//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: The Griffin's Claw // Story: The Ties that Bind // by Birdco //------------------------------// The Ties that Bind By Birdco Pre-read by : Blayaden, AlexKadin, Yoshimon1 “At the mouth of the Dragon’s pass we were set upon by griffins.  They threatened us with our lives, and took all they could carry, leaving us with a few days of food and precious few items of warm clothes.  Behind us was thousands of furlongs of wasteland, and ahead of us was the unknown.  We took the only logical choice and pressed forward.” -The Travels of Mareco Polo, Chapter 12. Chapter 6: The Griffin’s Claw “Kamelia Leyline, where in Celestia’s name do you think you are going?!” The pale blue unicorn mare yelled at Kayleigh as she walked towards the front of her family’s home.  Kayleigh wasn’t about to give her mother the satisfaction of acknowledgment. She had made her decision, and there was nothing her mother could do to stop her. “Look at me when I am talking to you!” Circée snarled at her daughter as rushed down the hall.  “I did not give you permission to leave!” Kayleigh ignored her mother.  The doorway was only a few more strides, a few more strides and she could be out of this house.  Her mother had been intolerable after Kayleigh failed her entrance exam to Canterlot University, but soon it wouldn’t be her concern any more.  I am an adult now, so I can make my own decisions.   “Kamelia, Stop!” the older unicorn mare screamed as her horn ignited, lighting the door to their home with a blue radiance. “Oh, Bollocks” Kayleigh cursed as she stopped.  Her mother had enchanted the door.  This was not one of the simple enchantments that she could do without batting an eye, her mother had put real effort into this one.  Circée was the enchantment teacher at Celestia’s school for unicorns, and Kayleigh had no hope of breaking this enchantment, she had a hard enough time with simple enchantments. I should just rip the door out of the wall and be done with it, Kayleigh thought.  The yellow mare had little skill for magic beyond telekinesis, but she could put real power into what she could do.  She could rip a hole in the wall without breaking a sweat. But what would Rhumbline and her father think about that?  Rhumbline had convinced her father, Leyline, that her problems was not in a lack of effort, but because ‘her engine is too big for her rudder’.  He suggested that work, instead of study, might help her master her difficulties, and offered to take her on as his engineer, despite her lack of qualifications. Kayleigh sighed, and decided that brute force was not the best solution to this problem.  She faced her mother. “I am going to be the engineer on the Dodo, mother.  There is nothing you can do to stop me.” She said as calmly as possible, meeting her mother’s hash gaze. “Like the gates of Tartarus I can’t stop you.” Her mother snarled back.  “I am not letting you fall for the wiles of that pirate.  Make you his engineer...  Ha!” “He is family, mother,” the yellow mare replied sharply. “You’ve never been this harsh with him around before.” “Because he wasn’t threatening to take my daughter away,” Circée spat, “I will not let you end up like that ruffian’s poor wife and daughter.  He gets that poor mare pregnant, marries her, then leaves her and the foal to their own devices as he gallivants around the world.  I guess that comes naturally to a pony that doesn’t even know who his father is.” “That isn’t fair, mother,” Kayleigh growled back. “Rhumbline left the Airship service so he could spend more time with his family.  He is even taking them with him on his voyages.” “And what kind of life is that?!” The pale blue mare retorted, shoving her face closer to her daughters.  “You heard about the Gull, lost over the Everfree Forest with all hands. and what about the Glimmers’ oldest son, falling off one of those infernal contraptions?  Luckily he was saved before he hit the ground, but he has never been the same since.  Rhumbline’s daughter is a earth pony, for Celestia’s sake.  The sky is no place for that cute little foal.” “Rhumbline is one the best airship captains there is,” Kayleigh replied, the strength in her voice weakening.  Moonlight Glimmer was one of her friends when she was younger.  He has been so jumpy ever since he came back from that ordeal. “You go on believing that, Kamelia,” Circée growled, “and someday you will find yourself falling off an airship, or stranded in some far off land with no way to get home.” --- Kayleigh jolted awake, inhaling deeply the chill mountain air.  She blinked the sleep out of her eyes.  