The Wraith In Sol: The Wraith's Lament- Chapter 6

Lazing about at the Healing Tree, Shenzi was caught off guard by the arrival of Maja, Tazmyn, Rhett, and the five captive rhakos, and she noticed Tara was surprised as well. She cocked her head, dark feathers shifting, and watched as the ritual proceeded and the rhakos transformed before her, the corruption pulled from them.

The sudden shift in the wind, the chill it brought, were ominous, and Shenzi clicked her beak and uttered a low, wary croaking call.

-

Seth had heard of an 'experiment' happening with the rhakos, and eager to watch things he couldn't possibly comprehend at such a low magic level, raced out of Sol to the Healing Tree with Lilt and her not so faithful slygryph companion.

The trio arrive at the tail end of the cleansing process, tiptoeing around the sleeping rhakos' and casting glances at the shards that manifested around them. Right when the boy was about to ask what fate would fall on the newly freed stryx, an earth shaking tremor wracked the ground. Lilt could barely keep her feet under herself, and rider and slygryph dug in their heels to avoid being thrown to the ground.

-

Shenzi's microstryx companion, Curlicue, had been up the Healing Tree, somewhere near the top, but now came zipping down, chittering wildly in fear, and burrowed into the thick, silken feathers at the nape of her neck. Startled, Shenzi let out a chiding squawk, but let it trail off without actually scolding the tiny acerodon. Clouds were gathering, whipped up by the icy wind, and the sky was darkening ominously. Tara gasped and pointed toward the sun, slipping behind the great disk of the moon... which should have been nowhere near this place in the sky today. This eclipse defied the carefully plotted sky charts of the Astronomer's Guild. It was just plain wrong.

"She comes." Shenzi didn't often speak aloud, particularly in the cumbersome tongue of her non-stryx allies, so her voice was hoarse and creaking.

-

As the darkness settled, leaving only a pinprick of light above Sol, Seth glanced at the adults gathered around the tree, looking for something. A knowing sigh, a determined glance, anything. The worry and confusion among them was more chilling then the wind. What happens now? They were supposed to have more time than this, and much more man and stryx-power!

The edges of the countryside were slowly turning crimson, dyed bloody with the same red haze that leaked out the corrupted rhakos' mouths and eyes. Except, the red was moving. Unnaturally so. Only when it began to sprout wings did they realize the flood of blood was wisps, a gigantic, pulsing wave of corruption heading straight to Sol!

So many people were there, warriors recuperating, families resting, even their friends Kukia and Tepes. Remembering their last encounter with the wisps in the forest, he pats Lilt's shoulder to steady her. "They need every stryx they can get down there! This time we know what we're getting into." If only he knew how wrong he was as they set off downhill.

-

Turning at the sound of Shenzi's voice, Tara's eyes widened as she glimpsed the wisp swarm beyond the corva, moving inward toward the city. A look passed between stryx and rider, then Tara swiftly mounted, and Shenzi leapt into the air, circling the small gathering they were about to leave behind. They followed Lilt and Seth, Shenzi keeping her flight slow, so as to not leave them behind. Seeing panicked city folk begin to pour out of buildings ahead, she cried out, gaining altitude so she could spot the clearest paths for Lilt to follow, calling out directions to the other stryx in their native speech.

The glowing red of the corrupt wisps continued to move ahead of them, toward the city's center and the palace. This time, they seemed to move with a purpose, not stopping to harry or attack the citizens who screamed and fled the onslaught. Ahead, the streets became more congested. A cart overturned a couple of streets ahead, spilling its hefty load of cabbages across the ground.

"Take the side path ahead if you can," Shenzi called to Lilt.

-

Groaning at the sight of alleyways, the raptor dutifully changed course, having to slow down noticeably to avoid slamming into the few people scrambling for the wider roads, some carrying what they could on their backs. Turn this way, turn that way, finally get fed up and climb up to the rooftops, where bounding from building to building let her cover twice the distance in the same time. Lilt could better follow the corva and her micro floof, eyeing the area where the wisps seemed to be congregating. The palace?

