XIII. The Nighthawk

The group slept until a little after dark for dinner. Late that night, everyone sat around the campfire, bored. "I got a story!" said Larù. "Legend has it that around these mountains south of Lweb'ny there's this… creature."

"Great. Another ghost story," yawned James, lying down on the hard ground.

"No, Seriously!" Larù sighed, disgusted, at James. "ANYWAY…" she shouted, "Supposedly there's this giant bird that comes down during the night to feed its young. And it preys… on young girls." She stared at Xandra and Anne. "The Nighthawk."

"Wait, why are you looking at us, you're a girl, too," Anne figured out.

"Oh. Right. Hmm…" And so the group ended their night and finally went to sleep.

Later in the night and into the early morning, however, that legend became true. Big and black, with feathers looking like death drenched in ink, the Nighthawk descended silently upon the camp. Seeing the open shelter, it snuck in, and fixed its gaze on Xandra. It stuck its claws out, reached forward, and YOINK She was gone. It came back for Anne (YOINK) and also Larù (YOINK). After that, it remained still in its nest, waiting to feed its chicks the next day.

XIV. The Omen

The next morning, the guys woke up. "(Yawn), Where are the lovely ladies this morning?" wondered Boy. The rest of the group snickered.

"Probably all going to the bathroom together. That's what girls do," said James. The group laughed out loud.

"Seriously though, look at this," said James. It appeared that the blankets had been dropped. They left a trail, disappearing toward a looming off in the distance.

"What if… nah…" muttered Eddy.

"No, what?" inquired James.

"Well… there's… the Nighthawk…"

"I guess that's possible," said James. "They're probably just playing a trick on us." The group called out for the girls, but to no avail. The guys looked at each other, confused.

Out of nowhere a shriek arose from overhead. A huge black bird, with size rivaling that of a small dragon's, coasted overhead. The boys looked up, surprised, but instantly knowing it was the Nighthawk. It glared down at them. Thinking quickly, Heim chucked his spear at it, grazing its wing. The Nighthawk let out another angry cry and then disappeared towards the nearest cliff.

"What's this?" asked Boy. A small piece of cloth had fallen from the Nighthawk. "Whoa… there's blood!"

"Gimme that!" an angry Eddy grabbed the cloth from Boy. "Look at this. Crimson! And I don't mean the blood! This is Xandra's!" Eddy stomped off in rage. "That monster! I'm gonna kill it!" You could see the rage building in his body.

"Hey! HEY!! Breathe! Breathe. Nothing good will come of this if you don't stay calm. Here, take a dip in the river, cool off, and then we'll head out," suggested James.

"No. There's no way I'm gonn-" but James had already pushed him into the soothing waters of the Sjolarieq.

XV. Finally, A Real Battle

The boys headed off towards the cliff behind camp and away from the river bank. "Whoa…" said Boy, looking up. "How are we gonna get up that?"

"There's no climbable path up it…" said Heim.

"With these!" said James, taking out the rope. "You slip this through your belt, step on these loopholes, stand, move this knot up, sit, move this knot up, stand-"

"Okay, we get the picture!" snapped Eddy. "But how are we supposed to get this rope all the way up there." They looked up.

"Heim, lemme have your spear," said James, coming up with an idea. Heim complied. James tied the rope to the spear, backed up, and chucked it upward. It made it about halfway up the cliff and then fell back down.

"Here, let me try," said Heim, stepping forward. He picked up the spear, aimed upward and threw. This time the spear made it around three-fourths of the way up before tumbling down.

Eddy took out his rapier. "Heim, throw your spear up one more time," he commanded. Heim gave him a puzzled look but did what he said, picking up the spear and lofting it high. "Aeru!" cried out Eddy as soon as the spear reached its highest point. The blast of air sent the spear gliding upwards, and it made it over the cliff, sturdily wedged between to large rocks.

"Well," said James, nodding in amazement. "I'll go first to demonstrate, 'kay?" He tied in and began climbing. When he was two-thirds of the way to the top, he stopped, frantically looking down. "I'm stuck," he moaned.

"I thought you said you knew what you were doing!" screamed Boy.

"That doesn't make it any easier!" James cried back. A few minutes later he had regained his strength and returned to climbing. Hoisting himself over the cliff edge proudly, he called back down. "Here's the rope!" (He sent it down). "I'm gonna move farther away from the cliff edge and lie down; it's rocky here."

A few seconds later, a shriek was heard from the top of the cliff, followed by the sight of James' frantic face, screaming, "Crud… It's the Nighthawk! It's here! Get your buts up here NOW! AAAHH!" James turned back to the Nighthawk, mostly blocking and trying to get an attack off every once in a while. He anxiously awaited his friends' arrival.

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"How long have we been in this stupid nest for now?" muttered Xandra.

"I dunno, James is the only one who ever knows the time, we always ask him," returned Anne.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's escape. We don't need to rely on those sweaty males to come rescue us," suggested Larù.

"We can't." pointed out Xandra. The Nighthawk still isn't here, but its three chicks are. And they're bigger than James! Besides that, we don't even have our weapons."

"Maybe you don't…" said Larù. "I fight with these gloves. Have you ever tried casting without your staff?"

"Not yet, but I guess I could try," returned Xandra. "What about you, Anne?"

Anne pulled out a dagger from inside her clothes. "Always keep one on me," she proclaimed. Xandra nodded.

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"Okay, okay, I'm here," called Boy, finally up.

James fiercely said, "Took you long enough. This thing's impossible!"

