by John Daulton
The torchlight revealed a man-made cave cut twenty paces deep, an exploratory mine shaft, as Ilbei had surmised. There didn’t appear to be any more harpies inside, but the stench coming from its depths was so cloying both of their stomachs convulsed, which made Ilbei grunt for having worked his stomach mightily only a few minutes before.
“What’s that back there?” Kaige asked, pointing with his sword. “Looks like a nest.”
“A silver piece says that’s exactly what it is.” Ilbei crept forward with the torch, which flared occasionally, its flame expanding in a huff of blue as if it encountered puffs of gas. Sure enough, when they got to the end of the cave, there was a nest, much like Jasper had said there might be: a great mound of grayish-white powder, dried excrement, heaped up at the back of the cave and with a hollow in the center like a bowl. Small bones poked out of it like thorns, and more than a few that were not so small. In the very center of it sat two eggs. They nestled together like a pair of brown jars, swaddled in filthy bits of rag and old, molted feathers. The smell this far in was so bad it made the men’s eyes water, and tears ran down their cheeks as if they mourned the death of their very own mothers.
“By the gods, I can’t take it no more,” Ilbei said. “We seen what we seen. There’s no danger back here.”
Kaige gagged and coughed as he backed away. “Won’t ever complain about backfilling latrines again,” he said. “I swear it. I won’t.”
“Aye, lad. I’ll second that.”
They returned to the mouth of the cave, which by odiferous comparison was like moving from a sewer to a coffeehouse. Ilbei leaned out and waved for Meggins to lower Mags down.
“Let’s get this other rope set and get out of here,” he said as Mags was getting underway. He found a suitable crack in the rock and pounded a piton into it with a few sure strikes. He placed a second a span farther up for safety, and then tied his rope through the rings. By the time Mags had joined them, the rope was set.
Mags held Meggins’ old bow and quiver, which she handed to Kaige when she came in. “I can’t draw it back,” she said. “But Meggins wants you to cover him and Jasper on the way down, in case that harpy comes back.”
Kaige took it, but shook his head. “I ain’t no archer. Give me a javelin or spear. Bows is for sissies.”
“He told me you’d say that, and he made me promise to say, and I quote, ‘Just shut your hole and do it, and don’t break it when you pull it back.’”
“That sounds like you, Sarge,” Kaige said. “Sounds funny coming out of a girl’s mouth.”
She smiled and turned to Ilbei. She was about to say something, but her eyes widened as she looked beyond him out into the cavern. “She’s coming back.”
“Who?” Ilbei said, but figured out what Mags meant immediately after. He leaned out of the cave entrance far enough to see that Jasper was only a quarter of the way down.
“Kaige, get over here with that bow. And don’t break it, like he said.”
Kaige stepped-to right away, all traces of humor gone, his mouth as straight a line as the arrow he pulled from the quiver. He drew it back carefully and waited for the harpy to come in range. They all saw immediately that she was flying straight for the cave. Meggins was likely the only one of them that was safe.
Kaige let fly the arrow, which went high and wide. He drew another, and got it off as the harpy swooped in, sending them all diving for the floor lest they be swept off their feet by her extended wings. The arrow punched through her wing but did nothing to slow her down.
Her momentum carried her past them, deeper into the cave, and they all leapt nearly as one to their feet.
“Get farther inside, stay away from the ledge,” Ilbei ordered. “Do it now!” He led by example, crouching and picking up the torch before moving deeper into the cave. He advanced slowly on the harpy, Kaige’s shortsword in one hand, the torch in the other, ready to strike with either or with both.
The harpy spun back and crouched, her wings swept out on either side, the long vulture talons that served as her feet curling into the layer of dried fecal dust and grit on the floor, prepared for a leap.
Blood ran down her forehead where she’d struck Ilbei with her head, and her dark eyes flashed black in the light of his torch. He moved toward her with his sword pointed at her heart. Kaige moved in with him, his sword gripped in two hands, raised for the long, sweeping strike that would cleave her in two, its gleaming blade angled over his shoulder and ready to come down the moment she was in range. Mags went between them, quarterstaff gripped tightly in hands with knuckles gone white again.
