Vann scrambled up the rocks behind the elf, Janaza bringing up the rear behind him. Every dozen or so spokes Arielle had to pause and play the cadance again, her magic pushing more of the rock outwards into steps. As they ascended, the wind kicked up, blowing the fog into them and forcing the three of them to hug the rocky wall to their left. “So what can you tell me about the harpies?” Vann asked, shouting a little to be heard over the wind.
“They're a very hot-headed people,” Rorzan said, doing a few flips in midair to keep himself occupied. “When you can fly you tend to develop a daredevil streak. But they're fiercely loyal, never break an accord once they make it. They were the best scouts in our old army, plus they could fly over enemy lines and drop whatever nasty things we'd come up with on the Lord armies.”
“And what made you want to come here?” Janaza called up from the back.
“I left something with them a long time ago,” Rorzan said. He craned his head back and looked up into the mists shrouding the upper parts of the rocky spire. “Something we're gonna need if we're going to start the Revolution again because there aren't many of them left.” He looked down at Vann and grinned. “Another guitar.”
Vann paused, feeling the weight of his own instrument settle against his back. “But we already have one.”
“You can never have enough!” Rorzan declared. “We discovered it was actually better in some cases to have two guitars, one to play a rhythm, the other to go a little more crazy and add some extra oomph to big spells. It became downright necessary for more intricate and complex Songs, but the effects speak for themselves.” He floated down to Vann's level. “Plus, better we have it than risk the Lords getting ahold of it.”
Before Vann could reply, there was a keening screech from above them. All of them stopped and looked upwards, but the space above them was obscured by the fog. “The hell was that?” Janaza asked.
Vann squinted. Within the rolling fog, he thought he could make out a pair of massive wings, flapping down towards him and getting larger by the moment. “I think it's a harpy!” he said.
Rorzan followed his gaze. His eyes widened. “Vann, harpies don't shriek!”
In a flash, the wings resolved themselves in his vision as something massive and feathered lunged out of the fog at him. Vann yelped and ducked. He caught a glimpse of massive, scythe-like talons flash above him where his head and neck had been just moments before, and heard a scraping noise. He twisted his head up and around to see three inch-wide gashes carved right into the rock.
“Rocs!” Arielle yelled.
“Ah, dammit,” Janaza said, whipping her bass off her back and setting it on her shoulder like a club. “They're up here too?”
“What are rocs?” Vann asked, hurriedly, getting his guitar off his back and in his hand.
“Big fucking eagles with one hell of a mean streak,” Janaza said. Her eyes darted back and forth, then she whipped her bass around with lightning speed. The body swatted another massive bird out of the air and sent it tumbling away with an irate squawk. “They're all over the islands to the south where I come from.” She grinned, showing her prominent bottom incisors. “Taste good roasted with a few herbs and spices rubbed in.”
“Now's not the time to think about what travesties you inflict on poultry!” Rorzan yelled. “Arielle, let's get some visibility!”
Arielle's fingers plucked at the omnichord, a rapid series of drumbeats ringing out. On the final one, she Sang a single, loud note, and a wave of force rippled out from her. It blew away the fog like the exhalation of a giant.
After taking in their surroundings, Vann almost wished she hadn't blown away the fog.
First of all, they were incredibly high up. He had lost track of where they were relative to where they'd started, climbing up surrounded by mist. The ocean was several hundred feet below them, the waves surging against the base of the rocky spire in the midday sun. As soft as water could be, Vann knew that a fall from their height would be lethal.
Second, they were surrounded by rocs.
The birds were massive, with wingspans twice as wide as he was tall, slicing through the air like arrows. While they resembled hawks, they swarmed like gulls, screeching and calling to one another as they rode updrafts and dove down to find new ones. Vann was acutely aware of how sharp their talons were, four on each foot, each one four inches long and gleaming in the light.
“Vann, sharpen up!” Rorzan instructed. He yelped and flew upwards just as a roc dove through the space he'd just occupied.
Vann played the power chord that turned the bottom part of his guitar's body into a sharp axe blade and reversed his grip on the instrument. As the roc divebombed him, he swung, and sheared off its wing as it passed. The big bird screeched and flapped its remaining wing in vain as it tumbled towards the ocean below.
Almost as soon as that little victory had come, pain seared along his arm as another roc caught him a glancing blow, streaking past him like a brown comet. He hadn't even seen the bird take aim at him. As he moved to the side reflexively, another bird raked its talons along his leg, knocking him off-balance and making him stagger to the edge of his rocky spoke. Vann pinwheeled his arms as he felt the pit of his stomach drop out.
Janaza jumped up next to him with surprising agility and yanked him away from the edge. “We can't stay here!” she said. “We're sitting ducks!”
“Agreed,” Arielle grunted. Without missing a beat she Sang a loud note, a blast of ice magic freezing a roc that was diving at her head. It shattered against the rock face. “Keep them off me!”
The elf's finger flew across the omnichord, playing the ocarina cadance over and over again. Rocky protrusions cracked free of the spire, several of them actually smashing into the unaware birds as they burst forth. The rocs screeched and wheeled back, retreating for a moment. “Climb! Go!” Rorzan said.
The adventurers scrambled madly up the rocky steps as the birds recovered. A screech went up from them, and they reformed into their flock, beginning to dive-bomb the group, talons extended to shred them. Vann swung his guitar in heavy sweeps at the birds. He split another open from belly to breast, sending it tumbling away far beneath him. With the demise of one of their own, the birds wizened up, staying at a distance and probing with slashes of their talons.
Arielle was freezing the birds as fast as she could with her omnichord, but the rocs had already seen half a dozen of their number turned to blocks of ice that dropped like rocks into the surf below. They grew wary, flapping upward hard to avoid Arielle's shots. She swore in Elvish, trying to tighten up her aim. “There's so many of the damn things!”
“Keep going!” Janaza implored Vann as she stepped up behind him. Her bass whipped past him and smashed a roc that had tempted fate out of the air. “If we stop they'll swarm us.”
Through a gap in the cloud of feathers and flesh, Vann caught a glimpse of a roc much bigger than the rest. Its plumage was darker than the others, and it's head was adorned by two tufts of feathers. “Arielle, there's some kind of alpha buried in the midst of them!” he yelled.
“I see the bastard,” the elf ground out. “He's got too many friends around him for me to get a good shot!”
The rocs were closing in, each push of their flock wounding one of the three until blood ran hot down their arms from slices and nicks. Vann's fingers slipped against his guitar strings as he tried to get the Song they had played on the galleon going again to smite the rocs with lightning. Panic began to set in a little. “Janaza...” he said.
“Aye, bit of a fix we've got ourselves in,” Janaza muttered. She held her bass by the neck just above where it connected to the body, licking a bit of blood off her lip.
The birds closed in, partially blocking out the sun. Vann ran through his options. He could simply let rip with an unrestrained power chord like he'd used to blow out a section of the Papreon palace wall, but there was no telling what kind of damage that would do to Janaza, Arielle, or the structural integrity of the spire
behind them. Besides, Rorzan himself had admitted it was a dangerous stunt that could've killed him. But he saw no other way out.
Just as he set his fingers against the strings and was about to bring the pick down, he heard a voice from above. Vann jerked his head up almost at the same time the big roc did.
A blue comet collided with the alpha roc, both of them falling together down to the stepping spoke beneath them. Vann did a double-take, and saw the comet was actually a humanoid figure with two legs, two arms, and a shock of white and orange hair. He saw the faint curve of chest that marked her as female as she planted a taloned foot on the roc's neck and twisted hard, the crack audible from a hundred feet above where they were. The female creature turned her head and looked up at them, and Vann could see even at a distance her eyes were a brilliant orange.
With the demise of their leader, the rocs screeched and began to close in. Then more of the figures slammed into them from above, and Vann saw the flash of metal weapons being applied liberally to the homicidal birds by the newcomers. Their rescuers were small and thin, but attacked with a ferocity that belied their size.
Also they had wings and could fly, which certainly counted for something when facing foes like the rocs.
“My friends,” Rorzan said, sounding audibly relieved. “Meet the harpies.”
Within moments the birds had scattered, screeching and squawking as they fled off into the distance towards another spire far in the distance. Their harpy rescuers yelled after them, their language unintelligible.
Something scraped against the rock by his foot and Vann almost leaped off the rock platform in shock. The first harpy that he'd seen, the one that had dove onto the alpha roc, climbed up next to him. Her face looked human at a glance, but as Vann studied it he could make out the things that weren't quite right. Her cheeks and chin were incredibly angular, and her blue skin was actually a layer of thin, downy feathers that rippled in the breeze. Her hair was wild and unkempt, at least three shades of orange that matched her striking eyes. Beads of all shapes and colors were woven into her bangs. She blinked, and Vann caught a flash of a third eyelid sweep across her eyes as she did.
Then he realized that this particular harpy had no wings. Where the rest of their rescuers were flying, this particular harpy had actually dived right at the alpha roc with no way of correcting her course if she missed.
Rorzan floated up in front of her. Her eyes followed him, so Vann knew he'd made his ghostly visage visible to her. “Kakira hyk vinthk?” Rorzan asked the harpy.
That got a reaction out of her, her eyebrow shooting up her forehead in surprise. “Korklaan butik vi?” she asked.
“Ayk!” Rorzan said, folding his arms with a smug look on his face. “Lok lik werk prek?”
The harpy inclined her head upward, then pushed past them and hopped onto the next stepping spire. “Follow her,” Rorzan instructed them. “She's going to get us up to the aerie.”
Chapter Four – Ori
They followed the wingless harpy for another long while, climbing to the upper areas of the rocky spire. As they ascended, signs of life began to present themselves. There were terraced ledges hewn into the rock that held small gardens growing root vegetables, tended to by members of the aerie. Vann spotted a platform with ropes attached to it, wound around a series of gears and pulleys with levers at regular intervals.
“They've really built up since the last time I was here,” Rorzan remarked, flitting around and admiring the structures. “Then again, it's been three hundred years.”
They were shepherded onto one of the rope platforms, and a harpy landed next to them. He rapidly spoke to the wingless harpy in their tongue, then nonchalantly extended a leg and kicked the lever. Vann's stomach did a flip as the platform began to rise, and Janaze grabbed the back of his tunic to steady him. “Why do they have platforms like this?” the orc asked Rorzan.
“For those either too young, old, or infirm to fly,” Rorzan answered, looking askance at the wingless harpy.
She was looking out over the ocean far below them, the wind rustling her hair. Her bangs parted, and Vann blinked. Among the baubles woven into her hair, he spotted the distinct shape of a guitar pick.
Before he could bring it up, the lift platform stopped at the top of the spire, and Vann's train of thought shifted. Atop the spire was a sprawling village that he never would've imagined existed looking up from down below. Houses of hewn rock were laid out in neat, orderly rows, forming a grid pattern of streets. In the center of it all was a particularly large structure two stories tall, slightly apart from the rest of the dwellings. They stepped off the platform, being led by the harpies down the central street.
The harpies going about their day stopped and oogled them as they passed. “Guess they don't get many visitors without wings up here,” Janaza muttered to Vann.
Vann noticed a staircase hewn into the ground as they passed, with a few lanterns on the walls. “What's down there?” he asked aloud.
“More of the aerie,” Rorzan explained. He floated around next to Vann. “See, the harpies are really good at making use of their environment. They've lived up here for generations. You go down that staircase, the entire inside of this spire is honeycombed like a beehive with more dwellings, most of them open to the outside.” He pointed off into the distance. “Every single one of them is like this.”
