11. In Which We Meet Lizards

It didn't take us long to find the source of the shrieking. We topped a flat hill and there it was--the roc; wounded, apparently. Its leg was broken, twisted under it at a gruesome angle. As we walked closer to the bird I could see a bloody gash in its wing as well.

That was when I noticed what was stalking around the roc.

I thought at first they were birds... but what bird has a long, snakelike body covered in maroonish purple scales? They were about two feet high and had the two legs of a bird, and vicious gray beaks, but no wings and no feathers. And they were pecking at the roc. Unpleasant, to say the least.

"Oh my," Morwen said in a disgusted tone. Morwen's always so calm in times of danger. I stayed behind her.

"They're sylopterix," Olemer informed us, obviously proud of his knowledge.

"And perhaps since these come from the north you'll be able to help us this time?" Brandel didn't sound too hopeful.

"Cut off their tails; their heads grow back."

"Ummmmm..." Daystar sounded unwilling to follow this advice, presumably both because it was an... unusual course of action and because Olemer had suggested it. Surprisingly enough, it was Brandel who started forward, a ball of flame already glowing in his hand.

"Wait!" Shiara shouted. "Why should we help the roc at all? As soon as it's better it'll eat us! You said the spell was only temporary, and anyway, this journey will be long enough without stopping to rescue every carnivore in distress we pass."

"But that's just it--the spell!" Brandel replied. "It's my fault the roc's injured in the first place. I never said it could leave us, so it must have followed us into the storm. It got knocked out of the sky by the hail and the sylopterix came to eat it! I can't just leave it there."

"We'd better get moving then, if we intend to keep it alive." Morwen was right—the sylopterix were having trouble getting past the roc's huge feathers, but they found a clearer spot at its wing wound. They were nimble, easily dodging the roc's good leg, which was thrashing around trying to scrape them off.

And so they plunged into the midst of the lizard creatures--and by "they" I mean Brandel, Daystar, Olemer, Morwen, and Kazul. Shiara hung back for a minute, still thinking the fight was a bad idea, but she eventually gave in and joined the others. The Butterfly was hiding somewhere; or perhaps, I hoped, she was still in the burning hut.

I myself was of two minds: either win eternal glory and fame by biting off a few lizard tails, or sit here watching the others win eternal glory and fame. I leaned towards the latter option, but I couldn't abandon my friends.

Not that they needed me. By the time I got there most of the sylopterix tails had been fried, sliced, or bitten off. It was a fascinating scene; every time a lizard was de-tailed, it would swell up to twice its normal size, then pop like a soap bubble, leaving behind nothing but a faint smell of strawberries. Unfortunately, they didn't taste like strawberries...

Morwen, Brandel, and Kazul began tending to the roc's wounds, leaving the rest of us to finish off the sylopterix. As the epic battle drew to a close, the last lizard attacked Shiara from behind, leaping onto her back and aiming its sharp beak at her neck. She sent jets of orange flame at the thing, but because of its scurrying and dodging she couldn't hit its tail. Instead she blasted off its head, which was promptly replaced by another sprouting out of its neck like a tulip bursting through the spring soil. Or something along those lines.

During these dramatic events the rest of us hurried to her aid. Daystar, being closest, reached her first and sliced through the creature's wriggling tail with a well-aimed swipe of his blade.

Shiara stood perfectly still while Daystar swung the sword. She didn't move as the lizard popped and disappeared. As soon as the scent of strawberries reached her nostrils she turned without a word and strode over to help heal the roc.

A/N-It's been a while...hope you like the new chapter; and if it took a herd of purple dinosaurs to make it work, hey, we all have our own methods...