"So this is a cockatrice feather?" I asked with a frown as I held it gently in my hand. "Hard to believe this little thing is worth a whole platinum coin to somebody. I can't imagine paying a single copper for it."

The feather was a greyish-brown colour, about five centimetres long and two centimetres wide at the thickest part. It was a lot like bird feathers I'd seen in my last life, but it seemed a bit more tough and rugged. And there was a faint odour from it that made me want to curl my nose. It also made me want to wash my hands after touching it.

Clara shrugged, "You know the saying, one person's trash is another person's treasure."

I asked, "But it was just laying on the ground. Should we keep it?"

"Sure," Avril nodded. "We got a couple pouches for feathers, right? Tuck it away, that's a platinum coin right there."

The ranger added, "That's how we know we're on the right track. They shed feathers, a lot of birds do. So we know there's a cockatrice about, now we just have to track it back to its nest. Then we'll observe it for a while, maybe a half day so we get the lay of the land and get a feel for our quarry. We'll come up with a plan to make sure all three of us stay safe, then we'll do the job."

I was still frowning as I asked, "But if there's feathers laying around on the ground, isn't it safer to just gather them up without having to confront the thing face to face?"

Avril nodded again, "Of course. Like I told Herve, picking up a dozen feathers like that would be a decent quest for someone with less experience, or who was out here on other business. Someone gathering herbs or something might come across some feathers like that, it's a bit of extra cash in their pocket."

"That's not us though," she stated. "Remember, we're looking for the big payout. That means we need the whole beast, so we can gather its blood and all the feathers instead of just the few it drops along the way."

"And an egg," Clara reminded us. "Although I have no idea what the hell anyone would want with a cockatrice egg. I hope they're not thinking they can raise one in a cage or something."

"Ugh," I grimaced. "If we find an egg, what's the chances of it hatching on us before we get back to Riverside?"

The ranger shrugged, "Pretty slim. It'll be locked in that wooden box we bought. I think the more likely scenario is it's going to go bad and start to smell. Hopefully that'll be Herve's problem not ours. Or whoever has to haul the damn thing all the way north to the crazy alchemist that wants it."

That was the last of the conversation for the moment. Clara took the lead, she had one of her special arrows set on her bowstring as she quietly and carefully followed what I assumed was a cockatrice trail. I followed a couple paces behind her, while Avril took up the rear, five or six paces back from me.

That was the pattern we'd all agreed on, so Clara had a clear shot with her bow while I backed her up with my magic. And Avril would stay clear, but kept us both in view so she could heal us if either of us got bit.

As for the ranger's special arrows, I'd asked about those the night before when Avril and I watched her prepare them.

Up till then I'd been familiar with two kinds of arrow. The broad-head hunting arrows were your typical 'arrowhead' shape, with wide sharp blades meant to cut as well as penetrate. The alternative were the fine-pointed bodkin heads, they were more like my iron throwing darts with a long narrow point that could penetrate thick tough hide or pierce armour.

For this hunt Clara was using something else entirely. She had a half dozen arrows with flat blunt metal heads on them. She also purchased some snare wire, and last night she added a few loops of that to the tip of each arrow. Each loop was ten or twelve centimetres across, and they were positioned to overlap each other.

According to the ranger, trying to hit a small bird with an arrow was possible but extremely difficult, even for someone as skilled as her. Plus she said birds were surprisingly tough, so even if she got an arrow through its body it might still have enough fight in it to bite one of us. So these special arrows weren't designed to penetrate. Instead she just had to get an arrow in the general area of the monster's head, that would catch in one of the snare loops, and the momentum and weight of the arrow would break its neck.

My focus was suddenly back on the here and now when Clara stopped in front of me and gestured with her right hand. Then she started moving to the right, while staying focused on something in the distance ahead of us.

I caught some movement about thirty meters away, and after a second I realized I was looking at our quarry.

Like Avril said earlier, it was probably as big as a turkey, but it was shaped more like a peacock. An ugly vicious head sat atop a long scaly neck, then the body was sort of long and sleek where turkeys were usually more plump and round. Instead of a big feathery peacock fan tail there was a long scaly snake-like tail sticking out the back.

At the moment its wings were folded up to either side, but even at this distance I could tell they were leathery and bat-like rather than the wings of a bird. And its overall colour matched the feather we'd found earlier, sort of a greyish brown. The wings were darker, so was the head, while the neck and tail were lighter.

Clara motioned for the three of us to crouch down, then whispered "Let's just keep an eye on this one for now. See if it'll lead us back to a nest."

We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon carefully stalking the magic murder chicken. We kept a distance of at least thirty meters between us and the cockatrice, we stayed crouched down, and we didn't talk. And we followed the ugly thing as it plodded around pecking at berries and little bugs and whatever else caught its interest.

Our patience paid off though, by the end of the day it returned to a nest that was well hidden among some large rocks and dry scrubby bushes.

Clara gave the signal and the three of us quietly pulled back, then made our way to where we'd decided to camp for the duration of our hunt.

We were all a little stiff and sore after a few hours hunched over following our prey, so it was nice to actually stretch and move around again. Then we got a little fire going and made our final plans over dinner.

