Loyalty Trial (PT pt3) - Taha, Elise, Mirage

The four reos stood in silence in the murky water, their steps interrupted by a flapping and screeching sound that resonated through the air. They had just left the underground of Vitalus, popped up in what would be considered a swamp or mangroove of some kind, the trees mossy and with their paws submerged in water. It was honestly disgusting, their fluffy fur now a greenish color, slimy and foul smelling. They had trudged through, from water to their chest to now only covering their pawpads, the quiet sound of water running through the area had been a slow comfort, a white noise in the back of their head, and now that it was interrupted and the four reos had stopped, the noise that had been comforting seemed to call attention to them in some way, like their mere presence in the water was a huge red arrow that said "please attack here".

Taha, Elise, and Mirage spread their massive wings, weighted down from the water absorbed, and looked at the path ahead of them. Miraak, smaller than his companions and wingless, took a step back and placed himself right in the middle of the trio, his keen eyes scanning the horizon for the threat that would surely come.

“It's in front of us,” Taha murmured, breaking the silence, her voice low but easily heard. “Whatever it is, we have to fight it, it's coming for us.” she had removed her eye cover in the underground, the darkness a more familiar sight for her and, with the shadows of the trees and the floating islands above, she did not feel the need to put it back on. Now, in this specific circumstance, her eyes could see as well as any other.

Elise’s ears flicked as she shifted her weight, the straps of her harness tightening around her shoulder. “Do you think it has spotted us?” she asked, her wings fanning slightly to dry them up as best as she could. It wouldn't dry them more than 5% of the way, with how slow she was fanning them, but any faster would for sure have alerted whatever was in front of them. “Or is it leaving?”

“I think it's circling us,” Mirage said, her eyes narrowing as she looked around at the tree around them, scanning them for any sign of what was approaching them. “And if it's circling us and we're not hearing it, there's a high probability that it can fly.”

Miraak, who had been scanning at eye level for him, started looking at the sky above the trees, looking for any shadow out of place. “If it's in the sky, there's not a lot of creatures who can fly, assuming it's not another reos.”

The three tyrians exchanged glances, their wings twitching instinctively as they processed his words. Taha finally nodded. “You’re right. Let’s stay close and move quickly. The trees are protecting us from above, but they're also giving whatever it is a blind spot for us to hide in.”

The group resumed their walking, but more alert than before. Taha led the way, her elongated but smaller body a good vanguard. Elise and Mirage took the back and sides, flanking Miraak and offering coverage from the sides and the back with their huge wings. They had to keep them low in the water, the terrain too unstable to try to traverse it on two feet only, so their top was exposed, but it was a small risk to pay in order to hurry out of there.

The feeling of being watched, circled, preyed upon, didn't leave the four reos as they moved forward, further away from the cave they emerged from. Nature had it's sounds, cicadas buzzing, flies flying around, the splash of a frog darting out of the way as they moved forward. All sounds that gave nothing away and lulled them into a sense of false security.

Which is why when the deafening screech split the air, suddenly, without warning,, they all froze in place, their heads snapping upward as the sound reverberated through the trees. From the treeline above them a massive gryphon came crushing down into view, its feathers white and black, full spread, flapping to push away any branches in his path. Without hesitation he dives in, aiming straight to the smallest of them, the easiest one to pluck from the ground and snatch away without a fight.

“Miraak, dodge!” Taha shouted, twisting and trying to jump in the middle of the attack, but the gryphon was faster. It struck Miraak with it's talons, sending him tumbling backwards into the muddy water with a pained sound coming out of his throat. Blood started staining the water around him as the gryphon landed, spreading its wings wide and letting out another ear piercing cry.

“Miraak!” Elise shouted, looking at him land badly on his injured side, but she threw herself at the gryphon on instinct, knowing that the threat should be eliminated before it can do more damage. Her massive wings propelled her forward, still heavy and drenched in water, and she collided with the gryphon full force, her whole body towering over him as she tried to bite it's head off and scratch his eyes open. The gryphon screeched in fury, trying to bite her wings and tear them with it's sharp beak and rearing back, pushing on it's back lags to swipe at her with its talons.

Mirage and Taha moved together toward Miraak, with Mirage placing herself protectively between him and the gryphon, closing in on Elise’s side and joining the attack, her sharp teeth snapping at the gryphon’s flank once he was fully invested in trying to tear one of Elise's wings. Taha pushed Miraak out of the water and checked on him, with him hissing in pain but still being the arrogant prick that he is, telling her to just leave him be and go bust that stupid creature's face. And Taha, once he was on a dry rock, threw herself in the flurry as he asked, a one vs three battle against the gryphon, with the three reos' wings slicing through the air as they dodged and struck back, trying to overwhelm the gryphon in numbers, all to defend a member of their weirdly put together group.

