Squawk. The strange animal was less than twelve paces away. Lon knew it tried to frighten him back down the rock face, but if he shimmied down now he'd likely fall to his death.
What was this thing? It looked like beaked-bear or some other mammal with a crooked head, and then it spread its wings. The huge bird had a brown and black speckled coat with white tail feathers. Its beaked face carried a concerned look. That changed to anger when it stepped-up unto the tight pile of sticks under its feet.
Lon saw the bird uncurl its toes and straighten razor sharp talons. The angry brown beast cocked its head to stare down at him. He yelled over his shoulder, "maybe wait," he shouted over the roar of the waterfall.
The huge bird lifted its wings and squawked. The sight of the predator terrified the lad and he collapsed flat onto his belly again, his legs were still draped over the edge. The bird squawked in his ear and he hoped Jarl's sudden appearance wouldn't cause the buzzard to go berserk. He cried down again, "maybe wait!"
"Squaaaawk!' the bird agreed with Lon. It mauled its nest with its claws to demonstrate it's destructive power.
"What is it?" Jarl asked.
"A bird."
"Kill it."
Lon studied the winged beast that was more than twice his size. "A giant bird," he clarified.
"I'm coming." The big cat clambered up the cliff to lie flat beside the lad. His eyes were filled with respect and admiration for the mythical aviator. "A brown roc," he said reverently. He crawled forward on his stomach to get the rest of body topside. Both climbers lay on their bellies and watched the bird perched on its fortress nest. Once again it displayed its razor sharp claws. It screeched directly at the lionfeigor as if to say, 'I see your creeping advance,' and 'this is your last warning.'
Rather than be frightened, Jarl delighted at how his presence angered the aviator. He didn't seem to worry the ferocious killer had spiky feet that were deadly sharp.
"Ugg. Look at his toenails."
"It's a female," Jarl corrected. "A lovely hen," he said, and studied the bird a minute longer in respectful silence.
"How do you know that?"
"Skin on her neck. See how the feathers have fallen away. Plus, the male has a plume like a crown. And is bigger."
Both intruders waited.
"If it has eggs, maybe it won't leave its nest." Lon guessed; he rose to his knees to test his theory. "We can just ignore it and follow the water." He pointed at the stream, his grand escape route that lay undiscovered behind mounds of rubble.
The bird attacked. Her sortie was no doubt prompted by Lon's rise. The huge flyer spread her wings and darkened the sky as she tried to snatch-up the white-haired intruder.
The young lad rolled left and heard her pincers slice the empty air like pruning shears. He'd defied her, but just barely.
She landed again and her enormous wings made a sudden gale to send small sticks and gravel into the air. The shrapnel took them both by surprise and blinded their eyes and for few heartbeats the two trespassers lay quite defenseless on the ledge.
Then she calmed and issued a derogatory squawk.
Lon glanced back and saw Jarl grin with delight at the roc's clever defense.
Clyde appeared at the cliff's edge. He must have heard the commotion and raced-up to help. He'd fearlessly scaled the remaining heights despite the wood and pebble downpour. Lon smiled with pride, but the noble didn't even see him. His eyes were locked on the raptor.
"What a hideous thing." the clerk remarked as he pulled himself up over the edge. He got all the way up, but then rocked back onto his knees and tried to see under the beast. "It may have eggs. If so... It won't leave its nest."
"No. It leaves," Lon said.
Clyde still rested on his haunches when the bird flapped its wings and made another stiff breeze. Cawl. Cawl. It cried out as if to summon help.
The sudden gust caught the clumsy clerk off balance and he wobbled backwards. Lon lurched and grabbed him, but he wasn't the only one; a green arm telescoped-up from behind. The scribe thanked them both and then shrunk flat on the shelf.
Tharus waited below and he likely wanted to join them but there was no room on the ledge.
Screech! The roc sent more chaff at the climbers who covered their heads in their hands. The old girl possessed an unending source of detritus in her surroundings. She could make more crud by crunching sticks under her feet and she flung pebbles by feather-dusting the stone piles with her wings.
Lon snatched up a crooked tree branch about four feet long that bounced across the rocks.
The angry flyer flapped even harder and her sweepers broke the stone cairn. The bottom side crumbled and shale tumbled across the shelf. The cone was hollow and one side collapsed in a cascade of rubble and dust.
