A trilling, earth-shattering screech pierced through Ryan’s head. The sound devastated Ryan’s sense of equilibrium, made him dizzy and he stumbled to his knees. A fleeting thought; “So that’s what a sonic assault weapon feels like!” percolated through his mushy mind before he managed to gather himself and Shifted both of them to the nearest tree with decent cover.

“Act first, think later…” he reminded himself. He hadn’t identified the threat but, judging from the barely perceived direction of the aural attack, the threat was airborne and cover was likely a fantastic idea. Repositioning couldn’t hurt either. Ryan turned his back towards the thick trunk and with Fury sheltered between his legs sought the origin of the superlative trill. It didn’t take him long to find the offender, a giant bird of prey circling above their prior location. The markings of its feathers, black wings with a speckled white chest and the regal head indicated that the Giant Eagle, at Level 36, had once been a martial eagle, the largest of its kind that had graced Namibia’s skies prior to initiation.

This one however was on an entirely different level of existence however. Although it wasn’t easy to judge, Ryan estimated it’s wingspan to be greater than 20 metres, about 10 to 15 times the size it should be. He shivered as he spotted the vicious talons, large enough to encompass his head and squash it like a soft tsamas melon. He was beyond happy that the screech hadn’t incapacitated him wholly and that he had the presence of mind to Shift them to cover, he was certain that he wouldn’t have survived a closer encounter with the raptor. Which, to his chagrin, was still searching for them. Slowly spiralling upwards in ever larger circles, panning across the ground in search of the prey that had inexplicably escaped its grasp.

Ryan was only too happy to slowly shuffle around the trunk to escape direct line of sight. The camelthorn’s foliage didn’t provide the best cover visually but the tree was sturdy and should provide a modicum of protection from the raptor should it find them and chose to dive. Moving away from it was out of the question, he wasn’t delusional enough to think that he was faster than a diving eagle and wasn’t yet desperate enough to empty his Energy Pool to do some sequential Shifts to escape the immediate area. No, he would remain snugly cuddling the rough bark and keep an eye on the aerial menace.

“Well, at least I can lay my unsettling worries with regards to the lacking population of larger mammals to rest. Seems we have found the reason.” he sent to Fury. When he didn’t receive a reply he took his eyes of the eagle and worriedly inspected the little lioness. Fury was unresponsive, slumped on the ground with only the whites of her eyes showing. “Hmmm, that screech scrambled her brain way harder than mine.” Ryan thought to himself. There was nothing he could do to aid his bond so, to distract himself at least with the pretence of keeping busy, he continued observing the circling eagle. It kept swivelling its head from side to side in rapid starts, the smooth circling replaced by a more corkscrewed line of flight, passing their prior location at a medium height repeatedly from different angles. There clearly was a method to its actions but for the life of him Ryan couldn’t figure out what the intelligent beast was aiming to achieve.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

At least until it dive-bombed the site of their narrow escape, the draft of its passing raising a swirling cloud of dust. ”It’s checking for a camouflaged prey.” he realised in shock. He contemplated its likely suite of senses. It was logical that it had impeccable vision, eyesight beyond compare. Probably barely a sense of smell. He suspected that it could have a sensitivity for air-currents, a sort of radar that allowed it to map its surroundings based on the movements of air. Ryan couldn’t otherwise explain the repeated close passes it was making along the ground. Eventually it seemed to give up, shaking its head as if in frustrated denial the eagle rose against the horizon with slow, powerful strokes of its massive wings. It was facing away from them obliquely and Ryan sighed with relief realising that it was unlikely to spot them now. He kept a close eye on it as it headed towards the more mountainous terrain in the north, heading to a distant peak in a straight line. As it descended towards a sharp peak a second, slightly smaller winged shape rose to greet it. The screech was audible even at this distance and Ryan was forced to remember that they usually paired, a female and male mating for life. Ryan strained his eyes to find the roost before he identified the massive pile of branches threatening to topple a sturdy camelthorn tree listing precariously close to the edge of a cliff as the pair’s roost. It had grown in size commensurate to the breeding eagles.

For a moment Ryan lost himself in flights of fancy revolving around having such an impressive specimen of raptor as a pet before Fury’s exasperated sending brought him back down to the ground. “Stop drooling you imbecile. You’ll never survive trying to steal an egg or a chick. Besides, don’t you love me? I’m all that you’ll ever need.”

Rudely interrupted Ryan only replied with a scathing “You can’t fly, can you?” to which Fury only huffed in disgruntled irritation. “Score for Ryan” he smirked as he thought at her again. It wasn’t often that he won such a mental spar against his bond and Ryan celebrated the victory in smug satisfaction. The lioness however, had made a decent point. Stealing from the roost was a foolhardy endeavour and notwithstanding his resolve to act for the benefit of the Guild, Ryan wasn’t willing to risk his life to such an extent and then hand over the reward to someone who could actually still bond a pet. He knew that their bond didn’t allow for anything else as neither of them would ever assent to adding another party to their relationship.

Nonetheless, the pair was majestic and Ryan wistfully watched them as they circled around another before the smaller specimen, likely the male, returned to the roost. His near victorious opponent headed further away on a northerly heading, disappearing in the distance on its search for worthy prey. Ryan sighed as he accepted that tempting fate and searching for a good hunt in the area was likely an exercise in futility so he quickly spun up a portal and watched as Fury sauntered through it back to the fortress. After a last look at the roost Ryan followed her and stepped through himself.

Stepping out next to his Dimensional Anchor Ryan gasped in shocked relief, absentminded as he had been he had actually stepped through his own portal and emerged unscathed. Furtively he turned around to see if anyone had observed his shock, it wouldn’t do if the occurrence was communicated to John, he’d be smug for days. No-one had spotted him so Ryan settled into a cross-legged position to unravel the intricacies of his Dimensional Anchor to hopefully level up the Skill.