Written April 10th, 2020 6:42 PM

This is absolutely insane. The thought repeated over ad over in Ailith’s head as she scaled the cliff, the end of a length of rope clutched between her teeth.

Across the canyon Talus was pulling himself up, the other end of the rope gripped in one large hand. Ailith heaved herself over the edge of the cliff, puling the rope between her and Talus taut once he made it to the top. She struggled to catch her breath – the climb had winded her a little, but mostly she was trying to keep from hyperventilating.

Looking down, Ailith could see Xiv, Ace, Feyra, and their three new giant friends getting into position. They had come up with some crazy plans during their time together, but gods if this wasn’t the craziest. Off to her right, Ailith could just make out the shape of a massive bird headed straight for them – a roc. Taking a deep, centering breath, she bounced on her toes, turning her attention to Talus across the way. She could see him rolling his shoulders in preparation.

The roc was closing in now. Fifty feet… forty feet… thirty feet. Ailith closed her eyes, relying on her heightened hearing to track the roc’s progress. Twenty feet… ten feet… now! Snapping her eyes open, she leapt off the ledge in sync with Talus. She only fell a few feet before the rope caught on the roc’s neck. Ailith started pulling herself up hand over hand, ignoring the rope burns on her palms. Once she was close enough, she grabbed onto the roc’s feathers to pull herself the rest of the way up and onto it’s body, a hundred feet in the air.

Opposite her Talus clambered up, a huge grin  splitting his face. As she rose to her feet, she couldn’t help but crack a smile of her own at the joy the goliath was getting out of their current situation. Focusing on the task at hand, Ailith pivoted to where the roc’s giant wing connected to it’s body. Gripping the rope tighter, she punched straight down onto the joint. The roc shrieked and twisted in the air, trying to both shake off it’s assailants and stay aloft. Ailith must have hit her target because the roc’s left wing fell limp and it plummeted towards the ground.

She dropped into a crouch, clutching at the roc’s feathers until her knuckles turned white. She heard Talus give a whoop over the rush of air in her ears. The roc crashed into the earth and Ailith used the sudden stop to launch herself forward, past the roc’s open beak.  She hit the ground and rolled onto one knee, mind and heart racing. Turning, she saw that her friends had started in on the bird, battering it with spells and arrows.  Running forward, Ailith delivered four blows in quick succession and heard the beast give a weak croak before it’s eyes closed and it went still.

Staggering back, she felt her heart lurch at the knowledge that they had just ambushed this poor, huge, definitely-would-have-killed-them creature. Her ears were roaring, but she could just make out Talus and Ace exclaiming with excitement, Feyra investigating the body, and Xiv asking if anyone minded if he took a talon or two. Ailith stumbled a few steps away before vomiting on the canyon wall.  Still listening to her friends excited chatter she sat heavily on the ground and laid down, closing her eyes and smirking shakily to herself. She just took down a roc, right out the sky, single-handedly. That was almost as cool as punching those dragons or that shark that one time. She laughed quietly to herself. If only Amos could see her now.