The Wraith's Lament Entry Ch4: Mayhem: Battle at the Docks

Hurik sees the docks as a mess when she and her elven rider manage to get there after dealing with tyto that popped up at the bridge from the waters below. Even with her like for battle, she is starting to have enough of the mess the rhakos are bringing to her. If it were not for them, she would be a free hawk and not have to be constantly around Fionnlagh, her rider. All the trouble they have brought into her life! She just wants to be a night hunter peacefully, but all she's had to do is wreck her sleep schedule and patrol outside of the night time. Thankfully, Fionnlagh understands and gets her night patrols occasionally, like that one night where they found Uproar along with meeting the strange catkin and her companions.

 

Her meeting of her elven friend was not one she was expecting, especially since she never thought to see an elf so close to the End of the World. He did not bother her as much, but that made her want him to be her rider if all else. Thankfully she did choose him for he was very able and helped to guide her while they were being chased by Spook out of the End of the World. 

 

Shaking her head, Hurik stopped reminiscing of the past and focused back to the docks. The rhakos was somewhat larger than her and not a flier, but it seems it would still be a tough fight for her brown self if she were to take it on. Decidedly, she called out to Fionnlagh to get him to help the guards deal with the corrupted stryx because she wanted to take a shot at fighting the rhakos, no matter how little battle experience she has.

 

Fionnlagh, sighing, dismounts after hearing her cry knowing Hurik wants to battle alone for this. "Be careful and watch how they move," the elf warns then, taking his bow and sword, he takes off the saddle and bridle to give his faded brown hawk more freedom. Setting the tack to an out of the way location he then focuses on dealing with the stryx the guards are trying to hold.

 

With a louder cry, Hurik shakes her feathers and with a click of her bright red and blue beak, she flaps her wings and runs toward the rhakos. Nearing them, she lifts off and claws at the rhakos in passing. Crying out the rhakos looks over at the brown hawk, forgetting about trashing and pillaging the docks in anger that something dared to try and harm it. Successfully catching the rampager's attention Hurik takes a dive and tries to once more claw at the rhakos, forgetting that she is not the only one who can fight.

 

The rhakos angrily swipes at the hawk as it comes at them again, only to block Hurik's claws. Realizing her folly, Hurik does her best to fly higher again, only to be headbutted by the horned rhakos and knocked out of the air. Regretting, Hurik stands and flaps her wings in order to gain a little distance from the rhakos. Warily, she shakes herself off, and noticing that the rhakos has gone back to pillaging the supplies, she cries out at the rhakos ready for round two.

 

Ignoring the foolish stryx, the rhakos continues to make a mess. The hawk was a newbie when it came to battles, it felt and the hawk had little ability to deter it from it's mission. Ignored, Hurik looks over to Fionnlagh, only to see him and the guards still caught up in handling the tainted stryx and not in any capacity to give her assistance. Measuring the distance between her and the rhakos, then looking behind her to see if the way was clear, she jump flies back a bit farther from the wild stryx. Running back to the stryx, Hurik lifts off into the air to once more battle. Silent this time, she dives down to the rhakos and clips them with her wing and on the incline, smacks them with her tail. Smacked by the tail, the rhakos once more focuses on the hawk.

 

With a roar, the rhakos tries to swipe at Hurik with a powerful leap, but misses as she quickly dodges out of reach. Taking the chance while the rhakos was still midair for a short time, Hurik swings around and smacks the wild stryx once more with her tail. Angered, the rhakos stumbles in landing and glares at the annoying stryx that is attacking them, not noticing the elf sneaking up behind him.

 

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Just after Fionnlagh takes Hurik's tack off.

 

Watching Hurik take off toward the rhakos, Fionnlagh regrets his choice of being her rider for a second before deciding that it could have been worse without him there to help. Making sure his orange hair was firmly tied out of the way, he quickly strides over to the struggling stryx. On his way, he catches sight of some rope that was thin, but sturdy and, grabbing some, ties the rope to a couple of his arrows and nocks them. Looking over at the storm that was on its way over, the elf adjusts his aim and activates one of the enchantments on his bow. Letting the first set of arrows fly, he quickly nocks the second set and once more aims and shoots. Doing so two more times but aiming in another direction. Settling his longbow on his back, Fionnlagh rushes forward following the four sets of arrows toward the stryx and watches as they diverge toward the tainted stryx. Avoiding the guards, two sets of enchanted arrows tied with rope fly around the stryx in an attempt to tie them up, though only one set manages to work partially since the corrupted stryx are moving around too much for Fionnlagh's enchantment to handle.

 

Frowning a little, the elf just quietly joins the fray and helps the guards to control the stryx while some others take a break with fresh help joining in. After a few minutes, Fionnlagh catches sight of his hawk getting up and jumping back from the rhakos and deciding that she needs to learn, leaves her alone while new guards join in to help while the ones that were resting came back as well. It became a little easier to deal with the stryx, but not completely since the storm winds were catching the wings of the stryx, aiding them in their struggle.

 

Seeing the trouble of the coming storm grow stronger, Fionnlagh decides that it was best to help Hurik now instead of leaving her alone - the guards seemed more than steady without him now. Backing away out of the circle around the stryx, the elf turns to watch the rhakos and his stryx fight in the second encounter and smiles as he sees Hurik dodges the rhakos. Catching sight of Hurik getting ready to attack he sneaks up to rhakos in a quiet run, and while it pauses jumps upon stryx. Using the rhakos as a platform, Fionnlagh lands upon Hurik's bare back, surprising both stryx, but steadying Hurik with a bit of magicked wind he aids her by shifting himself and lobbing a small ball of wind back at the rhakos to distract them.

 

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Surprised by Fionnlagh's sudden landing, Hurik gives a short cry but manages to level herself by the elf's wind and focuses back on the rhakos who she sees shaking its head for some reason. Realizing that it was distracted, Hurik shrieks out and dives down toward the rhakos to rake its head. Taking the blow, the rhakos stumbles back, but now clear from the wind ball and the annoying stryx, it searches for the flier and gets ready for another strike. Not letting it down, Fionnlagh directs Hurik back to the rhakos despite how tired he sees she is and the fierce winds that effect her flight, which Hurik gladly takes to in the start of the third round with the rhakos, waiting for help to arrive and capture the rhakos causing mayhem at the docks.

 

Word Count: 1358