Page 2 - Hunting a Cockatrice

Deep in the forest, each forest path was a medley of information. Xolrun read the leaf litter, scat, and the medley of footprints as they revealed the stories of the underbrush. In front of her was more information than was in any book she’d ever read. She readjusted how she knelt to get comfortable again. The observation was as much a damning indictment on how little she read as much as how good she was at tracking.

Still, with how many tracks she found in the Dark Forest and the complicated network of the trails in the thick vegetation, she was pleased with how quickly she’d managed to find a cockatrice trail.

Her trail took out even further into the forest, off the goat’s track and into a decent sized hole in the thicket of tight bushes. The cockatrice had pushed into the bushes and created a decent hole for them to follow it through. Of the footprints of the foxes, pademelons, rabbits and other woodland creatures, only a boar had followed the cockatrice into the little passageway.

She put her hand down next to the large talon-shaped footprint of the cockatrice. It was fresh and the cockatrice had to be quite the size.

They were truly incredible beasts. Depicted as large chickens in most paintings that Xolrun had seen, the image didn’t do them justice. They were giant birds, easily as heavy as Xolrun and they could grow large enough to easily tower over her. They were feathered but had hard scales hidden beneath their plumage that made scoring a hit on them notoriously difficult. The scales sold for good money for anyone with the right connections, with blacksmiths and tailors paying good money for them.

Xolrun had only ever seen one cockatrice in all of her travels, back a lifetime ago in the private collection of one of her more ostentatious friends. He had been a collector of rarities and had lamented to her about how the cockatrice he’d been gifted was such a poor example of the noble breed. All that Xolrun remembered was how it had taken her breath away. Its claws were gigantic and it stalked its cage with the pure malice of an apex predator.

They were yet another horror of the Dark Forest. Another beast that could rip folk apart in an instant. And another time where normalfolk had to risk their lives on the whims of spoilt nobles. Xolrun pointed into the small passage and checked to make sure the others were listening, “It went through here. Khlen goes first and go shield up. We’re close but we won’t see her before she sees us.”

The others mumbled back quiet responses as they stared nervously around the forest. Telling them that they were on the cockatrice’s trail had made all of them suddenly become incredibly on edge. The dread was almost palpable amongst them and Xolrun had stopped updating just how close they were to the bird. The tracks were very fresh now and Xolrun couldn’t help but wonder what would happen when they did finally catch the bird.

Khlen stepped forward with her new oaken buckler and took the lead. She ducked into the cramped hole and stooped to force herself inside. Xolrun waited and watched as Khlen quietly hacked at branches that were too low for her to pass by undisturbed.

Satisfied, Xolrun pointed at Ana, “You last to watch our backs. After me is Adelide and then Gusteau.”

Xolrun waited to make sure Gusteau didn’t try to make any adjustments to her orders, then she ducked to get into the opening before Khlen got too far ahead.

Even looking at Gusteau made her blood boil. He and the Houser Adelide had given her space all day since her outburst but she’d heard them whispering to each other incessantly. She refused to feel bad about yelling at Gusteau and she wouldn’t apologise for raising valid concerns.

Gusteau had notified her in the morning that he’d planned for them to complete all parts of the contract, including taking Adelide with them while they hunted. The noblewoman had come in a long skirt fit for a picnic and only a dagger. When she had said she was good with a dagger, Xolrun had almost told her exactly what she’d thought of the Houser. She’d instead warned her about her skirt but the Houselady told them that she knew better.

And now, several hours into the woods, her hem was filthy with mud and the innumerable snags had ripped large tears through her skirt’s fine material. Khlen had given the woman a sword and shield to replace her dagger but Xolrun had little hope that Adelide would have the proper training. Gusteau had remarked that she was new blood in the Families and, apparently, being new blood meant she wouldn’t be the shieldmaiden of the first conquest of Weidenland.

The skirt and the tiny dagger reminded Xolrun of the genteel Breisachian-like noblewoman that she had met many times before. Seeing one of them wandering hopelessly through the forest would be very comical if they weren’t on the lookout for a fifty kilogram bird, and one that was biologically driven to be hyperaggressive while it nested in the autumn. But if they did find its nest first, perhaps messing its eggs would improve their situation.

