I waved over my sister, who had just arrived at my invitation. On my other side crouched one of my brothers who was barely hidden by the brush; he is a bulky man.

Lezabel took note of what I pointed at. “How long has he been doing that?”

A blue feathered Niceous, a young courtier to be specific, was hucking jagged pieces of something, I couldn’t tell what it was at this distance, into the ocean. His hair tousled copper in the sunlight would turn obsidian in spots of shade cast by the clustered palm trees.

“About an hour, I’m sure he’ll burn himself out here in a moment. Shouldn’t be hard to take him down after that.” I removed the bow from my back, tipping it her way. “Would you like to go first?”

Her lips drew back in a notoriously amorous smile. “How could I refuse?”

I laughed when she nearly collapsed under the weight of it, yet she still managed to draw an arrow.

Sure enough the Niceous slumped to his knees exhausted, panting in the sand as my sister took aim and fired.

It missed, ripping through his feathers and plunging into the ocean.

I've seldom seen anyone regain their energy in so few seconds, it was a shock he hadn’t passed out from fear when he spotted us poking out of the tree line; stalking him. Oh well, if not now, then he’ll surely faint when Zeldris runs him down.

“No point in hiding any longer.” I muttered, mostly to myself.

The boy ran, dodging another one of Lezabel’s shots. She swore firing off a few more rods, failing to ground the Niceous before he took flight.

It was entertaining at first but now it was my turn. I took back my bow and leapt onto one of the top branches of a tree.

I drew back the arrow. I had to be quick or the little bird would slip away. I lined up the shot, fired, and looked down to grin at my sister.

I. NEVER. MISS.

~~~

My wing seized up mid flight and sent me plummeting towards the red-orange sea of trees.

Crashing through the outstretched tops, thin branches whipping my whole body, gradually getting bigger the farther down I fell. At last I struck one too thick to break. It flung me to the ground to gasp like a fish.

Pushing myself to my knees, I used the trunk of a tree to stand myself up. While I caught my breath, I looked to see what had frozen my wing. There a barbed arrow-like harpoon shot clean through the bone.

Unthinking, I pulled it out, releasing a hot stream of shimmering rose-gold; blood.

I had no time to think about stopping the flow, footsteps thundered nearby and grew louder with each stomp. I whipped around out of instinct to find a crimson horned beast on two legs charging at me, full speed. Grotesquely muscular, the thing could probably crush my skull with its thumb and index finger if it wished.

Adrenaline spiked my veins, heart stuttering unnervingly. I ran like I’ve never ran before, thistle bushes and thorny brambles ripped at my feathers as I dragged myself through them.

A rock whizzed by my face, missing me entirely and embedding itself in a tree. Another followed, splashing in a stream at my feet. Passed it, up ahead, was a stony ledge.

I stretched my wings out, preparing to leap and not feeling the pain under the mask of adrenaline. Though it did not feel right, I went anyways and slammed face first into the wall of rock when my wings failed me.

A glance over my shoulder convinced me to clambered up the ledge, the red monster gaining more ground in his pursuit of me; like a juggernaut, nothing could stop him.

He chased me through more of the forest and over a ditch before we happened upon a ravine.

I stopped at the edge, another step and I’d slip down a small slope, eroded by centuries of pelting rain. The decline poured into a deep gorge, foliage and splintering stumps jetting from the precarious looking gravel. Behind me lay another fate just as unfavorable.

I’m cornered.

I faced him, my skin clammy, watching him careen towards me. I flinched when he made as if to ram into me but he stopped. There was a strange pause before a heavy hand came down on my chest and shoved.

I tumbled down the incline, slamming into a tree before I fell over the edge. A horrid crack rang out when I struck it, pain blurring my vision with a vicious haze. The speed at which I struck the tree had nausea spinning my head.

I slipped an arm free to tentatively prod at the new injury. Thank the stars my ribs didn’t feel broken but they ached like they were.

Thunk. A puff of smoky air dragged a painful cough out of me. I met the beast’s blazing, blood-chilling, onyx glare. His toothy grin shone like the jagged serrated-knife he gripped in a massive hand; The sight of it knotted my stomach.

His voice came out rough and gravely, as if rarely used. “Sorry little bird.”

Black.