Cas tried to do just exactly as Jeremy instructed, but it wasn’t as easy as it sounded. Every time he tried to sneak around the baby roc to strike at it from behind, it whirled around and snapped at him with its razor-sharp beak. A couple times Jeremy managed to take a swipe at it while its head was turned, but none of his attempts resulted in any serious wounds. The baby was now bleeding from several cuts on its head and neck, but didn’t appear to be weakening any.
Cas swallowed his trepidation and tightened his grip around his sword. Maybe stealth wasn’t the answer; he just had to be lightning fast in order to take the roc by surprise. Just as it darted its beak forward to snap at Jeremy’s out-stretched sword, he sprinted forward. With gritted teeth, he brought his sword down on the closest part of the bird, which just so happened to be one of its gangly feet.
The baby gave a shrieking squawk as Cas’s sword bit clean through one of its claws. Blood began seeping out of the injured limb, and it twisted its head around to peck and worry at the new wound. Jeremy made to jump forward and stab it when it was distracted, but once again, it was too quick for him.
Both he and Cas backed as far away from the thing as they could, using the respite to catch their breath. A shout from below made them both look down over the edge of the nest. Cas grinned when he saw Rowan, Eremis, Xue, and Kato waving and signaling at them to hold on.
What happened next nearly cost Cas his life, as he almost completely forgot about the baby roc. Kato did some sort of magic spell, causing a cloud of stairs to form from the ground to the nest, allowing him and the other three to quickly ascend toward them. Behind him, the hatchling stumbled forward once again and snapped at them, but Jeremy was ready to deflect its sharp beak with his sword.
It was at this point that the parent birds were returning, alerted by the screams of their baby. Once again Kato astounded Cas when he shot a flaming ball of fire at the more colorful male roc, causing it to spiral to the ground and die a slow, agonizing death. The female bird was clearly distressed by this, but concern for her baby drove her onward.
Rowan and Eremis were the first to reach the top. “No!” Cas cried, seeing his lover leaping over the side of the nest, his sword out and ready. “Go back, you can’t fight, you’ll get hurt!”
Heedless of the approaching roc or its injured baby, he rushed towards Eremis and grabbed him as if to protect him. Rowan saved them all the trouble of worrying about the hatchling when he scooped up a nearby large rock and hurled it at the bird’s head. It wasn’t enough to knock it out, but it did finally back down, ducking its head and crooning softly with pain.
Rowan was about to lunge forward and end its life once and for all when a small form suddenly darted forward. “Hai!” Xue cried, grabbing his arm and staying his sword. “Do not kill it! It is only a baby, just a baby!”
He was surprised by this abrupt show of sentiment from a woman who rarely smiled or frowned for any occasion. He expected Rowan to ignore her and do the sensible thing, but the elf stared at Xue for a long moment before actually nodding and lowering his sword.
“Fine,” he said quickly. “Everyone, back down, now.”
Cas needed no further urging. He kept his hold on Eremis as he dragged him down the cloud stairs. Partway down, he saw the mother bird for the first time, trapped on a ledge with some sort of net pinning her down. “Alex did it,” Eremis informed him, and Cas was one again impressed by the magical abilities of his traveling companions. Who knew such seemingly regular people could be so powerful! It made the rest of them look almost green and useless in comparison.
Back down on the ground, Rowan continued to take quick charge of the situation. Soran he ordered unfit to ride alone. Jeremy was given his horse for now, while he was to ride behind his teacher. Cas, of course, mounted behind Eremis.
“Wait!”
It was Xue again. She was still standing, making no apparent move to mount behind any of the other three. She looked up at the trapped female roc, who was struggling frantically to reach her keening baby.
“We cannot leave her like that. She wants her baby! You killed her mate, and now she has nothing else!” The glare she fixed on Kato was lethally cold.
Cas could have laughed at her. What the hell was HER problem? Those stupid big assed birds would have eaten them all alive if Kato and Alex hadn’t stopped them in their tracks like that.
“We can’t release her, Xue. You know that.” Rowan’s voice was gentle but firm. It was the first time he’d called her by her name instead of using the teasing nickname “wolfie.”
Anger clouded the wolf girl’s face, hiding some deeper emotion for the moment. Rather than respond, she simply turned her back on them and shifted into her animal form. Cas though she’d have a hard time running on that injured limb of hers, but it didn’t seem to bother her.
Rowan’s mouth was a thin frown, but he didn’t command her to return to human form and mount properly. “Let’s go,” he said, a touch of irritation in his voice. Cas noticed he hadn’t spoken much to Soran, except to ask if he was all right. He felt sorry for his friend, since he knew how much he liked the handsome elf. Hopefully, Soran would get over his teacher real quick and start living his own life again.
Cas wrapped his arms tightly around Eremis’s waist as his lover heeled his horse forward. “Thanks for coming to rescue me,” he whispered, kissing his cheek. He sighed and rested his chin on his lover’s shoulder, anxious for his first adventure to either stop making him look like such a cowardly fool or else to just end, once and for all.