“Listen here, you,” Ilbei said. “We don’t mean you and yer unhatched brood back there no trouble, but we do need this here ledge to climb down. So why don’t ya just go on back there and tend to them eggs, and we’ll be off fast as ya can spit.”
She hissed at him, a rasp from the back of her throat, just as the fire blast at the far end of the cavern flared, casting her in bright light. She flinched, turning sideways as she shielded her eyes with a long, pale forearm, revealing as she did the feathered side of one thigh, where, midway down, human muscle gave way and became the limb of a bird, a vulture’s limb, for it could be nothing else.
“I’m tellin ya true, we mean no troubles fer you or yer nest. So go on back. We’ll back off if’n ya do.” To prove that he wasn’t lying, even though he had no idea if she could understand what he said, he backed up a step, indicating that Mags and Kaige should do likewise. “Give her room. Let her know we mean it.”
They stepped back, and Ilbei watched her warily in the temporary light of the flare behind them. She studied him, her eyes narrowed, intelligent and watching, her expression fierce. He thought she had rather fine features for such an awful bird, delicate even, almost beautiful. The layers of sweat and oil, the filth that clung to it as it lay upon her skin and hair, the bits of bone and flakes of white excrement in her hair, somehow couldn’t hide the intelligence or symmetry. But the feral growl that came from her throat suggested otherwise. There was no beauty in that hatred, nor, apparently, any comprehension. Still, she did not advance on them.
“That’s a good lass,” Ilbei said. “Weren’t no cause fer violence. That last we had, you and me, that was a misunderstandin. No sense ya gettin all carved up on account of nothin, and them stinkin babes you’re makin back there will need tendin I expect.”
The fire at the far end of the cavern died down, and once more she was shrouded in shadows, made worse by the effect of the sudden darkness on their eyes.
“Jasper, fer the teeth of Tidalwrath, are ya down yet?”
“I am, Sergeant,” Jasper said, just then entering the cave. He saw the harpy and, in his reflex to retreat, stepped back, nearly over the ledge. He would have fallen had Mags not lunged for him and caught him by the collar of his robes.
The harpy hissed and shuffled forward, menacing in her predatory crouch.
“Mags, do ya think ya can lower Jasper down that rope I set there?” Ilbei asked.
She looked at Jasper, then at the rope. “Yes, I think I can.”
“You think?” Jasper said. His eyes, already round and white around his irises for having just seen a hissing harpy and nearly fallen off a cliff, managed to widen even further. “I don’t think thinking is adequate for something like this.”
“Well, then ya have to do some of the work yerself, son. But get movin.”
“Well, why should I have to go first?”
“Jasper!” That was all Ilbei said, a volcanic blast that set the frail figure in motion, his face an odd mixture of insult—for having been deemed both weakest and least valuable in the fight—and relief at being able to remove himself from the harpy cave. Apparently it was one thing to be brave in the face of a harpy disease and another to be in combat proximity to the harpy itself.
He secured the rope around his waist, and Mags checked the knots. She braced her foot against the first piton Ilbei had sunk, pulling the rope toward her through t
he second until there was no slack between her, it and Jasper. “Go on,” she said. “Between us, we’ll be fine.”
Jasper frowned and started to say something, but Ilbei blasted him with a string of profanity so wroth and violent that it set both him and the harpy in motion, Jasper moving down and the harpy back a step.
“Sorry there, lass,” Ilbei soothed. “That weren’t meant fer you.”
“Meggins,” Ilbei shouted out. “You down?”
“Half, Sarge. A minute.”
Ilbei turned back to the harpy again, watching her watching him back. They remained that way until Meggins called that he was down. “Should I come in, or will that just piss her off?”
“No, stay out there fer now. Keep an eye out in case there’s another. There might be, given we got eggs back here in the nest.”
A few more minutes passed, and Mags announced, “Jasper’s on the ground. Want me to let myself down?”
“Can ya, lass?”
“I can,” she said.
“All right, go on, then. Be careful now.”
