by Eric Vall
“Shit,” Ravi immediately cursed under her breath.
“What is it?” I asked.
“It’s a skyraptor,” Nike answered, and his face was grim in the dim light of the cave.
“I’m sorry, a fucking what now?” I questioned with a furrowed brow.
“We ran across one at an oasis in the desert a few years ago,” Ravi explained. “They like to take stuff: food, plants, people, whatever. Well, actually, they’re good at taking stuff, but they don’t do it unless--”
Suddenly, the squeaking noise from the skyraptor’s personal doorway caught my attention again.
“Hold on,” I stopped Ravi.
I went back to the doorway and poked my head out into the sunlight.
Holy shit, we were high up here. I could see the rest of the mountains and part of the forest, and we were about eye level with a thin layer of clouds.
Then I realized what was causing the noise I’d heard.
The kidnapped centaurs, and a few other creatures, were being held hostage. Cage after cage of kidnapped people hung from the side of the cliff a few feet away from the doorway, and every time someone moved, the whole row squeaked from the shift in weight. The bronze-colored cages were shaped like old birdcages, circular with a round top, and they dangled from ropes that were attached to hooks anchored in the stone face of the cliff.
It sure wasn’t going to be easy to get them down without someone falling down the side of the mountain.
“Over here,” I called out to the others, and they joined me at the opening.
“What is it doing with them?” Ravi gasped as she looked out at the hostages hanging from the cliff.
“I’m not sure, but we need to find a way to get them down,” I answered. “Can you fly out there and see what we can do?”
“Of course.” Ravi nodded, and a column of fire appeared where she had been standing. Then her phoenix form emerged from the flames and fluttered out to examine the hostages.
“Who are you?” I heard the first centaur ask as she approached his cage.
The centaur eyeballed the phoenix from his enclosure with bloodshot eyes and a gaunt face. He looked like he hadn’t eaten in days, and his ribs were visible on both his human torso and his horse body. His long brown hair looked stringy and dirty, and his russet horsehair was matted to his body.
“I’m Ravi,” the phoenix chirped as she hovered before him. “Are you alright?”
“I guess so,” he mumbled. “It seems like I’ve been in here forever.”
“I’m sorry,” Ravi consoled him. “We just got here to help.”
“It’s not your fault,” he sighed. “I was the first one put in here.”
“We’re working on freeing you,” the phoenix assured the centaur. “Do you know how these are attached?”
“The rope is hooked to those anchors, but I’m not sure how it holds so much weight,” the centaur admitted. “It could be magic.”
“Okay, let me see if anyone else needs anything.” Ravi moved on to the next cage. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just hungry,” this horse-man answered. “Some big bird thing dragged me up here when I was out hunting last night.”
The second centaur wasn’t in as bad a shape as the first one, but he looked exhausted, and his reddish-brown braid was unkempt.
“We’re going to get you out,” Ravi promised. “We just have to figure out how.”
“Well, you better make it quick,” the first centaur responded, and his face creased with a sharp frown. “That thing is never gone for long.”
“Yeah, especially not during the day,” another centaur agreed. “It’s gone for a while at night when it’s taking someone, but when the sun is up, it doesn’t go far.”
Ravi looked at me to make sure I’d heard them.
I nodded in response and turned back to the others while Ravi continued to examine the cages.
“Okay, so apparently, we don’t have much time here,” I informed the rest of the group. “We need to act.”
Suddenly, I heard a cawing sound from outside the doorway, and my heart dropped as I spun back around.
“Ravi!” I hissed loudly and waved her back inside.
The rest of us flattened ourselves between the wall and a set of stalagmites as the phoenix flew in and landed on a rock next to me.
A moment later, the skyraptor glided in through the opening on the face of the cliff.
The thing looked more like a dinosaur than a bird with its hard, scaly skin and long snout that currently held some kind of big, flopping fish. The beast was at least as big as my dragon form, though its wingspan wasn’t as large as mine. Its wings were made of dark blue feathers, and it had long, dagger-like claws on its hindlegs and forelegs.
