The harpies were upon us within moments. As soon as they were in range Altria started to loose arrows. Her first shot was on target. She winged one of the creatures, it wasn’t enough to bring it down, but it separated it from the group and sent it into retreat. This was when things started to become difficult. Once one was hit the rest of their group spilt apart. They were flying here and there as fast as they could making themselves hard to hit. Liz threw a couple of lightning bolts, but she was unable to hit her mark. They were dodging everything that we could throw at them, just waiting for an opening to swoop down on us.

I was waiting with my sword drawn and prepped to launch a mana wind blade attack. It was my only ranged attack, and they would need to be close for me to hit them. Seeing how the others were struggling to hit, I didn’t hold out much chance for myself. After some back and forth between us and the harpies, one of them dropped something directly above our group. It was going to fall right on us. Altria moved quickly and fired an arrow at the falling object. She managed to hit it somehow, but as the arrow pierced it there was a loud bang and the air was filled with dust and smoke. I could barely see my hands in front of me, let alone where the harpies were anymore.

“Keep together!” Serin shouted.

That was easier said than done. I tried to stay still, but after an accidental bump into one of my comrades I stepped back a pace or two. Almost as soon as I did, I felt a strong wind blow across my face and the smoke above me cleared for a moment. I glanced up, only to see a harpy above me divebombing towards me. I tried to fling a mana wind blade up, but before I could activate the technique, I felt something grab me around my shoulders and my feet leaving the ground.

“Master!” Shouted Celine.

“They’ve got Theo.” I heard Altria call out to the group.

“Hold your fire everyone!” Serin instructed at the top of her lungs. “We might hit him.”

I was in a panic and started to struggle with all my might when a voice called out from above.

“I wouldn’t do that if I was you. My grip isn’t that good.” It said calmly.

I stopped what I was doing and looked down impulsively. Even if they were only saying that to keep me from struggling, I didn’t want to test it. I was already at a height where the fall would kill me. Far down below I saw the rest of my party. They had all ran clear of the smoke and were frantically waving at me. I wanted to do something, but I was worried that anything that I tried could result in me being dropped. Now didn’t seem to be the time. We moved away from my party and the rest of the harpies followed us, leaving the others below on the plain. They were already giving chase, but there was no way they would be able to keep up with us in flight.

I took deep breaths as I tried to calm down. It was okay, as soon as we stopped Celine would be able to track me down. I hoped. From there on in I just hung there limply, hoping I wouldn’t be dropped. After a few minutes of flying, I could see we were approaching some woods. It soon became apparent that this was where we were heading. We dropped in height and flew several feet above the canopy for a while, before entering inside through a small opening. I was dropped with a thud on a large wooden platform. Were these the same woods that our party was heading to? I hoped so. My chances of being found again would be higher if that was the case. I really hoped the others had managed to see the direction we had gone.

The harpy that had carried me here was stood a little to my right. The rest of their group all landed on the platform, one after the other. I could make out eight in total. I had soon recovered from the hard landing, but I decided to lay still on the platform for now. I was hopelessly outnumbered. I wouldn’t be able to use violence to escape from here and I had no way of knowing if my skills would be effective on these creatures. I wasn’t willing to test it out just yet in case things went wrong for me. If I was left alone or with less of them together, maybe I could give it a try.

As the rest of the raiding group landed on the platform, they were met by another harpy that hadn’t been in the raid. From the look of them, I guessed they must have been their commander. She had a deep red and black coloured feathers compared to the others and the way they met her set her apart. She looked over at me on the floor then shook her head, before beginning to reprimand the ones that had brought me here.

“Why did you bring him here?” Asked the commander.

“You said we could bring back prisoners.” Answered the one that had carried me.

“I did, but I instructed you to take the group down. I said you could capture any survivors.”

“They put up strong resistance. They weren’t an ordinary group of adventurers. They had a succubus and a vampire among their number. Not only that, but they also appeared to be helping them and they didn’t seem to be under any duress. In fact, they seemed concerned when we took the male. Are you sure we should’ve attacked their group?”

“Yes! There was a report of a group of adventurers crossing the plain, not long before that patrol was reported missing.”

“You think that was them?”

“I don’t know. I doubt there are two groups brave enough to cross the territory. I’ll have to report their location to headquarters. Expect we’ll have to offer them support from the air.”

“Yes… Um what do you want doing with the male?”

“You just wanted to bring him back, didn’t you?”

“No…”

“I’ll interview him. Bind him and have him brought to the secure chamber.”

“Yes ma’am.”

After that the commander left the others on the platform and went back inside the wooden building on the treetop. After that the one that brought here looked over me, then turned to the rest of the group.

“Someone help me with him?” She asked.

“You’re on your own Ceraphine. Wasn’t worth the effort if the boss has him first.” Answered one as they chucked her a piece of rope.

“Ugh thanks.”

Most of the group dispersed just leaving me, Ceraphine and couple of the other harpies on the platform.

“Roll on your front and put your arms behind your back.” She instructed.

I did as she asked and rolled over. As soon as I did, she tightly bound my hands together.

“I assume you can walk?” She asked.

“I can.” I replied.

“Good, get up and follow me.”

With my arms bound it was a little difficult to stand from that position. After a bit of rolling about I managed to get to my feet. I was a little wobbly on my feet at first and looking off the edge of the platform didn’t help matters. We were a long way up, there were no support rails, and it was a sheer drop from the edge. I suppose it didn’t matter if you had wings. Once I was up Ceraphine walked towards the building her superior had disappeared into a minute before. She waved her wing for me to follow so I did. The two remaining harpies trailed behind me.

“Damn the captain. She always gets them first. We’re lucky if they’re still in one piece by the time it’s our turn.” Ceraphine complained from up ahead.

I had no idea what she was referring to, but it didn’t sound promising. As soon as we stepped inside four walls I felt better about things. Out on the platform I was one stumble away from falling to my death. I was led down the narrow corridor and then down some stairs. The building followed the tree’s trunk in a circular layout. We stopped outside a room at the end of the next corridor. Ceraphine fumbled with the keys for a moment before opening it.

“Get inside.” She instructed as she stood to the side.

I did as I was asked and stepped inside after one last look at my surroundings. Inside was a comfortable enough looking bed and a stall in the corner. As far as cells went, I could have been given worse. Ceraphine poked her head inside the room after me.

“Try not to cause trouble and stay alive. You might see me later.” She said with a wink before closing the door. Behind her.

I had been pretty scared of her up to that point, but that action made her look a little cute.