Feyrith took sharp breaths through his nose, trying to keep a steady grip on his bow as he pressed his back against one of the houses of Sunwood. He could hear the beasts attacking the town roaring somewhere behind him, the guttural noise far too loud in the night.
The animals had come out of nowhere, and he was still not certain what they even were. The night and their enormous speed didn't allow for studying them, so all Feyrith knew so far was that they could fly. But as much as he'd like to try to go and catch at least a glimpse of the beasts to see if they truly were a new species or simply a rare one, he couldn't go around trying to spot them.
Since his magic had been stolen, he couldn't do a lot of things, but even if he still had it, he'd not abandon his post protecting the humans. That was and would always be his priority, and he wouldn't let himself become distracted.
Taking a quick look over the corner of the house he was hiding behind, Feyrith quickly confirmed the coast was clear and began to run, following the shrieking coming from the right, from what sounded like the other side of the town.
Increasing his pace, Feyrith ran past house after house, trying to follow the noises as he readied an arrow. There were humans around, others protecting their homes, but Feyrith paid them no mind, too focused on trying to find the beasts to do so. He didn't even know where Lanna and Arbane were, having lost them a while back when the beasts had attacked them, and they'd had to scatter.
Suddenly spotting a large silhouette above, Feyrith didn't hesitate, aiming and letting his arrow fly in less than a second. Feyrith didn't watch to make sure he'd hit the beast, already running for cover as a roar filled the air once more. He could hear more arrows swishing in the air, followed by more cries from the beast as he nocked another arrow, looking up just as a large, winged shadow was passing over him.
Immediately shooting again, another screech followed as the creature started to plummet, falling to the ground somewhere outside of the town with a loud crash. But there was no time to check if it was still alive or not—there were three more to deal with.
Noticing that the house in front of the one he'd been using for cover had a pile of firewood next to it, Feyrith quickly ran to it, using the wood to give himself a boost so he could jump onto the flat roof. Hearing another roar, his head snapped to the left, quickly finding another one of those creatures between a few houses toward the eastern wall, quite close to where the stable was.
He could tell someone was trying to fight it off judging by the yelling and the flickering light of what was likely a torch, but if anything, that made things more dire. Losing quasir to these beasts would be unfortunate, losing people was unacceptable.
Holding his breath and trying to ignore his hammering heart, Feyrith pulled back the bowstring once more, closing one eye as he aimed between the houses. He could make the shot from here without hitting anyone on accident or missing. He had to.
Feeling his lungs start to burn as he continued to hold his breath, Feyrith adjusted his aim for the last time and finally let the arrow fly. He was already drawing another arrow even as a roar sounded, confirming that he'd been successful. He was about to shoot again, not giving the beast a chance to retaliate or fly away, but before he could, another, cut-off howl filled the air.
Knowing that the beast had been finished off by one of the humans, Feyrith turned around, looking for the remaining animal. But as soon as he did, he noticed a dark shape on the horizon, flying back toward the jungle. It was leaving.
And it didn't take long for the humans to realize it, too, the entire town soon erupting into cheers and talking as they began to survey the settlement for anyone injured. Feyrith took a few deep breaths to calm himself before jumping down from the roof, intent to also go and help them, but before he could, he found himself getting tackled into a hug.
At first he froze, tensing up as his body readied itself to attack whoever had grabbed him, but he quickly pushed the urge away when he realized it was Arbane. Both of Edwyr's friends had been doing this often enough that Feyrith had mostly learned to handle it, but that was only when he was given the time to get ready for it.
"Sorry, I know you don't like hugs that much," Arbane said quickly, pulling away. Feyrith studied the man in front of him with concern. His eyes were wide, and there was a cut on his nose as well as some bruising under his left eye, but he was beaming, apparently incredibly happy about something. "But you saved Lanna, I can't not hug you for that."
"I did?"
"Yeah, you shot that arrow just in time to stop whatever these things are from pouncing at her."
Lanna caught up as well in the meantime, panting. She looked about as lightly injured as her husband. Feyrith still got the urge to use the shreds of his magic that remained to heal them, even just to seal a bleeding scrape or two, but they'd scolded him for that before, so he would try to resist.
He didn't understand why they minded so much, though. It wasn't as if he could actually be useful and heal someone's broken bones or deadly wounds. All he could do was fix minor damage now and even that exhausted him. He tried not to think about this, though. It never failed to depress him.
