Young Writers Society

Chapter 3

Cyle jumped onto his swallow, Jadel, and flew off at a tremendous speed. He was delivering an important message to Queen Angelina, the ruler of Lepordanda. It was an urgent message, telling of King Achilles's plans for an attack on the palace of Lepordanda. The attack was planned for two day's time, and if Cyle did not make it there on time, then the palace would be under siege with no warning whatsoever.

Cyle tried not to urge Jadel forward too much; she would have to fly for a long time to reach Lepordanda from here, Thran, a port city in Thevan.

On his back, Cyle carried a leather bag. It was worn down from all kinds of weather, and had been used for more than forty years by other members of the Avis. This bag contained food, mostly dried meat, and fruit such as apples. Also, it contained a small hunting knife. Not that Cyle expected danger, but it was always better to be prepared in such an unpredictable world.

Jadel was flying faster than Cyle had ever seen before - he hoped she would make the long flight.

"Jadel," Cyle yelled over the rush of wind and wings "are you sure you want to go this fast? It's a long flight to Lepordanda."

Jadel, in reply, tossed her head as if to say you don't believe in me? Cyle gave up and relaxed, trying to enjoy the flight as much as possible without letting anything below escape his attention.

All he saw below were rolling fields of green. Until...

"Jadel!" he screamed.

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Xade aimed his crossbow steadily upward, at an eagle circling, his eyes glued to the figure on its back. Those dreaded Avis! Always getting in the way of things. First they stopped him from killing the Queen of Lepordanda, now they were stopping an entire cavalry from moving forward.

He let his arrow fly. He saw with satisfaction that it had hit its mark; the eagle's wing.

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Up above Xade, flying on a hawk, was Emma, a member of the Avis who was attempting to stop the attack on Lepordanda before it happened. She swooped upward and scanned the scene below her.

That was when she saw it- Aias, another Avis member, was falling from his injured bird. Emma did not have to urge her hawk, Syrra, into the dive. Seconds later she was catching Aias by his wrist, 50 feet above the ground. She heaved him onto Syrra's back, and saw, with a pang of fear, that he had been shot in the stomach while falling.

She had to leave. It was no use staying there now, the others could handle it. Someone had to get Aias to safety as quickly as possible.

He was nearing unconsciousness. Emma heaved Aias's limp form so that he was in front of her and she could support him more easily.

Syrra flew upward quickly and toward the clearing where they had made their camp. They landed heavily. Emma nimbly leapt down from Syrra and helped Aias down. He collapsed on the ground, out cold.

Aias looked bad. Emma pulled the arrow gently from the wound and examined it. The wound, unfortunately, looked dangerous, and possibly fatal.

The arrow that had inflicted the wound had been poisoned.[/code]