky situation, but Bane seemed momentarily drunk and Dram pulled on the reins to turn him west, but he stalled and dropped out of the sky.

They fell for a few dozen feet before Dram dug his feet into the eagle's side, and pulled up.  Bane cried out, screeching loudly the fierce cry of a bird of prey and he turned around on their pursuer.  With Athran shooting arrows at his feet, Bane had but one claw with which to fight, but it would be all he would need.  The mechanism fired another flaming bolt but Bane twisted in the air, clutching onto Athran as it dodged the shot.

The last remaining orc was forced to focus on steering as the bath turned over and dodged a claw slash by the Bane aimed at it's belly as he twisted underneath the aerial enemy and clawed at it.  "HOLD ON!" Dram called out to Athran as Bane barrel-rolled mid-air and swept upward to turn and come in from the east.

[Anadwen]

Athran pulled his knees to his chest, shrinking as much as one could with his height, and held onto Bane's claw tightly. While they circled through the wailing wind, an idea came to life in his mind. Arrows might not work, but something else might.

He gently grabbed the feathers on the eagle's neck, gesturing Dram to listen. "Tell Bane to fly above the bat and let go off me! I will kill it in mid-air. You'll have to snatch me again before I fall... I have done this before. Trust me!" he shouted, and returned the bow to his back. The scimitars from the couple of crossed sheaths appeared in his hands again, and he prepared to launch himself into the air.

They arose higher to the air, and Bane's claw was only holding him softly. The bat was right beneath them... "Now!" Athran shouted. The reply was immediate - the sharp claws suddenly let go off his chest. He plunged through the air, pointing the scimitars down. He was ready... The wind blew his hair and clothes back. The bat was drawing nearer as fast as a lightning.

All of a sudden, he reached it. He had only enough time to bend his legs and land a bit softer than a chunk of iron, but the fall still shook him, and he could feel his body pulsing with pain. He landed between the orc and the mechanism, skewing one of the scimitars into the bat's flesh. The rider turned around to face him, but it was late - Athran already stabbed him with the other blade into his side. The hand, clenched around a curved dagger, sunk, as the orc's body collapsed, and sled off the bat. The elf prepared to skew the second scimitar into the bat's spine and kill it with a single hit...

"Count to three, then get me!" he shouted. And his hand stabbed the bat into its neck.

[Lion]

Of course Dram had his doubts but before he could voice them, Athran had thrown himself from Bane's claw just as the great eagle had righted himself.  With the wind at his back, Athran became nothing more than a falling blackened dot falling swiftly toward the bat just as it was about to unleash yet another screech.  The orc was easily felled and soon his blade was thrust into the neck of the foul winged beast.

But then something happened that made Dram stare in awe for even the briefest of moments.  The blade that plunged into the bat's neck, the beast unleashed a high pitched cry.  And plummeted from the clouds abruptly, darting toward the forest trees.  Dram drove Bane to dive down toward the blackened dot with billowing hair.  Wings hugged close against his body, and Dram ducked low, holding tight to the reins as the eagle fell like a black bullet.

Bane screamed as he was pulled upward and his claw reached out to snatch Athran in its embrace and flew upward, swooping back up through the clouds.  Dram turned over the side of the bird and half wish Bane would drop the foolish elf, but gave a smirk and simply shook his head.  And just when they thought they were safe, a bluish green reptilian creature flew up through the clouds.  It's mouth bore the fangs of the bat and the wounds it had suffered, but the fur was gone and four wings had burst from it's back.  It had the semblance of a dragon, but it was much leaner, and bore many spines along its back and from its mouth burst a powerful breath of burning ice, a cloud which went rumbling right toward them.

"YOU SAID YOU KILLED IT!" Dram called down toward Athran.

[Anadwen]

Athran almost dropped his scimitars as he watched the beast return. This wasn't possible... There was some kind of foul magic in this. There was no way anything could survive that strike without magic, he was certain about that.

"FOR THE LOVE OF THE GODS, I STABBED IT THROUGH ITS DARN SPINE! IT SHOULD BE DEAD AS A STONE!!!" he screamed in rage. "Let me at it again. I don't want you to get any near... Fire can't hurt me, but it can burn Bane's feathers. Drop me again!" He waved one of the blades in the air, pointing at the beast.

