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“Pearl, look out!”
Darting down, Grian flared his wings out. Grabbing onto Pearl under her arms, he slammed a hard upstroke. They shot into the sky, and he glanced down at her wing. Blood streamed from the pearlescent, creamy feathers. Some of them had been torn away by the trap. Panting, she looked up at him. Her eyes had pinned down all the way.
“Thanks, Grian.” She whispered. Nodding, Grian glanced around. One of the hunters aimed for him with a harpoon gun.
“Hold on tight.” He said, shifting his arms to around her middle and locking his hands around his own wrists. Pearl tucked her arms up, trapping his arms against her stomach. Behind them, a harpoon whipped by them. It nearly clipped his right wing. Rolling to the side, he tipped his head back. Let them both fall for a moment.
Throwing his wings back out, Grian arced to the side. Pushed his wings harder. Come on. Come on, Grian. He glanced back at the others. Forced his wings harder. Snapping around a couple rock spires, he closed his eyes. Took a slow breath. Focused.
“Get those avians!” An angry voice roared. Wheeling, Grian darted beneath another harpoon. It shot by. The two of them shouldn’t have been alone. They had been separated in the fight. For some reason, the hunters were after them specifically. Not any of the others. Although, to be fair, they didn’t have any other avians in the group. It was just him and Pearl.
Something sliced through his back.
Mouth falling open, Grian dropped a little bit. Quickly, he pulled Pearl up. Felt pain lance through his stomach and through his back. “Grian!” Quickly, he tucked Pearl’s head into his chest. Curled around her. The ground approached, he felt pain shoot through his wings. This is how I die, he realized numbly, holding her closer. The ground rushed up to meet them.
Something tore along the side of his cheek. Ripped down his face and side. Everything blackened out for some time. How long, he wasn’t sure. When he opened his eyes, it was dark. Cool stone sat beneath his cheek. Groaning, he opened an eye. Looked back.
He was lying on the ground of a cage.
No. Grunting, Grian forced his elbows beneath him. Or really, he tried. His bones immediately struck through with pain, more of an ache settling at his joints and then inside his bones. Something moved in his stomach and back, and he winced in pain. Dropped down. He could feel his wings were bound to his back. They had some sort of clip on them. Something that would keep his wings from properly getting off of the ground.
Raising his head, Grian looked around. Swallowed. Pearl was a couple feet away, also in a cage. She looked…miserable, to say the least. Her eyes fell on Grian. Immediately, she started signing, “Stay down. We’ll be okay.” Staring at her, Grian blinked. Shifted slightly. Frantic, horror splitting her face, Pearl shook her head. Grian paused. Laid back against the stone floor of the cage. “The others are coming, they’ll be here in no time.” Grian closed his eyes. Shivered. Everything hurt. His head was throbbing. His wings ached. On top of just hurting, everything felt wrong . There was a collar around his neck, and around Pearl's. From the feel of it, it was just a collar. They didn’t think that he and Pearl had any abilities beyond their wings.
Taking a breath, Grian inhaled. Closed his eyes tighter. Reached into himself, if that made any sense. Slowly, he spread his wings. Let the wind touch the different feathers. Rolling his shoulders, he let some of the primaries shed from the rest of his wings. They wouldn’t reattach, he didn’t use this often. Stretching his hands out, he wrapped his fingers around the feathers. Heated them up. They started to glow red, then yellow, shifting all the way up to whitish-blue.
“Hey. What are you doing?” One of the hunters demanded. Walking over, he slammed a fist on the metal bars of Grian’s cage. “Hey!”
Opening his eyes, Grian let the feathers fly.
Immediately, the hunters dropped to the ground. Most of them grabbed at the injuries, burning slashes across their chests. Go for the throat , a voice that sounded like Sam’s said.
Swallowing, Grian pulled himself up. Looked at the hunters. Looked to Pearl. There was a bruise around her neck. Shaped like a hand. She’d been beaten. Forcing himself up, leaning against the cage bars, Grian took a breath. Flicked his fingers.
One of the feathers snapped into the first hunter’s eye. Screaming, he staggered back. Hit the wall. With a jerk, he went limp and dropped to the group. The other feather slashed the second’s throat. One hunter after the other was ripped through, slashed and burnt. Blood spattered the gray stone. Then, the feathers whipped to the iron bars. Almost immediately, they cut through the bars of Pearl and Grian’s cages. Then, they settled to the ground, twitched twice and died out.
“Grian.” Pearl croaked, limping over. Shoving a shoulder into the bars, Grian stumbled out of his own cage. Grabbing her hand, he limped forwards. Kept his gaze on the land in front of them as he led her. Everything sort of shuttered out.
Keep walking, keep moving. Don’t stop. Don’t stop walking. Keep moving. Don’t stop. Don’t stop. Keep moving. The mantra repeated himself again and again as he walked. The night air settled over them. Every time he glanced at the server list, he knew they were going to be alright. They had chased off the other hunters. Grian had killed the ones in the cave.
Eventually, he saw the other members of Boatem sprinting up. Impulse had dried blood on his face. One of Mumbo’s shoulders had been bandaged up. The others had a bunch of different plasters and the like to fix their wounds. Mumbo grabbed onto Grian immediately, tried to pick him up.
“’m fine, ‘m fine.” Grian mumbled. Scar had already scooped Pearl up onto his back, holding her closer and lancing nervously to Impulse.
“Grian…” Face pale, Scar indicated Grian’s stomach. Glancing down, Grian paused. Blinked. There was a harpoon sticking out of his stomach.
Slumping into Mumbo, Grian huffed weakly. Mumbled softly. “Sligh problem.” Head dropping back, vision darkening for a moment, Grian let out a soft noise. His knees had buckled and he slumped into Mumbo’s arms. Steady hands caught him, certainly not Mumbo’s.
“Grian?” Impulse asked. In response, Grian just let out a low groan. His chest hurt. The world was swimming. Head falling to the side, he looked to Pearl. She was still clinging to Scar’s back, eyes wide and horrified. But she was safe. That was what mattered.
She’s safe. Taking a shaky breath, Grian closed his eyes. Sucked in a pained whimper. He could feel everything fading in and out.
He could wake in a little while.
+++
Fingers were brushing through his hair.
Groaning, Grian opened his eyes. Looking over, he turned his head slightly. Pearl was sitting beside him. She smiled softly. “Hey, G.” She whispered, voice raspy. Still, the bruises around her neck looked better. “Stay down. You’re alright.”
Inhaling, Grian looked down at his arms. Yeah. There were a lot of bandages. Turning, he looked at Pearl. “’m gonna take a nap.” He decided. She smiled, took a breath and brushed a hand through his hair again. “And then a shower.”
Huffing out a laugh, Pearl shook her head again. “You go do that. I’ll stay here and keep watch.” Nodding, Grian closed his eyes. Settled down again.
He really was tired.