Clank!
The familiarity of firing a grappling hook took my body by storm as I sped ahead of my unit. Soon we arrived and the glider core portaled back to the battlefield. Off in the distance, a horn sounded, signaling the charge.
"Orin! Now!"
The fox appeared out of my shadow and ran on air towards his target, preparing to thrash his throat. The man he was attacking wound up to hit Orin with his greatsword but was caught off guard when a hook grabbed him by his arm and sent his sword off course.
'He is skilled enough to fly on his own without a glider.' I said, forming contingencies in my head as his throat was removed.
'Hopefully, not all of them are like that, I need to pull them down and engage them on the ground.'
I grappled away, Orin was spotted but the rest of the group remained undetected under the cover of the trees. I perched on a tree and shot my grappling hook at another soldier's wing.
'They really didn't do much to the design, even the enchantments are the same.' I thought as I targeted a weak point in my design.
The grappling hook connected and I reeled it in, lifting me off the ground as much as pulling the mage towards me. I held my spear out forward and killed him before diving back down.
'I was not expecting to be pulled up from the ground.' I blinked and set back down as my adrenaline cooled down.
"Let's try that again," I said under my breath as Nalep pulled several scouts from the sky with the nearby trees.
I attached the tree I was standing on to my feet and fired my grappling hook at another scout.
'There are so many of them, it's hardly appropriate to call them scouts.'
I pulled off his wing and he crash-landed.
'The golems will take care of him'
I moved on, pulling two more down before they noticed me. Now I had to duck and dive between trees to keep them off of me. I met up with Laveki because she was having trouble holding off the scouts chasing her.
Then, with no warning, an arrow hit her in the back and she fell out of the tree she climbed. I deployed my wings and caught her as she fell, taking evasive action as she cried out.
"Laveki! Are you ok?" I shouted as I circled around to Nalep.
"I'm fine! This is just a flesh wound!" She looked forward and almost puked, we were going really fast. "Put me down!"
I ignored her and neared Nalep.
Her eyes went wide when I didn't respond. "I said put me down! Put me down!" she was starting to panic and squirm in my arms.
My tone went deadpan as I turned my Airsteppers towards the ground "Stop squirming, you're putting me off balance." I quickly landed and my tone became normal. "Nalep, Laveki's hit!"
"Let me see her." He put his hand on her wound and healed her in an instant. "Good thing you brought her, her one kidney was punctured." He went back to his job.
"Laveki, you have to be more careful, and no more of this 'just a flesh wound' nonsense." I scolded her like Larry did to me. "Focus on blinding them so I can take them down."
I felt a slight presence behind me. I struck out with the butt of my spear and a scout doubled over.
"Restrain this one, we can probably use him." Orin appeared from the woods behind him.
Nalep quickly bound the scout with plants. "Ok." He ripped a scout from the sky and he was killed by the golems.
"We've taken out at least half of them now. I'm going to join the fight up above, Laveki, you cover me as I said."
"Yes teach." She regained her composure once we landed.
"Ok, come here."
She stood in front of me and waited.
"Turn around," I ordered.
"Ok?" she turned around.
I grabbed her and took off with her in my arms.
"This was NOT part of the deal!" She shouted.
"Well it's the best way to do it, and there are no trees up here," I said quietly as we cleared the treeline.
Once the trees cleared her eyes started to sparkle. She saw endless landscapes and only managed three words.
"It's so pretty."
"We're in a battle! Focus!"
"Right!" She snapped out of her renewed love for the sky and blinded a scout.
"There are only ten left!" Someone said.
'We've taken out like forty of their guys, and by my count, we've lost about ten of ours.'
I slashed at the blinded scout with my spear and he fell from the sky.
'The rest of the scouts returned soon after we engaged, but the damage was done, they stood no chance.'
I threw my spear at my newly blinded adversary, marking the final kill.
"Alright boys and girls, clean up in here!" I shouted, signaling that I would be leaving the field.
"Are we going back to the ship?" Laveki asked.
"Yes, we can take off as soon as everyone is ready, I plan on finishing the sails mid-air since we already have the masts attached."
"Ambitious as always." Laveki rolled her eyes but I couldn't see it.
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The Dragon glided through the sky as Laveki spoke with Ernest.
"I don't know why, but flying on a smaller craft feels so much more fun." She remarked, cringing at her reaction to flying fast in the arms of one of the best glider pilots ever.
"There is fun in danger and personal flight is the pinnacle of danger." He didn't lose focus on the new Eneru battery he was building. "You should probably pay more attention to that draft of yours if you want it to hold better than the last one."
"Hurtful! It only broke because last time I made it in like an hour." Laveki turned her attention to her draft, working on its durability more than speed or maneuverability.
"Prove it." Ernest stoked the fires of competition in Laveki.
"Fine"
A fire lit in Laveki's eyes and a smug grin grew on Ernest's lips as they both worked at the respective projects.