Shield and Solace: Part 5

[Praetorum]

13th of Cylus, Arc 719

The sharp turn had given him a little bit of breathing room, and Praetorum took that brief window of time to cock his crossbow again. Within moments, though, the birds were back on Sivan's tail, and he took the reins again. "Alright sweetheart." He muttered into her scales, one hand on her neck. "Let's take these birds on a chase."

Looking down at the deck of the ship, he saw two figures on board, one kneeling near the hatch, the other next to the door that led to the captain's cabin. He couldn't see the others, but he assumed they were around the ship somewhere. He was just going to have to trust the others, and focus entirely on doing his part.

Shifting his weight again, Praetorum directed Sivan into another sharp turn, pulling her into a narrow circle over the ship. He heard another screech from behind him, but only turned quickly to check how close the birds were to them.

Very, was the answer. Apparently, they learned quickly, and were already adjusting to Sivan's speed and agility.

A shadow fell over Praetorum's shoulder, and Sivan did a barrel roll without his urging. Praetorum yelped as he was flipped upside down, barely managing to grab on to his crossbow and quiver before they fell. The bird that had been swooping down towards them took one look at Sivan's outstretched claws, and pulled up again before it reached clawing range. Flipping back right side up, Sivan veered right, again without direction, and began to corkscrew upwards.

Catching his breath with a wheeze, Praetorum tried to urge her out of that spiral, only for her to respond with a loud huff. It seemed his mount was no longer taking suggestions on how to avoid getting caught.

[Praetorum]

Timestamp

A few more tugs, and it became abundantly clear that no, Sivan was no longer interested in listening to him. Ducking his head as she veered out of the way of a swooping bird, Praetorum groaned, and gave up; he supposed she was probably better at evading attacks in the air than he was. Instead, he turned his attention to his crossbow, loading in a bolt and looking around to try and find a good opportunity to shoot.

His friends below had made good use of his distraction, it seemed. One bird was lying still on the ground, while a second one was flopping around on the deck of the ship, one wing clearly broken. As he watched, one of the figures on the deck loosed another arrow into its eye, and the creature shuddered and went limp.

That left three more birds still hot on his tail.

Or, should have. When he turned to look behind him, Praetorum found only one bird still in pursuit. He still had the Serpent's Hood activated; where—

There was a squawk from his left as another bird swooped into sight, and Sivan made a sharp turn to the right, only to be cut off by the third bird.

Praetorum swore, raising his crossbow. These damn birds were too smart, he realized; they'd caught Sivan in a pincer formation, and were quickly swooping in to attack, not giving the kheledzan enough space to fly up or down. With no other option, Praetorum leaned forwards as far as he could, and shot over Sivan's shoulder, the bolt flying perilously close to her face as it went past.

The bolt missed the bird in front of them, but only by a hair, frightening the thing into veering off to the side. Not far, but just enough that Sivan was able to tip sideways, and slip out of the pincer, one of the birds' claws barely scraping off his shield. Glancing back, he grinned in vicious satisfaction as the birds narrowly avoided crashing into one another, and as an arrow from below pierced a wing.

Turning back, he realized with a start that Sivan was apparently done with this shit, and was attempting to fly away to safety. Away from the ship. "No, no no no no." He told her, yanking at the reins. "Turn around, girl, we gotta go back." He found himself thoroughly ignored as the kheledzan flew in the wrong direction, the remaining birds in hot pursuit. "Come on, come on..." Praetorum growled.

With no other options left to him, Praetorum gritted his teeth, and threw his weight to the side, far, far further than he would ever have dared without the harness tying him to the saddle. Dragging at the reins at the same time, he managed to force Sivan to turn with a loudly vocalized complaint, back towards the ship. Despite her angry hiss, she continued in the right direction, ducking under the pursuing birds as she made her way back towards the ship.

Praetorum only had a moment of warning before a massive clawed foot closed over his left arm, and tried to drag him out of the saddle. Yelping in surprise, Praetorum clenched his knees instinctively around Sivan's side, trying to keep himself in place. Sivan let out a shrill squawk, trying to dive downwards, and Praetorum gasped in pain as his mount tried to go one way, and the bird hanging on to his arm tried to go another.

Turning his head, Praetorum managed to close his jaw around the bird's foot, and clamped down as hard as he could, shaking his head in some animalistic instinct, powerful jaws crunching through hollow bones. The creature shrieked above him, talons loosening, and when he opened his mouth, it released him as well, disappearing from his vision as Sivan dove down towards the treeline.

