High in the Grey Tower

Chapter Eight

"Ruth!" Riftan's shout seemed to have infuriated the wyvern, which seemed to have been brought back to life with new vigor as it thrashed its wings, desperately trying to knock Riftan off its back. The knights on the ground were tossed aside and those who weren't were hit with the weight of the wyvern's tail smashing into the ground. Riftan's balance was thrown off for just a split second and the wyvern beat its wings rapidly, lifting it, and Riftan, off the ground.

Riftan desperately grasped for his dagger, hoping to find a handle to hang onto, but his reaching hand was met with nothing but the wyvern's slick scales. Riftan didn't even have time to let out a yell before he was tumbling off the wyvern's back and through the air. They had flown high into the sky and Riftan contorted himself towards the ground, but there was no hope of surviving this impact if he were to fall.

He had to survive.

For the first time in his life, Riftan felt his mortality grab him in a chokehold and felt Death's cold grasp around his neck.

No way out.

No way to fight the gravity pulling him back to Earth.

He saw Maxi's face flash before his eyes.

He never even gave her a proper goodbye.

He would die with such shame.

Riftan's stomach turned as he twisted himself in the air again, this time being met with the wyvern's sharp claw. His eyes glinted and he grabbed at the claw, trying to avoid being torn to shreds. They had climbed too high towards the clouds and the wyvern let out a shriek as another bolt of lightning came dangerously close to striking the beast. The wyvern instinctively closed its claw around Riftan's body and started to descend back to Earth.

Riftan struggled from inside the monster's grasp but wasn't too keen on plummeting down to the ground, so stayed as still as possible to avoid provoking the wyvern to drop him. He kept on high alert as the wyvern dove back towards the ravine, which he could see was in ruins. Riftan noticed an enormous dust cloud whirling around with frightening velocity and shuddered at the wreckage.

Dust was flying through the air and created a rippling effect from Riftan's view in the sky. The storm moved with such violence Riftan wasn't sure if any of his men would be able to survive. He swallowed that thought and tried to focus on the problem at hand. They would be safe. They had to be. He pushed the thought of Ruth's limp body underneath the boulder from his mind.

Suddenly, the largest crack of lightning yet seemed to strike dead into the center of the dust storm. The enormous cloud seemed to light up like the sky as the electricity danced through the puffs of dust it kicked up. Riftan clenched his jaw and resisted the urge to thrash within the wyvern's grasp.

The dust cloud swirled faster and faster below him and almost seemed to rise towards them as the wyvern quickly diverted its flight path away from the dust storm. But Riftan's eyes weren't playing tricks on him -- the dust storm was propelling upwards towards them at a dizzying speed. The wyvern let out a shriek and dropped Riftan like a hot iron in an instant.

Riftan began hurtling towards the ground and felt electricity in the air all around him. He realized in horror he was falling directly into the dust storm and grit his teeth trying to puzzle his way out of this one. However, no answer came to him. He felt his body start to lose control and it soon felt like he wasn't falling at all. He covered his nose and mouth with his tunic and turned his eyes towards the wyvern which was fleeing frantically.

In the blink of an eye, a great pulsing light came bursting underneath him from the center of the storm. The bright white light was scalding hot and seared the skin on Riftan's face with the heat. The beam jutted towards the wyvern and was blindingly bright upon impact. The wyvern's cry was cut short and the great beast was split cleanly in two.

The wyvern's body limply plummeted towards the ground and Riftan was left dazed as to what just occurred before his eyes. He turned and twisted in the air, but found himself gently floating back towards Earth. Finally, he was resting on a pile of debris and found himself surprisingly unscathed. He looked around and found the dust storm had completely subsided. The air was still and despite the deep darkness of the night, Riftan felt strangely at ease.

The feeling didn't last long before Riftan found himself sprinting towards where he last saw his men before the wyvern took off. His legs carried him nimbly over the debris littered across the ground. His breath was controlled as he maneuvered back and felt his breath hitch when he saw the bodies sprawled across the ground. The knights were stirring, most groaning in pain, as they rose to sit themselves upright.

"Ruth!" Riftan called, dropping to his knees aside the wizard who was lying still on the ground. He shook his head and tried to shake the pale man awake. Ruth's eyes opened slightly and the wizard raised his hand.

"My lord..." Riftan looked at Ruth with confusion clouding his eyes. "B... Behind you-"