Moving through the small tunnel wasn’t easy, even for someone as small as Xolrun. The edges of the thicket closed in around her and more and more rocks appeared under her feet as she squeezed her way forward. Khlen had given up trimming the path ahead of her and instead bulled her way through, cursing as she rammed her buckler into the foliage in front of them.

Xolrun followed as close as she could, avoiding the swinging branches as she shuffled in time with Khlen. The sunlight filtered dimly through the multiple layers of leaves and canopy above them and Xolrun watched the forest around them for any movement. The southern section of the Dark Forest was part forest, part jungle but had all of the sinister nature that Xolrun had been warned about.

The left side of the forest had begun to rise above them, putting them against a small escarpment that covered their side. Having the rock ledge at their side was a benefit for Xolrun, as she searched for any sign of movement. Her ears flicked around in half circles and she scrutinized every shuffling step and moving branch for any sound that was unaccounted for.

Xolrun caught a slight movement to her left side at the top of the ledge somewhere. Slowing her pace, she searched through the dense foliage for anything. Her heart sat in her throat and she checked her krisses to ensure they were still in their sheaths.

She wouldn't take them out yet. Anything could have run past them, the cockatrice or the boar or really anything going about its business in the forest. Checking down on the floor, she couldn’t see any more tracks from the boar. Between the dense collection of shale rock underneath her feet, she couldn’t find any signs of the cockatrice passing through either.

She stopped where she was and looked around her hooves. There was nothing she could see but they’d not passed any openings where the cockatrice could have gone down. A polite cough reminded Xolrun of the others behind her and she found them anxiously crouched next to her, waiting for her to push onwards.

Xolrun glowered at them but relented with one last check on the right side of the path just in case. The same fiery heat stirred in her belly again, coaxing her to tell Gusteau off again. It was ridiculous, she had wanted to not be the one to call the shots anymore. It had been a big part of why she wanted to join Gusteau and his madcap ‘democratic decision making’ process that he harped on about at times. The same process that had led to her losing the vote in the morning three to one about letting Adelide land the killing blow.

She sighed at the memory. She’d need to put the anger aside to focus on the prehistoric bird that she was going to have to face in the very near future.

“Xol, I think I found something.” Khlen called ten steps ahead and snapped her back to reality.

Khlen watched anxiously for her reply, seemingly aware of how dangerously out of position she was.

“What is it?” Xolrun forced herself to move at an even pace as both of them closed the distance.

Khlen raised her shield up to her face and slowly shuffled back to them. As the distance between them closed, Khlen whispered, “It looked like a nest. A big one too.”

Xolrun pushed against the rock face to let Khlen pass her by, “I will go and check it out. Wait for me to signal and then slowly walk up and join me. If it is the nest, the cockatrice won’t be far so keep an eye out for any fast movements in the underbrush.”

Xolrun hurried along the small path Khlen had made and tried to look confident. A small clearing appeared before her, waiting patiently for her to arrive.

The whole space was only several metres across with the rock wall curving to form a corner in the back. Tucked in the corner was a large nest made of twigs, feathers, and an assortment of branches surrounded by an open floor of rock and dirt in the cramped space of the clearing.

Xolrun forced her way inside, creating a hole between two bushes and took out one of her krises from her belt. The clearing was still around her but it was a vast improvement compared to the cramped space of the passageway. She beckoned Khlen and the others to join her and kept her ears trained on the brush around her for any indication that they weren’t alone.

Khlen came through the opening and was quickly followed by the others. Khlen let the others pass and settled in to guard the passage they’d come through and the far side of the clearing.

Xolrun focussed instead on the nest. It was certainly the size she would have expected. The cockatrice she’d seen hadn’t made a nest when she was there but it was as big as this nest was, undoubtedly. The feathers stuck into the bottom of the nest were the right size too, colourful enough to be the dazzling coat of the cockatrice’s plumage as well. Seeing another one of the gorgeous giant birds would have been a pleasure if it was in an estate garden like the last time. With no cage between Xolrun and the large half-chicken, half-reptile, getting some one-on-one time was daunting.

