Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Iris growled as I pushed her into the grass. She hadn’t noticed the bird since she didn’t have my Pulse Sense.

It was now diving right for Lily, probably because she was the smallest of the three and the easiest target. I had no time to think of a better plan, but I couldn’t watch one of my sisters get carried away!

I dove on top of her; she let out a surprised yelp just as the black shadow descended on us. A moment later, I felt the claws of the talon dig into my back, and then the ground was falling away from me. Lily bit into my scruff below my neck, as if she thought she could pull me back down. She only accomplished being carried along for a few feet before falling alone.

She scrambled and began barking in a panic, running towards Mom. That was the last I saw of them before the the bird angled itself upwards and the ground swept out of my vision. All I could do was scream for help and struggle in its grip, though I suspect even being dropped at this point could be a fatal fall.

It tightened its claw, turning my cries for help into pained yelps. It felt like a warning, like it didn’t plan to kill me yet but was showing me how easily it could.

Then, a quick, solid buzz broke through the wind as a beam of light arced across the bird’s path. A bit of it caught the bird’s wing, just enough to slow its quick ascent. It pivoted in the air, the jagged mountain peaks spinning across my vision, and then we were descending again. The bird let out an ear-shattering shriek as it dove towards Iris, who was far below us at this point.

“Iris, no!” I barked at her as she charged up another beam that shot from her eyes. This time, the bird easily lifted a wing and glided past it.

I barked again, warning her to stop and just hide, because if it grabbed her too, it would only mean we’d both be lost!

Though her distraction did loosen its grip enough for me to turn my body slightly, and I found an angle to chomp on its leg. I bore my teeth down as hard as I could.

It screeched, instantly pulling upward and tensing its claw. This time, I felt pain as wet warmth exploded from me, and it pierced my flesh. Not fatal, but another clear warning, showing me how easily it could tear me to pieces if it wished.

I could only wonder why it was only a warning. If it was taking me back as food, did it really need me alive?

As that thought crossed my mind, I noticed a glint of light out of the corner of my eye—but not from Iris this time.

It was simply a reflection of the sun from… the bird’s leg?

It was a bracelet of clear, polished metal and what looked like writing engraved on it. Not only that, I could see a slight seam in the metal from where it had been welded together.

Why the hell would an animal have something like that on it, and where would it have even come from?

Then I heard a roar that shattered through the rushing wind, echoing off the far mountain peaks. Something crashed into the bird once again, this time far more powerfully, the world spinning as the bird was thrown off course.

It must have been Dad! That roar could only have come from him!

A blast of fire rushed by, more like a ray than Ben and Jerry’s clumsy balls. The bird managed to pivot out of the way, though I smelled singed feathers as it squawked in alarm.

The fire blast was followed by a similar beam of ice. The bird seemed to decide its best escape route was to fly straight up and make itself as small a target as possible. The mountain swung across my vision again as it pivoted right and then took a more vertical angle.

We were coming closer to the clouds. I continued to scream with terrified puppy yelps, knowing that if it managed to disappear behind the clouds, it might put me too far out of reach.

Another of Iris’s light beams arced back and forth nearby, but her aim was very far off, missing by yards rather than feet. We must have been too high. Even as another ray of fire and ice from Dad followed us, it dissipated, losing its energy from the incredibly long range.

Then, Dad let out a layered roar, all three of his heads consuming and overtaking all other sounds. The clouds we were heading into swirled together and darkened, like watching a storm form on fast-forward. The bird flapped its wings to slow its momentum; it hesitated, then seemed to decide on heading back down. However, before it could commit to the direction, something happened.

A yellow flash erupted within the cloud, with ripples of electricity dancing along its surface. My yelping completely froze in my throat, and I just stared in awe. Was my Dad the one doing that? I felt every hair on my puppy body stand on end from the static, unable to believe something like that was possible. All the while, Dad’s three heads continued to howl, so loud I imagined it could be heard even past the jagged mountain peaks.

A flash of lightning exploded from the clouds, not hitting the bird but flying right past it. It alarmed the feathery kidnapper enough to send it flying back now as another and another lightning bolt shot by us, each with a loud bang that vibrated through my bones.

I realized that even if the bird were to be hit by one of those bolts, I would probably be injured as well. After all, electricity travels to anything that is touching it.

But, as the bird dove lower, I understood Dad’s purpose of using that incredible spell. It blocked off the bird’s escape route, putting it back in range.

Another ray of fire shot past us; this time it was right on us, and I instantly heard the bird’s squawk of pain as the burning smell met my nose.

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It’s smooth dive dipped hard, tried to come up, and then began gliding at an angle. Forcing my neck around, I saw one of its wings giving off a thick puff of smoke.

Dad got it! It can’t fly anymore! I’m saved! I’m—

The forest was quickly coming up to meet us, and we were going down fast!

Then, the bird seemed to make a decision as it did a barrel roll, the entire world spinning, and then it drew back the talon that was holding me and thrust out, letting me go.

My descent slowed as the bird had tossed me back into the air. But I was just an innocent little puppy that had no business being this high in the air! My ears and limbs flopping in the wind until gravity got ahold of me again and I once again started falling.

No, no, no! This is NOT GOOD!