She had only wanted to rest a bit after she finished the repair work on the Starboard propellor, but she obviously had fallen asleep.  She looked up, past the snow capped mountains that surrounded the Dodo, to the sky, whose stars were starting to be hidden by the brightening in the east. “Oh horseapples, how long have I been asleep?” Kayleigh cursed out loud. “A couple of hours”, replied an unexpected voice.  The yellow unicorn jumped to her hooves in surprise, shedding the blanket that had lain across her back.  She turned to look at the baby dragon that had been standing behind her. “Why didn’t you wake me up? I was supposed to relieve Joe on the watch hours ago.” Kayleigh asked Spike, breathing deeply to still her racing heart. “Rhumbline told me to let you sleep.” The little purple and green dragon replied, pointing to the blue shape sitting on the port bridge wing.  He looked like he was resting, but Kayleigh knew better.  Whenever she was on the helm, he would be up there, on the bridge, looking like he was sleeping...  but the second she was more than a couple of degrees off course, he would open his eyes and help her regain track. “How long has he been up here?”  Kayleigh asked with concern.  “He was ‘sposed to be getting some sleep...” “All night,” Spike replied, echoing the unicorns concern.  “He is expecting trouble.  He saw a pair of griffins as he brought the Dodo in to anchorage.” Kayleigh looked hard at the captain, barely visible in the dim light of early morning.  She saw the minotaur forged blade he owned strapped to his side.  The mere fact that he was wearing it terrified Kayleigh, she had never seen him wear it before.   “If he is expecting an attack, why isn’t everyone up!?” Kayleigh exclaimed.  “Why didn’t he tell me?” “Shhh...  not so loud,” Spiked hissed, putting his hand over the yellow unicorns snout.  “You need to keep it down, Rhumbline is up there listening for the griffins.  He sent everypony to bed, because he said he was best able to hear the griffins at night if they decided to come.  He had an argument with Twilight and Winter over it too.  He said that the griffins he saw made no pretense of hiding themselves.  If they had any intent of attacking during the night, they would have tried to take us by surprise.  He argued that they are trying to get us to stay up all night, so when they come in the morning, we would all be too tired to resist.” “I don’t believe anypony would sleep, knowing that.” Kayleigh whispered.  The only reason she slept was because she had no idea of the danger. “Winter isn’t, but she is relaxing down in her rack.” Spike replied, “Twilight tried to stay up too.  I convinced her to lay down by promising to stay up and wake her if anything happens.  She is still so weak that she fell asleep within minutes.” “And Joe?” Kayleigh asked.   “He came up for a few hours around midnight, then went back down to his rack.” Spike answered as he shrugged his shoulders.  “He didn’t say a word to Rhumbline the entire time.  He wouldn’t talk to me either.  I think something is wrong with him, he just paced the deck.” Kayleigh agreed with the little dragon.  She looked at the remnants of the starboard prop that laid on the deck.  It had thrown a blade during the worst part of the passage through the storm; the remnants of the prop blade still protruded through the hull into the engine room.  Kayleigh cut the drive belt to the starboard nacelle before the unbalanced propeller could cause more severe damage, but the incident had shattered Joe’s confidence. The only reason Kayleigh knew anything about it was because Joe had come down to the engine after the Dodo cleared the storm, and apologized repeatedly.  He had admitted to her that he froze after the propeller failed, requiring Rhumbline to shove him from the helm, and how he spent the next hour huddled in the corner wondering if they would make it out of the storm alive. Kayleigh asked Rhumbline about it after she had helped him set the anchor, and he helped her get out the spare prop from the cargo hold.  All he said was that he had put Joe in a bad situation.  That was it, nothing more.  Nothing about what Joe actually did, and apparently, nothing about the griffins either. Kayleigh had spent most of the night fixing the drive belt and installing the new propeller.  She had been so focused on the job she missed the drama that was occurring with the rest of the crew.           “Spike, did you lay the blanket over me?”  Kayleigh asked quietly, looking at the wool blanket that lay in a pile on the deck. The little dragon nodded.  “I figured I could wake you pretty quickly if the Griffins actually came, so why not make you as comfortable as possible.  