"Ho what joy," Jarl said. "She's a fierce woman this one."
"What's the plan?" Lon asked the veteran.
"I bite her throat," the big cat replied.
The sea drover realized he had a better plan. While these two distracted the bird he reckoned he could out-flank it. He'd scale what remained of the stone cairn ahead and jump and brain the buzzard with this stick. Such a daredevil feat would require precise leap-of-faith. All this would occur less than a dozen paces from a very steep drop, but it was the best idea he had. "I see a chance."
Lon shimmed farther down the shelf to enact his plan. He wormed his way left to straighten his path up the ramp. He rolled close to the raging waterfall and didn't look back to see the others' reactions.
Jarl and Clyde watched him go and his independent action inspired them to be brave. The big cat continued to prowl forward and Clyde moved into Lon's spot. Tharus slithered-up over the ledge and into the empty slot behind them. Squaawk! The roc flapped her wings and rushed the cliff-side combatants. It descended on Jarl, the closest assailant, talons first. Her huge claws grabbed him the same way an eagle snatches a mouse. Jarl screamed. "Arrrggghhh."
Lon froze. Now was the moment. He knew exactly what he had to do. He'd practiced this maneuver his whole life. This was the one-bounce-mount which is how all respectable northern riders mount their horses. Northern equestrians had minimal saddles; they simply ran and jumped on their animals' backs. But of course, this attack would not be as easy as that. This feat required a precise leap and then a hefty strike. He'd use the ramp to gain extra height. Was this intelligent? He was set to try and mount a winged beast that didn't want a rider. He let another heartbeat pass...
The lion from Lambspetal roared in pain again as the bird's claws dug into his thick blond hide. The roc flapped its wings and lifted him clear off the ground. It would have flung him over the side, but Clyde bravely reached out and grabbed its other leg.
The noble's eyes were fixed on the snapping black talons that scissored near his groin. He must have been terrified yet he clung-on to save Jarl. He used his weight to hold down the beast. "Lonny!!" He cried for help as the bird contorted to try and peck his neck and shoulder.
The sea drover inhaled and began his sprint. He suppressed his fear and executed his brave attack. He was very aware of the spectacular height at which this unpredictable encounter was set to occur. The mountain's mass loomed behind and the ocean stretched to the sky, but less than twelve paces away was a deadly drop.
Lon courageously ran up the stone ramp and leaped high into the air. He found himself afloat at the top of the world and directly over the thrashing bird. He landed knees-first on the roc's back, right between its wings. Crunch! The skinny youth brought his heavy wood cudgel down hard on the bird's unprotected cranium. Thump! The feathered monster screeched in pain.
Squuuaaawk! The blow befuddled the beast and it released Jarl. The big cat wasted no time and rolled clear of its claws, gushing blood.
The roc was stunned but not defeated. Clyde held fast to its right leg and didn't let go. His weight anchored the winged animal to the ledge.
Lon wanted to whack it again and he grabbed about with his left hand but couldn't get a grip. He fell backwards into its fluffy nest. Cawwww! The critter thrashed about and hundreds of tiny feathers filled the air.
Tharus saw his chance. The bird was twice his size but the skinny lizard bravely leapt over Clyde and grabbed its neck. He body-surfed on it's wing to wrestle her down. The swampkin got the dazed hen in a strangle-hold. The old girl tried to peck him but he squeezed her throat. Twice the beast tried to drag the entire group over the edge; she flapped her huge wings to beat an escape and that upset more stone piles.
In the struggle the reptile got his bony arm all the way around the bird's windpipe and he choked the life out of the mythic flyer. The endgame lasted for another minute as the monster gasped and tried to breath. Lon wanted to crack its skull again, but he couldn't climb its streamlined surfaces.
Tharus won all by himself; he asphyxiated the bird and its eyes rolled back in its head. He twisted the creature's neck to make sure it was dead and then something amazing happened.
The swampkin's green skin went bright white for a second and his body lit-up like he was made of frosted glass. He shone bright white in broad daylight.
Then as if exhausted by the exertion of becoming so illuminated, the reptilian lost consciousness and collapsed on top the corpse. It was the most unusual thing that any of them had ever seen in their lives, but they all knew what'd just occurred. This phenomenon, unique to the island, had been discussed at length in the deepcombers' sheets.
