James’s friends had been right! James was in danger when he was on his own, and he hadn’t been careful enough! Now he was in a disastrous situation with no way out. The cart rose into the air, climbing high above the Imperial Zoo. James was pinned into the wooden bench and his captor was cackling with glee. How could he escape this situation? Certainly, he could expect no help from his companions. None of them could fly, and none would know what had happened to James.

  He struggled to free himself from the tentacles which bound him, but it was no use. His legs and waist were bound to the wooden bench seat. Far below, James could see the zoological grounds, and he could also start to make out some of the features of Badendorf. The female demon seemed to be steering the flying beast in a northerly direction at a high rate of speed. Wind whistled around the wooden cart and the demoness’s flowing hair billowed behind her as she bade the flying creature to fly faster, shaking the reins and now producing a whip from the side of the cart. “Crack!” went the whip as it struck home on the hindquarters of the giant winged lizard. Faster and faster the huge wings beat in response to the blows.

  Below him, James could see the River Reik and further to the north, farmers fields and small towns. Far in the distance a large expanse of water was visible, probably the ocean.

  What could James do to extricate himself from this evil fate? Where was this evil hag taking James?

  “KAPOW!” rang out as the flying beast suffered some sort of sudden impact. James had just managed to make out a shape striking the left side of the beast. It had descended from the direction of the sun at a high rate of speed and caused the cart to bank right and descend suddenly.

  “KABANG!” and another blow landed, this time from below! The attacker was feathered, and very large, although smaller than the dinosaur-like monster which towed the demoness and her carriage. James recognized the plumage of the attacker as that of an American bald eagle, although this bird, if this was a bird, was much larger than any eagle James had ever heard of. And another surprise. It appeared that the giant eagle bore a leather clad rider!

  The enormous eagle rose up towards the sun once again, and having recovered some of her sensibilities, James’s captor readied her whip to counter the next attack. She screeched out some sort of demonic incantation and the whip flared to life with green electrical energy. The eagle swooped in and its rider also bore a weapon, blue in color and also glowing with what James recognized as magical energy. Weapons collided with showers of blue and green sparks and peals of thunder as the flying carriage shook this way and that, as it descended behind the diving flying beast.

  The eagle rider was incredibly fast and skilled, landing two or three blows to every one response from James’s captor. James could do nothing to alter the course of the battle, being unable to reach far enough towards the combatants to accomplish anything of substance. The eagle clawed and pecked at the flying lizard, while somehow managing to stay airborne, and its helmeted rider hacked and struck the demoness. Finally a decisive blow was landed and the female demon dropped her whip into the slipstream of the ever increasing speeding wind. James realized that they were rapidly losing altitude and something would have to be done soon to avoid impacting the ground. One more blow and the demon slumped backward in her seat, appearing to have lost consciousness. The ground was growing closer by the second.

  The eagle rider’s attention was redirected towards James. The rider now used her weapon in a scalpel-like manner to slice through the demonic tentacles which bound James. Faster than he could even process the bounds were removed and James was free of constraints. All in one motion the skilled eagle rider grabbed and hoisted James onto the back of the magnificent eagle and a moment later the eagle swooped freely down and backwards away from the descending demonic carriage. The whole exchange took just seconds, and that was a good thing because by the time the eagle had achieved level flight, they were only a few feet above the trees.

  James held on to the only thing he could, the waist of his rescuer. Or was it the waist of his new kidnapper? How could he tell the difference? At least he wasn’t squashed into the mud back in that farmers field, or hung up in one of those trees. In the distance James noted that the winged beast had recovered its own ability to fly level and the beast and carriage were disappearing off in a northerly direction. James’s eagle was headed south, but was straining to bear both James and his rescuer. It wasn’t long before the eagle was losing height and descending towards a clearing.

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  The rider turned back towards James. Clearly this master of eagles was female. That much was obvious despite the elaborate leather armor and helmet. “Hold on tight Master James! This could be a bit of a rough landing,” cautioned the eagle rider. With that the eagle swooped low and beat its wings fully extended to bring itself to a full stop and set down onto its massive claws and talons in the middle of a wheat field. A farmer at the edge of the field waved his hat with a celebratory greeting. The leather bound eagle master returned the gesture with enthusiasm, then assisted James to the ground. She removed her leather cap and cast a smile towards the shaken James. “Well done Sir James! We almost lost you!”

