Movement.
Massive. Wrong silhouette. Not winged—something else entirely.
I dove.
The cliff wyrm was maybe three hundred feet from our main cave system, its massive serpentine body easily sixty feet long and thick as a transport vehicle. It moved along the cliff faceusing thousands of tiny legs, flowing over the vertical surface like water over stone.
Drawn by Hallie's scent. Had to be. Cliff wyrms hunted by smell and pregnant females gave off pheromones that attracted predators from miles away.
I had to kill it now, before it reached her.
I dove faster, building speed. The wyrm's head lifted as I approached—sensory organs detecting my presence. Its mouth opened showing rows of teeth designed to grip stone, to burrow through rock to reach prey hidden in caves where they thought they were safe.
I hit it at full speed.
My claws sank into its thick hide behind the head. The impact drove us both against the obsidian wall, shaking dust loose from the ledges. The wyrm screamed—a high-pitched sound that echoed across the canyons and probably alerted every predator within miles.
It thrashed, trying to throw me off. I held on, wings spread for balance, and tore at anything I could reach.
My claws weren't designed for this kind of combat. Cliff wyrms had armor-plated skin that deflected most attacks, scales that overlapped like shields. But I found the gaps between plates and ripped with everything I had.
Black blood sprayed across my chest and arms.
The wyrm coiled, trying to wrap around me, to crush me the way it crushed prey before swallowing them whole. I launched into the air before it could complete the movement. Circled. Dove again.
This time I aimed for the eyes—four of them, glowing green, arranged around its head in a pattern that gave it nearly complete vision. I destroyed two before it could react, claws raking across delicate tissue.
Blind on one side, it pulled back from the cliff. Tried to retreat into a crack system where I couldn't follow. I couldn't let it escape. If it healed, it would come back stronger and angrier, and next time Hallie might be alone when it attacked.
I drove it toward open air, forcing it off the cliff face entirely. Without surface contact, the wyrm couldn't use its legs for purchase. It fell.
I dove after it.
Caught it mid-fall, all four hands gripping its body. My wings strained against the weight—too heavy to fly properly, both of us dropping now toward the sand sea below.
At the last second, I threw it.
Released my grip and let the wyrm continue falling while I opened my wings fully, catching air, pulling up with every muscle screaming. The wyrm hit the sand sea below with enough force to crater, black blood spreading in patterns that would attract scavengers for days.
I circled once to confirm the kill. It wasn't moving, body broken from the impact.
Dead.
Through the bond: Hallie's alarm. She'd felt my fear during the fight, felt the danger even though she couldn't see what I was facing.
I flew back to the caves as fast as my damaged wings would carry me.
She was waiting at the entrance.
"You're hurt."
I looked down at myself. Multiple gashes across my chest and arms where the wyrm's thrashing had caught me. Wing membrane torn in two places—not bad enough to ground me but would take days to heal properly.
"Cliff wyrm," I said. "Killed it."
"You're bleeding." She moved toward me, hands already reaching to examine the wounds. "Come inside. Let me?—"
"I'm fine."