As she reached the raised rim of the nest, she found nothing but feathers covering the base of the nest. With a few steps across, she shuffled around to keep her back to the rock wall and her eyes on the forest,  “Weapons ready. It should be somewhere nearby.”

Nothing moved in the forest, not a chirp of a bird nor a stir in the breeze. Gusteau and Adelide stood at the edge of the clearing and Xolrun waved them closer, “Come nice and slow. There’s no eggs.”

Gusteau cautiously led the noblewoman through the clearing. After taking a moment to check the nest, Gusteau confidently cleared his throat, “Perhaps she carries the eggs with her?”

Adelide squat next to the nest and shook her head, “No, they told me to look for the eggs in the nest. And it should be far enough into autumn for eggs. Maybe we got unlucky.”

Xolrun offered no input about whether finding the nest empty was lucky or not. Perhaps they could have a short rest for lunch and discuss how big the cockatrice would be and how carefully they needed to approach their hunt in the afternoon.

Adelide reached into the nest and pulled the large feathers out from its lining, “Perhaps it incubates its eggs like the ancient megapods did…”

“Gusteau,” Xolrun warned.

Before he could respond, the sound of cracking branches signalled the arrival of their ill-fated host, an angry cockatrice barrelling towards them through the thick shrubbery.

Xolrun  marked the cockatrice’s trajectory towards them and hopped high up onto the rock wall behind her. Her hooves found a wealth of traction on the small rock ledges and she used the movement to compress into a small ball. Like a loaded spring, she propelled herself into the middle of the clearing to meet the cockatrice mid-charge. She’d intended to hit the large bird feet-first, with a rotation in midair to enable her to meet it well before Gusteau and Adelide but the cockatrice was moving far quicker than she’d anticipated.

Her shoulder was the first part to hit the cockatrice, with the momentum for the jump driving her straight into the bird’s chest. She tucked and rolled over the cockatrice’s left wing, moving past the cockatrice as it collided with Gusteau and Adelide.

Xolrun reacted instinctively, bouncing back up onto her feet to get as far away from the mess of limbs of the other three. The cockatrice scrambled back onto its feet next, squawking angrily at Xolrun before it ducked back into the forest.

“Fuck!” Gusteau yelled as blood began to darken the shirt around his stomach. He was propped against the nest with his back leaning on the terrified noblewoman.

Khlen skidded to a stop beside him and heaved Adelide up off the floor, “Xolrun, eyes out into the forest. Ana, blast anything that moves in the treeline and prep two bijous just in case.”

Xolrun jumped back onto the rockwall to get a better vantage point. A throwing knife appeared in her left hand and she watched the direction the cockatrice had disappeared in. A slight sway of branches a handful of metres out gave away its position as it sprinted to the back side of the clearing.

Xolrun’s eyes flicked to the exit again and she watched the other side to see if it would come back, “Ana, join me over here. Khlen, we need to get Gusteau and Adelide out of here.”

Khlen scanned the forest for a minute and got back on her feet, “ Agreed but Ana, you get them out and I will stay. Meet us back at the camp and see to it that Gust doesn’t bleed out. If it comes for you, scream and do whatever you can to keep Adelide alive.”

“Is it wise to split up?” Ana asked nervously.

“Yes, it won’t bother you if you aren’t standing directly next to its nest.” Xolrun snapped, hopeful that her theory was correct.

“But I wanted to -” Adelide began to explain but was cut off by a whoosh of ice that burst out of Ana’s hand and cut a hole through the thicket.

“Thought I saw it.” Ana commented in the quiet that formed between them.

“Go.” Khlen ordered and joined Xolrun at the nest, “Xolrun, mind giving it a target to focus on?”

Xolrun grimaced but answered with a slight nod as she returned to the nest’s edge again. She pretended to inspect the nest as she listened for any movements around them. She kept her grip tight on her kris and plucked a feather from the plushy bottom of the nest. The feathers were a vibrant green that shimmered in the faint light that managed to reach her at the bottom of the Dark Forest. A glimmer of egg shone through the lining where Xolrun had taken the egg and threatened to distract Xolrun from her task of goading the egg’s irate mother. Her ear perked at a rustle from her right and tried to appear vulnerable for just a moment longer.

