No! This cannot be allowed to happen, the Forest Lord firmly stated as he limped over to the ducks.
"There's nothing we can do," Tanya replied, not the least bit fazed by the fact that she was talking to a giant, white deer. "The poison has gone too far. Her internal organs are starting to shut down."
I don't care, the earth Elemental shot back to the tech before turning to Wildwing. Pick her up.
"You heard Tanya," Wildwing snapped, seriously upset with the news of Ruby's eminent demise. "What's the point?"
There's no time to argue, the Forest Lord growled back, stamping a hoof in impatience. Just do it!
Wildwing didn't know what to think. He didn't want Ruby to die, but what could he do? With a sigh of frustration, the white duck deactivated his armor and carefully picked Ruby up.
"Wing, I know you like her, but there's nothing that can be done," Duke softly told his leader. "I've seen more than my fair share of ducks die from this stuff. She's too far gone."
"So I should do nothing?" Wildwing nearly yelled in frustration. "How does that make us any better than Dragaunus and his goons if we don't at least try? If he knows a way to help her, then I'm taking it."
Wildwing turned to the Forest Lord with the still trembling mage in his wings. The goalie wasn't sure if he was just grasping at straws, but he knew he had to take the chance. The earth Elemental kneeled down in front of the duck.
Get on and hold tight, the Forest Lord instructed.
Wildwing couldn't look at his team as he climbed onto the back of the creature that was as big as a draft horse. He couldn't handle seeing their disapproving faces. He held Ruby close with one wing and grabbed an antler with his free hand. Had he completely lost his mind?
Before Wildwing had second thoughts, the Elemental straightened up and took off at a dead run. Wildwing was really glad he had taken hold of the antler as he instinctively tightened his legs around the large creature's chest. Turbo Bambi was a good nickname for the beast.
Wildwing wasn't sure who was more surprised by the strange mode of transportation he had, him or the humans he shot past. It became very obvious that the elemental hadn't bothered to make them invisible when cars slammed on their brakes and swerved to avoid hitting them. Wildwing would have asked the Forest Lord about it if he wasn't hanging on for dear life!
When available, the Forest Lord ran on any place that wasn't paved, which wasn't many in downtown Anaheim. When they reached the suburbs, the elemental tore through people's nicely manicured front yards. Wildwing was glad he wasn't going to have to explain the damage to their gardeners.
Wildwing was happy to see the edge of the park as his wings were starting to cramp. The Forest Lord leapt over the fence surrounding the park, barely clearing it. Wildwing wasn't the least bit surprised when they went charging through the trees, avoiding the paths all together. Why make things easy going down a nice path?
By the time the elemental stopped, Wildwing was sure his wings were going to fall off. It wasn't until they stopped moving did he notice the Forest Lord's labored breathing. Wildwing didn't bother waiting for the Elemental to kneel down, but slid off the being's back, still holding onto Ruby.
"Are you all right?" Wildwing asked, getting a good look at the elemental.
Wildwing could see that the Forest Lord hadn't escaped from the battle unscathed. There were scorch marks on his flanks, a gash on his shoulder and sweat was pouring down his sides. The large beast slowly sank down to the ground.
I need rest, the Forest Lord replied wearily. Go sit under a tree and wait.
With that, the Elemental laid his massive head down and closed his eyes. Wildwing watched him for a minute to make sure the creature kept breathing. When it appeared the beast was just sleeping, Wildwing looked around.
They were in a grove of old oak trees where the trees were close enough that the branches overlapped and very little sun could get through the leaves. Other than a few bushes, there wasn't a lot of undergrowth due to the shade the trees produced. Feeling a bit silly, Wildwing found a likely spot, pushed the leaf litter out of the way with his foot and then sat down with Ruby in his lap.
Embarrassment about waiting in the middle of the forest for who knew what quickly changed to worry as he realized that Ruby was no longer shaking and was barely breathing.
