Path of Dragons

Book 5: Chapter 26: Aerial Battle

Elijah broke through the canopy and into bright sunlight, only to see a dozen golden eagles barreling toward him. But he only had eyes for the one flying in the other direction. The huge bird had Sadie’s unconscious form clutched in its talons, and it flew further away with every passing second.

He tilted his wings, banking just out of reach of one of the smaller oncoming creatures, snapping out with his long neck and crushing its delicate wing bones. That opened him for reprisal – not from that foe, which plummeted toward the forest below, but instead, to the other vengeful members of its flock. Elijah tucked his own wings close, protecting them as he dove, which saved him from the worst of the attacks. However, nothing could keep them from raking their wicked talons across his back.

He stifled a scream as he fell through the canopy, hitting multiple branches along the way. His pursuers pulled up short, unwilling to brave the injuries that would come from following. That gave Elijah a moment to take stock, which he used to latch onto a particularly thick branch, then initiate another transformation. This time, he took on his natural form, which he used to immediately cast Soothe on himself. The gashes across his back mended, but he didn’t dare wait any longer.

Because with every passing second, Sadie was getting further away.

So, even as his flesh knitted back together, he once again adopted his flight form, then threw himself into the sky. For a while, he’d lamented the shape’s combat inadequacies, most of which stemmed from the fact that it wasn’t very durable. Like most creatures of the air, the Shape of the Sky was a fragile thing, and it sometimes felt that his Constitution counted for less in that form.

With that in mind, Elijah chose to shore up that weakness with one of his other advantages. That decision took the form of Soothe, which was still singing through his body as he broke through the canopy, ready to do engage in an aerial battle.

The eagles responded immediately, descending upon him with all the grace their natural instincts could dictate. By comparison, Elijah was still a novice flier, though he made up for that deficiency in skill by relying on two things. First, he was much larger than the eagles, with a long neck that only accentuated his advantage in reach. He displayed this by snapping out and crushing the first avian body that came into range. When the rest of the flock attacked, Elijah’s second advantage came to the fore.

He might not have been durable, but who needed toughness when he had Soothe on his side? The wounds inflicted by his airborne foes were painful, and they didn’t immediately mend, but Elijah had taken worse. And what’s more, the ongoing heal kept him in the sky long enough to engage in the otherwise foolhardy tactic that left his body ripped to ribbons.

But he gave as good as he got, returning the flurry of attacks with much deadlier reprisal. He raked with his talons, bit with his serpentine jaws, and even managed to destroy one of the eagles with a kamikaze dive that was rewarded with a burst of blood and feathers.

He also incurred a couple of broken bones from the maneuver, which wasn’t surprising, considering that he suspected the shape’s skeleton was comprised of hollow bones, much like the hated birds. He took more injuries from the rest of the battle, but those were healed almost as soon as they were incurred.

Elijah knew he was going at it all wrong. He should have been fast, graceful, and nimble. Instead, he went at the fight like he was a flying version of his guardian form. Perhaps that was what it meant to be a dragon.

But even as he latched onto the final eagle with his talons, then ripped its wings from its body, Elijah’s thoughts were elsewhere. Only a minute or so had passed – long enough for Soothe to run its course – but even then, the giant eagle that had taken Sadie had reached the edge of the plateau. Fortunately, he’d had the forethought to use Eyes of the Eagle, so he could keep track of where it had landed.

Even though he still felt the urgency of the situation, Elijah took a moment to land amidst the branches, casting Soothe to take care of any injuries that had persisted before he once again took to the skies in pursuit of the eagle. Or rather, Sadie.

He tore through the sky, moving faster than he’d ever flown before as he skimmed just over the canopy. If the stakes hadn’t been so dire, he might’ve enjoyed the feeling. It had been so infrequent that he’d had the opportunity to simply let loose and push himself to the limits.

But the situation being what it was, he couldn’t enjoy it properly.

Instead, the entirety of his thoughts centered on rescuing Sadie. He couldn’t say why he’d latched onto to that task so strongly. Maybe it was as simple as one human being helping another. He wasn’t above that sort of thing. Yet, he knew – at least in the back of his mind – that it went deeper than that. Although he wouldn’t allow himself to consider just how much he wanted to prove her assessment of him as a monster wrong.

In any case, he covered the couple of miles in what felt like an instant, and when he flew over the edge of the plateau, he saw his quarry. The giant eagle had made its roost on a particularly large ledge, and it was only by happenstance that Elijah and his companions had chosen to ascend on the other side of the butte formation.

If they had done so on this side, their way would have been much more difficult, because it was absolutely lousy with birds. None were as large as the eagle that had taken Sadie, though, and its purpose seemed clear, because there were a bunch of younger birds in its nest.

It meant to feed its young.

And Elijah’s job was to stop that.

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With that endeavor in mind, he tucked his wings close to his body and dove. The eagle saw him coming from a mile away, and it dropped Sadie before throwing itself into the air, clearly intending to meet Elijah on its own terms. They hit with a mighty clash, but Elijah wasn’t so deluded as to think he could win against such a mighty foe – especially on its own turf.

So, just before they hit, he initiated a transformation into his guardian form. That clearly surprised the eagle, but it was far too late to avoid his now-falling form. Lamellar ape met eagle, and the latter clearly lost the exchange. Elijah hit it with all the momentum of a runaway train, but he was surprised to find that it didn’t crumple like the others. Instead, it used some sort of ability, shielding itself from the worst of the impact. Yet, even if it was protected from the collision itself, it could do nothing about two other factors.