"Oh." Feyrith still wasn't certain what to say in these situations. He'd thought being forced to live with humans would at least help him understand them, but so far he hadn't been very successful. "I am glad I could be of help."
They exchanged a look that Feyrith couldn't read, but over the weeks he'd been here, he'd gotten used to this. He'd made sure to pay attention to how they interacted with other humans, and he'd not noticed them making these faces with anyone else, so it was clearly related to him somehow, but Feyrith had given up on trying to understand what it actually meant.
"I assume the creature is dead? I would like to go study it."
Feyrith didn't wait for them to respond, walking around the people who were making their way up the road and to the stables. Quite a few humans were standing around the beast's body already, but he didn't let that deter him as he approached it.
Even from this far away in the dark, though, he could already tell the creature had dark feathers and was around twenty feet in length from its long, feathery tail to its sharp beak. Feyrith would have assumed it was an oriam, or bloodfeather, as the humans called them, if not for the number of limbs. These creatures had four legs, along with a pair of wings, not two like the oriam.
He didn't think he'd read or seen anything like this before. Creatures with more than four limbs were rare, and he'd certainly never read about any that had feathers. This was something new. And the fact that three had attacked Sunwood at once was not a good sign at all.
"What do you think it is?" came Lanna's voice from behind him, prompting Feyrith to look at her. He assumed the question had been meant for him given that both Lanna and Arbane were looking at him.
"I am not certain," he replied, wishing he had something more useful and comforting to say. Looking back at the corpse, he took a few steps to the side to study it from a different angle, mindful of the people who were inspecting it as well. They were no doubt planning on cooking and eating it, much like they seemed to do with most of the beasts that had attacked the town so far, which made sense since there was no point in letting all the meat go to waste. But it did mean he would have to make notes about the creature before that happened.
Pulling his notebook and pen out of his satchel, Feyrith made a quick sketch of what he assumed to creature looked like standing up before writing down a list of things he'd noticed about it while fighting it. Reaching out to the cadaver, he also ripped one of the long feathers out to add to his notes. In the glint of the torches the people around him were holding, the feather had a dark purple glean, proving to him that they were not actually perfectly black.
He proceeded to examine the strangely tiger-like paws, the large wings, the tail, anything he could reach, making sure not to trip over someone's foot as he did. The humans around him were watching him, either wondering what he was doing or perhaps curious about what he thought these creatures were, but no one asked him anything, which was appreciated.
Feyrith didn't like feeling alone and isolated from his people, but he'd not lived that different a life until now in terms of companionship. Elves simply didn't tend to have large gatherings or spend much time together unless it was related to research and their studies. To be honest, he had more difficult a time dealing with being given attention, mostly by Edwyr's friends.
He never knew quite what to do with himself, then, and he was still not certain why they talked to him as much as they did. He'd thought that perhaps they'd felt guilty for what had happened initially, but since then he'd come to the conclusion that this explanation made no sense because they'd had nothing to do with him losing his magic, and if anything, they'd saved his life.
Deciding that he'd seen as much as he could without dissecting the beast, Feyrith took a few steps back, letting his eyes scan over the creature's body. He couldn't help but admire it. The size, the shiny feathers, the dangerously sharp beak.... It was impressive. It was a shame to kill them, but there was nothing to be done about it. Either it was the humans and their livelihoods, or these beasts, and for Feyrith, much like for any other elf, there was no question of whose side he was on.
"Is anyone else unnerved by the fact that this thing has four legs?" Arbane asked.
"Plenty of animals have four legs," Lanna replied in a tone that Feyrith interpreted as joking, which made Arbane laugh.
"Not when they have wings."
Feyrith had no idea how they could joke at a time like this, but he had stopped trying to understand that. Humans seemed to react illogically a lot of the time, and Feyrith was fairly certain that a human's way of thinking was simply too different from an elf's for him to comprehend.
"Well, I guess tomorrow we'll have a feast," said a man who had also been inspecting the corpse. Feyrith was fairly certain he worked as a cook at the tavern, but he couldn't be sure. He didn't see most of Sunwood's inhabitants often enough to recognize them well. Feyrith watched the man grab a knife hanging from his belt and started to cut into the creature's flesh. "Assuming it's even edible."
A few of the humans who were gathered around groaned.
"It better be. The least these beasts can do is fill up our pantries for all the trouble they cause," said a woman from behind Feyrith. The elf could agree with that sentiment. He turned away, intent to go inspect the other corpse to see if there were any noticeable differences, but even as went, he couldn't help but let his mind wander.
