Birds of Prey

After Lady Erys' group left, Elroy was now free to occupy himself with other things. First on his agenda was to summon some beings which would allow him to do some reconnaissance as well as listen-in on the conversations of people in the forest. He had realized this could prove to be very useful from the earlier exchange, as it wasn't until Lady Erys had stated her motives for coming here that he had known for sure they wished to come to an agreement.

He had determined two characteristics that he thought important for these creatures to have: to be discreet as well as mobile. Regarding mobility, they needed to be able to fly as there was nothing more mobile than a flying creature. As for discreetness, he was considering several possibilities, the most obvious ones being either bugs or birds since they would be most likely to not arouse suspicion in a forest.

In the end, he settled on birds since he thought they would be more resilient and less likely to be preyed upon compared to bugs which were quite low on the food chain. As to what kind of bird, he was thinking about summoning two different types, one which would be very efficient at spotting targets of interest while the other would close in and enable him to listen.

For the spotter birds, he was thinking of eagles which were known for having some of the best eyesight, more specifically the golden eagle. Being about eighty centimeters in length and having a wingspan of about a meter seventy, it was one of the largest birds of prey. It had mostly brown feathers with some grey on the inside of its wings and tail. On the back of its head and neck were some more lightly colored feathers which it its name, as they seemed golden. Being strong hunters, Elroy was certain he would find more uses for them in the future than only for surveillance.

As for the other birds, he decided to summon sparrows. Being really small, he was sure that they would not attract much attention in the middle of a forest. He could also afford to have much more of them, as people wouldn't question seeing a large number of sparrows. The same couldn't be said of his golden eagles however, so he would summon them in lesser amounts while spreading them out over a large territory.

Summoning five eagles, which was a measly amount compared to the fifty sparrows he also summoned, he then made them leave the dungeon. As he was releasing them into the wild, Elroy divided them into five groups: one of them being assigned to the valley where the dungeon was located with another surveilling the surrounding mountains, the last three were assigned to areas beyond the mountain pass Vakt was watching over.

As he had finished summoning his birds, Elroy found that Vakt didn't truly need to keep watching over the pass at all times anymore and so he left him free to do whatever he wished. This was a sort of experiment, to see whether his minions possessed some free-will of their own. Although he had seen Orkan train with his claymore and wind-blades on his own, he wanted to see if Vakt would similarly occupy himself on his own. Even so, Vakt remained watching over the pass, as though faithfully following his Lord's command.

This continued for some time until a sharp glare appeared in his eyes, he had spotted a white shape in the midst of the darker clouds. From habit, he could recognise it as being the large white eagle coming to hunt once more. He seemed to hesitate for all but two seconds before jumping onto his warg and riding towards the mountains. Interested in what he was planning to do, Elroy followed along.

As he continued to progress up the mountain at a rapid pace, Elroy started to have an idea regarding the motives behind his actions which was soon confirmed. In the distance, he could now see the peculiar tree where the bird nested, its purple leaves dancing in the wind.

Vakt continued beyond the nest, finding cover behind some rocks about thirty meters further. He had his warg keep a low-profile while he himself lied in ambush. He nocked an arrow to his longbow as he waited patiently.

Soon enough, he could see the figure of the eagle approaching its nest, an elk was dangling from its talons as it somewhat struggled to carry it. He had never been near enough to truly examine the eagle, but now that he was, he could see that its coat of feather wasn't pure white as he had thought. Instead, it seemed to mostly be of a light gray while some feather on the edge of the wings and the tail were of a light purple.

Being three meters long and with its seven-and-a-half-meter wingspan, it truly was enormous and even bigger than his warg. This realization sent some chills coursing through his bones as his heart nearly skipped a beat. As companion to his nervousness, he could also feel a contradicting emotion, that of anticipation and excitement.

Vakt continued to lie in wait as his first shot had to be perfect and, as the eagle was about to land in its nest, he found his opportunity. Drawing the bow, he then shot his arrow which struck true as the bird was too preoccupied with dropping the elk in its nest. Unfortunately, it seemed Vakt had underestimated its resilience as the arrow didn't penetrate deeply in the dense chest muscles of the eagle, having already lost a lot of its force when piercing the overlapping layers of though feathers. It was as if it possessed a natural armor.

Nevertheless, the eagle let out a cry of pain as it dropped the elk to the ground, its carcass making a low thud when it hit the soil beneath the tree. The eagle perched itself atop its nest as it looked for its unknown assailant, removing the arrow with a wave of its talons in the process. A slow trickle of blood stained the bone nest in red, the arrow had drawn blood. As it continued searching for the aggressor, Vakt was setting another arrow to his bow in the cover of the rocks.

Just as let loose his second arrow, leaning out of cover to do so, his eyes met with the deep amethyst eyes of the eagle, unbridled fury clearly recognizable. The arrow hitting its wing, it let out a piercing screech as it took flight, its large wings casting a shadow on the ground. Staying in cover being of no more use, Vakt hopped back on his warg with a whistle, sending it dashing across the mountainous terrain.

The eagle was quickly gaining distance while, at first, only a few arrows Vakt shot struck their target, the majority missing due to the eagle quickly beating its wings or dropping down a few meters. However, as it got closer to him, he was able to land more and more shots. The eagle, sustaining multiple light injuries, was forced to give up the chase as it feared its injuries would leave it unable to hunt otherwise. Letting out another piercing screech to serve as intimidation, it then started to fly back to its nest.

Vakt, however, immediately turned his warg around to instead chase down the eagle back to its nest. As he continued to fire arrows at it, the eagle grew more irritated at his persistence and soon decided to abandon its nest. At it flew off into the distance, it turned its head back a few times while letting out a few cries. Something akin to sadness seemed to flash in its eyes as it soon ascended beyond the clouds and out of Vakt's view.

Somewhat disappointed at the outcome of his hunt, his prey having quite literally flown away, he could only relent and go back to the mountain pass. He would attempt it again some days later, to see if the eagle had come back or not.

Sitting atop his warg, he had been calmly descending the mountain for a few minutes already when he suddenly started to hear a sound. It seemed like a soft whistle that gradually increased in strength. As he turned in place to determine where this sound was coming from, he could only see what looked like a white flash accompanied with something akin to a thunderclap pass close-by in front of before he was thrown off his warg.

As he sat on the ground, ears still ringing and disoriented, he could only see his warg toppling over. In place of its head, there now was a large wound with traces of burns. Soft plumes of smoke were rising from its corpse, gently fading in the wind.

He could smell ozone in the air.