We stopped as a flock of cawing birds rose in the distance. I hadn't heard many birds since the beginning of the mission. The calls sounded surprised and panicked.
"We can divert our course," I suggested. The birds might have spotted a creature that we wanted to avoid. Shaking his head, Sike excitedly showed me the scanner.
"There's a distortion," he breathed. The thin green lines that represented the barrier were all over the place. I couldn't make much sense of them. "It's in the direction of the birds. It might be something… a creature, or a gate.”
Hopefully not the monster who took down our plane. I glanced out into the distance and nodded. "Fine, if it could be a gate to the Immortal Plane, let’s do it. But let me know if you pick up anything that could be a threat. We'll need to be extra careful if that invisible creature comes back, since we have fewer members to fight it off."
We booked it forward and headed left on the narrow path through the forest. The cawing grew louder. It hit my ears all wrong, like the birds were both behind and in front of us. They hovered above the treetops.
"I sense something—” Sike's breath caught in his throat. "It might be a gate. It's definitely a vampire." That was all the information we needed to start running. It could be Dorian. I took off, pumping my arms and ignoring the odd velvety brush against the trees.
I heard shouts several yards up ahead.
"Get out of the way," someone bellowed. It was a female voice, but deep and rough around the edges. Arlonne? Excitement raced through me as Sike and I rushed to the edge of a clearing. Arlonne's curly brown hair caught my eye. It was her. I called out to her, but she wasn't alone.
I could see where the crowing came from now. A flock of birds was pecking wildly at an airborne creature, which was clearly enraged. The big creature had the general shape of a massive bird, but ropey muscles underneath scales and angry red eyes that glinted with fury. It was trying to attack Arlonne, but the storm of ravens was blocking the beast's way. Did it want to eat her?
A smaller, nimble vampire with dark skin and light red hair done in a braid darted across the clearing. Behind Arlonne, Bryce lay on the ground. He was passed out with a small trickle of blood running down his face, but he twitched wildly like he was having a nightmare.
"You're more distracting than the birds, Chandry," Arlonne snarled at her companion. "Get out of my way so I can blast this thing." The other vampire, Chandry, executed an expert tumble to avoid the beast's swiping claws and sprang up beside Arlonne.
"I can distract it better than those birds can," Chandry said, her voice unusually chipper for the middle of combat. Her personality was bubbly and warm, unlike most of the vampires I’d met. Where had they been hiding her? I glanced at Sike, but he just shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know her, either.
Before Arlonne could give her companion instructions, Chandry bounded toward the winged beast again. She ran back and forth, taunting the creature as it tried to break free from the flock of birds in front of it. The beast broke through the crowd at one point, its razor-sharp beak aimed straight for Chandry's torso. She flipped back and up into a low-hanging branch while Arlonne took her shot. She had a crossbow on her person and lifted it, firing at the creature. The ravens broke away, as if sensing the energy from the oncoming arrow, and the shot landed square in the beast's mouth. It reared back, flapping its mighty wings and stirring up a cloud of debris with it. The creature slammed into the trees on the other side of the clearing, wailing in pain.
"You're welcome," Chandry said happily. Arlonne rolled her eyes.
"Let's finish this," Arlonne said and gestured to me. "We can talk after." I was so relieved to see her, although I wanted to rush to Bryce's side immediately. I snatched one of Reshi's knives from my belt and joined Arlonne. Sike ran to Bryce’s side, crouching beside him to make sure he was okay.
The beast was clearly injured. Its beak was still smoldering, and it cried out like an enraged banshee, thrashing its wings. The acrobatic Chandry twirled in front of it again, leading its eyes away from us. It was easy enough now for Arlonne to work another shot in. She launched an arrow into one of its wings, pinning the beast to the tree. The creature gave out a weak dying cry as black blood oozed from its body. It jerked forward and ripped its wing as it attempted to take flight into the air, barely getting off the ground. It gave two more flaps before dropping from the sky. Up close, I now saw the ribs of the creature. It had already been in a bad state when it had attacked them.
Chandry bounded up the side of the tree and yanked out the arrow to return it to Arlonne.
"Nice to meet you," she said with a wide grin. "Arlonne said we'd be looking for a cute human woman."
"I didn't say cute; I said capable," Arlonne corrected dryly. “Don’t put words in my mouth.” I smirked at their exchange. It was hard to imagine that Arlonne ever described anyone—even Bryce—as cute. I greatly appreciated that she’d called me capable. It meant a lot, coming from her.
"Thanks," I replied to the smiling Chandry, replacing my knife in its sheath. Arlonne took the arrow from Chandry and shook off the blood. The liquid was stickier than the blood of most creatures. The surviving ravens settled into the trees and seemed to be gazing down sadly on their fallen comrades… and hungrily at the winged
