Fowlhunter [GL]

“Come on, come on, come on!” Asha squeaked as she urged along the masses of helmeted children, emerging from their tunnels to look at the commotion. “There's no time to lose!”

The alarms had begun to screech as Lochlan lifted the Lunaki mistclouds placed on the activated alarms all at once. Sirens swept over the red-shadowed cavern walls, flashing faces in the darkness.

“Isn’t this supposed to be a drill?” someone said. “And who are you supposed to be?”

“Does it matter?” Asha squawked. “I could be your aunt, your cousin, or your long-lost great-grandma, but if we don’t get out of here we’ll all be the same thing: toast!”

“She’s a jokester, but she’s right,” Ying echoed as they shuffled along. “Move along.” Lochlan slinked around the sides of the crowd, providing his support here and there, picking up the stragglers. He was so quiet that Asha had to keep checking to make sure he was still there, squinting for the boy’s mop of teal hair in the helmeted masses around him.

There luckily wasn’t much resistance from the guards. If there had been initial disagreement among them at the first announcement from Pelia, the cacophony of alarms was enough to get them moving. They stumbled down several rock-walled corridors leading to the main elevators and emergency elevators. The chaos was relatively and surprisingly well-controlled. It seemed that at least the personnel of Vesuvio mines complied with safety regulations and had their regularly-scheduled evacuation drills.

One of the more unexpected sources of chaos was cavebats. Shrieking, they gusted past them in leathery clusters, leaving some hapless groups to wrestle with them, guards shooing them with sparking cattleprods.

“Aw geez, even the animals are spooked,” Asha remarked as the bats departed in a flurry of black.

“No time for that,” Ying groused. “We have a problem.”

The entire mine was currently evacuating. This was causing major congestion from the upper floors. The elevators were far too packed to fit everyone in quickly enough. The guards already looked like they were making decisions on who to save first. Many of them chose to save themselves first, shoving their way into the elevators and escaping.

“Ugh. Screw this,” Ying sighed. “Give me some space.”

Though perplexed, the people around her took a few steps back. Then they watched as the woman inhaled deeply as she closed her eyes for a second. In the next seconds, her muscles began to swell, moulding along her transforming body. A coat of pristine russet-gold fur covered her skin, her headscarf smoothed back until it was one with the fur of her forehead. Two spiny horns stuck out from her forehead, one in front of the other. Lastly, the shapes of majestic, jade-green wings sprouted from her sides. This was the mythological pixiu, in the flesh: a lioness, equipped with the wings of an eagle.

“It’s a Beast,” people yelped.

“She was a Beast this whole time?”

“Why is a Beast helping us?”

“Does it matter? Get on already,” Asha urged. “When you’re out, you can tell your momma and papa you had a really bad dream.”

“If this is a dream, I’d like to wake up as soon as possible,” Ying grunted as children started to pile onto her. Despite their apprehension of the Beast, their more immediate fears took precedence. “Where’s Moru and the others?”

“Shortly behind us.” Asha was receiving updates from Ennanis via their communication charm. According to her, they had finished rigging the explosives and were presently running to catch up with them.

“And Jemi?”

“What do you think? Gone like the wind,” Asha said. “Duh.”

“Prometheus damn it,” Ying swore. Some boy sitting on her neck kicked her in the face. “Guess we just have to keep going.”

“Atta girl,” said Asha. “Our princess trusted us with this mission, and we sure as hell are gonna follow through.”

A frown swam across the pixiu’s face. Lochlan helped a few more kids onto her back, using some extra rope and harnesses he pulled from his cloakpockets to secure some of them, but he was also casting nervous glances at them.

The truth was that Asha was worried too. But they didn’t have any choice. They all had their own battles to fight. Whether it had been in the undercloud towns, on Mount Casca, or here. They just had to believe.

Things proceeded as planned. However, just as they were in the middle of getting the children onto the upper floors, the speakers crackled anew.

“?” wondered Asha, Ying and Lochlan. Did Pelia have more announcements to make?

Just then, a booming voice rolled through the speakers:

“Everyone, this is Vesuvio speaking.”

The Beasts froze.

“Disregard the previous announcement,” said the unmistakable voice of the owner of the mines. “It was made by an intruder. To the miners working on the upper levels, please continue your swift evacuation. As for the dust… being the ones responsible for this, they are to stay behind and see to the necessary repairs.”

At the words ‘intruder’, everyone’s eyes swivelled to the three outsiders.

“Ehmm…” Ying sweated. “Maybe that was the wind?”

The boy kicked her in the face again. Repeatedly. “Owowowow! Okay!” Slowing the flap of her wings, she set down on the upper level, and everyone scrambled off her back. The children who were already on the level gave the three Beasts a wide, frightened berth, but they looked at a loss for what to do. Continue evacuating, or go back down as ordered and possibly face death? All of them worked close enough to the lava to taste the heat, know how dangerous it had been… they could only imagine how dangerous it was now.

“Ugh, this was the work of the resistance, wasn’t it?” someone began to complain.

“If they don’t like it here, they should’ve just left! Why do they have to make things difficult for the rest of us?”

The elevator dinged, and more workers spilled out of the doors, expressions confused and helpless. Pressure was mounting fast.

“Guys. Guys,” Asha clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention. “Y’all don’t have to listen to him. We can help you escape. Because seriously, this volcano is going to explode, no matter what anyone does right now.”

The children wavered. Wavered. Then, slowly, they began to drift in the upward direction again.

But not before they were stopped by a phalanx of guards, cattleprods sizzling.

“Get back down there,” one in the front roared, jabbing the cattleprod at them. “You’re supposed to repair the grates!”

Ying narrowed her eyes. The pixiu stepped in front of the cowering kids and spread her wings. Asha and Lochlan were at her sides, weapons drawn, sparkling Lunaki swirling around them in waves.

“Oh no you don’t,” Ying growled.

“Get out of the way, Beast, if you know what’s good for you,” the guard roared. “If the dust don’t repair the grates, we’ll all die, you included.”

Asha laughed. “And let’s say your plan works out, only the kiddos have to die, right?”

“It will be an honorable death!” said the guard righteously.

“If it’s so honorable, then do it yourself!” yelled Ying. And the three Beasts launched themselves at the surging wave of guards.