Does your leg still hurt?” “It only aches a little.” Kayleigh replied as she surveyed the deck.  All of her tools, save her Blacksmith’s hammer were gone.  The only evidence that she had been working was the broken propeller on the deck.  “Spike, did you clean all this up?” “Yes.” Spike replied sheepishly, “I was trying to keep myself busy to keep my mind off of things.” “Well, that was really nice,” Kayleigh replied.  She gave the dragon a pat on the head, and turned around to face the railing.  She grabbed her hammer with telekinesis, and placed it in her work belt.  If there were griffins about, she wanted to keep the hammer handy.  It had proved very useful in dissuading unwanted advances from stallions, so maybe it would work against a griffin. But what if it didn’t?  What if she actually had to use the hammer?  Kayleigh imagined the effect the stone-weight hammer would have on a griffin. No no no no no...  I don’t want to think about it, Kayleigh chided herself as she tried to put her mind on other things.  She tried to think about fuel efficiency calculations, the parts of a Mark II impulse engine, and even basic enchantment theory, but her mind kept wandering back to the mental image of her hammer impacting hide.   “Uhh... Kayleigh, are you all right?” Spike asked, as he walked around to the yellow pony’s front.           “I’m OK Spike,  I’m just a little worried about the griffins,“  Kayleigh replied quickly.  “Umm, Spike, do you mind if we talk a little?  To, you know, keep our mind off things?” “Well sure,” Spike answered, “what do you want to talk about?” Kayleigh sat silent for a moment.  She had been chatting with the dragon off and on for the whole voyage, so she already knew a lot about him.  Idle chitchat wasn’t going to keep her mind off the horrid image that was swirling around in her head. “Spike,” Kayleigh started, hesitantly. “Why do you hang around with Twilight?  I mean, you are a dragon, and she’s a pony, and to be honest, she treats you kind of like a servant.” “That’s an awfully personal question.”  Spike replied slowly.  He paused for a few moments thinking.  “I tell you what, if you tell me why you hang around with Rhumbline, I tell you why I hang around with Twilight.” “Well, that’s easy, Rhumbline is family.” the yellow unicorn said cheerfully as she walked towards the bow of the airship.  She didn’t want to spoil Rhumbline’s hearing with their conversation, and since she was going to rely on her eyes to look out, she wanted the clear views of the Foc’s’le.  “He needed an engineer, and I was available.” “Tell me something I don’t know” Spike said dismissively, as he trotted along beside the unicorn. “Let’s start with why he calls you Kamelia, when you introduce yourself as Kayleigh?” “Well,  Kamelia is my real name.  Kamelia Leyline,” Kayleigh replied.  “I had a friend from school who used to call me Ka-Ley, and well, I liked that name better.  I’m not the flower type.”  Moonlight Glimmer had always been the one for nicknames.  Kayleigh had hoped to be on the same airship as him someday, but with the way he is now, that will probably never happen.   “Rhumbline used to spend his time between voyages at my father’s house.” The yellow unicorn continued while scanning the sky.  The approaching light of dawn glistened off the snow covered peaks surrounding the airship.    “While they are only cousins, they treated each other like brothers.  I guess that makes Rhumbline my uncle.  He calls me Kamelia because I let him get away with it.  He’s the type that thinks nothing should ever be renamed.  Heck, he left the Dodo’s name alone.” “Yeah, I was wondering about that” Spike replied, “Twilight said the Dodo is a big dumb flightless bird from some island in the middle of nowhere.  Why would anypony name an airship that?” “Well, her builder had the bright idea that since airships were the fastest way to travel, they would make good cargo ships.”  Kayleigh answered enthusiastically.  She had read everything she could about the Dodo’s history, and it really fascinated her.  “When she was first built, the Dodo was the biggest airship yet built.  But this was over a hundred years ago, and the magic and technology back then was not nearly as advanced as it is today.  When the Dodo was finished, she was so heavy that she could only carry a tiny weight of cargo.  So, that is why she was named Dodo.” “Now there have been a lot of ponies who have bought her over the years, making their own little improvements to make her a better airship.” The yellow unicorn continued. “But the Dodo could never compete economically with ships and rail as a liner, and she was always sold after a few years to another person who would try her as a liner on a different route.  