A sharp inhale from Khlen and a flurry of movement and Xolrun dove for the open ground to her side, aiming to get as much space from the nest as possible.

The cockatrice didn’t make it halfway across the clearing before Khlen bodychecked it into the rock face.

The force of the cockatrice hitting the cliff shook the escarpment and released a tiny rockslide of dirt. The cockatrice rolled to right itself again, with a long serpentine tail flicking out and smacking against Khlen’s shield as it righted itself.

“Shit!” Khlen stepped back and checked her buckler to find a chunk of it had been ripped out from its edge. As the cockatrice moved back up onto its feet, rustling its feathers as it stood back up uneasily. The tail was something new, with the cockatrice that Xolrun had seen having no tail that she could see. It was a metre long and had several clustered talons at its end.

With practised precision, Xolrun’s throwing knife flew out of her hand and cut neatly through the cockatrice’s scales to land deeply into its ribcage.

The cockatrice didn’t register the knife and instead jumped to block the two of them from getting closer to the nest. Being a bird of prey, it was one that relied on its speed and agility to attack and would have hated being on the defensive.

Xolrun stepped around the clearing to join Khlen as they waited for the bird to make its next move. Their exit was on the far side with the nest closer to them than the clearing.

Khlen shifted her position to place herself slightly ahead of Xolrun’s left, “Any ideas?”

“None that I am a particular fan of. She’s huge.” Xolrun noted as she watched the bird snapping its beak angrily at them. Its legs were the size of Xolrun’s torso and its wings dwarfed her even when only partially unfurled. As the cockatrice stretched its wings out to their full length, the cockatrice filled up the clearing to leave little space for maneuvering for Xolrun or Khlen.

Xolrun flicked out another of her throwing knives from her case and she lined up the bird's left shoulder to see if she could hit the joint. Before she could throw it, the cockatrice charged towards them, jumping towards Khlen with its claws raised at chest height.

Khlen’s buckler collected the right claw and she forced the cockatrice away from Xolrun to hold her line. Xolrun waited, noting how the cockatrice shifted and shoved Khlen’s sword jab away before it tried to snap at them both with its beak.

Xolrun ducked under the cockatrice’s tail and pivoted to pull in close behind the cockatrice’s back. Dropping to one of her knees, she forced her kris into the cockatrice’s right flank. With a twist, she ripped the dagger out in a jagged line until she hit the base of the tail as she snuck back out into a safer spot.

Khlen’s sword swung back through and opened up a long slice along its side before Khlen shoved it back again. The cockatrice struggled forward and Xolrun flicked her throwing knife out of her hand before it left her effective range. The knife hit blade-first but glanced off the back shoulder of the cockatrice and flew into the bushes nearby.

The cockatrice’s head jerked towards Khlen’s shoulder, aiming to peck at her as it spun back around. Khlen’s buckler collected its beak three times and chunks of wood flew into the air around them. Xolrun watched in slow motion as the cockatrice snuck past Khlen’s defense on the final strike and ripped a chunk out of her right deltoid. Khlen let out a scream but forced her shield into the cockatrice’s chest as it closed in on her.

“Urgh!” Khlen hopped back towards Xolrun and skidded to a stop before she hit the edge of the nest. Xolrun cleared space for her and stepped in front of her so she could right herself.

The clearing went quiet for a moment and Xolrun forced herself to not check on her friend. If Khlen wasn’t ok, she would say.

Xolrun pulled out another of her throwing knives and steadied her breathing again. She could hear the cockatrice forcing its way through the bushes to her right, and caught a glimpse of it so that it could burst out to attack them again. Xolrun tossed her throwing knife out to meet it on the edge of the clearing and stepped out to the side to entice it to attack her.

The dagger hit the cockatrice in the face, forcing it to recoil as it moved in closer again. Its balance shifted as it twisted to face her. Xolrun stepped further out from Khlen and prepared herself to dodge as the cockatrice closed the distance. Two steps away and Xolrun committed to going low. One step away and Xolrun was confident she could skewer the cockatrice if she could just find a way to avoid its claws.

