The thunderbird shot straight for us. To touch it in any meaningful way would send a shock of electricity through us.
Think it through.
I had to cut out that electricity. Or shield the gargoyles from it.
The gargoyles flew steadily around me. The one at my side thrummed and then snapped his wings, like a battle commander barking commands.
Think it through.
It occurred to me that I really didn’t know what that meant, and repeating it over and over wouldn’t help anything.
Charge that sonuvabitch and think on the fly.
That had always been more my speed, anyway.
The speed with which the thunderbird flew frazzled my brain, though, and it wasn’t even trying! It was just gliding, as handy as it liked.
The gargoyles around me shot upward, and New Guy dove in to attack just behind the thunderbird’s head. I slapped up a protective barrier for him, and the lightning zipped around him, leaving him unharmed. Another went in, following New Guy’s lead. And another. I covered for them, fast as I could, missing one and throwing up a net to catch him down toward the trees.
The thunderbird was right on me.
I flapped harder to dart upward, but it was coming too fast for me to gain enough altitude. I thought about dropping, but it pumped its wings and shot forward. I wrapped myself in an energy-absorbing shield as the newcomer rose and turned my way. He would never get there in time.
The lightning hit my shield first, soaking in. The beak hit next, trying to pierce me through the middle. It hit off my shield, and the shock turned to a violent explosive. The great bird’s head shot backward and its wings pumped helplessly at the sky, offering me a killing shot.
But I was sailing away end over end, rocketed just as hard by the blast but much, much lighter.
I was spinning so fast that I couldn’t even figure out where I should throw a net. I flared my wings, but the wind caught them and tweaked one, wrenching it painfully. I cried out, pulling it in, spinning. The trees reached up to break my fall and probably crack my limbs.
A body hit me from the side. Strong arms wrapped around me and held me close while large wings snapped open and stopped our fall. The newcomer grunted as he took to the sky.
The thunderbird had regained control, and it was flying faster now, angry. It went after the other gargoyles, trying to peck at their wings, beating its hind wings quickly to send out flurries of electricity. A great, thunderous roar scattered everyone close to it.
I pointed. Get me closer.
New Guy flew at incredible speed, pulling up behind it. Apparently he thought I was going to do something.
He was right.
That thing wasn’t impervious to blasts, and I was really good at blowing things up.
Right on its tail, I sent off an explosive spell. I immediately pointed away, and New Guy banked, so smooth and natural, so much less jarring than flying with Damarion had been. Or maybe I was just used to it, although I could never fly like this on my own. My wings simply weren’t made for it.
The explosive hit and the bird squealed, flapping and trying to turn. Its wings weren’t as dexterous as gargoyle’s, though. We banked and dove, getting under it.
“Waaai-t,” the new guy said in my ear.
A gargoyle dove in from the side, and I threw up a barrier for him. It occurred to me that the blows they were landing probably wouldn’t even leave bruises. They certainly weren’t doing any real damage. I had to cut out that electricity or they could just go home.
What was the nemesis of electricity?
“No-ow,” the gargoyle said, the word surprisingly clear. Male gargoyles had bigger fangs than I did and struggled more to communicate in their shifted forms.
I blasted the thunderbird in the neck this time. It squawked, knocked off-kilter, flapping its wings.
Ground. Lightning was extinguished when it hit the ground.
The next time New Guy swooped around, I hit the bird with a different spell, covering it with a fine layer of rock. Skin like a gargoyle’s.
The bird’s flapping increased, laborious now. Thunder still rolled from each of its wingbeats, but no one was in front of it to get hit by the sonic waves. Gargoyles dove in, punching at it like they’d been doing, then realized they could dig in.
New Guy tossed me up into the air and banked, heading for the bird.
“Oh shii—” I flapped my arms for some insane reason, caught off guard.
A moment later, coming to my senses, I switched to flapping my wings and quickly climbed in altitude. Turning, I found two gargoyles had stationed themselves between me and the thunderbird, clearly guarding me in case it managed to shake off the stone skin. But the thunderbird flailed, one set of wings wounded, the gargoyles working on the other. In a matter of moments, the bird tucked its wings in and fell like a stone, crashing through the trees and into the ground.