Mags lay on her stomach and folded her legs over the cliff. She let herself the rest of the way over, gripping the rope and moving down, hand over hand. A glimpse behind him showed Ilbei that she’d gone. To the harpy he said, “All right, so there’s two of us already away. Now I got another one outside what needs onto that there rope as well. I don’t expect ya understand me so much as I hope ya can hear it in my voice, but he don’t mean ya no harm neither.” He watched her but couldn’t tell if the slit eyes she glared at him with were slit in hostility or wariness.
“All right, Meggins, once Mags is down, ya come on over nice and easy and get on down that rope.”
“Aye, Sarge.”
Several more long minutes passed. The harpy began once more the raspy growl Ilbei had heard right before she’d attacked him the first time.
“Meggins, she almost down? I don’t think Lady Buzzard here figures we’re gettin done quick enough.”
“She is, Sarge. Give her a minute more.”
The harpy shifted her weight to her other foot, the movement flashing her nakedness fully and unashamed, stem to stern, as Ilbei remarked. He glanced to Kaige, hoping he’d not be distracted. The big man was grinning, holding his position, but with a dull vacancy upon him, his mouth open and his jaw slack.
“Kaige, fer lovin’s sake, quit yer gawkin. That there’ll send ya home with root rot they ain’t even got names fer. Weren’t that water nymph half drownin ya a few days back lesson enough?”
Kaige blinked and nodded fearfully, getting a better grip on his sword. “Right, Sarge. Sorry, Sarge. Just, a man can’t help his eyes. They just take hold sometimes.”
“She’s down,” called Meggins. “I’m coming in.”
At this, the harpy’s rasp grew loud and menacing. She looked sideways at Ilbei, and he knew she’d understood.
“Ya know exactly what we’re sayin, don’t ya?” he said. Her gaze moved to the edge of the cave entrance. She saw Meggins come into view, his black bow in hand, a black arrow ready if need be. Apparently that was the last of her patience. She lunged, her wings out, her weight pitched forward, her strong legs driving her.
Kaige swung his sword, intending to halve her at the breast, but she dove under it, gliding beneath, only a finger’s breadth off the ground. The strong bones at the leading edge of her wings struck them both at the ankles, knocking their feet out from under them as if by truncheon blows. They landed in near unison, thud, thud, face first in the dust. Meggins saw it in time to get off a shot, but it was barely a knick given the quickness of her dive. A few feathers flew, and the enchanted arrow blasted out a fist-sized crater in the floor.
She angled her glide upward enough to get her feet and hands beneath her again, and she charged straight at him, arms wide, intent on carrying him off the edge, just as Ilbei had predicted she might do. Meggins, fleet fellow that he was, dove for the rope as she came at him. He caught it with one hand as she veered and struck him despite the dodge. He kept his grip, but his bow flung out into the air, a black arc turning slowly as it spun away from him and fell.
He too spun, and he slammed against the rock, barely holding on. He grabbed for the rope with his other hand as he started to slide, his knuckles grinding against stone. He squeezed the rope with both hands, braking with all his might. The friction burned into his flesh, but he managed to prevent his descent from being free fall, and eventually stopped himself. He wound a stretch of rope around his foot and leg and grimaced at his hands before continuing down.
“Keep goin,” Ilbei called, already at the cliff’s edge and peering over anxiously. Relief washed over him as he saw Meggins working his way toward the ground. “Go, go, go.” Kaige appeared at his side and added his encouragement to Ilbei’s.
Meggins let himself down as quickly as he could, the pain in his hands making him wince and grunt with each new grip.
The harpy wheeled round in the air above the cavern floor, her shrieks echoing loudly from the ceiling. Ilbei watched beyond her, certain that the scores of little figures in the distance would come running around the bend and attack them, ending the escape well short of Hast. But they did not. In fact, the fire blast was flaring up again, and all the little people seemed bent on watching the flames and nothing more. He couldn’t tell for sure, but it seemed that only a few even turned to see her soaring there. If they had turned to watch, they looked away again right after. He supposed they were long used to her by now, though he couldn’t fathom why they tolerated her at all. That had to be their bones in that nest, at least someone they’d known.