"Avril like we discussed you're going to hang back," Clara stated. "You'll be there to save us if either Fiona or I get bit by the thing. Fiona, you and I will be looking to kill it, ideally without it even knowing we're there. Whoever gets the first clean shot will take it, but you can't use your fire spell ok? Roasted cockatrice is not on the menu. Burnt feathers and boiled blood aren't worth anything."

I nodded, "I get it, but I'm not sure my electricity spell is going to be much better? It probably won't damage the feathers, but it might still cook the thing's insides."

The ranger frowned, "All right. In that case you're our back-up while I'll try and take it down with one of my arrows. It looks like it spends most of its time wandering around on foot, we didn't see it fly at all today? So we'll follow it tomorrow until it stops to peck at something. You and I will split up and come at it from different angles, and I'll take the first shot. If it charges at either of us, you light it up with your magic."

"Either way," she continued, "Once it's dead we pluck it and drain it, then go check the nest. We'll grab an egg, stuff it in the box, then we can head for home."

Avril added, "I'll keep an eye out while you two are doing that. Last thing we need is for some other monster to show up and surprise us while we're wrapping things up with the cockatrice."

"Sounds good," the ranger nodded. "Fiona, any questions?"

I shook my head and joked quietly, "It sounds simple enough, even a silly pet foxgirl like me can remember."

"Aww," Avril smiled as she reached out and gave me some pets and scritches. "You're a cutie, not a silly."

That got my tail wagging, but Clara reminded us both "Now that we know the wildlands are dangerous once again, let's not let our guard down. We'll take the same watches again tonight, me then Avril then Fiona."

My gorgeous druid girlfriend and I both quietly sighed, but neither of us argued. And as soon as the three of us were finished eating Avril and I lay down together on the bedrolls to get some rest, while our strong smart ranger girlfriend watched over us.

• • • • •

"You take the left," Clara whispered. "I'll move right. Remember, no fire spells. No magic at all, unless it charges one of us."

I nodded, "Got it."

We were both crouched low as we separated. My ears were perked up and my tail stuck out straight behind me, as I stayed focused on our quarry up ahead. One ear swivelled around now and then to keep track of my two girlfriends, as Clara advanced to my right and Avril hung back about five or six meters behind, and equal distance between us both.

The cockatrice was moving around another scrubby bush, pecking at berries and seemed completely oblivious to the three of us. We were all downwind of it too just in case. The terrain here was more or less level, but with enough of those bushes and a scattering of boulders that it gave us some acceptable cover.

That worked both ways though, and as the cockatrice moved around searching for food it came in and out of view several times.

Clara already made sure I knew not to get too far away from her, once there was about ten meters between us I stopped moving left and just matched her slow pace as we both cautiously advanced on our target. Avril had fallen a little further back, she was about ten meters behind us both at that point, while remaining about mid-way between us as she followed at a safe distance.

Our goal was to get within fifteen meters of it, but ten would be ideal. That was close enough that Clara would have no trouble nailing it with one of her arrows, and also meant I was close enough to hit it with my magic if it rushed us.

And as we closed on our ideal range I found a perfect spot to position myself. There was a long low angled rock I could crouch next to for cover, which would mostly hide me from the cockatrice while giving me a clear view of it. I cautiously moved up and was nearly in position when my stomach lurched.

The smooth angled rock I was approaching wasn't a rock at all. It was a petrified warg, the beast's hind legs and tail were on the ground while it supported itself by its forelegs. Its head was crouched low, and by the look on its face it was probably spent its final moments in pain.

Seeing that was a shock, and a visceral reminder that our prey wasn't just an ugly little lizard chicken. It was a lethal threat, and the fact that one of them killed a warg was a good reminder about why someone was willing to pay three hundred platinum coins for this job.

I gulped and took a deep breath to try and steady my nerves, then glanced over at Clara. The ranger was in position, she looked back at me then nodded once.

My left hand reached up and closed around the gemstone hanging from my necklace, and I raised my right hand towards the cockatrice in preparation. Then I waited quietly for Clara to make her move.

To my right the ranger had her bow raised and drawn. She was sighting down the shaft of her arrow, as she waited patiently for the cockatrice to take a step away from the bush and give her a clean shot.

It happened about ten seconds later. My eyes were on the monster, but I had one ear angled towards my girlfriend and I heard the twang of her bow string followed by a faint whistling sound as her modified arrow streaked through the air.

The snare loops worked exactly as she described, one of them caught the monster by the neck and the arrow's momentum yanked its head hard to the side. The cockatrice crumpled without so much as a single squawk.

Clara quickly set another of her modified arrows on the string of her bow, then gestured for all three of us to approach with caution. Avril followed at a safe distance, while the ranger and I advanced. I kept my right hand raised and ready just in case, but once we were a couple meters away it was clear the small monster wasn't even breathing.

With our druid girlfriend standing on watch several meters back, Clara lowered her bow and drew her big dagger while I prepared one of the flasks and the leather pouches. And with an overabundance of caution, the two of us moved in to gather the first two components of our quest.

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