Chapter 36 - I Was Flying!

  I pushed my newfound speed and strength to the limits, driving myself to go faster than I ever had before. There was literally no time to lose. Every second counted, and Emmy's life hung in the balance. Every leap carried me forward fifteen or more feet, so I poured even more might into each. Now I was clearing twenty or more feet with each bound.

  It was still barely enough to let me keep up with the giant bird carrying her away. I kept them in sight, but if the bird hadn't been burdened by its captive, I doubt I would have been able to. This was just one more experience that underscored the need to keep getting stronger. This world was merciless. Brutal. If we were going to survive it, we needed to be powerful enough to take on whatever the new challenges were thrown our way.

  Nothing attacked me while I was on the move. I had that much going for me, anyway. Between the massive invasion coming in from the east and all the human beings fleeing from it, even most of the monsters seemed to be hunkering down. Maybe they were biding their time to see who came out on top. Maybe some of them were doing their own evacuations. Whatever the case, the net result was I was able to push forward without running into any major problems.

  I startled a band of goblins busy collecting timber from the edge of a park. I landed almost on top of them with one of my bounds before leaping away again. Their startled yells followed in my wake, but they didn't chase after me. I let them be, too. There was no sense in picking additional fights, not when I was already on such a time crunch.

  My biggest fear was the stupid roc would just drop her. My second biggest fear was that it would get to its nest and kill her before I could arrive. I was barely keeping up as the bird approached its destination. It was headed for the same bridge where Alex and I had seen them all nesting earlier in the day. I'd figured as much. Honestly, I'd hoped that was where it would go, because it was close enough that I could realistically keep up.

  Better still, it banked and veered toward the southern side of the bridge. That meant I wouldn't need to fight my way through fifty of the things before I could get to Emmy.

  The giant seagull slowed its approach as it descended. It came in with a gentle spiral and a lot of heavy wing beats. As I came up on the bridge I stopped bounding and switched to a straight sprint, instead. That was marginally slower, but by staying close to the ground, I made it impossible for them to snag me out of the air in mid-leap.

  My madcap dash carried me directly past the first nest on the bridge. It was occupied by one of the creatures, which let out the loudest squawk I’d ever heard as I raced by. I let it be, remaining entirely focused on the second nest up ahead. That was where the bird carrying Emmy was coming in for a landing.

  I had to time this just right, or it wasn't going to work. If I was a second too fast or too slow, I'd miss my leap, and the bird would either crush Emmy or take off with her again. Saving her meant nailing this, and it was now or never! At the last moment, I turned my sprint into one more leap.

  The jump carried me skyward I came down directly on the creature's back and grabbed on to handfuls of its feathers to keep from sliding off. I'd hit it exactly right. Now all I needed to do was make sure it couldn't just drop us both from somewhere high.

  The roc squawked, a long, keening cry that hurt my ears. It twisted in midair, trying to throw me off, but my grip was too strong. My weight was apparently enough that even beating its wings madly, it couldn't remain in the air. It did everything it could to gain altitude, but we kept descending anyway, which was exactly what I'd wanted.

  "Emmy! I'm here! Just hold on, I'll get you out of this," I shouted.

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  "Mr. Castle? Help me, please!" Emmy called back.

  Then she shrieked as the bird dropped her. I watched with horror as she tumbled into the nest below. Thankfully, we were only about five feet up, and the branches broke her fall. She lay in the nest, curled around herself and sobbing. But she was alive. That was what mattered most.

  Less burdened, the bird decided it was going to try for more altitude again. It beat its wings even harder than before, and to my amazement, actually gained some height. That wouldn't do. I made sure my left hand grip was as tight as I could make it, and released my right hand hold.

  "Let's see how you like this!" I slammed a punch into the back of the bird's head.

  Dazed, it lost its rhythm. Its wing beats faltered. We were no longer an airplane in flight. Instead, it was more like riding a helicopter to the ground after the engine had stalled. The bird tried to keep its wings spread and even fluttered them some, but it was no longer doing much to stay aloft. The paved road of the bridge below was coming up fast!

  There wasn't time to jump clear, so I braced myself for impact and made sure the bird was hitting before I did. It crashed into the ground with a crunching sound that I could feel even through the thick feathers. Then it skid several meters across the pavement before finally coming to a stop.

  A stone popped out into one of my hands. That was one bird dead, but there were still a lot more of them, and now they were all pissed off. Staggering back to my feet on wobbly legs, I glanced at the stone in my hand. It was a beautiful yellow crystal, tier two, and it was for a spell I hadn't seen yet. This one would let me cast Flight, which made perfect sense given how I’d found it. Getting a Flight stone from a giant bird was about as logical as any of the rest of this was. It was also an incredible asset, especially considering what I was up against.

  All around me, the other birds had roused themselves. A couple dozen of them had taken to the air and circled above me. Another dozen or so remained in their nests, flapping their wings and cawing in my general direction. None of these things were tier one, but I didn't see any that were above tier three, either. That meant alone, they weren't a major threat. Dozens of them still represented a serious problem, though.

  I sprinted the short distance from where I'd come down to the bird's nest where Emmy lay. A quick leap over the edge of the giant nest brought me to her side. She was still curled around herself, clutching her arm. I didn't see any blood, and there was no sign of any obvious injuries, from what I could tell. But what she really needed was a doctor. Or a magical healer, if such a thing existed now.

  I crouched beside her and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Emmy. Are you okay? It's Cam. I'm going to get you out of here."

  I felt like I could say that with far more confidence now that we were both on the ground. Before, when I had first started chasing after them, I'd hope for the best, but worried that whatever I could do it would be too little, or too late. Now that we were both on the ground, though? The odds were very much in our favor. All I needed to do was keep those monsters off us for long enough to dash Emmy out of there.

  I had a hunch I was going to need that Flight crystal, though. I had no free slots, but my second point was only filled with a tier two Agility stone. I could pull it out and replace it with the Flight. If the Agility stone broke, so be it. It was worth the risk.

  Above us, three of the circling birds stooped and turned to dive directly at us. I was out of time. With a brief mental effort, I popped the Agility stone out. It appeared in my hand, and the Flight stone was absorbed into my palm seconds later.

  Just like all the other times I’d absorbed a new crystal, a gush of knowledge flooded my brain. It was incredible, intoxicating, and energizing. Suddenly, I knew how flying worked! It was so simple. A little mental effort, a little application of will, and I’d be airborne.

  I glanced skyward at the oncoming birds. They’d be on us in seconds, and I wanted to keep them as far from Emmy as I could. I gathered mana, cast the spell, and leapt upward. The flight spell took over the moment my feet left the ground, and I rocketed into the sky.

  One of the birds was already almost on top of us. That was my first target. I had only flown about fifteen feet up before my fist connected with its beak. Like it was happening in slow motion, I saw the bird's eyes widen as I came rushing up. After my punch connected, it sailed backward through the air, wings fluttering helplessly, then plummeted the rest of the way to the ground. It didn't get back up after it fell.

  That was another one down, but there were a lot more of them to deal with. I couldn’t help but feel ecstatic for a moment, in spite of the dire circumstances. I was in the air, and I was flying!