The fury was boiling in his blood to the point where he'd rip the beast's body to pieces with his bare hands, if he would have to. He was utterly determined to kill it... Sighting of orcs awoke the hatred that burned within him since he was a child, and he wanted to fight, and kill... He hungered for blood. It didn't matter how difficult it will be, all of them will be dead if he gets to them.

His hair trembled in the wind and his cape appeared like a black banner behind him, partly clutched in Bane's sharp claws. With eyes glued to the serpent in the sky, he readied his blades once again. An even crazier idea came to life in his mind... "Dram? This might be difficult, but I trust you. If Bane can toss me to the beast's wing, I might cut it, and as I'll fall, Bane will grab me again, flying under me. Repeat this with the other wings, and break its balance... It would plunge to its death. Do you think we could do it?" he questioned him. His abilities were known to him, but he'd be risking his life on a big scale. There was a higher chance that he'd die than succeed...

...But he'd try, anyway.

[Lion]

Dram was quickly starting to understand very quickly that the fool within Bane's claw was just that, a fool.  It wasn't that he threw himself into the fray. it was that it seemed he must do everything.  Dram set his jaw and looked down toward Athran.  "That sounds like a stupid idea," he called out plainly.  But what choice did they have? 

The cloud of ice that billowed toward them was narrowly avoided but Dram had felt the chill of it.  He breathed out a cloud of hot breath as he tried to pull Bane higher in the sky.  The eagle screeched and turned west as the reptilian beast made chase.  It would not give them a chance to turn around on it as Bane darted left then right and swooped down, with the beast's jaws nearly  on his tail feathers.

Dram cursed and forced Bane down toward the ground.  The mutated creature behind them turned its wide neck downward, swooping down toward them.  But Dram had another idea, one that might get them killed and perhaps give Athran a chance to leap from Bane's claw to the beast.  "ATHRAN!  WHEN YOU'RE CLOSE ENOUGH!  JUMP!" Dram pressed his heels into Bane's side and abruptly twisted the bird  again, turning suddenly on their pursuer and flying upside down.  His claws were brandished and on swept across the beast's belly and the other shout out just the same.

The four-winged beast gave out a shrill cry at slashing of his underside, and the claw that held Athran launched him up in the air toward the beast, just as Dram came out from the other side, righting Bane once more.

[Anadwen]

"I know it's a stupid idea, but I can't think of anything better!" Athran screamed back, preparing to jump. After a rapid turn, Bane's claw tossed him into the air. He quickly moved the scimitars before him, and as the beast's wing drew near, slashed with them widely.

Drops of blood flew through the air as the blades cut through the wings, slicing them like a knife, crossing hot butter. Athran turned in the air around, slicing off another part of its wing, which was now only trembling in the air. He succeeded... Once again taking a position in which Bane could easily grab him, he plunged down through the air beneath.

It was a stupid idea, but it worked. They would only need to get the beast rid of one side of wings, as it still kept its body in the air, despite having one wing completely cut off. He felt Bane's claw clenching around his chest again, and knew he succeeded. Looking up towards Dram, he raised one of the blades.

"It's a very stupid idea, but it works." he growled. "Toss me again when you're close enough to the other wings."

[Lion]

The flying was the easy part.  As tense as the situation was, Dram could never allow himself to lose control.  One mistake, one wrong move could cost them both their lives.  Though he had only known the Pale Elf for but a moment, a pittance in a lifetime, he was his companion and Dram never left a companion behind, no matter how foolish they were.  Dram grit his teeth and tightened his grip on the reins of the great eagle as he dove for Athran.

The speed and ferocity of flight sent fire through his veins and Dram quickly righted Bane enough to pull back and swoop up, avoiding another gust of ice wind, straight from the mouth of the reptilian beast.  Dram cried out however, when a stray cloud of it hit his back and side, freezing his left arm into uselessness.  Bane screamed at the sensation of such biting cold, but kept his steady flight.  His feathers were stuck together as ice crystals bled over him, but much like his rider, Bane refused to be overcome by pain.

Dram felt the string of anger course into his eyes and he gripped the reins with his right hand, steering them up and over the other side of the winged beast.  His heels dug into his sides and Bane flipped his wings wit blinding fury, swooping over the other side of its wings.  "KILL THAT FUCKING THING!" he cried out in rage.

And still the ice continued to bite up his left arm and shoulder.

[Anadwen]

"WHAT THE LIVING HELL DO YOU THINK I AM DOING?!" Athran shouted. Avoiding another blast of ice by pulling his legs up, he outstretched his arm to Bane's wing, and heating it with bright flames, he melted the ice off. It was about all he could do to help... The priority was to kill the beast.