"What was that about?" Nosedive asked in confusion once Wildwing and Ruby were gone. "Where are they going?"
"Your brother is letting his emotions override his brain," Mallory grumbled as she holstered her weapon.
"Ruby's as good as dead," Duke sadly stated with a shake of his head. "There was no point in dragging her who knows where. If the poison doesn't kill her, riding on the back of that thing probably will."
There are Elementals that will hurt, the dragon stated as he slithered up to the remaining ducks, but there are also those who can heal.
The five ducks looked at the large flaming beast for a good minute before Tanya gasped.
"I know where they're going!" the scientist exclaimed. "Come on! We need to get to, you know, the Migrator!"
She took off with the others right behind her. They didn't even slow down when they passed Klegghorn as he was getting out of his car. However, the ducks were the least of the human's concerns when he caught sight of the dragon moments before the Elemental disappeared.
"Hang in there, Ruby," Wildwing whispered to the unconscious duck. "Help is on the way."
He looked around and wondered why the Forest Lord hadn't taken them to the meadow. Even if Ruby survived this, he had no idea how to get them home. He looked at his communicator and realized it must have fallen off somewhere along the way.
"At least I hope help is on the way."
Wildwing looked down on Ruby and saw that her wing was at a strange angle. A quick exam and he recognized that she had a dislocated shoulder. Figuring it was better to take care of that problem while she was out cold, he grabbed her wing and with a brief tug, got the shoulder back in its socket. She didn't even flinch, though he could hear her breathing becoming labored.
"Please hurry, help," Wildwing softly muttered as he held Ruby closer.
Help is here.
"Ok, Tanya, spill," Mallory ordered as they took their places in the Migrator. "How do you know where that overgrown venison took Wildwing?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Tanya questioned. "I mean, it's like as clear as the beak on your face."
"Why don't you tell us, so our viewers at home can follow along," Nosedive said as he started up the large machine.
"It's so ridiculously easy to figure out," Tanya chuckled, shaking her head in amusement. "The dragon pretty much told us where they were going."
"TANYA!" the rest of the team yelled while they drove down the tunnel towards the exit.
"Sheesh, you don't have to, you know, yell," the blond duck grumbled. "They went up to the meadow."
"Why do you think they went there?" Duke asked as Nosedive tore out of the garage.
"Isn't it obvious?" Tanya asked again.
"Humor us," Mallory grumbled.
"Elementals that heal," Tanya reminded them. "They went to find unicorns."
"How do you figure?" Nosedive inquired while they sped down the road.
"Don't you know your mythology?" Tanya demanded. "The horn of the unicorn is supposed to have incredible healing properties. Humans were always trying to catch them to sell the horns centuries ago. Of course, it was usually, you know, the tooth of a narwhale, but that's a whole other matter."
"Ok, if we go with your theory they're looking for unicorns, why the meadow?" Mallory questioned. "Why couldn't they be in the city?"
"Well, if unicorns are attracted to people who haven't, um, had 'physical relations' yet, then it stands to reason that they would, you know, live where there aren't a lot of people," Tanya answered. "Besides, we've seen them there before."
"I hope you're right," Nosedive replied as he turned onto the road that would eventually take them to the main entrance of the park.
With a disgruntled 'humph', Tanya crossed her wings over her chest and frowned at nothing.
Wildwing stared. He couldn't help it. Granted his experience with unicorns was limited, but this was a Unicorn!
If the voice in his head was any indication, this beast was a female. She was also a good deal bigger than the other unicorns the drake had met. She was almost as big as a race horse and the horn on her head looked like she should have been tipping over.
Hold her hand out, the Unicorn instructed.
Wildwing took hold of Ruby's wing and pulled it away from her body. When her hand flopped over, he could see that the feathers on her palm were black and greasy. The bad smell that he had been ignoring intensified with the exposure of that hand.
Hold her hand to my horn, the Unicorn said as she maneuvered herself into position next to him.