By about 40 years ago, the construction of the huge liner airships, which used pegasus aerodynamic design to carry more than the old balloon type airships, had made the Dodo completely obsolete. She was basically abandoned in the Canterlot shipyard.” “Then why did Rhumbline buy her?” Spike asked.  “I mean, he seems pretty smart.  Why would he get himself involved in an airship like this?” “I don’t know.” Kayleigh replied.  She took a quick glance aft at her captain. He was now standing, and scanned the sky methodically.  “It really doesn’t make sense when you think about it.  But Rhumbline managed to find a niche carrying special cargoes between places the liner airships can’t go, because they are too big.  He isn’t making a lot of money, but he makes just enough to keep the old bird flying.” “If he isn’t making a lot of money, how is he paying you and Joe?”  Spike asked. “Well, he pays Joe a decent wage, well, decent considering his last job.” Kayleigh replied, “I work for room and board and a little spending money.” “Huh?” The baby dragon arched an eyebrow, and looked at the yellow unicorn in disbelief. “Why would you do that?” “Well, I don’t have an engineer’s license,” Kayleigh said sheepishly, breaking her gaze on the sky to look at the little dragon.  “But I really want to be an airship engineer.  Rhumbline is the only pony who would even consider hiring me on.  To me, the experience of being an engineer is more important than money, and to be honest, Rhumbline is my only option for that.” “Why don’t you just go to school to get your license?” Spike asked .  “You seem to have a real talent at engineering.” “I’m not that good of a student,” The unicorn replied, looking at her hooves, “I’m the type that learns by getting her hooves dirty.  And enchantment is a big part of the curriculum, since modern airships are dependant on it.  Enchantment isn’t exactly my strong point.” Kayleigh looked back towards the sky.  She could see the red light of sunrise illuminating the tops of the mountains surrounding the valley.  To the north, the snow free peak of the Griffin’s Claw towered above the surrounding peaks.  Its sides were impossibly steep, and in the red glow of the morning, it looked like it’s name, a claw of a hunting griffon. “We should be heading back towards the pilothouse, “Kayleigh said as she turned away from the rail. “We will be leaving soon, and I need to start up the main engine.” “But I haven’t answered your question yet.” Spike said, falling into step behind Kayleigh. “Well, we’ll just have to walk slowly then” The unicorn replied, as she stopped after a few steps, and looked down at the little dragon.  “Well, why does a dragon decide to put up with a bookworm pony like Twilight?  You are the first dragon I have ever met, but from what I’ve heard, dragons aren’t the type to be following a pony around.” “I wouldn’t know.” Spike replied quietly.  “I have only ever met one other dragon, and well, he wasn’t particularly happy to see me.  Twilight was the first pony I met after I was hatched, and she has taken care of me ever since.” “So you think of Twilight as your mother?” Kayleigh asked. “No, not exactly,” Spike replied.  “I’ve been with her all my life, but she was a little filly when I hatched.  We grew up together, so that makes us more like brother and sister.  But that really doesn’t explain it either.  I guess I really owe Twilight a lot, since she actually hatched me.” “What do you mean?” The unicorn inquired as she halted her slow cadence again. “Well, I was being used by Princess Celestia’s school in their entrance exam.” Spike answered.  “No pony has ever managed to hatch a dragon egg.  And since they are hard as gems, and basically indestructible, the teachers figured that it would be a good test for the applicants.  I don’t know how long I was there before Twilight managed to hatch me.” “Wait a second...  They give impossible tasks to the applicants as an entrance exam!?” Kayleigh exclaimed.  “So you mean when they gave me a bar of lead and told me to change it into gold, they didn’t expect me to actually do it?” “Umm...  I guess,” Spike said, looking at his feet. “You would have to ask Twilight that, she was the one who had that discussion with the Princess.  I was just eavesdropping and didn't hear all of it.” “Kayleigh.  Spike. Do you two need to be so loud?” Rhumbline called from the upper level of the aft deckhouse.  His voice did not express the clear feeling of command it normally did.  Kayleigh never considered Rhumbline to be that old, but he looked it now.  