Boy moved forward, then planted his feet and took out his katana in a ready stance; James looked at him in disbelief. "Boy, uh…"

The Nighthawk took the bait, diving at him. Boy let out a forced yell and swung at the Nighthawk hitting him head on. He smiled arrogantly.

"Um…" James started, but it was too late. The Nighthawk had smacked Boy's head with its tail on the way up from its dive.

"Okay, maybe just a little impossible," Boy admitted. They resumed attacking.

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Larù took charge. "Okay, we're each gonna take out a chick. I got the left one, Anne, you got right, and Xandra, you get center. We need to take advantage of this time when the Nighthawk isn't here. There must have been a distraction. Let's go! Now!"

Xandra stood up and focused on the middle chick. "Thundo!" she cried. The thunder spell missed her chick. The birds squawked madly and started charging at the trio, Xandra's chick lept up and she screamed in terror, shielding her face,

With amazing speed, Anne jumped up on top of the chick, dagger flying. She rode it to the ground, then hopped up and faced the other chicks with a look of concentration on her face.

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"Eddy's here!" Boy and James cried, seeing Eddy's face peek over the cliff edge. A fresh fighter was a great relief, as the other boys were exhausted. James was hanging in there, but Boy was really suffering. His strength and technique was excellent, but he lacked decent endurance.

Eddy and his rapier added a much needed power boost to the struggling boys. His quick and graceful blows connected as he bounced and rolled his way around the area. Although his attacks were hitting, the Nighthawk didn't appear to be losing much energy,

"Keep going!" encouraged James, out of breath.

Boy was greatly fatigued. "I don't know how much more I can—eugh-" The Nighthawk swooped in at him again, and he collapsed.

Eddy and James starred at their friend, concerned, but realizing that they had to continue fighting. "This isn't working," grunted Eddy. I'll try a spell. "Blast!" A fire force shot out of the tip of his rapier and was united with the Nighthawk, which gave a massive cry and recoiled a bit.

Eddy gasped. "It doesn't like fire!"

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"It doesn't like fire!" yelled Larù. She had just blasted the second chick with her firebending. "Xandra, do you think you can try again? We need to take care of this last chick."

"I think so… How do you do it again?" Larù attempted to quickly re-explain how to cast spells without the aid of a weapon. "I can try, I guess…" she reluctantly agreed.

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"Cura!" gasped James. "Ah, that's better." The healing spell eased his and Eddy's pain as they struggled to find more energy.

"Thanks," offered Eddy, turning again on the Nighthawk.

"Soon there won't be any more Curas," as exasperated James replied. "I'm running out of energyyyyy—RAH!" He blocked yet another swoop from the Nighthawk and attempted to parry with his swords.

"Same thing with Blast spells." grunted Eddy. He kept blasting the enemy but was beginning to lose the mental energy needed to continue casting spells.

"I'm here!" Heim was up.

"That was fast!" a surprised Eddy let out.

"Yeah but not fast enough…" breathed James, glancing over at Boy.

"Watch out, here it comes again!" warned Eddy.

Heim reacted and used his spear and shield to add to the barrage of attacks on the Nighthawk. Unfortunately, these feeble attacks seemed less and less effective against the giant mountain beast.

The Nighthawk seemed to realize this and began unleashing barrages of attacks on the boys, aiming first at Eddy. He rolled and ducked many of its hits but eventually took some damage.

The Nighthawk swooped up high again, then turned on James, unleashing a fury of blows. "Uh—can't—block—any—longer—eh…" and James collapsed, his silver blades falling at his sides.

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"Helo!!!" Xandra unleashed a fire attack, and it connected! The last chick fell, singed. "Yes!"

"Great job!" encouraged Larù with a smile.

Anne also congratulated Xandra. "See, it wasn't that hard."

Xandra blushed. "I guess you could say that…"

"Now let's meet back up with the group," suggested Larù.

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"This isn't working," an anxious Heim said to Eddy, who was also try desperately to block the hail of attacks from the Nighthawk.

"I know. I don't think we're gonna be able to make it." They looked around at James and Boy and felt disappointment that their four combined abilities weren't enough to take on one monster.

"No way to heal, or escape… Eeweh!" The Nighthawk attacked Heim again.

"I can't possibly use any more fire spells," returned Eddy. "Aah!" (Another hit.)

"We're finished," a depressed Heim finalized. As the Nighthawk rose up once more, the two huddled together, knowing that this was the end.

"I'm sorry… Xandra" Eddy closed his eyes.

From out of nowhere came a flaming dagger, propelled forward by a gust of air. It stabbed the Nighthawk directly, and with a shriek it fell to the ground. The pair looked up, confused and surprised.

Over the distant ridge ran Larù, Xandra, and Anne.

"Mwahaha!" an ecstatic Larù laughed as she sprinted towards the others.

"Wait," stuttered Heim. "Who's saving who here?"

Anne happily answered his question "We're saving you."

Eddy stumbled over to Xandra, passion in his eyes. "I thought you were dead!" he let out painfully, wrapping his arm around her.

Xandra took a step back. "Well what does it look like?" she huffed, hands on her hips.

"These two didn't quite make it," explained Heim, pointing to the forms of Boy and James.

"Ohp, well, too bad! Guess we'll just have to leave them here!" said Larù. This was met with blank stares of disbelief from the rest of the group. "Kidding! I'll go heal them…"

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The group spent another day relaxing at camp, recovering from their adventure. They then sent off for Lweb'ny, the next city on the way to Sjolarieq.