Finally the roads widened enough for Lilt to take to the ground again, though Rudol stayed above the line of buildings, feeling safer above the ground. A few stryx and their riders were taking pot shots at the gathering wisps, but if one was captured, two more swept in to take its place. It looked like well controlled chaos; everyone had a plan of action, but nothing seemed to create a dent in the numbers of the corrupted.

Seth whimpered as the mass of wisps finally reacted. It melded together, legions of corruption, shaping a stryx. A behemoth stryx. His birds fought against the gryphs when they terrorized the countryside, but even they couldn't compare to this, a beast that nearly dwarfed the palace she stood on. "Oh, Gods help us..."

-

Curlicue had been nuzzled deep into Shenzi's feathery, silken "mane" for most of the flight into the city center. Now, for just the briefest moment, the delicate pointed face raised from hiding, and the acerodon peeked ahead, only to give a tiny yelp and burrow deeper into the corva's dark feathers. Both Tara and Shenzi could feel the microstryx shaking in terror, and they'd have sent their small friend to fly to safety... but was anywhere truly safe now? Perhaps best to stay together, whatever was to come.

The heavy boom of the Wraith dropping onto the castle roof shook the city, causing people, stryx, and beasts alike to cry out in terror. The buildings below Shenzi's flight path shuddered, but held fast, yet the sound of weaker structures near the city's outskirts collapsing seemed an echo in response.

The sight of Geiger was a relief to Shenzi. Knowing such a heavy-hitting combatant would be the one to face off against their foe boosted her confidence, as he let loose with a fiery inferno. But even Geiger had to cut short his attack to inhale, and the Wraith took full advantage of the momentary pause. The sight of the monstrous rhakos leaping at the gryph, the crash of their landing, the horrid shriek of triumph from the Wraith... Shenzi now felt utter terror. Had Geiger survived? Had his flame done anything at all? If such a large and powerful fighter could be felled, was there anyone, or anything, that could prevent Sol's doom?

-

Lilt eyed up the monster howling her victory above them, and for the first time since the first rhakos Spook reared his head, felt a sort of confidence. A foolhardy confidence fueled by adrenaline and fighting instinct, but confidence nonetheless. Such a giant could grind all six of them to paste under her heel. That is, if she could catch them. The only way to take down such a creature is to worry it to death, like a swarm of bees.

She trilled at the others, and Seth knew. Lilt was a brawling stryx once upon a time, and with hesitation, he dismounted. Risking her life for the thrill of blood was one thing, but she couldn't let her rider get hurt. She called again, and her slygryph screeched back. He would help.. from the sidelines. No risking his hide this time!

Before she could lose her nerve, she ran for the palace with Rudol following at a safe distance. The Wraith was so massive, her tail was nearly scraping the courtyard grounds. With a hop and a jump, she was running up the corruption's spine. The others scattered around the courtyard were taking to the skies, and with the giant rhakos' attention turned to them, not to mention having such thick plumage, she'd never be able to swat the raptor off!

-

Shenzi glided in to land beside Seth, allowing Tara to dismount. Curlicue shot from the depths of her feathers into the rider's arms, burrowing in close and tight. Then the corva was aloft once more, spiraling upward to gain as much height as possible before crossing over the outer walls of the palace. She began to harry the Wraith, divebombing in from above, shooting blasts of supercooled fluid, which struck the massive rhakos' face and neck, freezing on contact.

At first, it seemed only she and Lilt were there, badgering the legend, attempting to frustrate, distract, and wear her down bit by bit... but as the first minute of battle passed, Shenzi began to hear a cacophony of sound, the jeering screeches of dozens of other corvas, each falling into a pattern of diving and fleeing. Further out, she saw the flash of red and black fur and leather wings, and a massive gout of flame bursting forth from Tepes' jaws, and there was the crackle of Kukia's lightning in the air.

The large, sweeping shadows of gryphs soared in, and harpias screeched defiantly somewhere out of her line of sight. A hawk zipped past her on one side, a few chiros flapped by to the other, and below, she saw a swarm of raptors, cara, and casuas, making a beeline for the Wraith's long legs.

'Perhaps,' Shenzi thought, 'we might have a chance after all.'