I had to attack now! It was for the best. Griffins were day predators, so they just began to wake up now. No other griffin would be outside of the nest at this ti. As for Yvenna, I just would have to adjust to her fighting style and lack of stealth by approaching the nest first and blocking the exit. It was only about three ters wide, and alone would be enough for it, until Yvenna cos by.
"Alright, Yvenna," I whispered to her. "Sit here, quietly, until I call for you. Then you rush into the fight and help kill the griffins. Got it?"
She nodded. Her eyes were a bit too wide for my liking, and her muscles a bit too tense, but… I sent her a narrow-eyed look and inspected once again the forty ters I would have to cross to get to the nest.
Most of these forty ters were a steep slope, one that was interrupted by narrow stone terraces here and there. A thin layer of snow covered it, but despite it, here and there stubborn, low shrubs and tiny trees poked out of crevices in the rock. There weren't enough of them for a decent cover, not constantly, but closer up to the cave, the slope itself would be my cover. Besides, the griffins didn't appear to be watching.
I just would have to be quiet as I got closer. Good thing that my clothes were soft enough that if I was careful and didn't walk over snow or dry twigs, I made no sounds as I moved. And that I wasn't wearing shoes.
The climb up itself was simple enough. I didn't use webs to help , since snow would've clogged them anyway, but my claws were enough to hold even on the steepest parts of the way. It was even easier because I was crawling to be less noticeable, which also make it harder for to fall.
I wasn't as fast as I would've liked. From ti to ti I looked back to ascertain that Yvenna was still where I left her, but the more ti passed, the less sure I was that she will be for much longer. When I decided I was close enough to the mouth of the cave to reach it faster than any griffin, and Yvenna still didn't rush up with a battle cry, it was a weight off my chest.
I didn't waste any ti. In a single smooth motion, I jumped up and forward. By the ti I stood in the cave's mouth, screaming, "Yvenna!", I already had a dagger in my left hand and a stinger on my right.
The griffins bolted up with a panicked beating of wings and a flurry of fallen feathers that reminded of a chicken coop after I got inside. The only difference was that these chickens were twenty tis bigger. Just as I predicted, there were three females and one male, the sa one that now was lacking claws on one of its front legs.
Yvenna's sharp and furious cry from sowhere below was my signal that she was coming. I didn't rush at panicked griffins, unwilling to suffer their attacks even by accident, and bid my ti.
The initial rush of surprise didn't last longer than a few seconds. Then, it was a completely different story. The griffins grouped together, their wings folded, shoulder to shoulder. The male was in the lead, with two females at his sides and one deeper in the cave, standing defensively between and sothing I couldn't see.
The male rose on his hind feet and screeched at at the sa ti as I heard another scream, frustrated now, coming from behind . How hard was it to climb this slope?
Whatever. I didn't need Yvenna to hold my hand. "Co at , you oversized cat-chickens!" I sneered at them.
The next mont, they did. The mouth of the cave wasn't wide enough for three griffins to fight at the sa ti, and they must've understood it, because only two—the females—pounced at . Their movents were almost in complete sync as they flew at , each aiming for one of my shoulders, each blocking one of my options to dodge.
But the right griffin was just a second slower, and in the clarity of the battle trance that fell on , I saw it and used it. I dodged to the right, almost plastering myself to the stone wall. When the left griffin landed empty-clawed where I just stood, I already had my weapons aid at the right griffin's side.
My hands were true. Instead of jumping on , the griffin jumped on my dagger and my stinger, but the sheer weight of her body rushing past wrought the dagger out of my hands and almost dislocated my right hand.
Would've dislocated it if my joints weren't so flexible thanks to 'Malleability'. It felt like my stinger almost got pulled out of it, but it was worth it, as I knew I pumped at least so poison in the deep gauges that now decorated the griffin's hide.
It cried out in pain, prompting more screeches from the others, and tried to get up. I didn't have ti to wait for it. My manoeuvre opened the way for the first griffin to fly out if it wanted, and before it got that idea, I jumped towards it, with only the stinger on my aching hand and my claws on the other.
I imdiately had to dodge a swipe of its claws, and it was one close enough that I could feel the movent of air from it, and in the next mont had to dodge a dangerous peck, and after this, another swipe… I was out of initiative here, and even though one griffin was incapacitated, it didn't do that much good.
Not when it crawled back into the cave, only to be replaced by the male.
Reviews
All reviews (0)