"Naktakė says we're almost there."
Arthur nodded at Tolys's report as Naktakė soared forward in the air, ahead of their party riding through the woods.
The raven had returned to Tark in the late afternoon, with the report that the other party had found the dwarfs hideout, and that Natalya was able to break Ludwig's spell with a true love's kiss. Arthur's group had spent the afternoon helping Katerina take control of the situation in the palace, calming down the humiliated courtiers and sending them all home. Once she had procured a proper riding outfit, the eight of them had mounted their horses and followed Naktakė into the forest to reunite with the others.
As they rode their horses through the next clearing, the trees above them started swaying and many branches cracked quickly, prompting Gilbert and Alfred to slow their horses and bring the group to a stop.
"What was that?" Katerina asked, "The weather's too good for that to be a strong gust of wind."
"I thought I heard slithering," Antonio added, "Something is in the trees above us."
"We're almost at the hideout, aren't we?" Feliks pointed out, "Surely it's safe to regroup there?"
Before anyone could answer Feliks, Naktakė swooped back in as she cawed incessantly.
"A wyvern?" Tolys repeated, "You saw them with a wyvern?"
"Tolys, what is she saying?" Madeline pried.
"Francis and Erzsébet beat us there," Tolys translated, "Erzsébet summoned the wyvern."
"That must be Ivan under her spell," Arthur realized, "We need to intervene!"
"Then we better get riding again," Alfred guided as he led his horse forward, "Tolys, tell Naktakė to lead the way."
"What do we do when we get there?" Katerina inquired as Tolys ordered Naktakė to direct them.
"We'll need to break Erzsébet's spell on your brother," Arthur assessed as they all resumed riding, "Ivan will need to be kept busy in the meantime, as will our sorcerers."
"Alfred and Madeline can keep the sorcerers occupied," Gilbert commanded, "Arthur can work on breaking the spell, Katya should help him. The rest of us will keep Ivan distracted."
As Gilbert and Alfred led them into the next clearing and turned left, Arthur could finally see the wyvern a short ways ahead of them. As the beast roared at whatever it was looking at, Alfred summoned a fireball in his right hand and launched it forward ahead of them. One of their horses whinnied as the party charged forward, prompting the beast to look in their direction just in time to see the fireball before it hit its side.
As they reached the clearing, their group split off to take on their various tasks. Alfred and Madeline veered right towards Francis and Erzsébet, who were already summoning their own magic. Gilbert led Antonio, Tolys and Feliks forward directly to the Beast, immediately encircling it and starting their distraction. Arthur and Katerina veered to the left, approaching the familiar trio of royals that the beast had been roaring at.
"Natalya!" Katerina called out as she saw her sister.
"Katya!" Natalya called back as she moved forward to meet her sister's horse.
As the two sisters reunited, Arthur slowed his horse as he approached Ludwig and Lilli.
"Ludwig, long time no see," Arthur greeted as he dismounted, "Lilli, that beast is Ivan, isn't it?"
"Yes, that's him," Lilli answered, "Erzsébet is controlling his spell, she ordered him to kill us all."
"Is there a plan, Arthur?" Ludwig asked.
"Yes, we need to break Erzsébet's spell on Ivan," Arthur informed, "Where are Lovino and Feliciano?"
"They're back at the cottage," Lilli answered, "I'll go get them."
"Ludwig, take my horse and join your brother," Arthur offered as Lilli ran off, "Keep Ivan distracted, but don't kill him."
"On it," Ludwig acknowledged as he mounted the horse.
Arthur held the reins steady until Ludwig could control the horse and ride off into the fray, leaving Arthur at the side with the two Stulikyan Princesses.
"What about us, Arthur?" Katerina asked, "How can we help?"
"I don't know yet, Your Highnesses," Arthur suggested, "All I can recommend is for you to keep out of range of the fighting, maybe help those who are downed."
"We can do that," Natalya confirmed, "Let's go this way, Katya, you can tell me who everyone is while we observe."
The Princesses walked over to the left, allowing Arthur the moment to observe what was happening in front of them. Ivan was centered in the clearing, with the five riders now looping around him. Each of them in turn were goading the beast into attacking them, before backing out of range so that they wouldn't get hit.
"Arthur, is that a fucking wyvern?"
Hearing the shouting from behind him, Arthur turned to see Lovino and Feliciano running towards him.
"That sure is," Arthur answered, "Where have you been?"
"Francis ordered Lenka to kill us all, we had to knock her out," Feliciano updated, "Basch and the dwarfs are restraining her back at the cottage, Lilli's gone to talk to them as well."
"Well, we definitely need the two of you right now," Arthur instructed, "We need to read his spell and figure out how to break it."
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Lovino rebuked, "We'd have to dive in there and grab a hold of that beast to read its spell, that's a fucking death sentence!"
"Do you have a better way to read his spell?" Arthur countered, "I know it's probably the most dangerous thing I could ever ask of you, but it's worth a shot."
"He's right, Lovi," Feliciano agreed, "This is our only chance, we have to take it."
"For fuck's sake," Lovino muttered, "Okay, we'll loop around opposite sides and see who can get a grab on the beast."