First, momentum still existed, and given that Elijah’s guardian form’s weight exceeded a ton, the raptor was forced to absorb quite a lot of force. Second, Elijah really, really hated birds. His ire had steadily mounted during the climb, but it had reached a rousing crescendo the moment he’d taken on his most volatile form.

And a pissed-off ape-lizard could do no small degree of damage.

Elijah latched onto the bird, wrapping his long arms around it, and digging into its surprisingly tough skin. Then, he started biting, ripping through the eagle’s feathers with every ounce of ferocity he could muster. From his position on its back, Elijah was safe from reprisal, but that said nothing about the rest of the flock.

Hundreds of birds went wild, taking to the air and raking their talons across his body. Fortunately, he’d had the presence of mind to employ Shield of Brambles before engaging. And of course, he was protected by Iron Scales, though he could feel his energy draining with every passing second.

He couldn’t keep it up indefinitely, and already, the sheer volume of attacks had begun to affect him. Even ten percent of their damage tended to add up, and as a result, his inflated Constitution was put to the test. Meanwhile, Elijah focused on dismantling the giant eagle.

His momentum had already sent it plummeting from the sky, and fortunately, they’d ended up on the surface of the plateau, rather than falling for miles to the ground far, far below.

However, if he’d expected the creature to be defenseless on the ground, he had another thing coming. It erupted with enough force to throw Elijah from its back, and it wasn’t until he landed a few dozen yards away that he realized that he had a hundred golden feathers sticking out of his torso. They’d only penetrated an inch or so, but that was enough to enact their true purpose.

Elijah felt his energy draining out of him with every passing second. And it was only a few moments until he could no longer keep Iron Scales active. He levered himself to his feet, raking his arm across his chest and dislodging the golden feathers. They fell to the ground, dissipating into motes of ethera.

He slapped his chest in pain-filled rage, and the eagle climbed to its feet. It cawed with similar fury, then threw itself into the air. However, it had no intention of abandoning the fight. Instead, it swooped in, attempting to rake its talons across Elijah’s face. He took it without consideration for the injury, using the opportunity to snap out his jaws and bite into one of its feet.

The creature tried to rip the limb free, beating its wings furiously along the way. But Elijah’s bite strength was absolute, and he refused to let go, even as the bird clawed him with its other foot. When that didn’t work, it brought its sharp beak to bear, tearing chunks out of Elijah’s shoulders.

But he didn’t let that go without retaliation.

The bird was more durable than most of its kind, and it was quite a bit larger, as well. Yet, it was still just a bird. And what was a bird without its wings? Elijah intended to find out. So, ignoring the monster’s screeching attempts at dislodging itself from Elijah’s uncompromising jaws, he reached up, grabbed ahold of those wing joints, then yanked his arms apart.

At first, nothing happened. The monster was strong enough to resist his pull, if only for a moment. And in that instant, Elijah felt a seed of doubt. Had he bitten off more than he could chew? Maybe.

But then, the eagle’s strength gave way to the superior might of the guardian form, and its wings jerked wide. That wasn’t enough, though. He didn’t just want the thing’s wings spread. He wanted them to break.

And as the monster let out a cacophonous cry, those wings did just that. They snapped like wishbones, and once they lost that stability, it was only a matter of moments before the flesh gave way.

Elijah ripped its wings off, showering the area in avian blood. He exulted in it.

But he couldn’t enjoy it, because there were a hundred other eagles ready to pick up where the best among them left off. And though individual might was important, quantity had a power all its own, and Elijah was forced to deal with that as dozens of the birds flocked to him.

He lashed out, attacking as much as he could, but with so many strikes coming from so many different sources, there was nothing left but to endure and hope that the thorny counterattacks from Shield of Brambles could wear them down. Long minutes passed, with eagles raking through his thick scales and getting pierced by thorns in turn.

Elijah swept his arms, and every now and again, he would catch one of the monsters with his claws. However, the guardian form had never been very dexterous, and with his stamina having been drained, he wasn’t at his best.

He did manage to kill a few, though. And once, he even chomped down on one.

But air superiority was a thing for a reason, and Elijah’s efforts were hampered by his ground-bound state. Still, he didn’t dare switch to Shape of the Sky. Given that he was being steadily whittled down in his much more durable guardian form, assuming his flight form would have gotten him ripped to shreds.

Even so, Shield of Brambles put in great work, and eventually – what felt like an eternity of pain – the last of the birds flew away, having been pierced through a by a hundred thorns. Many more lay dead, but more than a few had fled. Regardless, it gave Elijah an opportunity to switch into his caster form and start the process of healing. More importantly, he could now rescue Sadie.

So, once he’d cast a few heals on himself, he shifted back into Shape of the Sky, then flew to the nest. Once there, he was horrified to see that the juvenile eagles had already started trying to eat her. The only thing preventing that was her armor, which had so far stymied the little birds’ efforts.

So, Elijah descended upon them, and though he hadn’t intended to kill the creatures – as he had their mother – the things immediately proved that notion hopeless. Like all the other eagles, they attacked the second he came into range of their blunted beaks, and he was forced to exterminate the pests.

They probably wouldn’t have lived much longer anyway. Not without someone to take care of them.

Still, it was not a joyful occasion, but, rather, a necessary one.

With the threats dealt with, Elijah snatched the still-unconscious Sadie into his talons and took off. Hopefully, Dat and Kurik were okay, though he had good reason to think that they would be.

His choice to go after Sadie had not been undertaken without thought. Dat and Kurik had the benefit of a defensible position, and they were more than capable of holding their own.

Still, Elijah’s stomach remained clenched with worry as he soared over the forest canopy.