FVN Book 5: Chapter 20: Dangling
Book 5: Chapter 20: Dangling
Book 5: Chapter 20: Dangling
Desperately hanging by his fingertips, Elijah looked down, where he saw Kurik and Dat dangling in the air. The rope barely held, swaying back and forth as a giant, golden-feathered eagle swooped in, raking its talons across Dat’s hastily upraised arm. The Witch Hunter let out a scream as the razor-sharp claws tore through his leather sleeve, biting deep into his forearm and sending a spray of blood misting into the air. Elijah clenched his free hand into a fist, casting Storm’s Fury. Lightning lanced down from a cloudless sky, hitting the bird directly in its feathered back. The thing convulsed, its every muscle locking up as it dropped like a rock.
But there were so many more to take its place.
For the first time in a while, Elijah used Nature’s Rebuke. The spell was quick-casting and very efficient, but he often neglected it for one simple reason. The damage it could do was extremely limited, except in very specific circumstances.
Nature’s Rebuke
Curse an entity to endure the power of nature, doing damage over time. Triple damage against unnatural creatures. Lasts two minutes.
As it turned out, very few creatures qualified as unnatural, and to date, the only ones he’d found that met whatever criteria the system had assigned to the label were the vampires back in the Magister’s Estate. He’d harbored some hope that the wraiths would count as unnatural, but he had been disappointed to find that they assuredly did not.
Perhaps there was a lesson there about the scope of the natural world, but Elijah was far too distracted by his and his allies’ precarious position to give the thought its due. Instead, he focused on the fight at hand.
Normally, the unenhanced version of Nature’s Rebuke was nearly useless against natural creatures. However, there were two things working in its favor. The first was the effect of his twice-evolved Dragon Core, which nearly tripled its normal effectiveness. That was enough to give it at least a little kick. But the real reason Elijah had bothered to cast it at all was the fact that the birds – not unlike his own Shape of the Sky – were quite fragile. Certainly, they were dangerous and deadly, largely because of their mobility and the superiority of being able to maneuver in three dimensions. In addition, there were so many of them that even if a couple didn’t make it, the flock were more than capable of ripping their prey to shreds.
Elijah couldn’t let that happen. So, he cast Nature’s Rebuke, over and over again, hitting as many of the eagles with the spell as he could manage. At the same time, he utilized another facet of his mind to maintain Soothe on his allies. And finally, he applied Shield of Brambles – another oft-neglected ability – so that when the birds did attack, they would feel the quick reprisal of Elijah’s thorns.
At the same time, he fended off any birds that chose to target him rather than the other, more vulnerable members of his party. It wasn’t easy while holding onto the ledge, but with his attributes, he managed to make do. Still, in his human form, he was far less capable in a melee, especially one suspended thousands of feet above the ground. Making matters even more difficult was the fact that he was unarmed, having secured his staff to his back via a bit of rope so that he could free his hands for climbing.
One eagle swooped in, ready to take advantage of his seeming vulnerability. But Elijah reacted far more quickly than it could have expected, and when it drew near, he lashed out with a fist that crushed one of its fragile wings. Like the ones he’d electrocuted with Storm’s Fury, the latest avian assailant fell, twirling and lopsided until it passed out of the radius of One with Nature.
Just then, a particularly clever eagle recognized the party’s true vulnerability – the tenuous connection provided by the already-frayed rope. It darted in, raking its unfathomably sharp claws through the mundane material, slicing it apart with ease.
It felt like time had stopped as Elijah felt the weight of his allies suddenly disappear from the rope. He watched as the severed end snapped back, and more importantly, he saw Dat’s shocked face as he and Kurik began the long plummet to the earth far, far below.
Elijah didn’t hesitate.
He cast Shape of the Predator, snapping out his claws before he even finished the transformation. The rope connecting him to Sadie parted even more easily beneath his efforts than it had from the bird’s. And in only a moment, he too was plummeting toward the ground. However, there was one key difference between him and his companions.
He could fly.
Even as he used Shape of the Sky, Elijah felt another bird swoop in, raking its claws across his back. Caught mid-transformation, he didn’t have the natural protection of his draconid scales, but the Breastplate of the Boar King held up remarkably well.
“Bro. That’s hardcore,” Dat said in awe.
“I break a lot of bones,” Elijah replied through gritted teeth. “I had to get used to this kind of thing.”
Then, he did the same to the other leg before casting Nature’s Bloom. As the spell washed over him, he used Soothe on himself, Dat, and Kurik before, at last, casting Healing Rain.
“What about Sadie?” he asked after his wounds had begun to heal. It would take a few hours at least until his bones had mended, and that was an optimistic estimate. There was every chance that they would heal wrong, and he’d be forced to break them again and put himself back together properly. It had happened before, and he suspected that it would happen again.
If he kept going as he was, it wouldn’t be long before he became as proficient at setting bones as an actual doctor.
“We passed her, bro.”
“What?” Elijah asked.
“She’s below us. Maybe a few hundred feet,” Kurik said.
Alarmed, Elijah tried to push himself upright, but the moment he put any weight on his leg, it collapsed beneath him. He hissed in pain.
“I’ll go, bro. Don’t worry. We’ll get her,” Dat said. He glanced at Kurik. “Right?”
Kurik swallowed hard, but said, “Right. Ain’t gonna let one of my teammates fight those demon birds alone, am I? Course not.”
Satisfied with that, Elijah cast a couple more heals on the pair before they climbed free of the cave. Outside, the steady cry of the circling flock of eagles sounded, overwhelming even the whistling wind.
It had all been going so well before they crossed some ephemeral line into the eagles’ territory. Up until that point, Dat’s whistling had kept the wind spirits at bay, but the moment they drew within a thousand feet of the summit, they’d drawn the ire of the birds. After that, it had been one long battle until, at last, Dat and Kurik had been torn free of the tether.
And now Elijah was alone and feeling useless while the rest of his team went to assist Sadie. It was not a great feeling, so to distract himself, he focused on healing himself. It didn’t really work, but being as how he was incapable of walking, he had little choice in the matter.
Finally, after almost twenty minutes, he saw someone crawl into the cave. Then, a second figure followed. And at last, Sadie brought up the rear.
She marched toward Elijah, and he braced for one of her disdainful tirades. So, when she knelt beside him and put her hand on his shoulder, he couldn’t help but flinch a little. She ignored it as she locked her eyes on his and said, “Thank you. I can’t tell you how much Dat means to me. If I’d lost him...” Her eyes went glassy. “I just can’t. I won’t lose anyone again. Thank you for saving him.”
“Uh...you’re welcome,” was all Elijah could think to say.