RAVEN WARRIOR

He reeled groggily,his temple hot with pain. He saw his attacker, the warrior woman,standing over him with her arms raised,black cloak furled about her like great wings. Her head was forward,the blue glass beads of her eyes fixed on him greedily. He tried to get his weapons up in defense but she struck too swiftly and with a hoarse cry that was both hiss and shriek at once, she threw herself upon him. Her weight drove him back against the hearth. But as he fell, Arithon Tempestas realized with horror that it was now no human being who was upon him, but a giant raven, bigger than a hawk, black as a moonless sea. The bird was maddened by bloodlust,fighting to strike at his bleeding wounds,raking at his chest with its heavy claws , beating him about the head with heavy wings that raised a deafening thunder in his ears......


The wound on his head was bleeding, he realized. He could feel the wet ooze of it as he watched the hungry light flare in the bird's yee. He tried to get his weapons up in defense,but she struck still too quickly. So furious was the attack, so stunning in speed, that the astonished Storm King was nearly helples in his plight. The swords fell from his hands as he raised one arm to shield his face and the other to try to hold the raven off. He was unable to get up or move away. The bird's beak struck in a blur of speed jabbing at him ..at his eyes cutting his cheek, tearing his forearms. A detached corner of his mind registered that his bird was going to kill him here. It would tear out his throat, pluck out his eyes, sit on his carcass and slake its thirst in his blood. And he didn't have the strength to stop it.


Then a hand came into his view. It was a bright hand and at that same time the same detached portion of his mmind regarded it with curiousity. The hand was so close that Arithon could see its fine details: etched nails, the lines of flexing joints......the hand gripped the bird about its thick neck clenched very tightly and pulled. The raven was torn away from Arithon, flapping and screeching, its claws and beak still trying to rake the Rex Tempestas. Arithon sat up to see it dangling above him, held out safely at arms length in the bright hand. Then the bird was sent away with a slight movement of the hand;which sent it across the room to land,like a tattered scrap of black cloth amidst the tables. It lay motionless a moment and then it began to move. In dazed amazement, Arithon Telanis Tempestas watched the bird's form convulse, shimmer and suddenly expand as the raven resumed the shape of the Morrigan. Her face was contorted with the blind fury of a raptor driven from its kill. She started back towards him.....


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