Song of the Piper

::27:: Backed into a Corner

Music is Control the Dream by Immediate Music. Play it!

******

I returned to the physical world with screams ringing in my ears.

I immediately pulled myself to my senses. Someone was latching onto my shoulder, and a wave of coolness washed over me. I turned around to look at the source.

"Heidi!" I exclaimed when I saw the Healer's face. Her eyelids fluttered open.

Instead of saying "Klaudia!" or "Thank the saints you're alive!" or even a "Get moving!" she cried over her shoulder, "She's awake!"

That was when I saw the gryphon.

I'd only seen them circling overhead in the wastelands, always a safe distance away. This was the first time I'd seen one up close. Its wings, spanning the length of three full grown men each, had a brilliant red and brown plumage. Its eagle head had two clear golden eyes set into it, ending in a deadly, curved beak. The forelegs resembled a bird of prey's, equipped with wickedly hooked talons; the hindlegs, a giant cat's, power rippling in its muscles, a tawny colour of sand. It truly was magnificent.

If only it weren't trying to eat us.

The Warders were doing their best to keep the beast away, but their magic was failing. Just like how Maria's had weakened in my vision. Lady Anya and Lady Gertrude held back, ready to act as a second wall of defence.

At Heidi's cry though, they whipped around and saw me, dazed, blinking, but conscious. "Pull back!" Lady Anya ordered, desperation tightly laced into her voice.

"Can you stand?" Heidi asked. I nodded, and with her help, climbed onto my feet. She began knitting a support for my leg with her water, and I stood on my own.

"Run!" screamed Lady Anya.

With the well of energy she had been reserving, she flung fire at the gryphon. The sparks caught the tips of its wings, and soon it was entirely ablaze. It screeched and writhed and thrashed, roaring in fury. The distraction wouldn't last long.

So we ran.

We didn't bother to move quietly or cautiously. We wouldn't have a chance to anyway if we were snagged in the gryphon's vicious talons. The Warders managed to maintain a barrier. However, I felt their fading strength—all of them. I was the only one who had her Core still reasonably full with magic. In between gasps and puffs, I sang. My notes came in stutters, and so did my magic, but it was enough to keep my companions going.

We blundered out of the castle gates, stumbled across the numerous streets, tripping upon the various obstacles that hadn't been cleared for two hundred years. We kept going. The roars of the gryphon echoed in the distilled air, getting closer and closer with every passing second. If we had any luck, it would chase away any monsters near us. And we would escape it too.

Wishful thinking. The only sort of thinking that was going to be efficient in this situation.

Lady Anya led us, somehow not forgetting our route of escape in the midst of panic. We zigged and zagged, bobbed and weaved, only keeping our eyes on the distance. I'd long dropped my melody; I was far too out of breath to sing anything.

Then suddenly, Lady Anya stopped.

We stopped too, confused. She held a hand up, slowly scanning our surroundings. We were in a narrow strip of road, and the exit was far up ahead. Nothing remarkable about this place—there were plenty of them like this in Erstürnach.

"Do you hear that?" whispered Lady Gertrude, her eyes wide in understanding of what was going on.

The sorcerers and I looked at each other before focusing our attentions upon the street. Silence hung in the air.