That explained the grooves in the floor of the cavern.
The skyraptor landed on the ledge with a skid, and then it stood on its hindlegs and sniffed the air. It seemed to sense something had entered its home, but it didn’t see us in the shadows. The bird beast let out another caw that echoed around us in the huge cavern, but it seemed satisfied when nothing moved, and it walked into the middle of the cave. Then the creature hunkered down and tore into the large fish it had carried in its snout.
If it ate fish, what did it want with the centaurs? I was annoyed with all the questions we had about this monster.
“I can take him,” I snarled under my breath, and I started to summon a fireball into my hand.
“Wait,” Nike warned and put a hand on my shoulder. “Skyraptors always have a master. They’re incredibly skilled at taking things, including people, but they only do it when they’re told.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s what I wanted to tell you!” Ravi added before she ducked her little bird head. “But then we heard the kidnapped people … ”
“Fuck,” I grumbled. “So, we need to find out who’s controlling this bastard.”
“Exactly.” Nike nodded. “We’re probably going to need Alyona’s help with it. They’re controlled through magic.”
“Does this thing have the same mark as the basilisk?” I wondered.
“It might,” Ravi answered. “It might not. If we can see it, the princess should be able to cast a simple counter-spell to break the control. If it doesn’t have one, she has to find a different spell.”
“Great,” I groaned.
“So, what do we do now?” River growled as his horsetail thrashed back and forth. “Just let it keep taking our people? Or eat the ones it has?”
“I’ll stay here and keep an eye on the hostages,” Ravi volunteered. “I don’t think it’s eating them, though.”
“Ravi, I appreciate your bravery, but I don’t like it,” I argued. “This thing is dangerous, and we don’t know what it wants with the people. It may not be eating them now, but it could be saving up for some big family dinner.”
“All the more reason I should stay and look out for them,” the phoenix fired back. “I’m small enough to fly around unnoticed.”
“And what if he does notice you?” I countered.
“Then I’ll hide or fight or fly away.” Ravi shrugged. “We have to know what’s going on, and I can send you a messenger if the skyraptor moves to kidnap anyone else, or if the master comes back.”
“I’ll stay and protect her,” Nike offered before I could refuse again. “We need to make sure it doesn’t take the hostages anywhere. So, if it makes a move, we can send you a messenger.”
The idea of leaving one of my women here was not a pleasing one. I wanted to keep Ravi safe, but I knew my best friend could handle it. I just didn’t like it.
“Fine,” I grumbled after a long moment of internal debate. “If that bird thing so much as blows on one of the cages, I want to know about it. We’ll go back and talk to Alyona about how to get rid of it.”
“You’ll know the moment anything happens,” Nike promised and crossed an arm over his chest. “And I will guard Ravi with my life, brother.”
“Aww, thanks, Lor
d Nikolaus,” Ravi giggled.
“Yeah, thanks, Nike,” I echoed before I pressed my lips to Ravi’s little orange head. “You be careful, though, alright?”
The bird nodded back and gave me a wink.
“Now, to figure out how you and I can get out without setting off the bird,” I said to River. “The last thing we need is for him to drop all of them off the side of the cliff.”
“I’ll transform first,” River advised. “I’m sure my human feet will be much quieter than my hooves.”
“Good idea.” I grinned.
It was the first time I’d seen the centaur commander in his human form. It seemed he preferred four legs. As he shrunk down to my current size, I saw that his tattoos covered his whole body from collarbone to feet, and I made a mental note to ask him about all the ink later.
“If we can stay in those, I doubt he’ll be able to see us,” River whispered as he pointed to some grooves in the stone behind the stalagmites. “The stones should provide us with cover.”
