The moon was mostly full as it rose, claiming the sun's spot as ruler of the sky. But Marco couldn't see it behind the twenty-foot-long hawk that was swooping down at him!
"Reina!" he screamed as he ran towards the baby hawks. His only possible chance of survival was to get close to the hawklets because the mother would never attack if there was a chance of endangering them.
He heard Reina shout something in response, but it was drowned out by the chirps of the hawklets and the screech of their mother.
Marco looked up to see the giant form of the mama hawk bearing down on him, her eyes locked onto him. He jumped and went into a desperate dive, sending him right in the middle of the trio of hawklets.
"Shaa!"
The mother hawk hastily reared and stopped her flight. Just as Marco thought, she wouldn't attack while he was mixed in with her babies. Instead, she landed in the nest and kept an eye on him.
Before Marco could celebrate his quick thinking, he realized he had actually put himself in even greater danger.
He was surrounded by three agitated hawklets, agitated because he ran into their nest, stole their food, and made scary noises. Outside of his baby hawk circle stood twenty feet of protective mama hawk.
Four beaks, all ready to tear him apart.
There was nothing else to do. Marco put his helmet on, gripped his sword in both hands, and took on a defensive posture.
"Who's first?"
A hawklet on his left answered the call. It jumped at him while chirping. Swiftly, Marco swung his sword in a wide horizontal arc. The baby hawk was spry, though, and hopped back as quickly as it had advanced. But Marco knew that he couldn't let up. Letting the momentum of his slash carry him, he whirled around to face the other two hawklets. Then he brought his sword down in a diagonal strike. The two hawklets hopped back just like their brother.
The sight of it made the mother hawk screech. She brought her head down closer, but Marco backed up and spun around again. Now he was face-to-face with the first hawklet. That being the case, the mother hesitated.
She kept hopping around the circle of her babies, looking for a chance to peck at Marco. He kept letting them close in on him so that she had none. When the babies got too close, he would swing at them, never hitting them but sending them retreating slightly. By doing this he kept them far enough to not get him, but close enough to keep the mother at bay.
Of course this was only a temporary solution. As he maintained his frantic footwork, Marco knew that one mistake would be enough to spell his doom. Let a hawklet get too close or give the mother the opening she was looking for, and he would replace the Gramtese Dragon as tonight's dinner.
As if reading his mind, a sudden strong gust of wind came out of nowhere. It made him lose his footing, sending him tripping over one of the loose twigs that made up the nest. He fell flat on his back.
Did the tree just send that wind?
Before he could truly ponder that idea, the baby hawks all gathered together and leapt in. Three sets of black eyes were now looking down at Marco from all sides.
"Yaaa!"
Instinctively, Marco let loose a series of kicks. He hit one of the hawklets and sent it running away. The others pecked at him as he attempted to roll away.
The hawks were faster.
Several rapid pecks connected with his chest, back, and shoulders. Marco flinched as he was struck but felt nothing more than taps. He was baffled until he remembered he was wearing chainmail! The eager beaks could only graze him harmlessly.
Or they should have been harmless. But as fate, or pure unluckiness, would have it, the chainmail was shoddily made. The foolish apprentice who made it did not weave the metal rings together tightly enough. As a result, there were several gaps in the mail. One in particular left just enough space for an oversized hawklet's beak to get caught.
Sure enough, one of the birds yanked up its head only to find that it also yanked up a Marco.
Surprised, the hawklet shrieked. Then, Marco shrieked.
The flustered hawklet flailed its head around in an attempt to free its beak from the chainmail. Marco's vision was a whirl of white fuzz and the surrounding scenery as he tried to get his feet firmly planted and tug away from the panicked bird. His ears were filled with the cries of his captor and its agitated family.
After some time of this, Marco felt the chainmail come up over his chin. It seemed as if the shirt would give way before the hawklet did. This gave him an idea.
Marco shimmied, falling out of the shirt and into a sitting position.
Without even stopping to catch a breath, he grabbed his chest and looked around him. He still had his simple cloth shirt on. The baby birds were scattered around the nest, with the one still battling against the chainmail shirt. The mother, however, was towering right over him.
Their eyes met, and every prayer Marco knew went through his mind.
"Hey you!"
Reina's shout made its way to Marco, just as the various things she threw made their way to the Elder Hawk's head.
A comb, camping supplies, even a spare change of clothes. Everything Reina had packed in her bag was being turned into ammunition.
"Gra?"
The bird simply looked confused. But confused was better than looking at Marco.
He immediately saw the opportunity for what it was. He ran at the Elder Hawk and slid between its legs. Then he quickly jumped up and grabbed a handful of feathers. Using those as a handhold, he began to climb the Elder Hawk.
Reina ran out of things to throw rather quickly, so all she could do was look on in horror as Marco jumped onto the giant hawk and made his way up.
"What are you doing?" she shouted.
Marco waited to respond until he had reached the hawk's head and wrapped his hands around the neck. When he did, he yelled back, "Pull me up!"
"Just use the rope!" Reina yelled.
"Someone made it so the rope can't be reached without a boost! Pull me up!" he said as he reached a hand out.
But the hawk had other plans. She screeched and started shaking her head to get rid of her unwanted passenger. Marco held on for dear life as Reina tried to follow from above. Eventually Marco eventually became able to adjust to the bird's wild movements reached a hand out to grab at Reina.
She quickly offered hers in return. Against the hawk's angry struggles, the two outstretched hands found one another.