This had been the second attack that week alone. He would have thought that the outside world was simply very dangerous, but all of the humans he'd talked to had confirmed for him that this was highly out of the ordinary. They'd apparently very quickly gone from one or two attacks a month to five and counting.
And Feyrith couldn't do a damned thing to help.
He grimaced, unhappy that he'd taken up the human tendency to curse already after being here for only a month, but he understood why they talked this way perfectly. It helped with the utter frustration caused by the hopelessness of the situation for reasons he was not sure of. But that didn't mean he was proud of it, even when he did it in his head. It was unbecoming of an elf.
But so was losing his magic and being banished.
Feeling shame well up inside him, he stopped as soon as the second creature's body was in sight, only taking a cursory look from a distance. He didn't want to approach all the humans surrounding the beast right now and notify them of his presence. They'd have questions he didn't have the answers to.
"What are you thinking, Fey?" asked a voice from behind him. He didn't need to turn around to know it was Lanna. How did she and Arbane always seem to sense when something was bothering him? But then again, when was something not bothering him?
Swallowing down the emotions threatening to drown him, Feyrith looked over at her and Arbane, who were watching him with concern in their eyes. He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment to give himself enough time to put his thoughts into some kind of presentable form.
"I am concerned about what these mounting attacks will do if they become even more frequent."
Arbane grimaced, nodding before shrugging. "Well, on the positive side, we're not running out of food anytime soon."
Feyrith supposed that was true, but it was certainly the only good thing about this situation. And it wasn't even a necessity—the humans had a fairly well thought out system to feed themselves, living off a diet of quasir eggs and meat, as well as plants such as potatoes, yams, and many more growing inside and outside the town walls. So Feyrith doubted the increase in meat supply was that much of a bonus.
"It simply makes no sense," Feyrith said, taking a deep breath as he tried to figure this all out. "The beasts do not attack humans as long as they have a choice. Humans are far too unpredictable and dangerous, which is why the creatures try to take your quasir, instead."
Feyrith expected either Lanna or Arbane to insert some kind of joke here, perhaps comment on the fact that the beasts were afraid of humans despite usually being larger than them. But they stayed silent, letting him continue.
"You have told me that the number of incidents has increased recently. But a change like this should not be this quick."
Lanna frowned in thought. "Well, it's not been this extreme, but we did notice that over the last few months it's gotten worse. So it's not been that quick."
"These beasts are intelligent for the most part, but they are still animals," Feyrith replied. "A few months would not be nearly enough time to change their behavior like this. And even if they could make the conscious decision to act differently, surely they would not attack a human town when they can hunt wild quasir." He shook his head. It simply made no sense to him at all. "Something must have happened to make them behave like this."
But the question was what exactly was causing this? And how was Feyrith supposed to find out? He had no magic, no resources. He couldn't even go see one of his teachers for advice, which he would have done immediately had he had the chance.
If at least he still had magic, then he'd feel less like he would be killed immediately if he decided to venture out beyond the town walls and look for clues that could explain this phenomenon. But like this, armed with only a bow and a dagger, he felt much more useful here, where he could help the humans with at least his superior reflexes and speed. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.
"All right," said Arbane with a sigh. "I guess we're going to go take a look around tomorrow."
Feyrith blinked, completely confused by the man. "What? Where?"
"Well, you said something has to be causing this, so we can go see if we can find out where it's all coming from, right? Maybe visit a nearby town or village, see if they're having the same problem."
Feyrith wanted to argue immediately, but then he paused. What Arbane had said made a lot of sense, but it seemed too risky. Then again, they'd accompanied him all the way to the mountain ruin and survived with much less trouble than he'd expected. And he had no better ideas, anyway.
They might, and probably would not, find anything that would point them in any direction, but what else could they do? If this wasn't a natural development, much like Feyrith suspected, then someone or something was causing this, which meant that it should be possible to put an end to it.
"Very well. We can try."
Lanna smiled at him, giving a nod, while Arbane put his hands on his hips. "Great. Then let's go sleep, and I'll talk to the Town Elder about this tomorrow. I'm exhausted."
He didn't even wait for either Lanna or Feyrith to react, already strolling down the hill to his and Lanna's house. Lanna gave Feyrith a wave, stifling a yawn before following. Once they were out of sight, Feyrith let out a long breath.
This needed to be done. Arbane was right. So why did it feel like such a bad idea?