[center][h3]Roc Mission[/h3][/center]

The roc reached lower, her neck stretched and beak wide open. She expected an easy treat, just like the last ground walker, ready to snatch up her prey easily. What she didn’t expect was the sudden pain from Arc’s bite. His teeth bit into the soft down feathers and into the flesh underneath, drawing a little bit of her blood and staining the skull’s teeth. She jerked and pulled back, the pain rippled through her mind causing her to let out a deafening screech. The sound ruptured through the open area, filling and vibrating off the air, killing her attacker’s hearing. 

Her wings kicked forward, scattering dirt against the vampire, while hoping backward to buck the skull off. The Roc’s head thrashed and flipped back to reach for the skull still latched onto her back. Attention taken by Arc’s antics, the Roc never saw Eural and Annabeth burst from the woods on wagon. Eural’s hands gripped the reins, snapping them to keep the frantic and willful Samson in his full out run. The horse’s mouth was wide in panic on seeing the giant bird still trying to toss Arc off.  

Schwaff! 

Annabeth shot off the arrow right as the roc managed to twist herself about, flinging the skull across the air. Arc went flying once more as his head, in some divine or higher power, managed to land into the wagon. It smacked into several white bones, clothing and a familiar cane…

Meanwhile, the arrow splits at last moment and the vine rope spread across the roc’s neck. It twisted about her neck as it entangles her wings and pins them to her body, crippling her ability to fly. The animal screeches in fury and her head jerked to the side, spotting the still rattling wagon rumbling in a dead gallop away. She hiss. Wasting little time, her claws dug into the earth as she bolted after the wagon. While the roc wasn’t adapt for ground running, she was no slouch in her speed. Barely keeping up, the roc’s head strained against the tangled rope and smacked against the wagon side. 

Eural shouted, his body almost tossed from his perch. Both Annabeth and Colette, as well as Arc, would feel the impact, sending them to the wagon’s other side. “Someone better kill that thing before she kills us!” The guide cried, his arms struggled to jerk Samson to rebalance the cart.