They only managed to graze fingers when another strong gust of wind struck. Reina had to withdraw her hand and wrap it around the branch to keep from being blown off. Marco momentarily lost balance and had to grab onto the hawk with both hands.
"Damn tree!" he yelled when the wind stopped. "We're trying to leave!"
As if to speak for the tree, the hawk screamed back at Marco and tried to catch him in its beak.
As he climbed lower to avoid the pecks, Marco saw Reina run away and grab something.
"Take this!" she said as she threw down one of the big, long leaves Marco had fetched earlier.
Marco caught it and found that it was tied on each end with rope.
"What is this?"
"Jump!" Reina repeated. "Like this!"
She held a leaf of her own, also tied at each end like Marco's. Wrapping one rope around one hand and the other the same, she jumped off the branch, plummeting to the forest below. The giant leaf fluttered behind her until another of the strong gusts came. Then, it caught the wind and became full, its curved shape strong. Like magic, Reina's descent slowed to a manageable pace, and she floated safely towards the sea of trees below.
Marco was still clutching the hawk as his jaw dropped in disbelief. For a few moments, he even forgot that he was holding onto a giant bird.
In fact, he was reminded by the bird taking off.
The Elder Hawk shot up into the sky, then soared after Reina.
Marco held the leaf close to him even as it tried to catch air of its own and fly him away. He couldn't get off the bird just yet.
As impressive as Reina's flying leaf was, it obviously didn't go very fast. It was more gliding than flying. As for an angry Elder Hawk bearing down on its prey, that could reach terrifying speeds.
Cold air blew in Marco's face as the bird accelerated, closing in on Reina. His helmet must've fallen off at some point. With one hand still holding onto the hawk and the leaf, he reached for his sword only to remember that it was gone too. He dropped it during his struggle with the hawklets.
Every piece of equipment he borrowed had basically failed him and gotten lost. If he survived this trial, he was going to have a word with the quartermaster.
With no sword, he could only think of one thing to do. He wound up and delivered a punch straight to the back of the Elder Hawk's head. The beast felt it right away, faltering and falling as it stopped flapping. Marco took the chance to let go.
Just as Reina did before, he grabbed hold of one rope per hand and let the leaf spread out to its full length. Within moments, he caught wind and was gliding through the night sky.
It was an amazing feeling. He was a human that could fly! Granted, mages that mastered wind magic could fly, but Marco was never proficient in magic. This was the first and probably only time he would ever soar through the air, so he made sure to savor the experience.
After some experimenting, he found that he could exercise a small amount of control over his path by tilting in the desired direction. By doing so, he soon angled himself so that he was behind Reina. When he had lined up his trajectory with hers, he noticed a tall building in the distance.
It was the border fort! Reina was taking them to the Irelian army!
"Good thinking Reina!" he shouted.
He saw Reina turn her head slightly around. Then, she just as quickly turned back around and put her leaf into a dive. But they weren't at the tower yet!
"What are you…" Marco thought as he turned around to look behind him. There he found exactly what made Reina react that way.
A flock of Elder Hawks was right behind them!
"I am so done with this tree!" he yelled as he angled himself down, diving after Reina. His speed reached a level that was likely life-threatening, but he knew the hawks were definitely life-ending.
The forest below came closer and closer into view as the sounds of screeching hawks got louder and louder.
In the next moments, a lot of things happened.
First, Marco saw what looked like torchlight within the forest. He tried to aim himself at it, figuring wherever people were would be a safe place to land. Sadly, he was going too fast to really pull himself out of the dive he was in. He half-succeeded, but made contact with the trees before he could reach the light. All of his senses were then taken over by the battering of branches, a storm of leaves, and the screeches of Elder Hawks. Then he hit the ground hard.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the Elder Hawk flock had readied their talons to grab Marco just as he was trying to pull up. His sudden shift in momentum put him dangerously close to getting caught. But suddenly, arrows flew out from the forest and pelted the hawks. The leaders, who were inches away from catching Marco before he disappeared into the trees, took some arrows to the chest. They cried out in pain and flew away, deciding that the tiny, annoying morsel wasn't worth the trouble. The rest followed suit.
As for Reina, she managed to spot a road that cut through the trees. Even under pressure, she managed to steer herself into an easier descent. She sailed above the road and then turned around, gliding to a soft landing.
At a safe height, she let go of the rope and landed gracefully on the road. Her leaf craft wafted slowly to the ground. As she watched it fall, she smiled. Even Marco would have to admit that she had come up with an ingenious plan. Then again, why did she care what he thought?
As the thought of Marco crossed her mind, she looked up to see if she could spot his landing. She saw everything: Marco hitting the trees, the hawk flock, and the mysterious arrows that chased them away. After that, Marco came falling out of a tree and hit the ground.
Reina ran to him as he rolled to a stop. She quickly checked his heartbeat to find that he was still alive. Fortunately, the fort wasn't too far away. She could get him to the resident medic. Perhaps they even had a mage skilled in healing.
Before she could even think of how to carry him, however, the sound of heavy footsteps was fast upon her. Several torches came into view, seemingly carried by a group of men marching in formation.
The army! It was probably them who shot the arrows!
"Who goes there?" called a strong, clear voice.
"Princess Reina Irelios!" she shouted as she went forward to meet the soldiers. "My friend, he–"
But she paused when she saw the soldiers up close.
"An Irelian princess, eh?" said the soldier who called out, stepping forward. "What a find."
This man was not a soldier of Reina's kingdom. His uniform was orange and bright blue, the colors of the Gramt Empire.
Reina and Marco had landed in Gramt!