Titans Upon Change

Chapter Nine

Ramsey rested her chin on her forepaws as she enjoyed the spectacular sunset, the pastel colors looking as if they were painted on the sky by the most renowned painter in the walls. She kept an eye open for any potential trouble, although everything seemed eerily quiet. No one trusted it to last long though; we knew that another abnormal titan was around since we had caught its scent in various places across the forest. It agitated Ramsey.

A black gryphon laid beside me; she had stayed in my nest last night so that we didn't sleep alone. Just the other night, another abnormal titan had tried to knock someone out of the tree, a few vines later had made it flee; but we were all sure that it would likely try again. No one was going anywhere alone at this point.

A male shouted, "The abnormal titan is in the clearing where we held the Morning Meeting yesterday!" 

An aggresive hiss left Ramseys' beak as she threw herself into the morning sky. The black female only a few inches behind Ramsey. They pushed as she heard others letting the caller know that they were also coming as fast as possible.

They entered the clearing to see at least thirty other gryphons flying around it with the titan covered in vines trying to retaliate with its hands and mouth. It was trapped in the middle of the circling gryphons at the moment. They joined the circle as the raging anger came out at the sight of the abnormal.

At this point, it was almost kneeling due to the amount of strength the vines had against the titan. Our speed and agility was barely a match for the low speed of the titans hand trying to swat or grab us out of the sky. 

All of us were fixed in the same mindset - this titan had to die. We just weren't sure how we could manage it considering that this abnormal titan was a 14 meter, but we kew with a rattling certainty that it would keep coming after our flock. 

At this point, simply tugging it down with vines barely seemed sufficient. Ramseys' instincts wanted something more. She flipped upside down and barely avoided its hand as it swiped just at the spot where she was hovering herself.

With a screech of unjustified rage, Ramsey flew up and came straight down on the back of its neck. Following her scary instincts, she dug in her claws to keep from sliding off of its human-like skin as she swung her head down to bury her now blood-stained beak in its skin, trying to rip a chunk off its' nape. She felt it start to reach around, so Ramsey launched herself off the back of its neck to escape back into the sky, away from the giants reach.

The titan went to swipe at her, but missed and stumbled. It seemed disoriented now, with the steam from its injuries now providing a maze for the titan to see through. More gryphons were arriving, about a third of our flock was now assaulting the abnormal titan.

We circled and kept created long gashes in the skin just deep enough to see the bone. It stumbled and fell down before going into seizures. We circled and kept it tied down with our vines as its body was wracked with convulsions.

The convulsions didn't last long but it stilled and ceased movement. Only then did we land and flutter our wings and panted.

A white female panted, one of the newer ones to attack the titan. "Okay, what just happened?"

Another almost dark brown gryphon flew to a tree beside the corpse and looked down at it. "It went into seizures.."  He looked back up at the flock. "Is our bite venomous?"

He looked around at the doezens of resting gryphons who were watching him. One of the first gryphons furrowed his face. "We bite those scientists a few times, and they all lived."

"True, true."

An almost white female shook her wings out. "I'm simply glad that it is dead."

Ramsey's eyes widened as a terrifying thought occured to her, and I lifted my head in worry. I said, "It is dead, but what is the scout regiment going to think when they find it like this? We know their patrols are starting soon. It is too big to move or hide."

Her eyes met several oter wide-eyed gazes. If the humans figured out that we were responsible for this kill, then they could trap us like the scientist did. That would be very bad.

Ramsey waited high on a thick tree branch, her tail falling off the branch and hung loosley. Her view almost blinded by leaves. A darker grey gryphon was laying beside Ramsey on a branch. We had volunteered to come early this morning and skip the Morning Meeting to see what the Scouts' reaction would be. Missing the Morning Meeting had been agitating.

Ramsey silently watched two scouts on horseback approaching where the titan's body lay. They rounded the corner, and the moment one spotted the steamed corpse, they quickly drew blades. Once they realized the creature was dead, one used his radio, but she couldn't quite make out his deep voice. They remained where they were, weapons still drown as they slowly scanned the area around them.

Minutes later, more troops on horseback arrived and they approached the dead titan cautiously, one woman in particular jumping for joy. Ramsey could hear her screaming from the tree tops. The other female with her looked severely annoyed with the woman.

"Oh my gosh! What could've killed a 15 meter titan?! I want to find it! I wanna study it!!!!" The other female and Ramsey automatically lowered their bodies to make them practically invisible after what the woman said.

Mace's voice entered our minds. "We saw and heard horses headed your direction. What was their reaction? Should we expect to be captured?" He had been using the general link, although he had directed the question at Ramsey.

She sent a mental image of the scene occuring below, "They are impressed that it was taken down but not killed by one of theirs. We might want to keep out of sight though, they want to capture what killed the titan."

She felt the others stiffen and get agitated by what she said in the mindlink. Mace replied, "At least we aren't on their specific radar; Everyone is in remote areas at the moment, but we will take care to keep a low profile. Enjoy your vacation."

She contained the desire to snort at his last sentence. "How does hiding in a tree above humans with swords count as a vacation?"

She knew he was trying to comfort her and the others listening in. Ramsey glanced at her companion."Might as well get comfy though. We could be here for some time."

The darker grey gryphon was stretched out on a branch and lazily opened eyes to regard me in humor. "I am already comfy. Once the humans leave, I can actually relax."

Ramsey rolled her eyes and chuckled lightly as she curled her neck, resting her chin on her paws, keeping an eye on the roaming humans below as she relaxed under the morning sunlight.