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Amidst the volume of noise, he thought he heard his name.  It was so hard now he was mid-fall with the wind in his ears.  However, what was easy to notice, was the sudden lightness of his body.  So accustomed to managing his own weight in the air, it was unmistakable.

A spell.  It had to be.

Lucas landed on the back of the griffin with both a comfortable accuracy and a comfortable impact.  The heavier Sir Fleuri landed a split-second earlier.  The two had earned a moment of surprise in their aerial ambush - a moment to steady themselves for a wild ride ahead.  The griffin began bucking and thrashing around, trying to dislodge them.  It's massive wings flapping might've been doing more to thwart Fleuri, who was in front, but for Lucas they were only a huge distraction.  With his excellent balance, Lucas adjusted his weight this way and that, riding the storm, until it finally calmed.

The calming was so instantaneous, there must've been a reason.  But Lucas didn't think on it overlong.  He only sensed his chance to rise up onto his feet and started gathering up the length of the chain, until it was only just long enough to go around the griffin's mid-section.  Then it started moving again, just as Lucas began to start swinging, whirling the chain above his head, like a lasso.  Whirling such a steel chain was hardly easy, and it's first rotation was close whacking Fleuri in the head.  Fortunately it was high enough to clear him.

One step, the griffin took.  Lucas maintained his balance, looked over the shoulders of Fleuri at the head of the griffin, and followed it's focus to it's new target.  It was Sir Lein - the Hundi archer was not the most difficult to recognize.  The chain picked up speed on as it progressed it's 2nd rotation.

Two steps, the griffin took.  Wobbling but righting himself again, Lucas realised he had to act quickly.  With a roar, he lashed the chain down.  It whipped down... around, under... and back up...

The griffin leapt into the air just as Lucas caught the chain's end.  Had he not caught it, he would've been thrown off the griffin's back, but now he had makeshift reigns to hold him fast in position as the griffin sailed up into the air.  For a brief moment, Lucas had a view of the slowly burning campsite.  The height the griffin had leapt, lowered the volume of battle just a little.  At the zenith of the beast's arc, Lucas used the drop in g-force to snap a set of manacles from the end of the chain onto the length of it.  As he let go of the end, the chain pulled tight to create a noose, tight around the griffin's body, the pulling force keeping it firmly locked in place.

[color=6ecff6][i]Here we go,[/i][/color] was the single thought as the griffin began to fall just as quickly as it had risen.

With just one single, steel strand to hold him in place, Lucas knew whatever happened, the landing was going to be rough.  One hand held the chain fast as he plummeted to the ground, feet firmly on the broad back of the beast.  Knees bent slightly, muscles coiled like springs, ready for the perfect moment to explode.  His free hand threw off the bandoleer of steel around him, and just as the mythical beast hit the ground, Lucas dove off to it's left side.

His grip loosened, the chain ran through his hand fast and furiously.  He flew off the griffin's back and hit the ground - feet first taking a painful portion of the impact - rolling several yards across the dirt before crashing into the steel cages nearby.  [color=6ecff6]"Ugh!!!"[/color]

He didn't know what hurt more.  Was it his shoulders? His back?  His legs?  All muscles and bones felt like they were pounding with pain.  His skull felt like a church bell that'd just been rang.  All he could he hear was a constant single-tone buzz through his head.  All he could feel was a broken body's agony.

Lucas lay hurt, a little away from the griffin, Fleuri and Lein.  Out of sight and out of mind, hopefully.  Fortunately, the chain had lashed through the air, the right way to land near him.  He reached out groggily toward it - eyes rolling to the back of his head a moment - but it wasn't close enough.  He'd have to move.  But he couldn't.

[color=6ecff6][i]Move![/i][/color]

One limb willed to movement at a time, Lucas got on all fours. He was not so out of it that he didn't know what he'd crashed against.  Steel.  Heavy steel.  There was a perfect tether point right behind him.  He crawled to the chain, his shoulder in so much pain that he face-planted into the dirt as he grabbed the chain.  Another burst of willpower and he pressed up from the floor, then struggled to his feet, almost keeling over as he swayed back towards the steel cages with his griffin leash.  In agonizing wrenching motions, he pulled the chain through the steel bars.

Wrap. Pull.  Wrap.  Under.  Over...

He tied the special knot he'd been taught for when it was his turn to help put up the circus tent pavilion.  He'd done it a fair few times.  Enough that he could manage it under such duress.  Reon, it wasn't even six months ago that he'd last done it.  If the griffin had stayed close enough, for long enough, he would manage it.

As his vision slowly sharpened and the loud buzz in his head quietened, his surroundings became clear.

"Help us!"

"You there, let us out of here!"

Lucas blinked a few times, trying to fully regain himself, and saw that the cages he'd tethered the griffin to, were full of prisoners.  He stumbled backwards a couple of steps to view them - their pleading eyes, their crying voices.  Then the awareness of the griffin behind him became his reality.  The rising temperature, the burning tents in the background.  More fire than before.  And more still to come, no doubt.  He had to get them out of here.  There was no waiting for the battle to be over.  It had to be [i]now[/i]!

He stumbled over to the cage doors, saw the padlocks, then looked around for something heavy.  To add to his luck, there were corpses nearby - dead bandits with arrows sticking out of their faces (compliments of Cecil and Lein, no doubt.)  Lucas raked up a dead bandit's longsword, went over to his chain knot, then planted the sword right through it, to create a final lock that would keep the griffin here, in place, to be killed.  He took up the next dead bandit's weapon next: A battle axe.

Lucas brought the two handed axe around, up and down on the first padlock.  And then again.  The padlock smashed apart.  He moved to the next cage door and attacked it's lock... [color=6ecff6]"Argh!!!"[/color] ...until he'd managed to smash that too.  The slide-bolt doors were opened and all of the prisoners came out, some rushing, some tottering, others limping.

[color=6ecff6]"Stay together!"[/color] Lucas shouted to be heard above the din.  He did his best to corral them as he looked about for the safest passage through the camp - through the fiery battlefield.  They were practically in the centre of it all, and there was no shorter route to choose.  East was certainly out of the question, for the giant tree trunk, ever burned and ever barred the way.  [color=6ecff6]"This way!"[/color]

And so Lucas, with all the prisoners from the cages, tried to move west-ish, through the burning camp and to freedom.  The young knight put himself between the prisoners and the griffin.  The beast was busy dealing with Sir Fleuri and Sir Lein, but Lucas would rather be the first to take a hit, if the creature managed to turn about and see them.

The path was not clear, but it was there.  Past the griffin, over the corpse-strewn, ember-strewn ground, past Paladin Tyaethe's team and out to safety.............