bending_sickle | You haven't seen a tree until you've seen its shadow from the sky.* (Reply)

Word Count: 1678

Novel Progress: Chapter 24.

Current Emotion: Oh God It's 3:00 A.M. Again

In the confusion, the wolf yelps, then squeals, the noise soaring through the air and far away, as if the wolf has jumped far, or been thrown. When Grace looks up, blinking in the dust, she finally makes out the giant shadowy shapes that have been blocking the sky. They are eagles, giant birds as big as propeller planes, their wings as loud as any engine. Grace throws an arm over her face, turns her back to the sky, and scrambles forward, dirt digging into the scrapes of her palms as she makes her way towards Thorin.

He has fallen back down to the ground again and is lying there as still as death. Grace sees his face, turned towards her, and his eyes open but the blue has lost its sheen. She pushes herself up, stumbles forward as she tries to run, but suddenly the dust rises again as wings beat overhead, and then the world is falling, falling away from her, an iron vice around her body as she is lifted up into the sky.

Grace shouts and squirms and tries even to dig her blade into the hard yellow scales around her, but the eagle only tightens its hold on her and flies higher. Below her, Grace sees the jutting cliff edge, with its three leaning pine trees, that had stood so tall and straight for years until a company of dwarves took refuge in their branches. Around their upturned roots are fires, speckled and lost in the morning light, and the darker shapes of orcs and wolves, running and ducking as more eagles swoop in. She sees this all in one split-second glance, and the next moment the orcs and wolves and dwarves and even the trees are tiny specks far below her.

54922 / 50000 words. 110% done!

* Amelia Earhart