I yowled in terror as those strange, green and grey tree branches reached up to me, closer and closer, until I was crashing through them.

Twigs and branches whipped against my muzzle, sides, and belly as I crashed through the canopy. Each impact stung, snapping and tearing around me, slowing me down only a little before the next branch cracked beneath my weight.

I reached my puppy arms out, trying to find something more solid to grab on to, but soon realized as I fell through the branches got thicker. Between their thickness and their odd, upward angle, I managed to slope across one, shedding much of my momentum at once. I tried to wrap my paws around it and come to a stop, but I slid off all the same.

The next branch I hit with my back and practically bounced off. Finally, I grabbed another, curling my body against it as I slid down and finally came to a stop.

I just lay there, clutching the branch more like a cat than any self-respecting dog, and just listened to the sound of my own heart thudding in my chest.

But I was alive!

I was actually alive!

[Achievement! Because I’m—Freeeeeee Faaalllin!]

You’ve plummeted over 1000 feet and survived! Not bad for a pup.

Medium Bonus to Stat Points!

Hey! What the hell is with that achievement?!

I couldn’t help but feel like it was making fun of me.

After taking a much-needed moment to compose myself, I scrambled along the branch until I was solidly on top of it. It was quite thick, and I could easily stand on all fours and even do a circle if I needed to.

I looked around, realizing I was in a tangled mess of these odd grey branches that were also very smooth compared to the trees I remembered from my world.

I experimentally ran my claw over the bark, seeing that it was difficult to put even a tiny scratch in it.

Looking up through the reaching branches, I saw the dark storm clouds that my Dad had summoned were already dispersing. Then, looking down, I could just barely see through to the forest floor, which was surprisingly still quite a long way down. It turns out these trees were much larger than my impression of them from a distance, and all the way down at their bases they were very thick. I think it would take four humans locking hands to make a circle around one.

In any case, I took a much-needed breath of relief. I thought I was done for, but for the second time, Dad saved my life.

Then I realized my family probably was not sure if I actually was okay right now or not. Anyone witnessing that fall would assume the worst. I myself could hardly believe the small miracle that I managed to slow myself on these branches without taking too much more damage.

I checked my side where the bird had stabbed its talon into me. My fur was matted with blood, but as far as I could tell, the wound wasn’t too severe. I also had scratches all over me from the fall, but I was otherwise unharmed.

I carefully started moving up the tree branch, thinking if I could get just high enough to see the cliff my family was on, I’d be able to get an idea of what they wanted me to do now.

Going down to the forest floor seemed like a bad idea to me at the time. I didn’t know what else could be down there, and I might hurt myself even more trying to climb down at all.

So, best option was to try to make my current condition known and wait for Mom and Dad to come get me.

The branch got thinner as I climbed higher and then began to arc upward a little too vertically. I looked around and noticed another branch with a little more of a horizontal bend that was also a little thicker. It would be a short jump, but that was little consolation.

I looked around again, realizing that the branch was perfect, though, as it rose right up to a break in the canopy, and I imagined if I had any chance of seeing back to the cliff, it would be there.

So, steeling my nerves, practicing jumping in my head dozens of times first, I pushed off my current branch and reached for the next one.

I landed easily, curling my arms around it until I felt stable, and though the jump might not have been too impressive, it did give me a nice shot of adrenaline. Nothing like being carried off by that bird, of course.

Once I regained my nerves, I continued my climb, walking easily at first on the flatter branch, but as it thinned, I lowered down and scooted my belly across the smooth bark a little at a time.

The canopy was getting closer as I finally got out of the shade and felt the warmth of sunlight on my fur once again.

Then, something zipped by in the sky above me, and I froze.

It was the bird! He was back and heading right back for my family!

But that seemed strange. I had thought his wing was damaged, but he zoomed by as if completely uninjured.

I supposed I shouldn’t be too worried, because if he was dumb enough to fight my Dad head-on then—

Another one zipped by. Then another. There were three, no four—-five of them!

My heart began to sink, wondering if there might be even more?

But my Dad could handle them, right? I mean, he just summoned a storm and could have zapped the first one out of the sky in seconds if it were not for it carrying me! Surely he could do the same to these?

But why wasn’t he summoning the storm cloud now? Wouldn’t it be better to take them out at a distance, before my siblings could be in danger of getting caught in the crossfire?

I started to feel myself panic, scrambling across the branch a little faster now. I had to know; I had to see. A voice in the back of my head tried to remind me of how powerful my Dad was and that there is no way even a dozen or more of those birds would be a match for him!

Everything was fine! Everything was going to be perfectly fine!

Still, I scrambled in a panic, no longer fearing the possible fall as much as what I might see once I broke through the top of the canopy.

Then, one last shadow made its way over me. This one much larger and slower.

I stared through the reaching branches to first see a scaled, reptilian head. Fangs poked from the sides of its snout, and it had focused, yellow eyes staring ahead. As it made its way across my window into the sky, it just kept getting bigger and bigger than I imagined, and that wasn’t all.

There was someone standing on top of it!

It was a human, or at least, it had a humanoid body, though its head was covered with a mask and a headdress, and it was wearing armor with tribal clothes overtop blowing in the wind. In their hand they held a spear, the top of it crackling with purple energy.