Kaelen
How did I get pulled into this again, all I wanted to do today was work in the garden and perfect my roast recipe, but no. I had to be susceptible to peer pressure and end up in the spooky side of the forest yet again because of Lyra. It was too late now, we were well on our way to the training hollow that she had found a few months back.
I ran my hand through the mane of Ember as we followed behind. The dappled sunlight made the forest look far more inviting than the stories he had heard from the other servants. The stories of the missing souls who tried to conquer this forest haunted my dreams, and consumed my thoughts each time we went in. Lyra had no such fear, I blame her father. She was raised to hit first and ask questions later, while I tended to ask only questions and had only been in one fight, with Lyra, and I lost. My confidence in my ability to actually help her out here was low, but at least she asked for me to join, even if I was afraid. Kicking Ember lightly in the sides, I caught up alongside Lyra.
“So what exactly are you practicing? Why can’t you have your mother help you? Wasn’t she some great wild magik mage back in the day?”
Lyra kept her eyes forward, but a look of slight annoyance crossed her face.
“An ex-wild mage, yes.” Her brow furrowed “She refuses to teach me because I show no natural ability.”
Blunt and straight to the point. Very much Lyra. I only get half the info most of the time. Sometimes talking to her to get more was like trying to put together a puzzle. I tried to piece her reasons for hiding together but seemed to be missing pieces.
“But why?”
She didn’t answer.
“We’re here” She said as they stopped in a clearing with one large oak in the middle.
I hopped off Ember and gave her a nuzzle, “Go ahead and go hunt girl. Get yourself a rabbit.” I slipped her lead off and watched as my manticore slipped into the woods.
“Ok, we’re here now. I’ll just look for chanterelles while you practice.”
Lyra nodded back at me, I am pretty sure she didn’t even need me here. Whatever. I moved myself into the shaded areas by the oak and settled in to watch my best friend attempt to shape shift.
******
Two hours have passed, I have collected all of the mushrooms I could find, one pound heading home with us, and still no shape shifting. I am not exactly convinced that Lyra even has magik. Sometimes it skips a generation, or maybe since her parents never worked on it when she was young, now in her adult years she won’t be able to access it. Whatever the cause, we needed to get going or the head chef would have my head on a spit.
“Hey, how much longer?”
I called from my spot nestled between our mounts.
“I have to get these mushrooms back or they won’t be good.”
She threw up her hand and gave a one second gesture as some glyphs were scratched into the dirt at her feet. For a second blue light emerged from the glyphs and rose, then sputtered and died again.
“AHHHHHHH! GODS DAMN IT!”
Lyra yelled, kicking the dirt glyphs up.
I shrunk back and tightened my lips, praying to Typhor in my head. I knew better than to bother her when she was like this.
“One more time!” She yelled, “Just one more try then we can go back. I got it this time!”
”What are you trying to shift to?”
“A cockatrice! Easy enough, I think.” She replied.
She went back to drawing the glyphs, this time more slowly. As she finished writing the last one the blue lights rose once again, but no sputtering came. Instead they burst into green flames dancing all around Lyra. I jumped up and yelled,
“Lyra! Are you ok?”
I started running towards the middle of the clearing and there, in her space, was a large cockatrice.
“Lyra?”
I asked, taking one step back.
The cockatrice looked at me and then let out a loud squawk, almost like laughter. It was her! She had done it, but now how was she going to turn back?
“Great you did it, you have successfully disobeyed your parents wishes and turned yourself into a lizard chicken. Good job.”
Lyra turned her rooster head and gave me a look and started to walk around the clearing, obviously pleased with herself.
“I will give you twenty minutes to finish up with this, then we have to go back.”
Lyra didn’t respond, instead her eyes were locked on the back of the meadow. The noises of the forest suddenly went quiet. I felt a chill run up my spine, as the deafening silence fell upon my ears. The hairs on my nape raised as I turned slowly to look at what Lyra was transfixed on, and saw our death coming right at us.
