Chapter 12: Eye, The Storm
The musstangler, one of the terrors of Elcon’s skies. It has a long tapering body with only two spider like limbs on it, near the head. This predator’s serpentine body is covered in ragged white feathers, the better to hide itself in the clouds and snow. It’s featherless head has a large wicked grey beak, the skin of the head is also a mottled grey.
In terms of size, a musstangler could fit a whole wolf in its mouth, even one holding a musical instrument like a lute of some kind. Now, this being has a curious method of flight. musstanglers have a webbing producing sack near the back of their head. Using webbing from the sac, their two limbs and any bones or stick like things they find, they make themselves a pair of wings.
These makeshift wings are not enough to allow them to fly, they also have growing above and over their beak an outcropping of muscle and horn, they spin these wide flat horns like a propeller. Using this, their wings and the wind, they fly.
The musstangler before Lupix and her band was happily eating the bargephant that they had hoped to fly on.
“I-it just ate our ride” Lupix wailed.
“What do we do now?” Mik added.
“What if we tried playing the song again” Specker said.
“That is a terrible idea, you should feel bad for saying it” Am ‘P’ noted.
“why don’t we try flying it?” Mik offered.
Lupix looked and winched at the musstangler as it devoured the bargephant, it was ignoring them.
“I’m not so sure that is a good idea either.”
Musstanglers were known for being particular foul tempered, infact supposedly they were only happy when feeding. It did look very happy tearing into the sorry deflated remains of the bargephant. It was at this point that Lupix remembered that she hadn’t eaten since last evening.
Her stomach rumbled.
The musstangler looked up from its meal, eyeing the band with one of it’s cold blue avaian eyes.
The band froze.
“You know in my youth I rode a number of flying beasts…” Koul said.
He got into a staring match with the musstangler. Rebcubre and beast, both tried to stare down the other.
All at once, the beast huffed, air pouring from its nostrils and turned to face Lupix. Very reverently it horked up a raw chunk of bargephant at Lupix’s feet. If they had known more about musstanglers they would not have been surprised by this.
You see, while they may be illtemptered feathery predators, they also cannot stand to see a denizen or creature go hungry. Many a wanderer has found themselves saved by a musstangler while on the brink of starvation, only to be eaten later as the musstangler will happily eat a being they have fattened up.
“I think it wants you to eat it” Mik said with distaste.
“Wouldn’t want to offend it would you?” Am ‘P’ warned.
Lupix’s stomach rumbled.
It was around that moment that Lupix decided to cook the remains of the bargephant. She could sing flame after all.
The musstangler had greatly enjoyed the cooked meat, as had the band. It turned out that the bargephant meat tasted great and smelt wonderful. Lupix wondered how they were going to fly the creature as it’s huge head affectionately nuzzled up to her, making a ghastly combination of purring, hissing and croaking, and almost knocking her over.
“So… you think you can fly this thing Koul?” She said, vaguely dazed.
Koul frowned.
“I can try Princess, but I won’t try, I’ll do it”
With that, they climbed onto the musstangler, which didn’t seem to mind them at all, glut with meat and cooked meat.
“Hold on tight” Koul Growled.
Then, coming from his beak, he began a series of clicks and whistles. They were unsteady at first, but grew more commanding. Koul’s hands also searched among the musstangler’s feathers, trying to find particularly sensitive ones.
Lupix knew of what Koul was speaking, the beastmaster’s voice! The musstangler thrashed and turned as the clicks and whistles wormed their way into its mind then all at once it grew still.
“Ahh, haven’t lost my touch, now then, easy does it”
Koul said this, but what actually happened was the musstangler sliding quickly over the snow, propeller horn spinning up and then, they jerked into the air. Lupix laughed. They were flying!. The ground grew more and more distant from them, and they could see far more around them.
Lupix saw it in the distance, and then new that there was no other place she could sing her spellsong. There in the distance, cutting through the white snowfall, was the black ruins of Wolfhiem.
“It’s there! I need to sing it there!” Lupix cried out to Koul, who simply nodded and steered the musstangler over by the feathers he was clutching.
As they were making their way over, a whirring different form the musstangler’s came to their ears.
Then, screaming through the clouds came a pack of six hoctulars!
Octulars, are not nearly as large as musstanglers, but hunt in packs to make up for this. They are horrid creatures round in shape, covered in sharp spines with no limbs other than their large manipulator parts located along with their mouth at the bottom of their round body. A large red eye dominates their body.
They fly by spinning their tail, a tail which sprouts from the top of their round spikey body. Worst of all, they hunt by firing spines from their bodies at other unsuspecting flying beings. Elconic herders of livestock are known to despise these creatures for their tendency to pluck livestock up into the sky with their mouthlimbs.
Koul swooped to the right as the hoctulars fired a barrage of spines at them.
“Lupix! You gotta take them out! This creature isn’t built for dodging, just gliding and diving on prey!”
Lupix was on her own in this, the conepeople were safely stowed away in Koul’s drum, along with the sand from the spirits.
She put her paws to her thunder lute and plucked out a song.
It was “I, the Storm”. It was a song that had been made by one of the wolf royals, the mad inventor, Franks I. He had used it for various experiments, most of which were focused on making lightning into an instrument.
When played on a normal instrument it was just an electric song, thrumming with power and omen, but played on a thunder-lute, like the one Lupix held that had been made by Franks himself, it called a storm.
As Lupix plucked and strummed on her instrument’s stings, the clouds above them darkened and crackled. The hoctulars grew wary. The sky was home to many beings, but most could not live when the nastier elconic weather came.
Lupix became the storm, willing the clouds heavier. Her eyes crackled with lighting. Her strums were thunder.
All at once there was almighty claps from the clouds, as if they were applauding her. The hoctulars tried to flee and the musstangler broke from Koul’s control.
It was however, far to late. The lightning answered Lupix’s call, for she was the storm. The thunder lute hung from its strap on her body, forgotten. The Storm did not need it, for thunder and lighting were her song.
The hoctulars fell smoking, struck by lightning bolts.
The storm raged on with thunder and lightning, sing her song of fury and destruction, the snows were whipped around by the winds, as they grew excited. Something sounded, in the storm, but the STORM WAS GREATER LOUDER, THERE WAS NOTHING BUT THE STOr…
Lupix came back to her senses as Koul hit her over the head with one of his clubs.
“Ah, good, you are back princess? I am glad, I would never have forgiven myself if you had turned into a cloud, and I’m sure you didn’t really want to become one”
Lupix hugged Koul.
“T-thank you Koul, for bringing me back… it was just… so overpowering”
Koul patted her on the head.
“Well, not to worry, it is over now, I’m supposed to protect you aren’t I, princess even if the one you need protection from is yourself”
Lupix smiled, then her smile vanished.
“Wait, if you are here comforting me, who is flying the musstangler?”
He scratched the back of his body, “Well, about that, it is a bit late for that you see.”
Koul pointed at the remains of the musstangler’s makeshift wings, blown apart by lightning.
“Ah. Woops.” Lupix got out before they really started falling.
Down through the sky, down to the ruins of Wolfhiem.