Quest for the Lyre of Orphaeo

[Philomel]

Blinded by intense fear the tera'k kept pounding his hooves onto the earth. Philomel clung to him, grinding her teeth as she switched between watching in front of her and trying to angle around to watch the fight occurring. The battle lasted naught but a few seconds, however those seemed like an age as the intensity rose. As soon as Breaker had departed from behind her she hissed darkly, but knowing it was for her own good. Veridian himself was barely holding on, claws dug in to the leather saddle. With numerous soft roars he kept yowling something between anger and pity for all that was going on. Clearly the fox did not care much for being tossed around.

Then, the noise stopped. Somehow, the tension lasted so few moments, and they had only gone a few hundred feet. It was enough for the faun to look properly around and spy that the great dark doom-beast was felled, right down onto the ground. Breaker himself was standing, or rather oddly crouching as he supported himself on a local branch to catch his breath. So little time, and such a great monstrosity ... never had she seen such a speedy death for a beast so beautiful as the maul.

However, her tera'k was still doing what prey animals did best in the time of fear - run, and keep running, no matter what. The speed and might of the creature served her well in travel, but not so much when it was time to stop and heal. To no avail did she try to pull on his reigns to slow him. Instinct roared through his veins, causing him to keep charging.

Probably until he was several miles away at least.

"Stupid animal," she cursed under her breath as she tried, for one last time to tug on the reigns, to stop or turn him. But it was to no avail. He was as stubborn as she was. Still her beast of burden fled.

Thus she did the only sensible thing - knowing he would just continue until they were away, far away from here and leaving Breaker too far behind. Focusing on her energy she picked up her fist, bringing in the mightiest of strength that she could muster - five times, some said, more than the average fighter - and slammed it into the apex of his neck. Just where the central nerve was, just enough to send him reeling, and then down.

He took a few steps to slow, and to suffer, and to fall. Without warning Veridian of what she was doing she underwent various moans such as, Why did you not tell - arrghghhh! as the tera'k collapsed beneath them. He was still alive, and perfectly well, but his steadiness went, his conciousness vanished and he descended to the ground under the influence of her hit.

Stay with him, Philomel told her beloved fox companion as she rather neatly and gracefully landed to the side, slipping off just in time to the music of the falling, dozed tera'k. Golden eyes just glared at her.

Giving him a sweet smile, then blowing him a kiss she twisted in the air, and the earth very naturally opened up beneath her. A portal shook into existence, whisking her from there and then away. Back she went a good few feet - or rather many few feet to be close to where Breaker was.

As if it was all part of natural circumstance the faun stepped out from the new earth opening, and strode towards the Maul-slayer. She kept the smile on her face.

"Well done, Mr Breaker," she said with a smirk, "I see that we will get on very well."