The right claw passed less than an inch from her face as she slipped past its side. She rammed her kris into the joint on its right wing before the hilt twisted and shot out of her grip. She palmed the tail away from her as it flailed around her.

As Xolrun pulled away, Khlen entered the fray. Propping her shield to her side, she crashed into the back end of the cockatrice and forced her sword deep into its flank. With a solid shove, Khlen wrenched her sword back out and pushed the cockatrice away from her. The momentum forced the cockatrice to tip sideways out of range once more, but not before its claw whipped around to slice a long gash along Khlen’s leg as it fell.

The cockatrice collapsed into a bush as Khlen dropped to her knee in perfect synchrony.

Xolrun drew her second kris and leapt into the dead space between Khlen and the cockatrice. She found another throwing knife and launched it at the neck wound that Khlen had made but missed as she closed the distance. Desperate and bloody, the cockatrice fled back into the thick brush and Xolrun hopped back to the middle of the clearing.

Khlen was back up on her feet before Xolrun could even offer her hand up. With a snarl, she punched the wound on her leg and refitted her buckler to sit properly on her forearm again.

“You alright?” Xolrun asked as she checked the nest behind them. It looked fine, thankfully not as beat up as the rest of the clearing.

“Fine. But we got to find a way to finish this.” Khlen replied through gritted teeth as she rubbed her bloody shoulder.

“Agreed.” Xolrun noted her first kris on the floor at her feet but didn’t stoop to pick it up. She was glad the cockatrice hadn’t taken it into the forest for her to have to find. Her pair of krisses had been with her for years as her most prized possessions and they were an absolute pain to replace. Losing one of them would make for a long trip back to her empu to have a suitable replacement made.

Khlen let out a long levelled breath next to her and tapped her buckler with her blade, “How about I try to distract it and you see if you can’t get a good strike somewhere vital?”

“I thought I did with the first kriss.” Xolrun muttered darkly, “And I don’t think you should be rushing at it again. You look like shit.”

The cockatrice squawked from the edge of the clearing and stumbled back to join them once more. Its right leg shook hard as the cockatrice placed weight on it but it pushed forward to close in on them.

“Here we go.” Khlen said as she stepped far to the right to pull the cockatrice into a compromised position for Xolrun.

Watching her friend struggle, Xolrun made her choice.  To the hells with the plan and to the hells with Khlen taking another hit.

“Hey, bird brain!” Xolrun ran towards the nest again and jumped inside. The feathery bottom of the nest offered her a lovely cushion as she rolled and scrambled up onto the relative safety of the rock wall once more. Her hooves found purchase nicely before the cockatrice geared up to charge her once more.

With its wings spread, it closed in on her but Xolrun felt confident. She had an idea. A plan if she was being generous. She could both distract the cockatrice and land a fatal blow if her plan worked. The bird was too desperate to do anything but charge her and she could flip over it and pounce onto it before it knew what was happening.

That was what she hoped at least. As the cockatrice closed in and opened its wings up to dwarf her in its shadow, Xolrun realised she may not have calculated everything perfectly.

Xolrun set her hooves and dropped low to pounce. Fuck it; she’d make do.

In the final moment before the cockatrice crashed into her, Xolrun leapt up as high as she could and held her left hand out to meet its beak. She’d cleared the claws easily and she pommeled off the side of the cockatrice’s face as she flipped up and over.

As the cockatrice hit the rockwall, Xolrun hit its left wing and tumbled down the side of its back. Mid-air, Xolrun slid down to hit the floor hard only a few steps away from the soft embrace of the nest.

Tuck, roll, then pop onto her feet. She’d tumbled a thousand times before and she knew the why and the how of tumbling. Her experience made no difference as she grinded her face into the ground. Her years of perfect execution did little when her legs flipped over her head to force her into an awkward and vulnerable position as she ended up on her back. She rolled across to her side and under Khlen’s feet for good measure.

“Oop.” Khlen jumped over her and raced to close the gap to the cockatrice as Xolrun forced herself back onto her feet.

The cockatrice had hit the wall hard, that much was clear. As badly as it had gone for Xolrun, the bird had fared worse. It lay on the floor at the bottom of the rock wall, its wings splayed out covering its body as its head twisted unsteadily to watch Khlen descend with sword in hand.

