A whole day! It took the huge bird a whole day to calm down and stop searching for them. Still, because it lost their scent in the first hour, and their location in the second, Ves'ra managed to get a good, if distant look at their prey.

A really big bird. Judging the size of something flying was always hard, but this thing was big. It would be a feast. Embarrassed, she quickly swallowed the line of drool leaving her maw, glad no other kobold had been around to notice.

“Let's go back Arvog, we know where to find it now.” She said.

And they did. Their prey lived deep in the mountains. Finding it would be hard, but they should be able to find its nesting place with liberal use of magic. Mainly to disguise themselves, because missing something this big was impossible if you looked for it.

“You’ll have to be careful when flying around from now on, perhaps even fly a little less.” She said to her familiar.

Carefully, they climbed to the top of the forest, a few kilometres from their initial hiding place. Arvog flung himself in the air, staying close to the trees, while Ves'ra scanned the sky for predators. No need to tempt fate after all - what if the bird that attacked them wasn't the only one? They fell for such a ploy once, which was excusable due to their inexperience. But doing it a second time? That’d be on them, and here Ves'ra didn't have the time to prepare. If something were to swoop down on them, she’d barely have the time to get a few litres of water out of the air around them.

Lighting was powerful, but she very much doubted a bird as big as their new prey would be bothered by it at all. And air? Air wouldn't really work against something build to cut through the air as fast as possible. So she had to use water, her slowest magic by far, but arguably also the most powerful magic she could think of, given enough time to prepare, or a nearby lake.

They didn't take long to arrive at the camp, hidden behind magic, rocks and trees.

“Chief, I'm glad you returned. We all heard our new prey.” Tes’va said.

“Yep. A really big bird. Nearly got us too, swooping down from above.” Ves'ra admitted. “I'm famished, do we have anything to eat?”

“We do, follow me.” The other kobold said. “So, a big bird, what do you think it evolved from?”

“I'm not sure, I didn't get a good look at it. But eagles are some of the biggest birds I know of, so I assume it’s some kind of eagle. Anyways. We need to go deep into the mountains about a week or two of travel from here. And find its nest, I really don't want to fight it in the air. Fighting anything in its prefered space is just stupid after all.” She explained.

“A big eagle huh. I never ate eagle, how does it taste?” She wondered.

“I don't know, I'm not a big fan of birds. I don't like their bones.” Ves'ra admitted.

“Yeah, small birds are annoying to eat but better than nothing.” The old kobold said.

“I ate a lot of them as a small kobold. Birds are really easy to catch if you know what you’re doing and gathered some seeds beforehand. One of my minders taught me that they like seeds, so I always went out and gathered them when I had the time, putting them near me and just sitting there for hours, waiting for a bird to come close enough to snatch up.” Ves'ra recounted. “But eagles don't eat seeds, and after I became a mage getting food was significantly easier, and a rabbit just has more meat than a bird does, and no bones that bite back.”

“True enough. I didn't see anyone but the youngest hatchlings eating birds ever since you freed us. And young hatchlings eat everything they can get their maw on.”

“Isn't that the truth. So, on the topic of eating. Do you know if our scales change colour if we eat rocks? Like they do when we eat leaves?” Ves'ra asked as they arrived at the cooking area.

Several large deer were slowly roasted over the fire, readied for transport. After all, you never knew when you needed food but couldn't hunt. And while roasted meat was tasteless, it still satiated hunger.

“They do. Why do you ask?” Tes’va answered.

“Because Arvog and I will go fly towards the mountains tomorrow, and get some small rocks. So our scales will be ready for the new biome when you arrive. