Ruth glided through the sky and made better time than the laden harpies. There was a rear guard of a half dozen of them, and the creatures cried an alarm when they saw her approaching. They broke from the main group and swooped toward her with their taloned feet stretched out in front of themselves. Ruth opened her wings as far as she could and the wind pushed her higher. She swooped a few inches over her attackers and clawed their faces. They screamed and clutched at their bleedings wounds, and Ruth flew onward to the ones who held Fred. She was now above the group, so she tucked her wings against her and dove at them.
The harpies couldn't maneuver as she barreled into them. Ruth used their bodies to keep her aloft as she kept her wings tucked against herself, and she clawed at their wings and heads. The harpies screeched and dropped their cargo. Fred fell from their clawed hands and Ruth dove off her victims to her friend. His arms were outstretched above him, and she snatched them and opened her wings. They gently glided fifty yards over the city, but the warning cries behind them caused Ruth to glance over her shoulder. The harpies, cheated of their prize, ignored their wounds and flew after them.
Now Ruth was in the position where she couldn't maneuver, not without risking losing her grip on Fred's limp hands. The creatures flitted and swooped around them, and several dove down and clawed at her wings and back. She cried out and felt her grasp of Fred's hands loosen. Several of the harpies flew below her and grabbed onto Fred's legs. They flapped their feathered wings and rushed forward, dragging Ruth and Fred along for the flight. She needed help if they were to escape these creatures.
"Fred, wake up!" she yelled at him.
Fred's eyelids flickered open and he blearily glanced around himself. His eyes widened when he look down and saw the ground far beneath him. He yelped and flailed so that Ruth and the harpies nearly lost their grips. The creatures who held his legs turned their heads and hissed at him. He froze and whipped his head to Ruth.
"What is this?" he cried out.
"These creatures came from the stone! Please use your magic!" she yelled at him.
Fred fumbled for his staff with one hand and the harpies, sensing danger, yanked on his legs. They stretched him between their claws and Ruth's grip. He felt as though he gained a few inches before his hands grasped his sticks and transformed into his staff. Fred pointed the tip toward the harpies and shot fireballs at them. Their rear feathers caught fire and they squawked and screeched. They released him and flew off with smoke trailing behind them.
Ruth gritted her teeth as all of Fred's weight was transferred to her wounded wings. They fell a few feet and Fred's arm with his staff waved wildly. Ruth grasped his other hand with both of hers and turned them around so they pointed northward toward the Senex. Fred's eyes swept over a nearby harpy that followed them and by the light of the clear night something shined in its talons. The fork.
He pointed at the harpy. "The fork!" he yelled to Ruth.
She nodded and tilted them so they dove toward the harpy. The other screeching creatures turned with them and encroached on Ruth's rear. She cracked her tail and sent four of them tumbling into their brethren, but a dozen more took their place. The harpies swooped down and clawed at her. Ruth winced at every blow to her wings and back. Fred felt something drop on his head and looked up to see it was blood dripping from Ruth's injured wings. He glanced past her at the savages creatures. The harpies cackled and gnashed their teeth.
Fred ground his teeth and his vision was covered with a red fury. He swung his staff at them and sharp needles burst from the glowing stone at the top. They were a foot long and an inch thick, and the points shone with a sharpness that could cut strands of hair. The needles curved around Ruth like a flowering rose and struck their enemies above her. The needles pierced the wings and bodies of the harpies. Their terrible cries of anguish filled the air and dozens of them fell around them.
Without that distraction Ruth dove at their target and Fred faced forward. The harpy with the fork glanced over her shoulder and squawked when she saw their approach. She flapped her wings to escape them, but Ruth's momentum was greater than her wing strength.
Fred looked up at Ruth. "Drop me!" he yelled to her.
"She can't hold you!" Ruth argued.
"Just do it, and grab the fork when it's free!" he insisted.
Ruth aimed her friend and dropped him so he fell the five yards onto the creature's back. The harpy's eyes bulged and her wings flailed as Fred's weight pushed them to the ground. Fred leaned back, aimed his staff and shot out a single fireball that hit the harpy between the shoulders. Cinders of burnt feathers flew into his face, but he ignored them and jammed the end of his staff into the sizzling wound. The harpy screeched and the shock forced her to drop her possession. The fork fell toward the ground, but Ruth swooped down and caught it.
The fireball caught the harpy's feathers on fire and Fred coughed amid the smoke. He pushed himself off the creature's back and dove into the abyss of the dark night. Ruth was there to catch his free hand with her own and she made a sharp turn back to the Senex with the treasure safely tucked in her other hand. The whole of the harpy army followed behind, intent on foiling their plan to destroy the stone.
CHAPTER 30
While the pair had their adventure in the air, those remaining on the ground had their own problems. The harpies followed the crowd out the Senex and harassed anyone they could grab. On the portico one tried to pull Pat's hair and she pulled out her sword and cut of the creature's hand. It screeched and flew off with its hand flopping on the ground at Pat's feet. Someone screamed and Pat looked inside to see Topper cornered inside the entrance hall. Every other human had made it out, but the coward trembled near the doorway on the right.
Above and in front of him were the taunting harpies. They covered the walls and ceiling with their filthy bodies, and others hopped along the floor scratching the fine marble. One of them had Topper's tall hat in her claws and was slicing it into ribbons. Beneath the hat he was mostly bald, and his trembling dome cowered beneath the shrieks and gnashing teeth of the creatures. One of the harpies jumped onto his shoulders and bit at his few strands of hair. Two others grabbed his arms and pulled him in opposite directions.
"Help!" he screamed.
Pat pursed her lips and dove into the mess of harpies. She swung her sword and hacked at the creatures. It only took a few to lose their heads before the others fluttered away from her. She reached Topper and tried to pull him away from the door, but he clung onto the frame like a squid. "Come with me!" she ordered him.
His eyes were slammed shut and he shook his head. "Make them go away first!" he pleaded.
A screech warned Pat of incoming danger, and she turned around in time to parry a pair of claws from a flying harpy. The creature flew over them and joined her brethren in the air. They swooped around the ceiling in a tornado of claws and feathers.
Pat turned back to Topper and held her sword out toward him. "Let go or I will cut off your hands," she warned him.
Topper's eyes shot open and he whipped his head to her. He saw she was in earnest and meekly released his grip. She dragged him toward the entrance to the hall, but they were only halfway there when two harpies flew down and proceeded to kneed Topper's head. He screamed, and Pat grabbed his back and bent him over. She waved her sword above them and one of the harpies grabbed the tip. It screeched when their claw sizzled as though they held a hot poker, and they quickly released the weapon. Pat pushed the bent-over Topper ahead of her and they stumbled out into the cool, but turbulent night air.
While Pat freed Topper from his cowardice, Canto, Percy, Sins and Ned were in the square in front of the Senex fending off the waves that spouted from the dark column. Ned raised his staff and shot dozens of fireballs into the air. Sins pulled countless of pins from his cloak and threw them at the harpies who hopped along the ground. Canto and Percy hacked and slashed their way a dozen yards into the streets and helped the last few fleeing revelers escape the grasp of the harpies
.
After the last screaming citizen fled Canto set his ax on the ground and rested against it. He panted and glared up at the harpies. "Damned things just don't end," he grumbled.
Percy knocked an attacking harpy away and joined him. "Not until the stone is destroyed," he reminded the dwarf.
"Aye, but where's that treasure gone? Taken by those damned things, and not a one of us can fly after it except Ruth," Canto pointed out.
Percy looked to the sky and a smile slid onto his lips. "Your wish may have been answered," he commented.
Canto followed his gaze and spotted two dark shapes gliding toward them. It was Ruth holding onto Fred. A flock of harpies followed them, and more arose from the streets to stop them. Canto grinned, straightened, and shouldered his ax. "Let's go clear a way for 'em."
The pair hurried back to the square while their friends who still resided in front of the Senex noticed their incoming companions. The stone sensed the approach of its destruction and its yellow light burst from the holes and doorways of the Senex. More harpies burst from the dark beam of light behind them and covered the distance between Fred and Ruth, and the Senex.
Ned swung his staff toward the Senex and stairs made of barriers appeared. The stairway led to the top of the Senex. He turned to Sins and Pat just as Canto and Percy arrived. "We must clear the air for them," he told his friends.
"Just what Ah was thinking," Canto agreed.
They hurried up the luminescent stairs and to the roof of the Senex. Harpies covered much of the roof, and Pat, Percy and Canto cleared a path so their long-distance attackers would have a safe place to stand. Ned and Sins turned their attentions solely to the sky and they flung needles, fireballs, and burning needles into the air. The harpies dropped like falling chestnuts in autumn on a windy day, and their bodies littered the area. Their efforts made a small path for their two flying friends, but the stone was trying its hardest to close it with more harpies.
In the air Fred clung to Ruth, and Ruth clung to both him and the tuning fork. The harpies attacked them from all sides, and only Fred's fireballs kept them from clawing the two to ribbons. His aiming meant he wobbled and turned a great deal, and their sweaty hands slowly lost their grip. Ruth tried to grasp him with her other hand, but she nearly dropped the fork.
Fred saw her dilemma and glanced at the ground. They were forty feet above the city and slowly descending through the path cleared by their friends. In a few seconds they would be over the Senex and near the glowing column of light. He whipped his head up to her. "Drop me!" he yelled.
"I will not!" she refused.
"I'll be fine, but you need to get that fork near the stone and the only way you can do that is if you fly through that small hole in the ceiling," he argued.
"You cannot survive such a fall!" she protested.
"Drop me above Ned. He'll do something," Fred insisted. Ruth pursed her lips, but her decision was made when Fred grabbed her hand that held his own and wrenched it off. Her eyes widened in horror as he dropped toward the roof of the Senex.
Ned saw Fred release himself and flung a large bubble at the young man like the one Fred had used in the swamp to protect himself. Fred dropped through the ceiling of the bubble and landed with a bounce on the bottom. The harpies latched onto the bubble and tried to bite into its plushy surface, but the bubble bent under the pressure. When their teeth could get a grip they pulled and yanked, but the bubble stretched like taffy and sprang back into its original round shape like a rubber band. Fred floated down to the roof of the Senex and the bubble popped on landing.
Free of her burden and with Fred safe, Ruth turned her focus on her mission. She clutched the tuning fork in both hands and swooped low toward the hole in the stone room ceiling. The harpies dived, dove, swooped, barreled, and barraged her with their bodies, claws, teeth, and wings. Ruth had the advantage that her sharp, thin wings made her more maneuverable, and she made quick turns to escape their attacks.
A thick wall of harpies coalesced in front of her, but a hail of fireballs erupted from the roof beneath them. The monsters screeched and scattered, but most fell to the ground with their bodies on fire. Ruth shot through where they were a moment before and pointed downward to her target: the hole in the ceiling. The pulsing column of light widened, and she saw it meant to fill the gap between itself and the roof.
Ruth hugged her wings against her body and fell toward the hole. In a few quick seconds she shot through the shrinking hole and crashed into the dozens of harpies that flitted about the small room. They screeched and tried to claw the tuning fork from her hand, but she slammed it against the stone floor. The room shook as the reverberations caused an earthquake like in the caves of the fork's origins. The sound waves rippled through the air and across the city. The harpies screeched, and those in the air collided with each other and fell to the ground writhing in pain. All those around the rock scratched and dug at their ears, some clawing their eyes out in agony.
Ruth scurried back to the room's entrance and watched a crack appear in the stone. The dark column imploded, and the harpies were sucked into the column above the stone. The last harpy disappeared inside the crack and the stone burst into a thousand small bits of plain rock. Ruth slid around the corner of the entrance as the explosion threw up the dust on the ground and a thick haze filled the area.
She covered her mouth and coughed. The air wasn't breathable, so she blindly crawled her way through the chamber toward the entrance hall. Plaster and bits of ceiling continued to rain down on her and she wondered if she was even heading in the correct direction.
"Ruth!" Pat called from the fog.
"Ruth!" Fred cried out.
The joyous sounds of her friends' voices told her which direction to travel, and she quickly crawled to them. The thick fog was suddenly swept away by a powerful force, and her friends stood just a few yards in front of her. Pat rushed forward and grasped her friend.
"Are you badly hurt?" Pat asked her.
Ruth smiled and shook her head. "I will be fine," she replied. Ned and the others strode forward, and the old castor and Canto knelt by her side. Ned's hands brushed against her wings and she winced. "I merely need a day's rest," she insisted.
"Then we'll give it to ya," Canto promised her. The gruff old dwarf shouldered his ax and lifted Ruth into his arms.
Ned led the group outside to the square. Percy lingered for a few moments as his eyes swept over the ground. They spied a bit of the Region Stone, and he grasped the stone and pocketed it. He hurried after his companions, and they were met by a large group of battered guards and twinners. Regis and Honorous led the march, and the two groups met at the depression. Regis glanced past them at the cracked and dusty Senex, and then back to the companions. "Are they gone?" he asked them.
Ned nodded. "As is the stone," he told them.
Regis pursed his lips, but nodded. "I see. The stone was the source of them?"
"It was," Ned replied.
"And the reason for its awakening after so many countless centuries of sleeping?" Regis wondered.
The color drained from Fred's face, but Ned shook his head. "That will have to remain a mystery at this time, as my companions and I are in need of rest." His eyes flickered over to Ruth, and Regis followed Ned's gaze.
"I see," Regis replied. "Then perhaps tomorrow night we will call you at your inn. We have many things to discuss-" He glanced at Fred who sheepishly smiled. "-and explanations to hear, but tonight will be another night of repairs and bandaging wounds."
Ned bowed his head. "We thank you for your kindness, and will retire to await your summons," he agreed.
CHAPTER 31
The weary companions walked back to the inn and, out of habit, into the alley in back of the building. They found Ti on the steps. She jumped to her feet when she saw them and rushed over to Sins where she captured him in a strong hug. "I was so worried! I thought you'd been taken by those horrible creatures!" She glanced past him at the others and saw Ruth in
Canto's arms. "Is she hurt bad? Are the rest of you all right?" she asked them.
"Quite fine and our friend only needs rest like all of us," Ned replied.
"Well, let's get you inside. I'm sure you had a terrible time trying to hide from those monsters," she commented.
Ned and the others wearily smiled. "Something like that," Ned admitted.
At that moment the rear door to the inn opened and Hugh stood in the doorway. He had a wide grin on his face and his eyes gleamed with glee. "There you are, my dear fellow gamblers," Hugh greeted them. He stepped down the stairs and looked to Ti. "I thought if you were gone they were here."
She scowled at him. "What if they are?" she challenged him.
Hugh chuckled. "Well, I thought perhaps they were trying to escape from our little wager, or have you forgotten about it?" he asked Ned.
Ned shook his head. "Quite the contrary. I had every intention of finding you and settling your debt with me. That is, after we rested."
The grin slipped off Hugh's face. "Come again?" he asked him.
"Surely you haven't forgotten it? I believe the agreement was if Crash won our room costs would be refunded and Crash's bill would be settled," Ned told him.
Hugh grinned again and tucked his thumbs into the sizable waist of his pants. "That's true, very true, but I know for a fact he didn't win. Some of my friends were watching the swearing when everyone found out this boy's the one who did it. That means you lost."
"Ah, but this young man flew under Crash's name, and so Crash has indeed won the tournament," Ned insisted. "That is, unless you wish to take this matter up with the Senex, though at this moment they may not be obliging. We performed a very great service to them recently."
A puzzled expression crossed Hugh and Ti's faces. "What service?" she asked them.
The Unwilling Aviator (Book 4) Page 19