The trio split up, Lovino heading left and Feliciano heading right while Arthur stayed where he was to watch the action. They already had enough riders with horses in the fray for the size of the clearing, and they were sufficiently distracting Ivan so far. On the far side of the clearing, Alfred and Madeline were engaged in a two-on-two magical battle with Francis and Erzsébet, all four magic users alternating between firing blasts of magic and deflecting opposing attacks with protective shields.
Arthur quickly realized that his own role would be similar to the Princesses, guiding from the sidelines and watching for the key moments to act. Noting that Lovino would have the Princesses on the left side to help him out, Arthur veered right to follow Feliciano along that side of the circle.
Just as Arthur circled a tree, he suddenly had to back up as Feliks came in the way, with Ivan hot on his tail. Ivan swiped at the ranger and knocked him to the ground, spooking the horse and making it run off into the woods without his rider. Arthur rushed in to pull Feliks to his feet and out of Ivan's range, with Feliciano rushing in to help.
Just as the beast was about to attack the trio, it suddenly paused its action and looked back instead. Ivan seemed puzzled by something behind it, before completely focusing on it and spinning around instead. As Ivan turned, Arthur could finally see why it was distracted.
At the other side of the circle, while Ivan was focused on Feliks, Lovino had jumped onto the beast's tail. As Ivan spun around, Lovino held on for dear life while everyone else backed out of the way. Arthur, Feliks and Feliciano ducked as soon as the tail whipped over their heads, just before it finally slammed Lovino into the thick tree to Feliciano's right. The tail bounced off fine on its own, while Lovino fell to the ground hard.
"Lovi!" Feliciano called in horror.
Feliciano rushed towards his brother, while Arthur and Feliks both waited first to make sure Ivan was distracted elsewhere. Once they could see that Gilbert and Ludwig had captured the beast's attention, they both also rushed over to where Feliciano was checking on Lovino.
"He's seriously hurt," Feliks reported as they observed Lovino, "If he doesn't get proper healing in a timely fashion, the wounds can become deadly in a day or two."
"Ivan is wearing a necklace," Lovino groaned as he struggled to sit up in his brother's arms, "A gold chain with a crescent moon pendant. To break the spell and turn him human again, you need to break the chain."
"Break the chain to break the spell?" Arthur repeated, "You were able to figure it out?"
"We need to get Lovino back to the dwarfs' cottage," Feliciano insisted, "We better do it quickly, before Ivan sees some easy bait."
Just as Feliciano was talking, Arthur heard his name being shouted, so he turned back to see Basch running over with a few dwarfs.
"Is he alright?" Basch asked.
"He's seriously hurt, he needs to get back to the cottage," Arthur explained, "Can a couple of you do that?"
"Yes, I can help Feliciano," Basch agreed as he went over to help.
"As for the rest of you, we need to spread the word about the spell," Arthur directed, "The beast is wearing a necklace, we must break the chain to break the spell and make him human again."
While Feliks and the dwarfs went off to spread the news, Basch helped Feliciano lift Lovino to his feet and moved him away from the fray. Arthur glanced around the circle, seeing that Tolys was now horseless with the Stulikyan Princesses at the far side of the circle, the dueling magicians cutting off the quickest access. Above them all, Naktakė flew over to Arthur and landed on a branch above him.
"Naktakė, I have a message for Tolys," Arthur spoke, hoping the bird might understand some keywords, "Beast, neck, chain, break!"
As Arthur said the keywords, he made a gesture for each one to help the bird understand. He pointed at the beast in the circle, before bringing his hands to his own neck. He then made a gesture to look like a necklace around his neck, before finishing with his hands making a breaking action to snap something in half.
Naktakė gave a couple caws before taking off, flying across the clearing and encircling Tolys. Arthur watched from the side as Naktakė gave him the message, although there was an expression of confusion on Tolys's face.
Before anything else could be done to clarify the message, Ivan suddenly gave a mighty roar and swung his tail around the circle, starting with where Tolys and the Princesses stood. While Natalya was able to dive under it in time, Tolys and Katerina got knocked to the ground, as did everyone else after. Gilbert, Ludwig and Antonio all got swiftly removed from their horses, which immediately ran away spooked.
At the very last moment, Arthur realized that the tail was about to hit him, and he hadn't gotten out of range in time. As it made contact, Arthur felt the impact right in his stomach, and got tossed hard a few feet before landing painfully on the ground.
Arthur struggled to catch his breath as his vision became blurry, and he struggled to roll himself over to look around again. Ivan was slowly looking around the circle at everyone who had fallen to the ground, stopping as he faced Natalya. The Princess had tumbled about halfway across the clearing, between Arthur and Tolys and with the magicians behind her.
Arthur watched as Ivan gave her a curious look, before approaching as if to devour her first. Knowing that a distraction was needed, Arthur looked around for anything he might throw at the beast, his eyes settling on something that had landed near him.
A dagger.
Arthur rolled over and grabbed the dagger, moving it to his free arm.
"Natalya!" he called out, before tossing the dagger in her direction with the last of his strength.
The action made his vision go blurry again, and only a bright glowing light could pierce through before he passed out.