Taha flew up in the air, her wings dry since she did not have to drag them through the water, and circled above the gryphon, diving down onto it to rake her claws across its back, right in the middle of it's wings. The gryphon screeched, twisting to swipe at her with it's beak, but Elise was already there to cover her, sinking her teeth into its hind leg and dragging it back, not giving it a chance to hurt another one of them. Mirage lunged forward as well, her jaws closing around the gryphon’s wing, now pointed towards her, clamping down on the first piece of wing she could get a hold of and tugging as hard as possible, trying to cut out a bite sized piece out of the gryphon's wings.

The gryphon shrieked, its movements becoming more chaotic and erratic as it struggled against the neverending assault. It lashed out wildly, trying to reach Miraak and pluck it's prey instead of keeping up the fight, its talons hitting Mirage across the shoulder and sending her back with a growl of pain, her form curled in as she clutches her shoulder. Elise moved fast to cover her, her arms and wings an ongoing rain of fists and open handed clawing attempts as she forced the gryphon to focus on her instead.

“Aim for the throat!” Taha shouted from above, her voice strained from keeping in the air as she plummeted towards the gryphon once more, trying to take it out for good. Her legs were dripping blood everywhere, but her reddish and black color made it so hard to see if she was hurt or not, and her not faltering was not helping Elise assess the situation as she kept striking down, never faltering, one swipe after the other as she tried and failed to land a good bite on the gryphon.

Unfortunately the gryphon is a hard animal to make your pray because, after what felt like an eternity of fighting for the four reos but especially Taha, the dumb animal realizes that it is actually losing, and with a final hit on Taha and an awful noise coming out of it's throat, it bats it's wings, one bloody from where Mirage bit it, and simply lifts in the air and leaves, to be never seen again by the group.

A useless attack that brought him nothing.

As the three tyrians catch their breath and look shocked at the dumb animal disappearing in thin air, Miraak's voice calling them from behind makes them all remember how it all started, and they look back at him in concern, finding him trying to roll over on his own, maybe to stand up, but blood it's still pouring out of the gash that the gryphon left, and the rock where he was laying is now red instead of mossy green.

“Are you ok?” Taha said concerned, quickly rushing near him and trying to push him up with her face. “Elise, Mirage, help me.”

The other two tyrian move immediately to Miraak’s other side, their faces grim as they push him up and finally get a look at his injuries. Elise looks at the wound closely, her red eyes narrowing. “He’s losing too much blood. We have to move him now.”

Taha nodded. “We’ll fly him to the city, it shouldn't be far, he can't walk.”

“He’s too weak to hold on,” Elise says, surveying the expression that Miraak has. "Mirage, you still have your health potion, don't you?

Mirage gasps, dropping the bag that in some way or another stayed strapped on her back the entire fight, "Yes! I do! I am so glad i got one, you dumb arrogant vayron look at you making me use it on you" she says to Miraak, her concern making her show her young age.

"It won't be enough to heal him or even close his wounds, he will keep bleeding even with the potion. We give it to him and then strap him on one of us. He needs to get there as fast as possible and carrying him in any other way would slow us down but, if Mirage's backpack held onto her after all that, i think it can hold the weight of a fully grown vayron if we double the buckles."

“Strap him on me" Taha said. “Mirage can't carry him while injured, and we need you in case there is another attack. I’ll carry him, he's not that big that i can't strap him in the middle of my back.”

Without hesitation, Elise set to work, removing her harness and placing it over Taha's harness. She unbuckled the straps that held Taha’s supplies to her harness, removing load and instead securing them to the harness she just put on her.

Mirage, in the back, found the potion and made Miraak drink it, leaving just a sip that she poured out directly on the wound. She didn't know if it would help, but it couldn't hurt and if it fixed his wound faster, it was all to gain from one small sip.

Once that was done, she helped him stand and got closer to Elise, and the both of them helped Miraak climb on Taha’s back, positioning him just right, his smaller frame fitting a little tightly but enough between her wings.

“We need to be fast,” Elise said as she tightened the straps around Miraak, ensuring he wouldn’t slip. “He doesn’t have much time.”

“I know,” Taha replied, her voice steady. She turned her head to look at Miraak. “Hold on you asshole, don't die on us.”

Miraak huffed in response, his eyes meeting Taha's as he let his face rest against the back of her neck.

Once he was secured, Elise helped Mirage strap all the supplies on her harness, but they left behind a good amount of food. If everything went as planned, this would be their last part of the journey, they would reach the city and treat Miraak, and there wouldn't be any need for food for the travel anymore. Anything they could rebuy in the city got left behind, with Elise without her harness and only one of them, Mirage, who was injured, to fly their things home, only the essentials were kept.

Taha spread her wings once they all were ready, and with a bit of stumbling due to the added weight she took flight, Elise and Mirage right after her.

Once in the air, Taha said “Let’s go,” and broke through the trees above her, the other two following close.

Miraak found the strength to complain about the branches hitting him, and for a second everything seemed normal, but they all knew it wasn't.

The wind rustled their manes as they flew, but they could not enjoy it with Miraak's life as the first thing on their minds.

They would reach the city, they would complete the trials, Miraak would be fine.

Everything would be alright.