  His rescuer appeared young and female, but had some unusual features. Most notable were the extended and pointy ears, but the widely separated and unusually large eyes also attracted James’s attention. She was also incredibly fit and thin and couldn’t have weighed more than eighty pounds soaking wet. She was a creature right out of a fairy tale in James’s eyes. There was no doubt in his mind. This was an elf. He simply didn’t know what to say. “Thank you for rescuing me……” was all he could think of.

  “The honor is all mine,” replied the elf. “Lady Ellebreth, at your service,” added the incredible elven warrior, as she gestured with a graceful bow. “My people have a great interest in you Master James. I have travelled from afar to meet you, although my expectations were that we would be introduced in circumstances somewhat different than these.”

  “James Blair,” replied James. “I am very pleased to meet you. I have never met an elf. They do not exist in my world.”

  “I must return you to your companions Sir James. They will be concerned for your safety. I should look forward to conversing with you about many things in the near future, but for now we should return to the zoological facility and your friends. Rhea is unable to bear both of us for more than a short distance, but I am accompanied by several of her kin,” and with that she gestured upward and as if on a schedule James noticed two more of the remarkable birds in the distance. It took less than a minute for them to arrive and swoop down into the field. “Altair will bear you, Sir James.”

  James noted that these eagles had to have wingspans of more than 5 meters. They were stunning creatures. Ellebreth showed James how to mount the eagle and control the reins. She assured him that Altair was a dependable steed and that the return trip would be a safe one. As they prepared for the flight, several local residents had time to notice the remarkable gathering of monstrously large birds and they stopped their tasks to watch the show. Where James came from everyone would be holding up their cell phone camera if something like this ever happened. Here in the lands of the Empire it was enough just to watch and cheer on the sight. James couldn’t help but imagine all of the excited recounts of the aerial battle and giant eagle sightings that would be told at the dinner tables that evening in these parts.

  The return flight was far less terrifying, almost pleasant at times. Elebreth was too far away, and the passage through the air too noisy for there to be any conversation between the two of them, but James felt genuinely safe being escorted by the elven warrior and her three magnificent eagles. He was able to take in the views of Badendorf from the air and even felt a bit disappointed to be descending towards the Imperial Zoo. Rhea and Altair circled briefly to allow some Empire soldiers to clear out a safe landing spot and as his eagle settled down onto the gravel in front of the zoological entrance gates, James saw Saturin, Ironclaw and Elana waiting for him.

  “I told you to be careful, James!” emphasised Saturin, clearly concerned. “What got into you, boarding a demon’s carriage! You have no idea where you might have ended up!”

  “I know, I know, I just thought that it had to be safe if it was here at the Imperial Zoo. It just seemed like a little kid's ride, that’s all,” explained James.

  “You numbskull!” replied Saturin. “Maybe back in your world everything is squeaky clean and always safe, but that is not how things are here in this place! You can get yourself killed, or worse, with just one little slip up. We are sure now that the forces of Chaos have an intense interest in you James. They will stop at nothing to get a hold of you now. No more playing around! By the way, just what exactly did you do with that demoness?”

  “Do? She kidnapped me, and Lady Ellebreth snatched me back,” responded James.

  “Nothing more than that?” queeried Saturin suspiciously. “Demons can be awfully persuasive!”

  James had no idea what she was talking about.

  Elana walked up towards the two of them. “He doesn’t know what you’re on about Saturin. Leave him be, and just be glad that we don’t have to mount a rescue mission to bring back James from the Demon lands.” interjected Elana, then she turned towards the elf, “By the way, thank you for rescuing our beloved friend, Lady Ellebreth. Your intervention was most timely.” Elana gestured politely towards the Elven warrior, but James sensed a certain amount of tension between the two women. Clearly, they knew each other.

  James’s companions gathered their belongings and rejoined their traveling caravan for the night. A large clearing with amenities was provided for the travelers. Lady Ellebreth said goodbye and flew off aboard Rhea, presumably to spend the night at her enclosure in the Zoo grounds. Bearclaw Irontooth escorted James to the camp for the night.

  “Now you’ve gone and done it, Sir James. You’ve managed to get every one of them mad at you,” sighed the master of animal magic. “It might be a good idea for you to eat dinner with me tonight, son.” And that is exactly what James did.