"Was that the..?" asked Clyde. He checked around to see if others had the same idea.
"The body expansion," Lon said. "The Build Out. It has to be that."
Tharus lay still, as though unconscious. Lon waited and then crouched to examine him. Clyde meanwhile moved to the lionfeigor who was badly wounded.
"Ohhh..." Jarl moaned. He lay on his stomach in growing pool of his own blood that dripped from the puncture wounds in his back.
Lon knelt beside Tharus to see if he still breathed. He did.
Clyde knelt beside Jarl and the big cat growled at him to stay away.
"Lie-still if you want to live." The noble forcefully restrained him. "You're losing blood. I can help."
Tharus woke just in time to see Clyde's miracle. Lon watched it too, and Jarl experienced it. The noble laid his big hands on each puncture wound and his palms glowed red. The action removed Jarl's pain and staunched the bleeding.
"Oh, that feels... How did you?" The lion tried to look, but Clyde pushed his head down again.
'It's why I carry around these heavy hands," the noblekin said. "How does that feel?"
"It's feels.. Okay." Jarl admitted.
Tharus laughed as he recovered and felt his body; "...it'ss a really wonderful feeling. Ssslighty uncomfortable. I'm tingling all over..." He examined his hand.
"Gladragos called it the Doubling." Lon spoke to Tharus who still appeared dazzed. The young lad remembered how it only happened after something significant had just perished. In the sheets it was explained that anyone directly involved in a powerful monster's demise would take some of its presence when it expired. If their capacity to accept the bounty was too small, then their bodies would spontaneously double to recover more of the essence.
Tharus recovered from the experience. He stood up and flexed his arms and legs. "I feel sso much stronger. When I wass climbing. I wassn't ssure I had the sstrength..."
"We did it because we worked as team," Lon said. That was true and they all knew it. Their survival here had required a group effort and Jarl grumbled because it was him who'd paid the price while Tharus got the reward.
The lad took stock of the situation. The four feigor stood atop the cliff side waterfall beside a huge dead bird, and now other birds circled and there was a growing commotion in the sky overhead. That was disturbing. Clyde also watched the sky even as he continued to use his hands to cauterize and sooth Jarl's injuries. Meanwhile Tharus continued to flex and stretch in a self-absorbed new assessment of his body.
"Biggest thing I've ever.. " Tharus would not they say the word killed; he was not a killer. He mumbled how much he hated birds and how this big feathered bear wasn't even edible.
"But you had help." Jarl growled and perhaps he felt cheated that he wasn't included in the Build Out, or maybe he just wanted Tharus to shut up about it.
Clyde attended the lionfeigor's punctured back and sides; there were four holes in total but none of his ribs were broken nor any of his major organs contravened by the critter's claws. He took a big drink from the water skin he still carried and then poured the rest of the water on the lion's back. The noblekin did his best to clean the lion's wounds before he removed the last strip of bandage-cloth from the bottom of his gambeson to cover the wounds. He removed excess stitching from his garment to make a strong cord capable of holding the swab in place.
"Is this the price we pay?" Jarl grumbled at Lon. He indicated the wounds on his back and thigh.
"Yes. I suppose it is." He could have added that it was a bargain.
"Seems like we all pay a fee to be around you now Sea Drover." Jarl grumbled.
"Yet we persevere together. " Clyde reminded, "look what we've just accomplished." He pointed at the dead roc and the cliff, and at expanse of coastal jungle they'd just crossed. "You'll heal."
"Fantastic move to jump and ssstrike it's head." Tharus reenacted the battle. He emulated the lad's spectacular jump and then charged forth to play his own part and recreate the strangling. The swampkin would embellish this story for the rest of his life.
"Grrr... We got lucky" The lionfeigor grumbled and sat-up straight for the first time. "This is not how rocs fight. These birds... They hit you from behind, like a hammer," Jarl presented the strike by hitting his open hand with his closed fist. "The impact stuns you. Then they claw you. But just once. That one long belly-scratcher spills your guts . You die from blood loss."
"Pleasant."
The big cat pointed at the dead bird, "If we had a blade, I'd cut it open and eat its heart raw." He smiled at the idea, "Look about for a sharp stone."
