Blast-Ended Skrewt
Saying their good byes, the owls left the couple and they're newly hatched owlets the next night, after they'd gotten some much needed sleep.
As soon as they were a safe distance away, Elna asked. "So, care to tell me what all that was about?"
"What do you mean?" Areen asked carefully.
Elna sighed, shaking her head. "Don't insult my intelligence Areen. I saw how you reacted to those names. Care to explain."
Areen and Claymore looked at each other. In the end it was Arison who answered. "Well, I know none of us were around for it, but you remember hearing about the Pure Ones, right?"
Elna nodded slowly, then she remembered the leader's name. "Oh right."
Claymore nodded. "And Nyroc was Coryn's original name."
"That explains a lot." Elna said. Her voice came out more serious than usual.
For a short while they flew in silence. Then Pornal broke it. "Dragon!" he cried.
Everyone flied to steer clear of the 'dragon.' When Elna spun her head, she saw fire zip past them. "Hide!" she ordered. So they all flew around, weaving in and out of the trees so the dragon wouldn't know where they'd hid. Once they were all hidden Elna peered out of the branches she was in, looking for the dragon.
Despite the fact that the situation was still dangerous, she almost laughed. That wasn't a dragon. "Nice going on the false alarm." The spectacled owl teased Pornal.
"Shh!" Areen hissed. "That's a blast-ended skrewt. We still have to be careful around it."
Elna looked at Areen, impressed. Areen caught her gaze and shrugged. The skrewt meanwhile, seemed to have heard them. It charged forward, ramming its horn into the tree, shaking the owls around.
"Whoa!" Eva shouted. She fell out of the tree, getting dangerously close to the skrewt before managing to fly back up. It spewed fire after her. Letting out another scream she flew to the branch Claymore was on. Claymore wrapped his wings around her in a tight embrace.
"Fly!" Elna told them. "The skrewt can't, he'll lose us!" The skrewt ran into the tree.
This time the owls let him knock them off the tree, and they spread their wings, flying away. The skrewt charged after them, spraying fire. But as Elna predicted, it couldn't reach them, and couldn't keep up. Soon they left the skrewt behind.
Pornal panted. "This time is messed up." He announced.
(There's a certain irony to this chapter. The skrewts are only in the book, but my stories are based more off the movies. Skrewts are totally worth putting in though.)