Wildwing had Ruby's hand in his own as he held it out to the magical creature beside them. The Unicorn laid the middle of her horn in Ruby's palm and Wildwing closed his fingers to make sure the contact was good. The drake sucked in a surprised breath when a jolt of energy ran up his wing. A shiver ran up the goalie's spine as the horn started to glow.
Hold her tight, the Elemental told him.
Wildwing held Ruby closer, not sure why he was trusting this creature. The tip of her horn was inches from the end of his beak and looked wicked sharp. She was no delicate thing as her muscles could easily be made out under her glossy white coat.
Ruby started shivering again and Wildwing tightened his wings around her. The rotten smell that he had somehow been managing to ignore intensified to the point where he had to open his beak to breathe. Ruby's trembling got stronger and Wildwing was starting to have a hard time holding on to her. A minute later, Ruby started to whimper and Wildwing thought his heart would break from such a pitiful sound.
"Hang in there, Ruby," he whispered to her. "You can do this."
The whimpers turned into cries of pain and she started to weakly struggle. Wildwing held on tighter and kept mumbling words of encouragement. As the minutes seemed to stretch on for hours, Ruby fought harder and harder, screaming in agony. All Wildwing could do was hang on for dear life and hope that it was over soon.
The weather forecast had been for a hot day and they hadn't been wrong. Between the air temperature and holding onto a writhing hen, Wildwing was soaked with sweat. It didn't help that Ruby seemed to be getting warmer and warmer every second.
Let her go, the Unicorn ordered as she pulled away.
Wildwing didn't wait a second to release Ruby. She practically exploded off of his lap. She rolled away from him and then flames encompassed her body.
Get her attention, the Forest Lord weakly instructed.
Wildwing looked over at the earth Elemental and saw he was still lying on the ground, though his eyes were open. The drake also noticed that there were at least a dozen smaller unicorns in the area and they were quickly giving Ruby a wide berth. Was Turbo Bambi serious? Why in the world would he want to get the attention of a flaming mage?
She needs to see you to get the Phoenix under control, the Forest Lord explained.
"Why me?" Wildwing demanded. "Why don't you help her control the phoenix?"
I think you already know the answer to that, earth Elemental replied.
Blast that overgrown side of venison. Wildwing knew why and he didn't like it one bit. With his teeth clenched so tight he briefly worried about cracking a tooth, he turned back to the mage whose clothes were quickly becoming ash.
"Ruby," Wildwing called a bit nervously.
Of the list of monumentally stupid things he could do, trying to get the attention of a mage who was losing control of a really ticked off phoenix was probably at the top.
"Hey, Ruby!" he tried again. "Yoohoo!"
Ruby continued to ignore him as the flames intensified and her breathing came in heaving pants. She was on her hands and knees staring sightlessly off into the trees and Wildwing could see the ground moving, pulling down anything that caught fire. He knew he should be scared out of his wits for himself, but he instead was more worried for the flaming hen in front of him.
"Ruby!" Wildwing yelled and still he got no response. "Hey! Blue beak!"
Well, that worked. He compulsively swallowed his fear as she turned her gaze on him. Her eyes were glowing the same golden red as the flames that engulfed her body. Wildwing's breath caught in his throat at the sight of the wild, primal being kneeling on the ground before him.
Ruby stared at him for several seconds that seemed to last for years. She slowly closed her eyes and when they reopened, they were glowing blue. For the first time in several minutes, Wildwing felt he could breathe again, though she was still on fire.
The flames quickly died down and eventually disappeared. Wildwing watched as Ruby took in her situation. Her eyes grew really big when she realized that she wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing and she quickly curled up with her wings covering her chest.
Wildwing quickly closed his eyes and then took his shirt off. He tossed it towards Ruby, hoping that he got it somewhat close to her. A part of him wanted to take a peek, but his mother raised him better than that.
"You never did answer my question," Ruby said a minute later, sounding very tired.
"Which was?" he prompted.
"Did you lose a bet?" she asked, amused despite the exhaustion.