“I think I can mask his hearing, too,” I mused. Like I’d done for us with the basilisk’s screeching, I figured I could shield the skyraptor’s ears from our walking.
So, I reached into my spiritual sea and sent my healing magic toward the giant bird, but it took a minute to find its ears. Well, really, to find its ear holes. The skyraptor didn’t have actual ears sticking out, but I found holes on the sides of its head and layered healing magic over them.
“We should be good to go,” I told River after a moment, and the centaur nodded.
I kept an eye on the creature as we started walking back to the tunnel that had brought us into the cave, but the beast didn’t react to our movement at all as it continued to devour the fish.
Just as it lifted its head to drop the last part of the fish down its gullet, I caught a glimpse of its belly.
The mark of Gamma glowed an emerald color.
Of course, when the mark was active it would be green. Just another clue that the Green Glass Sect was behind this attack as well.
But the centaurs had been going missing since before our arrival. How had the assassins beat us here? Or was there something else going on?
At least I knew what to tell Alyona so she could stop the skyraptor from kidnapping anyone else.
Then I was going to find the Green Glass bastards who’d started this whole mess.
And I was going to make them pay.
Chapter 5
River and I walked out of the tunnel to meet back up with Aaliyah and the other warriors who had been keeping guard outside. As soon as we were clear of the tunnel, River returned to his centaur form, since it seemed to be the body he preferred.
“Where are Ravi and Lord Nikolas?” Aaliyah asked as she peered over my shoulder with concern.
“We found the kidnapped centaurs, so Ravi and Nike are keeping an eye on them,” I explained. “They’re being held hostage, and we can’t get to them just yet.”
“Did you find out who kidnapped them?” the lioness asked.
“Yeah, a skyraptor,” I answered.
“What is that?” Aaliyah raised an eyebrow, and I had to chuckle.
At least I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know about the creature.
“It’s a big ass bird thing that likes to steal,” I replied. “But Nike said they steal for a master, so we have to figure out who’s calling the shots.”
“And for that, we need the Divine Maiden,” River finished before he turned to me. “Did you see the mark?”
“Yeah,” I confirmed. “It definitely had the mark of Gamma, so we know a mage is behind this creature as well.”
“I’ll slice this new mage like I did the last one,” Aaliyah growled. Her orange eyes flashed with anger, and I knew she was remembering our last encounter with mages in Tikal. She’d taken her claws to a mage who had tried to kill the leaders of the city in the middle of a peace treaty ceremony.
“Oh, we’ll go hunting again,” I assured her. “You can slice up as many of those assholes as you want.”
“Good.” She grinned maliciously, and her sharp canines gleamed as she bared her teeth.
I loved watching my lioness when she caught her prey.
“For now, we need to head back to Lumin,” I directed. “We need to tell Alyona and the queen what we found and figure out how the hell to get the hostages off the side of a cliff.”
“Then let’s go.” River pointed back down the path we’d made when we followed the drag marks, and the warriors began to descend the mountain, but Aaliyah and I trailed along behind them.
“Are you sure Ravi and Nike are okay in there?” Aaliyah whispered, and the fearless lioness looked uncharacteristically worried.
“I don’t like it, either,” I admitted, “but they’re both strong warriors, and we don’t know what the beast wants with the hostages. So, it made sense to keep eyes on the situation while we go talk to Alyona.”
“I know you’d never put Ravi in danger,” Aaliyah sighed. “It just makes me nervous. I’ve gotten attached to your people.”
“Our people,” I corrected with a smile. “You’re part of us now.”
Aaliyah smiled back, and a blush crept up her tan cheeks. My newest mate would have to get used to my brazen compliments.
We continued the walk back to the city in silence. I glanced up at the sky and saw that the sun had traveled most of its path, so it was probably late afternoon. We had to hurry. I didn’t want Ravi and Nike in that cave all night.
“Let’s pick up the pace a bit, River,” I hinted to the centaur commander.
