Kobold Life

Chapter 12: Harpy

The harpies had been an unexpected and unwelcome problem. Their hypnotic songs still echoed above, defying all notion of worldly sound. However, once I had recognized the threat it held the effect seemed minimal. Alluring but no longer charming. Jitra still splashed in the water of the cavernous fissure trying to find purchase on the walls. I knew from my dip into the water that it was freezing. The stone seemed too hard to dig her claws in and too smooth to grip without them. Still, she clamored against it ineffectively for a time.

From what I knew of Harpies, they were opportunistic hunters. They would lure the unsuspecting in with the beauty of their songs to trap their prey. Apparently, this watering hole was one of the surroundings they had decided to use for this endeavor. It would be easy for a flying creature to come in and out, but without flight, it would be easy to drown or to be picked off from above. I needed to help Jitra, but I found that I was in an equally precarious position. The curve of the walls meant that I was hanging in the open air, from a rope of questionable quality which was only anchored by Opal, who I hoped would be unaffected by the song. I realized that this rope was likely our only way out. What's more, if they were still singing I could only imagine that Gabriel was under the effect of their enchanting song. In short, there were only a few ways the situation could get worse.

I reached down toward the water again attempting to rotate within my make-shift harness, my hand was about two feet from the water's surface.

"Jitra, grab on," I called, trying to grab her attention rather than the wall she was trying to climb.

After a moment's hesitation, she pushed off the wall's surface toward me. She was agile and powerful, but we were land creatures and we were too small to get the kind of reach we needed. As she pushed against the water she managed to propel herself up more than half the distance., but we were still short by at least six inches. After four or five attempts it was clear that she was having more difficulty each time.

Above the harpy song still loomed, providing an ominous backdrop to the situation. Jitra was not making progress and was tiring, and I couldn't stretch myself any further. So there was only one solution I could think of. I quickly began untying the knot that held the loops around me, together they would provide enough slack for me to reach the water's surface. I fumbled with it a few times, before eventually getting the knot to slip. With the loops of rope no longer bound together I felt the support they offered slip away as the rope rapidly pulled back along my body, I tumbled forward and the loops around each of my shoulders gave way. I felt my body weight jerk against the cord around my stomach, the first knot held as I now plunged into the surface of the water as well. Thankfully I didn't pull under very far, but I was next to Jitra now, and I had provided her at least some way up.

"Can you deal with the harpies?" I asked worriedly.

She gasped a bit, and grabbed onto me, using me as a base as she gripped at the rope.

"They will run," She sputtered, "we just need to show that we are a threat. They won't fight anything they can't pick off easily"

"Then you go up," I said, "scare them off then pull me up."

She nodded and began an attempt to climb the ivy. I let myself stay submerged in the water, I let my buoyancy remove any tension I might put on the rope so that it only had to support one of us at a time. I felt the warmth fleeing from my body as I floated on my back, looking up at the rays of light that shone through the fissure's mouth. Jitra pulled herself up above me making short inching movements to avoid disturbing the rope or alerting the harpies before she had reached safety. Her figure became dark, a mere gray-black shadow against the rift-light as she crossed the precipice and regained her ground. One of the harpies stopped singing, somewhat disrupting the otherworldly chorus. For once I was out of the action, unsure of what was happening above. I knew Jitra had arrived at the surface and was lucid enough to avoid falling back under their enchantment, but of Gabrial and Opal, I had no idea. Then the singing stopped. All at once, my mind seemed to empty, I could think more clearly, and focus on my surroundings. Then I saw it, the wings which shaded the cavern entrance.