"No, I didn't lose a bet," he grumbled irritably. "Can I open my eyes now?"
"Well, unless the wardrobe fairy suddenly shows up, I guess this is as covered as I'm going to get," she replied. "Thank you."
He carefully cracked an eye open before opening them both fully and he kind of wish he hadn't. His top was much too big for her and was slipping off of one shoulder. It looked like the shirt would barely cover her if she stood up.
He quickly moved his gaze from her torso to her face and barely managed not to groan. Her hair was a mess and her eyes had that not enough sleep look to them. Quite frankly, it looked like she had been up half the night with a lover.
"What happened?" she softly asked as the unicorns returned and started to lie down beside both of them. "Why are we here?"
"What do you remember?" he questioned.
"I remember waking up this morning feeling like the walking dead," she began while she absently petted the unicorns next to her. "I haven't been able to eat much the past few days. Yesterday I couldn't keep anything down, not even crackers."
"That explains why it looks like you've lost a lot of weight," he put in and belatedly realized he just admitted that he had been staring at her body.
"Not a diet plan I can recommend," she sighed.
"What else do you remember?" he prompted.
"It took me quite a while to get ready this morning," she continued with a far off look on her face. "I intended to go to the store and get ginger ale and crackers, just so I had something in my stomach. When I went outside, I had the crazy need to go to the music store. I knew they were closed, but I just had to go."
"What else?" he gently prodded as she stared at nothing, frowning.
"When I touched the door, I felt sick again," she softly admitted. "That's when Wraith and the harpy showed up. They were fighting over me. The Forest Lord came to protect me, but I couldn't let go of the door, no matter how hard I tried."
She paused and looked up at Wildwing, confusion clearly written on her face.
"Then you were there," she quietly continued. "You got me free. Thank you."
"You're welcome," he replied. "Do you remember anything else?"
"Not really," she answered. "I remember being in a lot of pain and there was a lot of noise. Everything else is hazy. What happened?"
Wildwing filled her in on what she had missed. The look of worry on her face turned into a look of horror, followed by her looking like she was going to be sick. The unicorns that had been cuddling up to him, abandoned him and surrounded her.
Wildwing felt as bad as she did. His own stomach churned at the thought of nearly losing her. He wanted nothing more than to go over to her and take her into his wings to comfort her.
What was wrong with him? Why should he care if she lived or died? She was the one who took the mask and wouldn't give it back. What was the point of saving her time and again if she wouldn't return it? Ok, granted, maybe she really couldn't give it back, but couldn't she at least try to find a way for him to earn it back? Instead, he was constantly pulling her tail feathers out of the fire.
In a few heartbeats, he went from feeling sorry for her to being angry at her. What was with this female that had his emotions tied up in knots? Was he going insane?
"You both risked your lives for me," Ruby whispered, looking from Wildwing to the Forest Lord. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Wildwing replied as he tried to keep the growl out of his voice.
He was an emotional wreck and he didn't like it one bit. This hen just appeared in his life and turned his world upside down. No sir, he didn't like it one little bit.
Before he could suggest they get going, Ruby crawled over to the Forest Lord. Wildwing thanked every star in the universe that she was surrounded by unicorns. His estimation of how far his shirt went down on her had been off by a couple of inches. The unicorns were swarming around her and making it impossible to see anything he wasn't supposed to. Wildwing silently thanked and cursed the earth Elementals.
"We should get going," Wildwing stated as he stood up, proud that his voice didn't waver and crack.
"I'm in no condition to go anywhere," Ruby yawned while she curled up next to the Forest Lord.
"I can carry you," he offered and the thought of carrying a half-naked duck did things to his body he didn't want to think about.
"That's ok," she murmured sleepily as the unicorns piled around her like a bunch of puppies. "I think I'll stay here for now. Please take him back to his team, safe and unharmed."
Before Wildwing could ask her who she was talking to, something large and hot grabbed him by the seat of his pants.