“It feels wonderful up here,” Janaza said, her hair whipping around in the wind.
They arrived at the entrance to the big structure at the top of the spire, and waited while one of the harpies went inside. After a moment, the harpy came back out, trailed by another. The newcomer was another female harpy, though she looked a little longer in the beak than the wingless one. She wore a flowing pink silk gown trimmed with gold that billowed about her gently, the sheer fabric revealing maternal curves that Vann's eye lingered on for a few moments longer than was probably proper. She wore a pendant around her neck, the jade stone in the center resting comfortably on the shelf of her breasts.
Rorzan floated up in front of her, and bowed as best he could given that he had only half a body. To her credit, the matronly harpy didn't seem too nonplussed at his ghostly, half appearance. The two of them spoke in rapid-fire harpy for a few moments, before Rorzan turned to the rest of them. “The Matriarch is alright with you using the translation spell.”
As Vann pulled the guitar off his back to play the simple cadance, he caught the blue harpy looking at him, her orange eyes intense. He stared back levelly, and after a moment she looked away. Suitably weirded out, Vann fudged the spell once before he got it right, aiming the warm magic at the Matriarch harpy.
She beamed at them as the cadences worked their magic. “Greetings,” she said, holding her hands out to them. “Welcome to our aerie. Though I do wish the journey had been a little more pleasant for you.”
“Eh, we can handle a few overgrown chickens,” Janaza said, waving her arm. She blinked as she realized her orange skin was almost invisible under a layer of caked-on blood. “Though we could probably use a bandage or three.”
The Matriarch looked at her attendant, who turned and hurried back into the big structure. He came back out a few moments later with another harpy in tow, this one with white feathers toting medical supplies and a bucket of water. “Please, sit,” the Matriarch implored them, gesturing to the stone benches around the main entrance.
“Wise Matriarch,” Rorzan began as the harpies bandaged the living trio's wounds. “We ascended from the base of your aerie to seek an audience with you. You know who I am, of course.”
“I do not know you personally, spirit, but all the harpy clans know your face.” The Matriarch folded her arms behind her back, making her chest push forward a little so her breasts lifted the fabric of her flowing robe further. “I am surprised to see you. Did you not perish during that great final battle all those years ago?”
“I found a way to endure,” Rorzan said. He waved a hand at his missing lower half. “A b
it less of myself than I would like, but still. I'm here.”
“Indeed you are. For what purpose?”
“On that account, I'd prefer to speak privately.” Rorzan turned to Vann and Janaza. “Sorry you two, but I want this to just be Arielle and me.”
Vann blinked. “Why?”
“She and I are familiar with harpy etiquette and how they negotiate,” the ghost said, giving Vann an apologetic look. “I'm sure the Matriarch is a perfectly reasonable woman, but there's procedures that have to be observed that'd keep us here for days if I tried to explain them.”
Janaza gave the ghost a flat look. “One of those deals, is it?”
“Hey, I don't make the rules,” Rorzan said. “But we're their guests, so we should follow their customs.”
Arielle knelt down next to Vann, her eyes kind. “It's nothing personal, Vann, really.”
Vann sighed and unhooked the guitar from around his body. “What should we do until you three are done?” he asked.
Rorzan turned to the Matriarch. She thought for a moment, then inclined her head to the wingless harpy. “Orianthi?”
“Aye?” Seemingly in accordance with her standoffish attitude, the harpy had a rough, scratchy voice – not unpleasant, just a bit off.
The Matriarch nodded to Vann and Janaza. “These two are your responsibility. Get them some food and show them around the aerie. Be back by sundown.”
Orianthi gave them a sidelong glance, then dipped her head. “Right.”
The Matriarch beckoned to Rorzan and Arielle, and they followed her into the structure behind her. The other harpies that had attended to them left on their own errands, leaving Vann and Janaza with Orianthi. She kept looking them over, as if trying to get their measure.
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