His normally stiff posture was bent ever so slightly, and his hair, matted from his days on the bridge, looked grayer that before. Kayleigh trotted back towards the deckhouse, and Spike followed suit.  “Captain, the Sun is up, I’ll fire up the engine so we can get out of here.” “No, Kayleigh, we are going to stay here.”  Rhumbline said, as he gazed towards west towards the mouth of the valley.  “I will deal with the Griffins here.  I don't want to deal with them when I am trying to navigate Dragon’s Pass.” “What do you mean by deal with them?” Kayleigh asked.  The image of her hammer impacting hide flashed back into her mind. “I’m going to buy them off,” Rhumbline answered.  He prodded the sack at his feet, and Kayleigh saw the glint of gems shine through the opening in the top.  “Spike, wake everypony up.  You, Winter Gale and Joe are to hold the Pilothouse.  Lock the door, and do not unlock it, no matter what happens.  Miss Sparkle is to come out here with me and Kayleigh.” “Yes sir!” Spike replied as he headed towards the door into the deckhouse. “Spike, tell Winter her duty is to protect you.  Remind her that we are out here for you.” Rhumbline ordered, his voice forceful and clear. Spike met his eyes, nodded, and headed inside. Rhumbline grabbed the sack of gems in his teeth, and walked down the stairs to the main deck.  The heavy blade the blue stallion had strapped to his side tapped each step as he descended.  Kayleigh stared at that blade.  Her hammer was a tool, though it would serve as an effective weapon, it was made to create.  That minotaur forged blade, its grey blade slightly discolored with rust, had only one purpose, to destroy.  The whole concept was repulsive; why would any creature want to harm another? “Kamelia,” Rhumbline said softly after he set the sack on the deck a few strides forward of the aft deckhouse door, “Most ponies in Equestria forget that while we have found a way to live in peace with each other, and our neighbors, other places of the world are not nearly as civilized.  This is one of those places.  Griffins respect strength, and I am hoping to convince this tribe that we are not worth messing with.” “How do you know the griffins are going to mess with us?” Kayleigh asked.   “A pair of griffins spent the night watching us from the mouth of the valley.” The stallion replied, pointing his snout towards the west.  “They flew off at dawn.  Why watch us all night unless they wanted to keep tabs on us?” “Maybe they are just curious.” The yellow unicorn replied. “Airships don’t come this way, right?  Maybe they just want a closer look.” “They didn’t want a closer look twenty years ago.”  Rhumbline muttered. Both Kayleigh and Rhumbline turned when they heard the door open.  Twilight Sparkle looked a lot better that she did last night.  Her hair was still matted, but she walked with more energy.  The lavender mare shot Rhumbline a hard look, which the stallion replied to with a small smile. “Kayleigh, lock the door” Rhumbline ordered, turning back to watch the valley mouth.  Kayleigh used her telekinesis to position the locking bar on the inside of the door.  Now the only way that door could be opened was by an unicorn, or from the inside.  “Miss Sparkle, I am expecting the griffins to visit us shortly.  I am trying to convince them to leave us alone through a bribe, and a show of force.  Twenty years ago, my mother scared off this band when they tried to bother us in the Dragon Pass.  I’m hoping they remember what unicorns are capable of.” “If you are trying for a show of force, why are you leaving a royal guard in the pilothouse” Twilight asked. “She is guarding Spike.” Rhumbline replied.  “Baby dragons are rare, and in the less civilized areas of the world, there are creatures who would go to great lengths to obtain one.  The King of Minos has a dragon that the minotaurs captured as a baby.  It has been trained to obey the king’s every command, and he uses it as a symbol of his kingdom’s power.” “That’s horrible,” Kayleigh whispered. “The world is not a nice place,” Rhumbline replied.  Suddenly, the stallions ears swiveled forward, and his eyes focused on a point out in the sky.  Kayleigh looked, and saw a group of flying creatures flying into the mouth of the canyon.  It was too far for her to tell what they were, but they were large. “Griffins,” Twilight muttered.  Her horn was glowing, and her eyes were surrounded with the faint glimmer of magic.  The lavender unicorn released the spell, and turned towards Rhumbline.  “There are ten of them, and they are wearing some kind of armor.” The stallion nodded, keeping his eyes focused on the griffins.  