Sunset came and went, and darkness descended over the trio as they continued swinging and lugging. Usually Thalor would have been by two or three times to check on them during their shift, but there was still no sign of the man.

  Unfortunately for Soren, Alaric, the big brute who had knocked him unconscious, had indeed taken a liking to him. Well, he liked to pester and goad him at least. He had come by five or six times already and stayed for much longer than Thalor would have.

  The first time he had shown up, Soren had been sure to show how hard he was working, not wanting to risk another beating. By the fourth visit, Soren had realised that the extra effort was pointless, Alaric would always find fault, either he wasn’t chopping hard enough or he was carrying logs too slow. Soren couldn’t win.

  Alaric wasn’t beating him though, so that was a plus. As long as Soren was working, he would just shout and threaten. By the sixth visit Soren had started zoning him out.

  “This is going to be a long night”, said Alissa as she returned from dropping off the latest cart of wood.

  They took the carts to an unload point once it was full, it was another wings job to start them on their journey to Aerionthor, and picked up an empty one to repeat the process.

  “At least it's cooler at night,” replied Finn, wiping sweat from his forehead.

  The day had been hot so Soren couldn’t help but agree. Despite the fact they wouldn’t get any sleep, he was looking forward to the cool night air..

  “Did they say if we’ll be working our usual shift tomorrow?”, asked Soren, the thought suddenly occurring to him.

  “They didn’t say… but I think it's likely, I can’t imagine we'll be getting a day off”, replied Alissa, sighing.

  “I guess not…” said Soren, as he swung his axe down into the latest trunk he was cutting, his twelfth so far today. “I wonder if Alaric will be coming around during the night as well, hopefully he likes to sleep so we don’t have to have him watching over our shoulder again”

  “I don’t know, I’m starting to grow used to the guy” said Finn. “He’s got a certain brutish charm about him, you know?”

  “He beat Soren half to death Finn, I don’t think he’s charming in the slightest”, replied Alissa.

  “Yeah, but he hasn’t touched him again since. Maybe he was just showing off for his pals”

  “Funny way of showing off” said Soren, glancing down at the blood that still stained his clothes. “Was he a rider do either of you know?”

  “No idea”, said Alissa. “I only saw the lady who did most of the talking dismount, the others were there when I arrived”

  “There was only 3 birds”, said Finn, “so likelihood is he is”

  “I wonder what qualifies them to get their own bird” wondered Soren out loud. “The stories never say much about how that works, and we hardly ever get to see actual riders”

  “I always assumed it was like a military rank of some sort”, said Alissa. “Like either you get assigned to a certain division, one of them being with the birds, depending on your skillset, or maybe once you hit a certain rank you get assigned a bird”

  “Hmm maybe”, Soren considered. “That wasn’t how it worked with our people though was it? And their dragons”

  “I think you know those stories better than the both of us” replied Finn, chuckling.

  “Yeah, I think having a dragon choose you afforded you a certain rank rather than the other way round”, Said Alissa.

  “Maybe it's the same with them and the birds?” asked Soren.

  “Maybe it is” said Alissa. “Hard to know without speaking to them, and I can’t imagine they’ll be very forthcoming”

  “Why don’t you ask your pal if he comes back?” said Finn, grinning. “He seems to like you, i’m sure he’d love to chat”

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  “I’m staying as far away from that man as I can. Here’s hoping he has gone home for the night”, replied Soren, as he unloaded a huge chunk of wood into their cart.

  “Time will tell I guess”, replied Alissa as she returned to chopping.

  As it turned out, Alaric did come back that night.

  Full darkness had just descended, the moon rising high into the sky, its glow glistening off the dewy grass. Soren was readying himself to start hauling the latest cart they had filled to the drop off point when a high pitched cawing startled them all.

  Before any of them could speak, a giant shadow crested the trees, temporarily blocking out the moon light. A gust of wind passed over them all as a giant bird beat its wings as it came into land in their little clearing, mere paces away from where Soren now stood.

