Falkner stood on a rock seeing the canyon of vultures, the mountain now large in the distance then looked back at the large canyon with a grim look. It will take days to cross and no inn could be found so sleeping on the hard ground is unavoidable.
“Are you going to stand there all day? Or are we going to get a move on the day won't last forever” Nyssa said with a smirk
“Just give me a moment,” irritated at Nyssa. She's such a pain. Just like this whole journey Falkner thought as he mounted his moa and together they rode down a small trail single file trying not to look down into the two hundred foot drop and the narrow trail. just think about something else like when we get down there there's a bland lunch waiting there for you that didn’t help either I wish for good tasting food like roasted boar with that honey sauce or some fresh bread smothered in butter or fresh tomatoes stop your just making it worse mouth watering of the mere thought of it
“So do you think we'll see any vultures?” Nyssa asked
“It's called the vulture’s canyon, what do you think?” dumbfounded at the question
“just trying to make conversation” Nyssa said happily
“Besides, what else are you going to do?”
“Think of something you can’t do,” Falkner said Nyssa fell silent and not bothering to turn around to apologize. These past few days have been rough, the cold, the hard ground and just how long I’ve been doing it and we're still weeks away! Why can't it be summer? The heat is way better anyway when they reached the bottom of the canyon something could be seen flying overhead and it was slightly humanoid. Could it be a harpy? I didn’t get a good look at it, it's probably just a huge vulture. This is vulture canyon anyway
“did you see that overhead?” Falkner asked
“No, why?”
“Nothing, it’s nothing” Nyssa looked at him as if he just lost his mind riding forward at a trot nothing else living could be seen. The only sound was the wind and the footsteps of their moas; a shout was heard out of nowhere nearby. drawing his sword turning around to see Nyssa shouting
“what put out your eyes already” Nyssa laughed sheathing his sword with a jerk “don’t do that we don’t know who else could be listening” Nyssa rolled her eyes at him the silence continued as they ate lunch in silence no other living thing could be seen something’s wrong I can feel it where are the animals? There is some grass and stuff so where are they? Maybe in the other cracks in the ground an uneasy feeling ever since entering here and he couldn't shake it Nyssa didn’t seem to be very concerned about this place. She was completely at ease.
Onward they rode when something flew overhead again but it flew so fast Falkner couldn't get a good look at it. something wants to kill us I’m calling it. be rational about this, it's just a vulture looking for carrion. By nightfall Falkner went to get firewood as Nyssa set up camp. I know I can use my powers for something else. I just need to figure out how. blasting a nearby rock with fire melting the snow on it then holding it in the palm of his hand then two what would happen if I tried to condense it? Holding his hands together and adding more fire until throwing it at the rock which exploded in a ring of flame that will be helpful Falkner thought with a smile what if holding two fireballs then started to juggle them poorly but it was possible. if I get good at this I won’t have to pay at the taverns we could make good money of of this if it came to that we are a little low on money after a bit more practice he went back to getting firewood there aren't even tracks of any kind
then he looked up and saw a vulture five feet tall perched on the cliff wall he hurried back to camp their moas were grazing on what they could find and the tents were set up
“there you are what took you so long you are only gathering sticks” Nyssa said brushing the rats nest of her hair out of her face
“there aren't many trees here” Falkner said flatly looking all around as two more vultures could be seen watching them silently drawing his sword and running towards his moa for his shield grabbing it off the bird Nyssa also grabbed her shield
“you think those vultures will attack us?” Nyssa asked
“I don’t think so but there could be something else out there” Falkner said over his shoulder they stood back to back near their moas to protect them
“This better not be a false alarm” Nyssa warned then as if in response a screech was heard in front of Falkner and in front of Nyssa wolflike like creatures but bigger and with raven like heads on all fours covered in small feathers instead of fur and pouched Falkner moved to the side as much as he could slashing at one of their hind legs severing the tendon with a screech of pain it backed off but Falkner couldn't finish it off as three more came towards him he threw fire to keep them at bay he was too busy to see that
Nyssa fell on her back as a dead ravenwolf impaled itself on her sword; she got to her knees throwing icicles to keep two ravenwolfs at bay. Falkner tried to keep three at bay but they got closer and closer as he tried to roast one of them but were too quick to hit panic gripped Falkner as they got closer finally hitting one on the side and with a screech their moas were screeching in alarm and bolted passed Nyssa and into the night Nyssa screamed and pulled her sword out of the ravenwolf’s corpse and charred sword in hand against the ravenwolfs
as Falkner stabbed a ravenwolf in the eye as another pecked Falkner in the thigh which didn’t go very deep as Falkner hacked at its neck while blocking swipes against another one talon’s with his shield almost knocking him off his feet. slashing at it but missing by inches. Where is the third? Looking behind and seeing the third ravenwolf thinking in a split second dropping the shield and blasting the beast as well as swashing at the other one as they both charged at the same time. holding the fire on the roasting it to death as the last one with it’s eye stabbed out ran away into the night seeing to his thigh and seeing no arteries severed chased after Nyssa and the moas.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
vultures came down to feast on the dead the cold left his hands and ears numb from the cold so much for a nice warm campfire
After two hours of running and losing a bit of blood. he collapsed near Nyssa sitting against Stormbreaker stroking his neck. She looked fine just a claw straps but where shallow huddling to his own moa and fell asleep.