Khlen went in hard, aiming for the back of the cockatrice but missing the way the cockatrice’s left leg had shifted under the folds of the wing’s feathers.

The claw caught Khlen right in the stomach and punted her back across the clearing. Khlen skidded for a second before flipping and landing hard in the shrubs hard, making it half a metre into the thicket before she stopped.

Xolrun stepped between Khlen and the cockatrice and picked up her first kris. She’d find a way to stop it. She just needed another idea, or an even better plan if she could magic one up at the last moment.

The cockatrice forced itself back up onto its feet quicker than Xolrun had hoped. Its left claw was mangled and blood poured out from between its wings and along its neck in several spots but it was pissed. So pissed that it was adamant on them dying before it did. As it worked its way back onto its feet, the fact that it was going to headlong charge Xolrun once more was very clear.

“Clear!”

The call came from Xolrun’s left side, from the hole they’d come through only a few minutes before. From the hole came Ana’s face followed by a stream of bright white light that streaked across the small clearing.

Xolrun flinched backwards as the air in front of her ignited from the electricity. Guided by Ana’s experienced hand, the lightning caught the cockatrice with full force, immediately catching its feathers on fire.

The cockatrice let out a bloody curdling shriek as its body seized and contorted against its will, smashing its claws and face into the rocky ground around it. Ana shrieked back as she forced the stream of lightning down onto the cockatrice as it bucked involuntarily.

An audible sizzle, crack and one final limp squawk announced the death knell of the cockatrice. Its beak had cracked from the repeated slamming and many of its feathers had been dispersed out around its body as its two wings continued to twitch, creating an updraft of superheated air that buffeted Xolrun. The feathers ignited as they drifted through the concentrated lightning, leaving a trail of collected smoke as they quickly burnt away to nothing.

Most of the feathers on the cockatrice’s head had burst into flames and left only a few stragglers heavily singed. The scales beneath lay sprinkled out onto the floor and decorating the blanket of feathers that surrounded the bird.

Attached to the other end of the lightning was Ana, shaking as her hands blistered and flayed from the magic running through her body.

Xolrun shouted over the heavy buzz that dominated the space between them, “Ana, that’s enough. It’s dead!”

Time dragged as the smell of burning flesh assaulted Xolrun. The cockatrice’s wings began to catch fire before Ana finally relented and dropped to her knees.

The rune fell from her blackened hand and shattered on the dirt floor in front of her. Ana followed it to the ground, landing heavily on her stomach but rolling over to avoid the chunk of sizzling rick. With a slow, guttural moan, she dragged herself onto her back and looked over to Xolrun and gave her an exhausted smile.

Xolrun resheathed her two krisses and stood back up. The smoke dissipated and the final flames quickly died out on the cockatrice’s body, leaving the bird’s body the only evidence of Ana’s magic. The bird twitched at irregular intervals and its wings propped beneath itself for a moment, stirring to give a moment of doubt at whether it had survived the electrification.

Xolrun pulled out one of her knives once more and walked towards the poor bird. If there was any chance the poor bird had survived, putting it out of its misery was in everyone’s best interest.

Two steps in, Ana’s hoarse voice called to her, “Stop.”

“Ana, we can’t let it suffer.” Xolrun refused softly.

“It might still have electricity running through it. We can’t use a blade.” Khlen warned her as she joined Xolrun again, bleeding profusely from her leg but standing proud as always.

Xolrun stopped and took a deep breath. She was several feet away with a clear shot at the cockatrice’s head, so long as it was done twitching. She pulled a second throwing knife and flung the hard into its ear. The blade hit cleanly and the bird gave no indication that it noticed her knife dig deep into its brain.

“Does the electricity stay in the body afterwards?” Xolrun asked thoughtfully.

“I. I don’t know.” Ana replied quietly.

Khlen moved up to Xolrun and stood over the smoking corpse, “Best not to risk it. Ana, how is Gusteau?”

“He said he was fine. Adelide thinks the wound is not that deep, just long.”

Khlen tapped Xolrun lightly on the shoulder and moved past her, “C’mon then. Let’s go find where the other two got off to.”