Quest for the Lyre of Orphaeo

[Breaker]

Breaker reached up and clapped a hand to Philomel's wrist. Their fingers snared each others' forearms and he harnessed the tera'k's momentum to leap up behind her on its broad back. The terrified animal galloped beneath its burden, lowing like an Alerian foghorn as it wove between trees and boulders.

The very ground shook with the maul's pursuit, its great feet thrashing the earth repeatedly. Its roar shook the leaves in trees that parted like grass before its careening run. Despite the tera'k's best efforts the maul seemed to gain ground with each mighty step. Philomel worked the reigns with one hand, the other wielding her sword to chop away bloodvines that dangled across their path. The space between raging Maul and panicked tera'k shrank as the chase wore on.

Breaker released his light grip on Philomel's waist and lifted his weight on his hands, spinning around so he sat astride the tera'k facing backwards. The maul ran in their wake, its four arms flailing in rage, its four jaws dripping putrid saliva. Above the hooked mandibles glared angry bloodshot eyes, eyes that saw only invaders of its territory. Edible invaders.

Josh knew he needed to lighten the tera'k's load for Philomel to escape. He lifted a hand with fingers splayed and froze a thick beam of ice between two wide tree trunks. The maul smashed through the beam, not quite tripping but stumbling enough that its race became a headlong drive. Josh lifted himself on his hands again and crouched on the beast of burden's back. For a moment he watched the maul's stumbling run, calculating distance and speed and time.

Breaker leaped straight up, flipping forcefully while he twisted around in midair. He hung upside down, facing the careening giant, and his left leg lashed out. At the last moment before impact he activated an enchantment in his boot which became heavier by a hundred pounds. And then the solid metal shoe impacted the maul's skull, right between its bloodshot eyes.

The maul's momentum carried it forward and it crashed into the soaring demigod, bearing him to the ground in a massive whump of displaced earth and plant life.

Josh rolled away swiftly, his hip aching from the impact, and found his feet amidst the loam.

The maul lay several yards away, unmoving. Blood seeped from its cracked skull, the thick furry skin broken at the site.

Breaker had felled the beast with a single blow.