******
A chimera of metallic fur and flesh stood before us, its eyes fixed on myself and Lyra. Suddenly, I was flying back towards the trees, my belly stinging from the barbs on Lyra’s tail hitting me as she ran up and pushed me away towards the trees. Climbing up the thorny limbs, yet again, I clung to the trees for safety as I watched in horror at the scene playing out in front of me.
Lyra was now joined by Ember and Zephyra. Their teeth and claws ready for the attack to come. Time stood still as the metallic chimera stared down its challengers, a ticking coming from its interior as it slowly turned its necks back and forth. What animals was this abomination made from? I could see panther aspects beneath the metal, but the flesh was pale and hard to see beneath the metallic plating welded to its hide.
Zephyra moved first. The griffin leapt up into the air and took a swift dive at the creature, scratching its back with her talons and creating a deafening screech as it turned to slap her with its claws. Dodging it with grace this was the sign for the other two to attack. In unison cockatrice Lyra, and my dear Ember were closing in. Ember swung her tail, getting the poison barb in between the seams of its plating. The beast screamed out and turned, not paying attention to Lyra.
Lyra clumsily leapt onto the back of the chimera, barely holding on with the three claws of the beast shape she took. What an idiot! Is this how she wanted to die? I cried out but I was too far and the overgrowth muffled them from any ears that could hear me. All I could do was pray to Tyraphor and hope the god of Earth would heed my mortal pleas.
Lyra swung her head back and bit down on the beast’s neck. It began bucking, trying to get her off its back, she bit down harder and a crack hit my ears as the beast went limp. Lyra stood above it, her mouth covered in what seemed to be a dark liquid mixture of blood and oil. I jumped from the branches, rolling across its roots. Stumbling up I ran towards Lyra, a strange ticking now filling the clearing. I stopped in my tracks as I was tackled to the ground by Ember and covered by her thick leathery wings as heat and fire exploded from the beast's corpse.
“What the hell was that thing!”
I yelled out at Lyra, who had now shifted back to her human form, spines still poking through her flesh as her breathing steadied and they retracted back into her. Ick. How could she ever do that to herself. That didn’t matter right now, as I ran up to her and she pushed my helping hands away. Too proud to accept help after a skirmish. Just like her father.
“Are you ok, Lyra? How did you know how to kill that thing?”
She ran her fingers through her brown wavy hair, tucking it behind an olive toned pointed ear. I have never seen her so shook, not even after fighting off my bullies as a teenager. I knew she was doing what she did best, pushing down the fear.
“I don’t know Kaelen. I don’t know. I just bit where I thought it would hurt. I have no idea how I even held that form for so long. It drained me.” She leaned on her griffin and didn’t look at me.
“It’s best we keep this between us.”
“What do you mean? We have to tell your parents. We can’t just let whatever made that thing come to us! We have to tell the others!”
I protested and tried to grab her by the shoulder, only to be pushed off as she went to investigate the now glowing crater the chimera left behind. She jumped into the depths, staggering slightly as she did so, slightly falling into the hole.
“LYRA” Running to the edge of the crater I looked down into its shallow depths.
She shushed me and gave me a serious look before dropping her Forest green eyes to the ground before her. I leaned over and looked down at her. In the ground were some freshly carved out glyphs with a charcoal glow.
“Do you recognize these Kaelen?” She asked, looking over her shoulder to me and making a gesture to come look.
Reluctantly, I jumped in with her and looked closely at the writing. Old memories shook loose and I gasped.
I was a little boy, walking alongside my ringmaster. The circus was moving to the next isle, and the lands around us stank of sulfur and death. I gazed out and asked what happened, the ringmaster raised his hand and pointed at a corpse, pinned to a dead and still smoldering oak. Carved into the belly were charcoal colored glyphs.
I had seen these before.
“This is bad news, Lyra. We need to go home now.”