They were flying fast, and were rapidly closing the distance to the Dodo.  “Horseapples, they have archers,” Rhumbline cursed, as he reached back and undid the strap that secured his blade in its sheath.  “Twilight, Kamelia, watch the archers.  If things don’t go right, deal with them first.” The griffins completed their approach to the airship and split up.  The three archers, all females, took up positions in tall trees in the woods surrounding the Dodo.  The largest griffins of the group landed on the deck in front of Kayleigh, and the remainder circled above.  The largest, clearly the leader of the griffins wore leather plates on his forelegs and shoulders, and his beak was painted in a blood red design, a color mirrored in the feathers around his eyes.  His cold eyes surveyed the ponies on deck. Kayleigh’s heart was racing.  She had met some griffons, but these were much different.  Their beaks and talons bore evidence of sharpening.  She took a step backwards, towards the door that would take her into the deckhouse, and to her safe engineroom.  These griffins were predators, and she wanted desperately to be somewhere else. “Kamelia, hold your ground.” Rhumbline hissed as he took a few steps forward.  He kicked the sack of gems, causing it to tip over and spill a few on the deck.  “Donaco,” Rhumbline said in his most forceful voice to the largest griffin. “Donaco?” The griffin laughed, looking in disdain at the sack.  He then spoke to another griffin, this one decorated in purple, and wearing an eyepatch, in a language Kayleigh did not understand. “You have baby dragon,” The second griffin said in heavily accented equestrian. “give dragon and you go.” “Neniu drako,” Rhumbline replied, taking another step forward.  He pointed a forehoof at Twilight.  “Sorcxisto.  Donaco au lukto!” The laughter that erupted from the lead griffon caused Kayleigh to freeze in fright.  The red beaked griffon turned to his subordinate, and spoke again in the language she did not understand. “We no fear scrawny pony and one horns.”  The one eyed griffon translated. “Give dragon, or we take.” Rhumbline strode forward until he was looking the lead griffin in his eyes. “Listen you feather brained bully.  Take the gems and leave.  We are not giving up the dragon.  Donako au lukto!” Rhumbline yelled at the griffin. The griffins reaction was sudden and swift.  He swung his right claw upward, to strike at the stallion’s neck.  Rhumbline’s reaction caught the griffon by surprise, instead of retreating from the strike, the blue earth pony lunged forward, slamming his forehead into the chest of the taller griffon as the griffon buried his claws into the pony’s shoulder.  A hollow thud sounded on the impact, and the two combatants staggered apart, the griffon clutching his chest, and Rhumbline staggering backwards, his eyes unfocused. “Rhumbline!” Kayleigh shrieked as he slumped to the ground.  She charged forward, and lashed out with her telekinesis at the third griffon, who was advancing to attack the blue stallion.  The blow slammed the griffon into the cargo hatch, and he slumped to the deck.  Kayleigh turned to face the one eyed griffon when she was startled by a bright flash. Between them, only empty deck existed where Rhumbline had been laying.  This change of circumstance only caused the griffin to pause for a moment before he lunged at the yellow unicorn.  Kayleigh yanked her hammer out of its holster, and used it to parry the griffons lunge.  She shoved the hammer towards the one eyed griffin’s face, forcing him to retreat. They were at a standoff.  The one eyed griffin was held at bay by the stone-weight hammer, and Kayleigh was unable to do anything else with her magic while she was supporting the hammer.  In her peripheral vision, the yellow unicorn saw a tree shine with a magical glow, and lash out at two of the griffin archers, grabbing hold of them. Deal with the archers first. Kayleigh shifted her attention just as she heard the twang of an arrow being loosed.  She dropped her hammer, and lashed out with her telekinesis in a wide ark, hoping to deflect the deadly projectile.  The arrow thudded into the deck next to her hoof. The one eyed griffon took advantage of Kayleigh’s distraction, and lunged towards her, claws spread wide.  The unicorn threw up her forehoof, and her eyes went wide as she saw the griffins razor sharp claws bury themselves into her fetlock.   Kayleigh was desperate.  She was not a fighter, and now she was locked in a mortal struggle with a predator.  Her eyes darted for options for escape as the griffin positioned himself to strike the mortal blow.  