Lost Wings

8~ Fight or Be Eaten

Previously on LW:

A scream scattered birds in nearby trees.

"Aiden!" Autumn, Chase, and I all jumped to our feet.

Chapter 8

Aiden sprinted into the clearing. When he saw us, he slowed and opened his wings.

"Fly!" He panted. "There's a -" He took a ragged breath. "Lion."

Something large crashed trough the undergrowth. The peryton flicked their ears in alarm and bolted, quickly gaining altitude.

We were about to follow after them, when an inhuman shriek tore the air. For a second, we were frozen, whether in shock, fear, or awe, I couldn't tell.

The shriek rang again, and a large animal with a hooked beak, the body and tail of a lion, and impressive eagle-like wings, burst into the clearing.

"It's a gryphon!" Autumn exclaimed.

"I don't care if it's a freaking unicorn-dragon. It's gonna eat us!" Aiden frantically nocked an arrow, kicking off the ground into the air.

Autumn and I scrambled back. I doubted flying off would be any use against another winged creature, but I wasn't about to stand still either. Its shrieks and fierce look made its intentions quite clear: it wasn't here to make friends.

The new preys didn't distract the gryphon from its original target. It pounced upwards, clawed front legs reaching towards Aiden, but Chase jumped up, slicing his sword across one of its legs. Blood smeared Chase's weapon, only infuriating the animal more. Aiden forgotten, it reared on its hind paws to swipe at Chase, who rolled out of the way and tried to reply with quick strikes of his own. However, neither opponent seemed to be having much success. I knew from watching Chase fight in practice that force and height were some of his strengths, but they were no match for the gryphon's. Instead, he had to use his shorter stature for speed and evasion and try to tire out his enemy.

He raised his sword, aiming a blow at the shoulder, but the gryphon lifted its paw and deflected it with such strength that Chase barely held on to his weapon.

"Chase!" Aiden yelled. "Move out of the way so I can shoot it!"

"Stay back!" Chase yelled back.

Autumn flew up and snatched Aiden shirt, yanking him back just as the gryphon's tail whipped past.

Chase tried to fly up to have the advantage of higher ground, but the gryphon just followed him. Soon, they were above the canopy.

"Chase!" Aiden yelled at the top of his lungs. "Get back here! You cannot fight a gryphon!"

"Shut up," I whispered, shivering. I was scared out of my wits. Chase was a good fighter, but he had only one sword, and the gryphon had ten claws and many more teeth.

Autumn slapped my shoulder hard enough to make me flinch. "Get it together, Hailey! We need to help."

"Sorry." I concentrated. "Aiden, you need to get up there. Autumn and I will fly up and distract it away from Chase."