Fern and Thor

Chapter VIII

The Harpy screeched in delight. It spread its wings and glided down at a steep angle. Fern gasped and ducked, but Thor was too late. She heard him yell in agony as the Harpy swooped on him, clawing his ankle. He punched it in the leg, and screamed as it dropped him. He hit the ground with a dull thud, blacking out. Fern shrieked as it doubled back and jumped on her, screeching loudly. Fern reached for one of her throwing knives, she pitched it at Harpy. It was a wonky throw, but it hit. The Harpy cried out in pain, her lower leg pierced by the blade. It turned to Fern, snarling, and grinned wickedly.
“Prepare to meet your doom” It rasped, and it started turning around slowly, gaining speed until it was a blurred object of red and brown and cream. Fern gasped as her hair whipped across her face. Brushing it out of her eyes, she stared at the spectacle in front of her.

There was a hurricane appearing around the Harpy’s feet. It whirled around, expanding until it coated her entire body. Fern backed away as the wind hit her face. She squinted as sand hit it like tiny knives, impacting her flesh. Suddenly, the Harpy’s body quivered and shot up into the sky. Its beautiful female features were visible now. Slowly, Fern realized her hair was changing colour from crimson to crystal. It coiled up in an extremely loose plait, and the Harpy smirked cruelly. Spreading its wings, it shouted something Fern couldn’t hear, but she could tell it wasn’t good. She had one second to get away before she was destroyed.

Fern leapt backward, colliding with an object.
“Ouch!”
She had tripped over Thor, who had woken up.
“Get back!” She yelled, reversing as fast as possible.
“What the-?”
“Never mind! Just run!”
Thor obeyed, scrambling to his feet and dashing after Fern. “Wait! Fern! We need….We need the Harpy!”
“What?” Fern screamed. “It’s trying to kill us!”
“I know! But…They can control wind...The Harpy can!”
“So?!”
“So we’ll be able to get into Thord’s lair!”
Fern stopped in her tracks.
“Keep going!” Thor yelled.
She looked back and sucked in her breath. The face of the Harpy was contorted with rage. It looked corrupt; its hair was now tangled, lashing around in wild tentacles. Its feathers were chaotic, sticking out in messy bunches. There was a dark wound on its leg, where the knife had scraped it.
“How are we going to capture it?” Thor sounded tired.
“I’ve got a plan. Follow me.”
Fern raced to a small cliff. The grip on her boots had loosened and so she was faster. The peak was just above where the Harpy was.
“Thor.” She said quickly when he reached the top. “Listen and listen carefully. I’m going to jump forward from this ledge-” Fern indicated to where she meant, “-onto the Harpy. With any luck I’ll catch it off guard. Hopefully it might stop spinning. Then I’ll lower it to the ground. We need to use it to enter Thord’s den, so we need some way of tying it up…?”
Thor knelt down and untied a lengthy shoelace from one of his hiking boots. It was roughly long enough to tie around the Harpy’s hands. He tossed it over to Fern and worked on the other one.
“Hurry up, we’re running out of time!”
The Harpy had spotted them and was a mass of anger. Its eyes flashed red. Fern closed her eyes.
“Done!”
Thor gathered the laces up.
“Okay, good. Thor, as soon as the Harpy is on the ground, tie it up, okay?”
“What about its wings?”
“We’ll worry about that later. Got the plan?”
Thor nodded confidently.
“Okay, in three, two, one…Now!”
Fern burst forward, taking a running jump. As she flew through the air, she had a moment of desperation. It seemed that she might miss the Harpy and instead land on the piercing spear of a rock sticking up underneath her. She lashed out her hands and grasped something soft. She pulled herself up and almost fell off as the Harpy screeched in agony.  Fern was holding the Harpy’s feathers. Dragging her aching legs onto the Harpy’s body, she severelykicked it in the ribs. Its wings folded as it plummeted toward the ground at breakneck speed. As it hit the ground with a dull thud, Thor hurtled forward, grimacing from the pain in his ankle, and tied up the Harpy’s hands and legs.
“I don’t think we need to do anything about its wings.” Fern puffed. “Either it’s too sore to use them or they’re broken.”
“That’s a relief.” Thor answered, sitting down. “Nice job.”
“Hang on. It’s not over yet.” Fern turned to it. “Harpy, can you change the wind’s direction?”
“I’m not telling you!” It snarled.
“I said, can you change the wind’s direction!” she booted it viciously in the forehead. The Harpy screamed.
“Well? Do you want me to do it again?”
“No! No! I…I can! I can change it!” Its voice grated against Fern’s ears.
Fern turned to Thor. “This is what we’re looking for.” She said. “Now all we have to do is find Thord.”