  Soren had never seen one this close before and it was a terrifying experience. The bird was huge, its yellow pointed beak the size of Sorens head, its black talons the size of Soren’s hands. Its feathery back looked to be glistening blue in the moonlight, flecked with dark black patches, its golden eyes flitting around taking in its new surroundings.

  The bird had a feral look about it, its eyes wild and uncertain. Soren had no doubt that this thing could gut him like a fish without any effort, and that thought terrified him.

  It took Soren a moment to realise that there was a figure astride the birds back. Alaric sat there and as Soren noticed him, their eyes met, the brute smiled and nudged the bird with his foot. The thing reared up, beating its wings, hovering just off the ground, and landed an arm's length from Sorens face to let out a screeching caw.

  Soren flinched back, Alissa screamed, and Soren heard Finn curse in surprise.

  Rearing back again, the bird dipped its head and then leapt into the sky, its long feathery wings beating hard to take it up high into the sky. As it cleared the tree line some two hundred paces above, straining to see in the darkness, Soren saw the bird tuck in its wing and dip into a tight role. Its rider, Alaric, was turned upside down for a few seconds, somehow managing to stay seated, before the bird righted and took off in the direction from which it had come.

  “Holy shit”, said Finn.

  It took Soren a second to gather himself. “What the hell was that?!” said Soren, trying to get his heart rate under control.

  “That was your new friend and his other big, feathery, terrifying friend”, replied Finn.

  “Well that answers one question, we know he’s a rider now”, said Alissa as she eased herself into a sitting position, all the blood drained from her face.

  “That was… that was… something else”, said Soren.

  “You can say that again”, said Finn.

  “I’ve never seen one up so close, I knew they were big, but boy, that thing was huge!”

  “I thought it was going to eat you Soren!”, Alissa.

  Stunned, Soren replied “Yeah, so did I…”

  “Why are you smiling?” asked Finn, “I think i’d have wet myself if I was you”

  Awareness flowing to his face, Soren realised that he was smiling. “I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve just never seen one that close before! It was terrifying, but also, kind of exciting?”

  Finn chuckled to himself, “Only you” he said.

  “You're crazy”, said Alissa. “That man is crazy. That bird is crazy. This whole thing is crazy! You really did choose a bad day to be late Soren. Not only do we have the attention of one of the Aviori, but one whose a rider! He must be pretty important, just our luck”

  “Maybe that was just his way of saying goodbye?”, posed Finn.

  “We can only hope. I’ll be glad to never see him or that giant… thing again”, replied Alissa.

  Soren had got his heart rate under control now, the adrenalin that had been flowing through his veins had eased off. He felt quite tired now, the day's events catching up with him.

  That probably was a close call Soren thought to himself. But damn, was it cool to see one so close. Soren had seen the birds before, but only when flying overhead, or from a great distance. The sheer size of the thing was what stuck with him most. Imagine riding on the back of that, and the turn upside down! How did he not fall off?, he thought.

  “Soren?”, said Alissa. “Are you sure you're alright?”

  Breaking Soren from his thoughts, he realised he had been staring off into the distance, “Yeah, i’m all good. Thanks. Just feeling a bit tired now. Been a bit of a day”

  They both nodded, looking equally as tired.

  “I could do with a walk”, said Soren. “I’ll take this load to the drop off point” he said gesturing to the cart of logs.

  “Just take it easy”, said Alissa. “Its hard enough in the dark, let alone with the day you’ve had”

  “I will, don’t worry Alissa. I’ll be back shortly”

  Soren stepped over to the cart and lifted the long wooden arms to get it into position so he could haul it behind him. Angling down the hill, Soren set off at a steady pace, the features of the bird and its acrobatic flight replaying in his head as he made his way. Tired as he was, Soren realised he was smiling again. Awesome, he thought, that really was awesome.