It would take him too much time to throw himself in the air and cut off the second wing. The beast may not collapse immediately, and he couldn't risk something like that. If he was to kill this thing, he has to cut its head off and see it plunge into the deep, severed from the body.

While his mind was calculating his next move, the flames, softly kindling just above Bane's feathers moved to Dram, melting what ice was left on both of them. Athran has decided what he has to do. In such a rage, he might not have thought clearly, but he was completely certain of this - even if it will hurt, he has to get to the beast's head and chop it off.

The scimitars were replaced by the Black Sword. Athran's hands clenched around its handle with confidence, and he raised it to his head. Bane was approaching the serpent swiftly. They were just in the right angle from its head.

"Toss me to its head!" the elf cried out. Once again, the embrace of the eagle's claws disappeared, and the wind caressed his body in the air. He was ready to chop this thing to pieces, his blood was boiling in his veins in a rage that demanded death and bloodshed.

The beast apparently noticed him and fired another blast of ice towards him. Athran had only enough time to cover his head with his forearms, but found himself half frozen over. Tears rolled down his face, but he didn't let the biting ice overwhelm him, and set his own body ablaze to melt it.

[Lion]

[You know, you don't have to heal everything right away xD  It's okay for characters to get hurt, even gravely, once in a while.  I kind've wanted Dram to stay hurt.]

If it wasn't ice that burned him, it was fire and Dram screamed from the sensation of the flames on his skin.  He would kill that stupid elf!    He was lucky he was too busy steering to do so.  His arm could feel some movement to it but still Dram forced his right to pull Bane upward into the clouds to drop Athran toward the beast's head.  But when it had seen him, it turned and shot a powerful icy blast.

Half-frozen, Dram watched with a grimace as he saw Athran fall to the trees below.  He gave a grun and promptly stood from his perch on the great eagle's back and brandished his kopis.   "Save the stupid elf," he growled and Bane screeched once more.  Dram leapt from the saddle and dove for the reptilian.  It swayed and flailed in the air, seeming to dart toward the ground.

Dram fell through the air, air swishing past his clothing, his hair, and whistling in his ears.  He swooped down toward the beast, toward the beast landed on his back.  He managed to grip with what feeling he had with his burnt arm onto a curve in its scales and without reserve he plunged the kopis into the creature's neck.  The magic of its form began to sizzle and steam and boil and the foul smell of green blood flickered up through the air.  Dram twisted the blade, pulled the kopis up once more and slammed it down a second time until the cut was secure and he severed the beast from it's head.

But Bane was not underneath him, and instead had Athran in his grasp.  Looking down, Dram saw the trees quickly closing before him.

[Anadwen]

(((OOC: who said it healed him? It merely melted the ice... The effects the ice caused, on the other side...)))

The ice was like a grip on his whole body, clenched him in a position where he could hardly move, and even though the fire melted it, he had to let the flames touch his skin - something that was painful even for him. Despite his muscles screaming in protests, he climbed up onto Bane's back.

"Grab him. And do it quickly..." he growled, clutching the eagle's feathers as he could with the remaining sense in his hands. Even gauntlets didn't help this.

The eagle dove down in an attempt to catch the dark elf into his claws, which gripped Dram's body in the air, and quickly made a rapid turn back up, towards the sky.

[Lion]

[Okay! Just making sure!]

Dram was caught mid-air, Bane's claw closing around him and he clutched around the toe of his mount.  The great eagle crooness a little, his feathers smoking from the burns and his claw clutching his rider gently.  "Athran!" Dram called, standing on one of the toes.  "Help me up!  I can't climb with just one arm."

[Anadwen]

Athran offered him his hand, although cringing every time he moved and let the armour slide on his frozen and burned flesh. "Grab me." he said, secretly wishing that his grip won't be too hard, and leaned over to get closer to him.

Bane slowed down, with the beast finally dead, and they were only floating in the air, softly caressed by the wind. Now there was no aerial threat, only the riders beneath the trees... They could escape those, but in this state, neither of them could fight them.

[Lion]

Dram climbed with considerable effort up to the safety of Bane's back, using Athran to help vault him up.  Everything brought him a great deal of pain and if it wasn't for the remains of adrenaline still cousing through him, Dram would have just as likely passed out.

He peered down where the beast had fallen, now plummeted through the trees and made a loud crashing sound.  "What were those things?  Those beast men?"