She mis-timed her fall and landed on the back of the thing’s elongated head, almost where its eyes would be, if it had any. She’d hoped to use her urgrosh on the yrthak the same way she’d used her arm on the Lyrandar pilot, holding it across the creature’s neck, controlling where it went by controlling its air supply. She quickly realized the flaw in that plan, though, for where the half-elf could understand her instructions, the yrthak, while it responded to the sounds, did not seem to comprehend the meaning behind them. Either that or it was too incensed by the sheer audacity of the two-legged thing trying to use it as a mount to care what she was saying.
“Calm down, big guy. No one needs to get hurt here,” she said, trying to soothe it like a skittish horse, but to no avail. She gripped its head between her legs, hoping the pressure of her knees might induce the yrthak to go where she wanted it to, but that only seemed to anger it further. It whipped its massive head back and forth, trying to shake her off.
Fine. If the stinking reptile wanted to act like a headstrong stallion, well, she knew how to deal with one of those.
She pulled her urgrosh back out of its harness and leaned forward, swinging it around and catching the haft just below the axe-head in her other hand. Then she pulled back on it like a scared trainee sawing at the reins, snapping the yrthak’s jaw shut with a spray of slimy spittle.
She’d only thought the creature was mad before. Now it tossed its head in all directions, spinning in the air and diving and banking in an effort to dislodge her. It even tried to scrape her off on the hull of the Inheritance, but she leaned far to the side and all it succeeded in doing was taking off a layer of its own scaly skin. Through it all, Sabira held on doggedly, helped in no small part by the shard axe’s enchantment. There was an old saying, “Sooner move a mountain than a dwarf,” and the yrthak was learning the truth of that now, for with the urgrosh in her hands, she was as unyielding as any Mrorian ever born.
It seemed to take hours, but the yrthak finally tired and became compliant, banking right when she put pressure on the left side of its jaw and left when she put pressure on the right. She was likewise able to get it to descend or rise by exerting the appropriate force. She had the thing under control.
Now she just had to hope that neither of the airships’ crews would decide to shoot the yrthak out of the sky while she was on it.
Using the urgrosh as a makeshift bridle, she swooped low over the waves to find whoever had fallen from the Inheritance. A body floated face-down in the water, already being circled by fins. A flash of dark hair sent fear coursing through her, but then she saw the tip of a pointed ear poking out and felt a rush of guilty relief.
The unfortunate fellow was probably the Inheritance’s pilot, which was going to make things very interesting after they got rid of all these yrthaks.
If they got rid of them.
But it wasn’t Elix. Thank the Host, it wasn’t Elix.
She knew she couldn’t rejoice just yet. He might not have been the one who’d gone overboard, but he could still be dead somewhere up on that ship. She had to find out.
As she urged her reptilian mount upward, Sabira saw Irlen a hundred feet away, perched precariously on the life ring, which now floated less than a foot above the choppy surface of the sea. A few fins had gathered around his position, too, in anticipation.
Well, the half-elf was on his own for now. She’d save him later, if she could. Just as soon as she’d saved everyone else.
The yrthak climbed up through the air, and Sabira brought it around so she could survey the damage to the Inheritance. The second remaining control fin was half gone, and several holes gaped in the portside bow. One of the binding struts for the elemental ring looked to have been damaged, and flames danced along its length as the now-uncontrolled elemental tried to escape its bonds. A soldier wearing Deneith colors was manning the ballista, firing great harpoon-like bolts at the yrthak that continued to harry the ship from the air. The second yrthak had landed on the deck and was using its jaws to formidable effect while its great leathery wings swooped to and fro, batting its attackers away like chaff in the wind.
One of those attackers was Elix, his dragonmark glowing blue as he ducked the yrthak’s blow and countered with a slash of his sword. Mountainheart was beside him, stabbing out with his rapier, while three others came at the yrthak from the opposite side. Four more bodies lay crumpled about the deck, unmoving.
Sabira used her urgrosh bridle to steer her yrthak toward the ship. She considered leaping from its back to that of the yrthak on the deck, but discarded the idea immediately. The moment she released her hold on her mount’s jaw, she would be relinquishing her power over it, and it would attack. And since it couldn’t reach her, it would go for the next best thing: the Inheritance and her crew.
No, she needed to take this one out of the picture before she could help fight the other two. Positioned as she was on the back of its head, there was only one way to do that. But she was only going to get one shot, and if she missed, she’d be joining the Lyrandar pilot as food for the sharks.
Slackening her hold slightly, she inched her way up the yrthak’s head until she was at the juncture of horn and skull. Sparing a glance at the Inheritance, she saw that the yrthak was almost above the deck. It was now or never.
She loosened her grip even more so that she could bring her legs back up underneath her. Once she was in a crouch, she released the hand near the urgrosh’s axe-head and swung the weapon out and up with her opposite hand while simultaneously jumping to her feet. Then, before the yrthak could register the fact that it was free, she grabbed the shard axe in both hands and brought it down as hard as she could on the winged reptile’s horn, shearing it off at the base.
And then she jumped.
As she hit the Inheritance’s deck, she bent her knees and curled into a ball, rolling across the pitted wood until she fetched up against the side of the forecastle. The yrthak, meanwhile, opened its mouth wide and screamed in silent agony, thrashing about in midair. One wild wing flapped into the elemental ring, burning through the leathery skin and leaving it in blackened, smoking tatters.
Crazed with pain, the yrthak flew blindly, its tail lashing out and slamming into the ballista, breaking the mighty weapon in two and almost crushing its operator, who dived out of the way at the last moment. Then it careened straight into its airborne clutch-mate, mindlessly attacking it as the two fell toward the water in a snarl.
Sabira climbed to her feet as the deck lurched below her, still listing heavily to the right. She made her way over to where the others were battling the remaining yrthak, only to see Elix on the deck, flat on his back and weaponless beneath one of the thing’s clawed forelimbs. Mountainheart and the others hacked at its tough hide, trying to distract the thing from making Elix its next meal, with little success.
Suddenly, Sabira remembered the tale of the Flamer priests up in the Starpeaks. Promising half of her next three fees to the Temple of Olladra, she cleared her throat and began to sing the first thing that came to mind.
The yrthak’s head whipped around in her direction and its claw came up.