Chapter 27

They were still riding in silence, but before another ten minutes passed, they all drew up when Ghemella hissed a vulgarity.

"Ghemella, was it?" Arhyvhynne asked worriedly.

The Guardian did not speak. Instead she pointed up at the sky to the south. Uriel followed her outstretched arm and looked up into the falling drizzle. "What the hell are those?"

"Vhultards," Ghemella said with loathing.

"Like I said, what are they?"

Ghemella explained. The vhultard was a large bird, its wingspan normally in excess of fifteen feet. It was entirely black with eyes the color of blood, which coincidentally, was their preferred liquid for quenching thirst. The head resembled that of a hawk with a wicked, curved beak. The vhultard's body was a full four feet in length and solidly built. Both arms and legs ended in hands and feet with powerful talons. It also had a tail which was an additional three feet long. The appendage was segmented and had a poisonous tipped end similar to that of a scorpion. If their appearance was not frightening enough, the fact that they were only known to inhabit the Thaum Weald usually was. "They travel south," she told Arhyvhynne and Uriel. "To Daath Ul Thaum."

"Why? How do you know?" asked Uriel.