Return to Jorgaldur Volume II: the druid archer

Suspension bridge (II)

They were halfway there, and the wind was making them sway dangerously. Probably, the elf could try to fight the wind with Tramontane, but the mana expenditure was high. She needed it to Float, or to defend against the approaching hawks.

The goshawk lunged at the intruders, who confronted her head-on, while strengthening their claws with Steel Claws. She dodged again at the last second, and they were slightly bruised by the wind aura that enveloped her. Furious, they turned to her, who darted into the forest.

Meanwhile, two others approached from the other side, and headed directly towards those who were crossing on the ropes.

Support Wind or Shoot Anyway weren't useful there. While they allowed her to attack and not fall, that didn't mean that the rope under her feet didn't slip, and put her in serious trouble.

She decided to rely on Fog, a spell that she rarely used. However, in that situation, it could help them to buy time. It is true that it cost quite a bit of mana, but also that she could recover it fast enough.

The hawks didn't understand the appearance of that sudden fog, but they had no choice but to abort their attack, and hover over the area. They had a passive skill that allowed them to see in the dark, but not in a dense magical Fog.

Meanwhile, the goshawk had gone into the forest. Behind her, there was a hawk that was too confident in itself, as it believed itself capable of following her. Suddenly, a branch brushed against one of the hawk's wings, so destabilizing it, and causing that others branches collided with it. It completely lost control of the trajectory and ran into a tree in its path.

It didn't die from the impact, but was wounded, stunned and unable to fly. The bird ended up falling prey to the predators that lurked in the shadows of the forest.

The other three were flying over the trees, and soon they saw her come out of it. She could have stayed longer, even hidden in the trees. However, if she had, they would have gone after her sisters.

So, she used her speed, not to gain altitude, but to fly over the treetops, as hoping for her enemies to follow her. They did, they chased her at high speed, as they were confident of catching her this time.

However, not all trees were equally tall. The goshawk chose one whose top was higher than the rest and devoid of leaves, thus making it difficult to detect.

Due to its eyes being fixed on its prey, one of the hawks realized too late that there was something where just moments ago she had been. It was about to catch her when it collided with the bare branches. The hawk couldn't even imagine that its supposed prey had deliberately let it almost reach her. They were faster than her, but not that much.

At that speed, the impact was terrible. It broke the branch and seriously damaged a wing, as well as making it spin. To make it worse, they were flying low in the treetops, so the hawk couldn't help but collide with them.

With damaged wings, many feathers lost, and trapped between branches, it couldn't continue the chase. It was unknown if the bird could take flight again, though that would have been a possibility if it hadn't had the misfortune of landing near the resting area of ​​a poisonous snake. The reptile sidled up to its stunned prey.

Meanwhile, the elf and the feline advanced blindly, although there wasn't much difference for them. They went slowly, and touch was enough to guide them. However, a nasty side effect of the Fog was that the ropes got wet, so making them more slippery.

Goldmi had had to use Float a couple of times to avoid falling, while the lynx was handling it better. She could control the fire so it didn't burn the ropes but evaporate the water. Thus, the feline only had to pause slightly each time she advanced, and she always had three other support legs.

Despite the inconvenience, when they advanced far enough and the hawks began to see their silhouettes, Goldmi summoned the Fog again.

Dissatisfied with the situation and anxious, the raptors decided to stop waiting. They perched on the ropes and began to rip them with their mighty picks, even using their Shatter skill.

It took just a minute to break the ropes that Goldmi was holding onto, which caused her to lose her balance, and only Float saved her again. The other section of the rope quickly gave way, so leaving her completely without grip, and forcing her to advance on all fours.

However, it hadn't ended there. They came out of the Fog just to see the hawks break another of the ropes. They quickly took refuge in the one that was left, in its two sections, but the hawks looked at them cruelly and went for the next one.

"Get on me and attack!" the lynx reacted.

The elf soon used Float to get on top of the lynx, who was having trouble staying on the now two lengths of rope. Immediately, she began shooting arrows at the hawks, three at a time.

The unexpected attack took them by surprise, and in the worst of situations. If they had been flying, they could have used their speed to try to dodge, but they couldn't take off and accelerate that fast. Despite a level difference of between 3 and 5, they had no static defenses, and the wounds soon accumulated. When they tried to spread their wings to take flight, they became a more vulnerable target.

They dropped down, as they hoped to gain speed from the fall and be able to escape. However, one of them had a pierced wing, so it was unable to fly back, and disappeared at the bottom of the canyon. The other survived, but wasn't unscathed, so it decided to retreat.

However, the problems weren't over for them. The two hawks had partially broken the rope, and it was yielding at that point, due to the two sisters' weight. It would soon break.

For her part, the goshawk was still being pursued by two hawks, whose attitude was much more cautious than that of their fallen companions. She kept them distracted while her sisters tried to cross, but she was getting very worried. They hadn't told her anything, but she could sense through her telepathic connection that their situation wasn't good.

She used her speed to rise in the sky, and turned to Plummet onto her pursuers. There were only two of them now and, although of a higher level, they didn't have their experience, nor did they have the power of a Wind's Daughter.