two days after the attack no further attacks followed and their food in short supplied so when a rabbit was seen Falkner shot a jet of flame and Nyssa skinned and gutted it as well as scrap off the burnt parts it took longer than he wanted but it tasted better than the hard cheese and bread but they weren't successful all the time but he began to get the hang of it riding side by side then they saw a lone harpy part bird part woman with a beak where her mouth should be pecking to clean her wing when you see one harpy there’s at least a dozen more but none could be seen
“Ride!” Nyssa yelled, riding past the harpy kicking his moa into a gallop they rode for a while but slowed to a walk when they realized nothing was following them
“There's always more right? Maybe the stories are wrong?” Nyssa asked
“I don’t think we we're just lucky” relieved that only one harpy was found or did scout ahead
“But I don’t know much about harpies. you?” Nyssa shook her head
“Let's just get out of here” kicking Stormbreaker into a trot unease settled into his gut. Two vultures could be seen eating a deer and they were big, their wingspan had to be fifteen feet or seventeen feet black oily feathers covered them with their redhead. They looked scary but he knew they're just from the attack two days ago.
after they rode past they stopped for lunch which meant he had to hunt looking forward and seeing nothing walking to some bushes to look for rabbits or something walking low to the ground to keeping him from spooking what's around him when Falkner saw a white rabbit not thirty feet slowly crawling towards his pray this better work when he was in range slowly standing up then tried something new placing his hands together and built up fire and threw at it as the fire hit the rabbit and a ring of fire exploded picking up the dead rabbit it was a little burned mostly where the fireball hit but it should work letting it hover over his palm cooking it as best he could after he was satisfied after he went back and handed it to Nyssa who skinned and gutted it. he sat down up against the rock wall of the canyon eating
“We need the gods back. look at the kingdom” Falkner said
“What do you mean?”
“What I mean is history with the past king things were better. monsters are attacking the roads making them unsafe. We haven't seen four travelers the whole journey. We don't even know what's going on in the southern part of the kingdom half the time. the kings arm is weak it’s every lord and country for itself like most people don’t even know what goes on in the next village besides vague rumors were losing this kingdom and no one knows about we don’t even know if it's safe to travel to the next town”
“ya but we made it, it can't be that bad”
“We avoided the main roads but how many travelers did we meet?”
“not many” Nyssa said looking uncomfortable
“that's why we need the gods back to bolster their spirits and improve them by wiping out all the monsters on the face of the land“ Falkner declared
“now that you mention it I have no idea what goes on in the other counties but I think your exaggerate sure trade is almost non existent due to monsters but we have made good progress in hunting them down” Nyssa argued not sounding like she believed it
“with the support of one town or city and we only won because we outnumber them we should be able to crush them” Falkner pointed out
“Maybe” Nyssa said slowly they sat there discussing unimportant stuff when they decided to leave and ride once more with Nyssa in the lead and when he sped up she did to keep the lead giving up so she could have it for whatever reason. she can be so petty and peculiar sometimes we were never that close as children.
the packmoa in front of him gave a screech witch he looked to the sky for threats finding nothing it never hurts to be to careful Falkner thought as he rub the hilt of his sword
“you seem jumpy lately” Nyssa said, not bothering to look at him as she spoke
“Can you blame me? We were attacked by weird creatures” she didn't respond so they rode in silence till dinner. After stopping to make a small campfire
“Where's dinner?” Nyssa asked
“I couldn't find anything” Falkner said bitterly
“Some hunter you are” Nyssa said, handing him a hard loaf of bread and they went to bed hungry.
As they emerged after a week of travel and rode into a village with greasy hair, worn out clothes slump shoulders and heads down. Hopefully we can get a bath and a hot meal that isn’t rabbit, which was all we encountered that was edible and they were scarce as it was. I haven't eaten two meals a day in a week!
passing through the palisade gate as guards stood at attention holding spears. all eyes were on them. a man came up to Falkner, an older man in his fifties with gray hair but quite fit
“looks like you had a hard trip” he said
“you could say that”
“Listen, we don’t tolerate thieves or such,” he said, getting angry.
“we're not thieves!” Nyssa said
“what and how did you get those rich coats witch are so dirty I didn't recognize them for what they are so you must have stolen them and ben chase from town to town” at his voice the gourds bard the gate lowing their spears at us
“you assume too much I am lord Falkner” Falkner said getting frustrated he jump back at the sight of his eyes of flame still people didn't seem to believe him by the look of their faces
“and I I’m lady Nyssa” Nyssa added showing the man her ring
“my apologies my lord and lady you are a godling it’s not everyday that a lord from all across the kingdom shows up with no guards where are you going?” The man said quickly, face red, the villagers didn’t seem as hostile but both looked at each other with skepticism. As the guards quickly raised their spears as if they never had them lowered but if anyone were wrong they would hung
“That is my business we're only here for supplies” Falkner said
“We don't have much but if your coin is honest we'll give you what we can spare,” the old man said flatly. villagers began to gather bread and cheese and some dried meat enough to fill some bags. Nyssa began to get the coin to pay and soon they left the village behind and a good thing too. they clearly didn’t want us there but best not to dwell on that.
The mountain loomed and soon they will approach it from the west side and hope for no monsters in the area, at least less monsters. on and on the road goes on which it never seems to end and we haven’t been practicing the sword vary much I hope we can keep up but it doesn't matter a whole lot Falkner realized we need to be stealthy to succeed and if twenty goblins corner us or three trolls it won’t matter very much how good of a swordsman we are when Falkner realized the sun began to set Falkner let out a grown I was hoping for an inn we will have to sleep on the ground I was hoping to sleep in an inn before we leave civilization altogether but what can be done once they got on top on the hill and had to dismount to lead their moas slowly as to not hurt them after that ordeal was done they made camp not far off after that was done Nyssa excited over the cold night as always they didn’t talk much and then went to bed after a light meal.
Falkner looked at the woods at the base of the mountain later the next day
“ready?” Falkner asked
“Ready” Nyssa said with grim determination then rode into the unknown.