Just in case you don't remember, Klaos and Pai have just decided to take along Kisai, the useless aero hench, so they don't get their asses kicked quite so often.

Zho is Cheated Out of Her Black Moa
(Part Two of Pix's Henchie Series)

"If I weren't feeling so charitable today," Klaos said, "I'd tell you 'I told you so'."

Pai glared up at him from her seat on the ground behind the large boulder they were both hiding behind, and nursed the large bruise on her arm. "Shut up. You're the one who refused to bring along a proper monk. Now we're right back where we started."

"I didn't know that airheaded aeromancer was going to die so quickly. You're the one who was in her classes, eh? You shoulda known she was a damnée weakling."

"It's not my fault, it's yours! You wouldn't have let us bring anyone else even if she were a weakling!"

"Well, tu n'auras pas permise a nous les apporter aussi! Honnêtement, Pai, ne me blames pas."

"I'm not blaming you!"

Klaos gave her an odd look. "Jea you are. You just said it was my fault. You don't remember?"

"No I don't!" she screeched, and Klaos was about to remark that perhaps she should see a monk about that short-term memory loss before he was rudely interrupted by an anguished cry over the crest of the adjacent hill, somewhere between angry terror, apoplectic disbelief, and tortured joy – not that he heard such things often enough to identify them. Usually one stopped at 'happy' or 'sad' and left it at that.

"Did that voice sound masculine or feminine to you?" Klaos inquired.

"I don't know. You're the expert on genders."

"Idiote stupide. Come on."

For fear of being left behind and slaughtered by a passing Sensali, Pai very quickly got up and hobbled after Klaos as he sprinted up the hill. Standing on its crest, they quickly located the edge of a large forest looming below them, as well as two figures approaching it from opposite directions.

"Isn't that Instructor Zho?" Pai inquired, squinting at the tiny figure on the left, which had just disappeared into the thicket.

"Jea. And that's a Yeti."

"Where!" Pai shrieked. In her indecision she located the lumbering beast and launched a fireball at it, apparently without first consulting her common sense. The small projectile exploded on the Yeti's fur and promptly ignited it, eliciting a loud roar and causing it to start running in haphazard directions.

"Diable!" Klaos yelled, hitting her in the back of the head, "What's wrong with you?"

"Ouch! I don't know! Look, you know I can't control myself when I get scared. And look, it's not even chasing us… where's it going?"

"Nescio. But we should probably warn Zho before she gets herself killed."

With this they hurried – or tumbled, more aptly – down the hill and threw themselves into the thick bamboo forest, hoping desperately not to catch some mysterious insect-borne disease or bean themselves on tree trunks.

It had barely been a few minutes when Klaos had to skid to an abrupt halt, causing Pai to slam into his back.

"Instructor Zho?" he asked, puzzled, intending to get as much questioning done before Pai figured out what had happened and set him on fire.

The small ranger was crouched on the forest floor, peering hungrily through two parted bamboo shoots and apparently not meaning to leave the spot for another hour or so.

"What are you looking at?" Klaos continued, and was quickly shushed by Pai.

"Be quiet," she admonished, "that thing might hear us. And I can't fight in this kind of place, or I'll cook us all; if it finds us then we… is that a Black Moa?"

"At last," Zho breathed, "at long last. I've found it! The beast that haunts my nightmares, that ferocious masterpiece of creation, Melandru's magnum opus!"

Pai and Klaos exchanged fretful glances and peered through the thicket to catch a better glimpse of this so-called ferocious masterpiece. Both were surprisingly underwhelmed, as the creature hailed by so many as a devious and cunning abomination seemed only slightly more remarkable than an ordinary moa bird, and didn't at all strike Pai as the kind of beast that might tear them to shreds should they approach it.

A rustle and a faraway bellow made them both jump.

"Instructor, we really should be going," Pai whispered, prodding Zho in the shoulder.

"You must be joking," the green-clad ranger hissed, "look at it; look at that perfect beast! Wild, fearsome, elegant, and – and mine! It's mine, I say! Let go of me!"

"There must be others," Klaos said, "however, there's only one of you, and I'm fairly certain your students won't be happy if you lose the other eye in a fight. Doesn't a person need at least one to shoot straight?"

"Be quiet! You'll scare it away."

"By Balthazar, Zho," Pai put in with a frown, "if that thing's nearly as dangerous as you said it would be, then it won't be scared away by a couple of travelers. Plus, what we came to tell you was that there's a Yeti."

"What?"

"A Yeti," Klaos echoed, "it started rampaging after Pai thought it would be funny to hit it with a fireball. We really should get out of the way, or at least try to kill it, before it gets here."

Zho appeared either to have ignored him or not heard him at all, and continued to gaze intently through the leaves at her prey, which was currently standing on one leg with its eyes closed.

"Instructor," Pai repeated, tugging on the ranger's sleeve, "don't be difficult. I – Instructor? Klaos, she's not listening. Pick her up and let's go."

With a sigh, Klaos prepared to exercise his entire body mass to drag Zho away, and tried his best to remove himself from the imminent biting, kicking, and possibly sharp, short-range projectiles. With very little warning, he did in fact pick her up, much to the ranger's chagrin and displeasure.

"No! No! No!" she screamed, and Pai winced, looking at the black bird to see if it was charging yet.

It wasn't – the Black Moa simply lifted a drowsy eyelid, and, after a long and calculating stare, closed it again, ruffled itself, and went promptly back to sleep.

"Sorry for this, Zho," Klaos said over the increasing volume of rustling leaves and pounding footfalls, and slung the screaming ranger over his shoulder as he and Pai sprinted for the bead of light through the trees.

As the noises grew softer and softer, a frighteningly loud squawk and a terrified moan sounded from behind, followed soon afterwards by what sounded disturbingly like a sharp beak ripping through flesh.

Procedentor...
(or, in your language)
To be continued...

Moas are actually quite sweet. Had Lurbe and I not approached it menacingly and started hitting it with sharp objects, I have no doubt that it would have gone on with its life and left us with ours.