The Final Storm (Part 3)

Eleanor the Brave

It was viciously torn apart, only its head, neck, and tail were intact. The rest... had been eaten. Now two vultures sat on its huge rib cage, pecking on the few fragments of meat it had left on it. But they were definitely not the culprits of this vile crime.

The dragon's elegant head lay on the pine needles, golden eyes gazing up at a sky it could not see, its tongue bloated and a trickle of blood lay dry on its mouth. A wing rose up from the ground, half extended, tinged with orange and red. Teeth were missing, proving it had put up a good fight. But it hadn't been enough. Something had fell upon it, tearing it to literally pieces. Bones lay, discarded in various places around the scene. They were starch white and picked clean.

But perhaps the most disturbing fact is that this had been a recent kill.

"The... cats," Arianna gasped, staggering to her feet.

Daemon pulled off his hat and bent to a knee, "They are worse than I thought. The-"

Fraylon snapped his wings, agitated, "Shh!"

"Don't shush me!" Daemon smacked his hat back on.

"No, shh!" Fraylon said, more urgently. His ears perked forewards, then slid across the forest from either side.

Arianna pressed her ring and a bow sprung into existence. Pulling an arrow from around her shoulder, she strung it and watched the forest too, her breathing soft and shallow as to not block out any forest sounds.

Daemon got into a defensive crouch, opening his connection with his dragon. If the cats wanted to eat Fraylon, they'd have to get through him.

Sprite readied her hooves for some kick-butt action. Those ugly bunnies were going to be taught a lesson about messing with pegasus's!

Fraylon strained forward. "It's someone calling for their mum," he whispered.

Arianna's heart melted and she lowered her bow, "It's a child? Let's go save-" she stepped forward but Daemon pulled her back, a finger over his mouth.

"It's probably a trap," he whispered.

"But what if it isn't a trap!?" Arianna whispered back, jerking her arm from Daemon's grasp, "What if it's some poor child that needs our help? What then?"

While they had been talking, Fraylon had surged ahead. Now they heard him say, "Rider, Arianna, you're going to want to see this."

Without further ado, they raced to Fraylon's side with Sprite fluttering madly behind them, trying to see over their backs. "What is it?"

Fraylon was staring at a mangled cat, lying before a tree. It was a mess of black blood and black and white fur, with a snarling face that seemed to be staring straight at them with a look that Arianna would forever remember in her nightmares. Those black pit eyes still had the same sting they had had when it was alive. So evil... she felt a shiver worm down her spine and shake her whole body.

Fraylon nodded solemnly, "She put up a good fight before she went down. She killed this cat in vengeance of her life. And so I shall tell her kin, if I shall ever meet any, that she went down a true veteran, fighting tooth and claw."

Arianna looked away from the scene, biting her lip. The size of the bloodstained, outstretched claws on the creature were enough to give any grown man a wet spot on the seat of their pants. They were up against this? How could they possibly survive? She forced herself to swallow, although it felt like wood chips being shoved down her throat.

"Wait- I hear it again. Do you?" Fraylon asked his Rider. Daemon nodded seriously.

"Oh please don't say it's coming from the cat. Because if that thing is alive I'm going to poop out all my sugar cubes," Sprite neighed nervously.