“You heard him,” he called out to the warriors, and the centaurs transitioned into a slow trot down the mountain.
The sooner we got back to the princess, the better for everyone.
“So, I guess he doesn’t hate you anymore?” Aaliyah murmured.
“We had a little heart to heart on the way up.” I smirked. “They have a good reason to hate dragons, but I’m not your typical dragon.”
“No, Lord Evan, you are not,” the lioness agreed with a laugh.
Half an hour later, we finally broke through the trees and could see the walls of the city ahead. The gate opened for us, and we rushed along the road to the castle.
The warriors stood next to the castle doors as we entered the stone structure, and it didn’t take long to find the queen.
“Well?” Mona demanded as she stood from one of the chairs just inside the entry, and I wondered if she’d been waiting there all day or if someone told her we were back.
“We found the creature and the men it took,” River announced.
“But we need a little magical help to handle both,” I finished. “Where’s Alyona?”
“The princess is in your chambers,” the queen answered, but then she frowned. “What is the creature?”
“It’s a skyraptor, Your Highness,” River replied. “But it bears the mark of Gamma, just like the basilisk.”
“Horrible mages,” Mona grumbled and rubbed her regal brow. “So, what do we do about it?”
“We ask the princess,” I advised. “She has the most magical knowledge of any of us.”
“I see.” The queen nodded, and then she raised her voice to shout. “Cesar!”
The older male centaur hurried into the room, and his horse tail swished as he came to a halt in front of the centauress.
“Yes, my queen?” Cesar bowed to Mona and waited for his orders.
“Go fetch Lady Alyona,” Mona demanded.
“At once,” he replied before rushing back into the hallway.
“Why couldn’t you rescue the hostages right now?” the queen asked, and she eyed me as she awaited my response.
“They’re being held in cages that are attached to the side of a mountain,” I pointed out. “We didn’t want to risk hurting someone, so we need to handle the skyraptor first. That’ll make it easier to rescue them if we don’t have to worry about the bird attacking.”
“Plus, if
we wait, we can figure out who the skyraptor answers to,” River added.
“Well, aren’t you two quite the team now,” Mona scoffed.
“It just made sense,” River retorted, but then he regained his composure and bowed to the queen. “Sorry, Your Highness. I just want to be rid of these creatures and get Lumin back to normal.”
“Just remember your place, River,” Mona warned.
The centaur commander seemed almost offended that the queen thought he was taking my side, so I guessed our budding friendship was back on the rocks.
Then Alyona glided into the room with Laika and Cesar close behind her.
“You’re back!” The princess greeted me with a hug and reached up to kiss me, but then her eyes skipped over my shoulder, and she immediately frowned. “Where are Ravi and Lord Nikolas?”
“They stayed back to keep an eye on the skyraptor’s nest,” I told her. “The beast has the mark of Gamma. Ravi said you’d be able to counter the spell.”
“Yes, I can,” Alyona replied with a furrowed brow, “but I’m not sure which spell to use. I need to do some research, but I’m afraid I didn’t bring any books on mage markings.”
“We don’t keep many books, but you’re welcome to speak with our history keepers,” Mona offered, and she took on a softer tone with the princess. “Their records go back thousands of years.”
“Great!” Alyona chirped, and her amethyst eyes sparkled. “Where are they?”
“Cesar, please take Alyona to the history keepers’ temple,” the queen ordered the centaur.
“Of course, Your Highness.” Cesar bowed.
The older centaur seemed to be the queen’s personal assistant, and I wondered if he’d tried to give her a daughter yet. The thought made a growl bubble in my chest. I wanted to plant my own seed deep inside her, preferably while in her room covered in gold, but I cleared my throat to cover the growl and focused on our conversation.
“I’ll walk with you,” I volunteered.
Suddenly, I didn’t want Cesar alone with any of my women, even if he was like a butler.
“I’ll go, too,” Aaliyah offered.
“And me,” Laika chimed in.