She flew toward them again at terrific speed, this time coming across at an angle that would bring her parallel with the cliff, a pass across the ledge. She dove down and made a grab for Kaige with her taloned feet, causing both Ilbei and the big man to dive back into the cave.
They rolled right back to their feet when she’d passed, and they rushed to the edge again. She was already banking steeply and coming back for another try. She angled lower, and Ilbei realized immediately that she was going for Meggins this time. “Meggins!” he shouted, pointing at the harpy diving down.
Meggins looked up, saw Ilbei, then turned and saw her. He waited until the moment before she was about to strike, and when it came, released his grip, just enough to let himself free fall for a bit. The sound he made upon catching himself, upon sliding to a stop, made Ilbei and Kaige both wince, the pain he suffered made obvious by the ferocity of the sound he held back between clenched teeth. The harpy swooped out and began a long turn again, gaining no altitude and clearly bent on trying for Meggins again. Ilbei ran back into the cave at full speed. He clambered up onto the harpy nest, dust flying all around him in a rancid cloud. He snatched one of the eggs, finding it heavier than he’d expected, and then had to roll out of the nest, unable to climb out as its sponginess gave way beneath his boots like snow—dry snow, but in places slick with a creamy wetness that had a reek so foul it burned his eyes and turned his throat against itself.
He waded out of the last of it and ran back, gagging and choking, just as the harpy made another pass. Meggins slid down as far as he could, but the pain got to be too much, and he lost his grip, plunging the last four spans to the ground. He landed hard, but he managed to get his feet under him and roll as he hit.
The harpy swung round and came again, bent to set herself on him anyway.
“Here, here!” Ilbei shouted at her. “Look what I’ve got, ya reekin old witch. I’ve got yer nasty get right here in my hands!”
She looked up at him as she glided toward Meggins, Jasper and Mags, barely a man’s height off the ground. He saw her eyes grow large, the narrow black spots suddenly like orbs of onyx glaring hate at him.
“That’s right, ya ornery cow. Now get off of my people, and this here won’t get broke.” She pulled up, banking sharply and climbing with long beats of her filthy wings. She flew right by him, up from below, skimming so near to th
e cliff it hardly seemed possible. She grasped for her egg with long, viciously taloned toes.
Ilbei snatched it away. “Not bloody likely, you,” he snarled. “Now go on and leave us be.” He turned to Kaige. “Get down the rope, son. Be quick about it.”
Kaige set himself straight to the task. He grunted as he lay flat and pushed himself over the ledge, the starting of the descent the hardest part. He went down hand over hand, his long arms devouring the rope a span at a time and his movements effortless. Ilbei kept his eye on the harpy as she circled on high, all the while holding her egg above his head, ready to dash it on the ground if he had to. She circled around and around, watching, the sound of her outrage a shrieking, hissing rasp of absolute contempt that rained down on him like acid. He listened to it less than he listened to the sound of Kaige’s descent, the big man’s boots buzzing against the rope as he slid quickly down.
Ilbei chanced a glance down when the sound stopped, and he saw that Kaige was at the bottom at last. This final bit was going to be tricky, getting himself down. “Ya all need to cover me,” he called as he looked up at the harpy again. She was still circling. A second glance below revealed Kaige holding Meggins’ old bow and Mags wrapping Meggins’ hands. That was not reassuring. “I’ll do my best, Sarge,” Kaige called up.
The harpy sounded something that might have been a laugh, a sound that was part cackle and part shriek. She swung around, still watching Ilbei, her eyes glaring black like poisoned darts.
“I’m settin it down right here,” Ilbei called up at her, as he squatted and placed the egg on the ledge. “I didn’t do it no harm, nor the other inside. No sense we can’t do this peaceably.”
Again came the cackling shriek, and he knew she was daring him to climb down. But there wasn’t much for it at that point. He had to get down. With another glimpse down the cliff, at which Kaige raised up the old bow reassuringly—or so he intended anyway—Ilbei set himself to the descent.