Kayleigh took the first option she saw, and pulled hard on the broken propeller that still laid on the deck, sending it hurtling at fetlock level at the two combatants. The impact turned Kayleigh’s world upside down.  She felt no pain, the adrenaline coursing through her veins deadened all sensation, but something felt terribly wrong.  She was bracing herself for a hard impact with the deck when she was surrounded with magic. The sensation of being drawn through the fabric of space was like being spread to the four corners of the earth at the same time she was being crushed to minute point.  As soon as the assault on her senses began, the world snapped back into focus.  Kayleigh was laying on the deck, next to Rhumbline under a dome of energy.  The blue stallion had propped himself up on his forehooves, and was struggling to stand. Twilight’s horn was glowing fiercely, and sweat was beading on her brow.  Outside the dome of energy, two griffons were assaulting the dome, and an arrow bounced off the other side.  Above them, on the upper deck of the deckhouse, a griffin was assaulting the door to the pilothouse with a large axe. The unnatural feeling in her hind leg drew Kayleigh’s attention, and she started to look towards it when Twilight called to her.  “Kayleigh, I need you to focus.  I need you to deal with the last archer.  I can’t hold a come alive spell and a barrier for long.” Kayleigh shifted her gaze to the tree that held the last archer, the nagging feeling of wrongness ever more urgently demanding that she focus on her leg.  She was unsure how well she could focus her telekinesis on the griffin at the distance, so she decided to instead to focus on the tree.     Kayleigh’s horn flared as she focused all the strength she could muster into one task, ripping the tree the griffon was using as a perch from the ground.  She felt the trees roots fiercely resist her efforts, but it only took a few moments of unrelenting pressure to turn a once magnificent tree into a giant club. The griffon, who left her perch at the first sign of movement, was not saved by her quick action.  Kayleigh thrust her new weapon at the archer.  The thrust was clumsy and slow, but the griffin wing was caught by one of the trees branches, and the archer tumbled from the sky. The extreme exertion of the spell made Kayleigh realize how much pain she was in.  She pushed it out of her mind the best she could,  and focused on the griffons assaulting the pilot house door.  She shifted the tree, and thrust it hard, aiming to clear the upper deck. Its impact caused the Dodo to swing wildly at anchor.  The shifting deck caused Rhumbline to fall into Kayleigh, inciting a wave of pain that caused her to scream involuntarily, and break the spell.  Kayleigh buried her head in her hooves, biting her lip to try to make the pain go away. “Stop” Rhumbline said, struggling to his feet.  Rivulets of red flowed down his shoulder and dripped on the deck.  He drew the minotaur sword from the sheath, and drove it hard into the deck infront of him.  He released the blade, which was driven a full hoof into the deck, and glared angrily at the griffins on the deck.  “Stop.  Halti!” The earth pony stumbled  a few steps forward, his eyes focused on the red beaked griffon, who had regained his stance and watched the pony warily.  As Rhumbline walked forward, he was joined by Winter, who landed silently at his side.  She gripped Joe’s canvas knife in her teeth, and advanced threateningly towards the largest griffon. “Winter, stand down.” The stallion ordered harshly.  He turned to the one eyed griffon, who stood on three legs, one of his hind legs sporting a nasty gash  “Tell your leader to take the gems and go.  We will not let the dragon be taken.  We will fight to the last pony to prevent that.  Leave with the gems while you still can.” The one eyed griffon translated quickly.  The griffin’s leader looked hard at Winter and then Rhumbline, both of whom returned angry stares, and barked a quick order to the griffins.  The one eyed griffin limped forward and gathered up the sack of gems.  The griffin raiding party departed, three of its members being helped aloft by others. Twilight rushed to Kayleigh’s side, and immediately started prodding her hind leg with magic.  The pressure made the yellow unicorn whimper in pain, and she weakly turned her head to look at the wounded limb. “Kayleigh, don’t look.” Twilight said, keeping up the magical pressure.  “I’ll take care of it, you will be alright.” Kayleigh couldn’t resist.  The pain demanded that she take a look. My leg shouldn’t bend that way, should it?, Kayleigh thought, her last thought as her awareness faded to black.