As they walked up the winding mountain path, the wind was fierce. Its howling echoed in Thyssa’s ears.

  But something interrupted the rhythm of the wind. The beating of giant wings. Thyssa looked up to see an enormous, hellish malform. It had three bulging eyes around a long mouth full of teeth, and wings like human fingers, twitching as fast as an insect’s wings. It didn’t look like it should be able to fly…but it did. Fast.

  “Malform,” said Thyssa. Not just any malform. This was Cerberus Pack’s dreaded Fingerbird – the reason Grendel Pack had no flyers.

  Merryway looked around the desolate mountain path. “Where do we hide?”

  “Nowhere. It’s already seen us.”

  “So we run?”

  “No.”

  “But you said we can’t fight one!”

  “We probably can’t. But we definitely can’t outrun this one. We must stand our ground.”

  Merryway took a deep breath and reached for Grief Chaser. “Thyssa, if I fall here, you must take the fountain’s water to my clan.”

  Thyssa’s heart sank. Was she really going to lose Merryway here? “Wait! It…might not have to come to that.”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The fingerbird drew close, hovering just over the edge of the mountain path, watching, waiting.

  Thyssa stepped towards it.

  “Thyssa, wait!” cried Merryway. “If we both die, the Goddess Fountain is lost, and my clan is destroyed!”

  Thyssa looked back at Merryway and smiled. “Have faith in me.” Then, she turned to the fingerbird.

  “Proud malform of Cerberus Pack!” she shouted through the wind. “I offer tribute, that you might let us live another day!”

  She reached into her bag and produced the last scrap of meat. The Fingerbird watched in silence, still hovering.

  “Let us live, and there will be more, for I am a hunter like you. I never want for meat, because all around me is death.”

  She threw the piece of meat towards the Fingerbird. It dove forward and snatched the morsel up in its jaws.

  “Or attack,” shouted Thyssa. She drew the shortsword. “But if you do, you’d better kill us both. Because if you kill this human behind me, then I will kill you, as I have killed two of your kind and countless more of mine. I will hunt you and never stop. You will never rest, because you will know I will slay you in your sleep. I will be their living ghost, the nightmare from which you cannot wake. That is a promise.”

  The Fingerbird hovered as it chewed its tribute, blood dripping from its jaws. Thyssa’s blood was cold, but she forbade herself to show fear. She just stood there, sword drawn, glaring at her enemy, daring it to make a move.

  She felt a warmth in her chest. The Benevolent Heart was reacting. It glowed more brightly, shining through her clothes – there was no hiding it! The Fingerbird would know what she held, and who she was. If it hesitated to kill her before, now it had a richer prize to consider. One that many malforms – including herself – would die for.

  She tightened her grip on the sword.

  Time stretched and flowed. An instant, a minute, an hour…there was no telling how long they would face each other.

  Then, finally, the Fingerbird screeched and flew off.

  Thyssa turned to Merryway. “I…I don’t believe it. We survived!”

  Merryway’s face was mystified. “You…talked to it.”