My Servant Is An Elf-Knight From Another World

Chapter 28

I turned only to find that Ash had already made a beeline towards my direction. On the ground, I had no choice, but to drag myself and my broken feet away from her.

Predictably, dragging couldn't outpace walking. As much as I wished it did.

It took her no time at all to reach me, and no effort at all to prevent me from moving any further. All she had to do was press her weight down on my foot and I was sent screaming into indescribable agony.

That was also when it happened.

Intermixing with my scream, a shrilling screech echoed deep within the depths of the orange flames. The fire was starting to manifest and take shape.

The shape of a bird.

In a blinding explosion of light, hurtling towards me in a flutter of golden feathers, a large smoldering creature, still inflamed, tethered itself onto the back of my shirt with its sharp talons, and then with a strong gust of embers and wind, flapped its massive wings, sending the both of us gliding out the doorway and into the narrow halls where it took flight.

Bizarrely, unconventionally, I managed to escape... in the wings of a - technically the talons of a large bird-thing. But there was no chance of a reprieve just yet because despite lengthening the distance from that room of death, a deafening shriek could still be heard bouncing across the confined halls of the building.

Amelia wasn't done with me yet.

"AFTER THEM!" echoed the Matriarch in a booming voice.

"Go... Go down another level!" I shouted at the bird through the sharp rustling of wind zooming past us.

I was issuing commands to a bird. A bird made of literal fire. The sole prospect of it would have been hilarious if my situation wasn't so goddamn dire. I mean, can it even understand me?

The bird kept turning at every corner it could find, twice we passed a stairwell without it ever catching sight of it, clearly, it was lost. Once we reached a familiar route again, I took a chance.

"Turn left, not right!" I said.

The bird flapped once, turned at an angle... and spurred us westwards. Okay, so it can understand me. Wow.

'Right, here!" I yelled again. "Now, here!"

It turned again just as I had ordered. That confirms it. Despite all the aching, and the bruising, and the bleeding, and also the dying... I had to admit, this was actually kinda cool.

Eventually, I managed to direct it to not only just the third floor but the second floor as well. Hopefully far from any danger to allow a chance to collect myself and catch a breath.

We took shelter in a rather obscure part of the building, a corner room at the furthest end of the building.

The process of setting me down was a bit complicated. Even as it gently plopped me to the ground, I still had to bear with the sharp pain on my broken foot. Once I had settled, however, it was all smooth-sailing from there.

It untethered its talons, and I leaned against the wall. Breathing has never felt so good as it did just then. Took all I had to hold myself together and not crumble into a sobbing mess.

I was alive.

"Thank you," I said to the bird, wiping the few droplets from my eyes that had formed as a result. "Seriously... thank you."

The bird on fire with its feet planted to the ground across from me merely ruffled its dazzling wings and cocked its head at an angle.

Curiouser and curiouser.