The swampkin searched the stick nest and his eyes widened in delight when he spied something under the fluffy bedding.
"What can be better than this?" Tharus emerged from the nest with two giant eggs, one under each arm. The black and white speckled eggs were bigger than bread boxes in Dundae and Lon's eyes popped at the sight of this unexpected bounty. He'd fallen into that same nest a moment ago and he didn't see the eggs, but then of course his eyes were on the battle.
"But is there already a baby bird in there?" Clyde asked pessimistically.
"Hopefully," Jarl licked his lips.
Tharus shook his head no. He set one egg down on the rocks by his feet so he could hold the other with both hands. He sloshed its contents to demonstrate liquidity. "They're warm too". As everyone watched the reptilian made a pointy fist and expertly punched a hole in the shell. He tasted his fingers, "it's fresh," he declared.
Clyde cupped his hands like a bowl and received the batter direct from the eggshell jug.
Lon didn't find the sight or smell of the stuff appetizing, but he turned off his brain's revulsion to ingest several mouthfuls.
Tharus held the egg-hole over Jarl's mouth and poured it forth. The lionfeigor drank until his eyes widened and then he pointed at something only he could see.
Jarl was seated on the ground and when he looked up, in the corner of his eye, he saw the skeleton in the broken rock cairn. He pointed and everyone saw the cadaver entombed inside the open crypt.
It was clear to Lon the dead feigor that had once been a monk or an itinerant minister for he still wore the remnants of a churchfeigor's robe. His bones had been here forty years or more. One sandal remained stuck to foot ligatures. The skeleton had an entirely smooth white skull and broken jaw; the mandibles and dentary bones were locked in a permanent scowl for all-eternity.
Lon sniffed the shrine with some bewilderment. He could still detect the faint smell of death in the stone pocket, yet with such ancient bones there should be no aroma. When he looked closer he saw there was dusty fur and snake skins and other small creatures' bones in the cone. The crypt's porous perimeter had allowed entry to these would-be tomb robbers. Here were the dusty feathers of dead birds and a dog's skull, and then he saw something else.
Around the skeleton's neck, lodged between its white rib bones was a dirty red stone tablet. The relic was the size of a square dinner plate and three inches thick.
Lon made to climb inside the opening and retrieve the item when Clyde stopped him.
"No. Wait. Lon. No." the noble commanded. "Do not touch it."
"Why not?"
"That's a Death Stone." the scholar cupped his hand to his ear and listened. "It's a relic from the First Age that deals instant death to anything that touches it", he pointed at the heavy-looking stone tablet that dangled on a thick chain. "Can't you hear how it purrs? It's still active!"
"You've seen such a thing before?" Jarl asked.
"Yes." Clyde shivered. "Some bargains don't end at sunset."
"Sso.. It'ss... Sstill killing?" Tharus asked.
"Anything that touches it." Clyde said.
The three other feigor gasped at the revelation. That would explain the smell.
"You see all these corpses..." Clyde pointed up into the crypt. "See how the birds and snakes have all died? Look here, another small.. Oh my, is it a boy? Or a monkey? It's dead too. Anything that touches that evil block."
"Why?"
"That's its bargain," Clyde paused and then said, "every life it takes makes it stronger."
All eyes were fixed on the red stone tablet that was perched precariously over the chest cavity of the decayed feigor. The block was wedged tight between its ghostly white ribs.
Lon still carried the stick which he'd used to brain the bird. While everyone stared up in wonder at the deadly device, he hefted the heavy branch at the bones. The stick broke the fossilized feigor's brittle ribs and turned the piece, so it faced outwards. The impact also knocked the crud off it's surface and made its single gold inlay symbol shine in the sunlight. Lon gasped at the sight of the familiar rune on the polished red stone.
There was the circle under the line.
Clyde must have also recognized the symbol for he inhaled a sharp surprise. The icon was meaningless to Jarl and Tharus.
Lon knew just what he had to do next. His companions watched in horror as he climbed-up into the crypt and crawled over the dead animals to stand over the skeleton.
"No." Everyone protested as the white-haired lad knelt over the red stone relic. He could hear it purr. "No" his friends cried again as he reached down and touched the deadly artifact with his bare hand. The sea drover picked-up the Death Stone, and he did not die.