Gasping in pain, he grabbed onto his left shoulder, trying to keep it from moving. It was clear his arm was dislocated, and the acrobatics that Sivan was engaging in was causing jolts of pain to flare up with every twist and turn. Gritting his teeth through the pain, he tucked his injured arm against his body. "Down!" He barked at Sivan, nudging with his knees. "Down!"

To his relief, she obeyed, dropping down from a glide into a run along the muddy ground. Grabbing on to the reins with his one usable hand, he steered her under the cover of the trees, and urged her around, back towards the ship. He couldn't see any birds left in the sky, but that didn't mean they were out of danger just yet.

[Praetorum]

Timestamp

He emerged from the mangrove forest to find the other survivors in a somber mood. There were two bodies laid out on the forest floor; Rorik was one of them. Praetorum swallowed heavily, heart sinking. Kira, spotting him, drew close, and helped him dismount from the saddle with his injured arm. "Dislocated? That's rough; we're already down two pairs of hands. Come on." Bringing him and Sivan inside, she pushed him to lie down. "Relax; this will hurt much less if you do."

Gently, she took his dislocated arm, and raised it up, tucking it under his head so he was reaching for his other shoulder. It hurt, badly, but Praetorum forced himself to ignore it, focusing instead on the pattern of the wood above him. As Kira slowly rotated his arm, he felt it pop back into place, and the pain eased a little, dulling into a low throb.

"Alright?" He nodded, sitting up. "Alright." Kira sighed. "We need to talk about what happens next."

"Yeah?" He rolled his injured shoulder gingerly, testing its mobility.

"Yeah. We're down to four able Yari, now, and you're too badly injured to be much help next time a fight comes along." Praetorum grimaced, but couldn't disagree. His leg wound had reopened during the fight, he realized a little belatedly, and his arm was too fucked up for him to be able to fight for a while. "But your mount can still fly."

Frustration welled up in his throat. "You want me to fly the children back to Yaralon." He said flatly.

"Exactly."

Praetorum gritted his teeth, taking in a deep breath. She was right, of course; down an arm and a leg, he and Sivan would only be a burden on their resources, and at least this way, they were guaranteed to save at least some of the kids.

He still hated it. He wanted to save everyone, if he could.

"Help might be on the way already."

"And what if they aren't?"

Praetorum folded his arms, wincing as he did so. "What about this? Tomorrow morning, I'll fly out down the coast towards Yaralon. If I don't see a ship coming this way by the time the tide washes out, I'll come back, and we'll do things your way." She gave him a skeptical look. "High tide is the most dangerous time of day." He pointed out. "Even if I don't see anyone coming, I'll be back before then."

Kira pressed a hand to her eyes, sighing. "Alright, I suppose another break or two won't hurt. But if you don't see anyone, you come back and take as many children as you can with you, alright? No arguing or bargaining. Just leave the rest of us."

Praetorum nodded. "If I leave most of my equipment here, I can take two, maybe three of the children with me." He told her. "How are you going to decide which ones?"

"Strongest first. That means Allie, and since she won't go without her brother, Tony as well. And then the smallest, I think. It's a lot of weight for Sivan to fly with." Kira shook her head, a wry, resigned smile tugging at her lips. "Hell of a fee Aelig demands sometimes. But it was good knowing you."

He inclined his head. "And you."

[Yrmellyn Cole]

Thread Rewards

PLAYER NAME

Overview

And right when it gets really, really tought Praetorum's mount bails! Brilliant. My favorite part is when Praetorum bites the attacking bird. They seem to conquer the birds but it's not over. The shipwrecked people are still in deadly danger and now Praetorum is too wounded to be able to fight again. If no other help arrives in time he will have to fly the children to safety, one by one ... and as it's yaralon: "Strongest first!". As I've said in the previous reviews of this six parter, the writing is inspiring and so is the plot. You are really keeping up the tension all the way to the end! And, once again, enjoy your rewards!

Points

10

Loot

Wealth

Renown

Injuries

Injuries/Overstepping: Dislocated left shoulder

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Knowledge

Mount (Kheledzan): Using sharp turns to gain ground on pursuers
Mount (Kheledzan): Barrel roll to deter enemies from attacking from above
Mount (Kheledzan): Using body weight to force a turn
Tactics: Arial pincer formation
Ranged (Crossbow): Deterring enemies from charging head on
Medicine: Fixing a dislocated shoulder

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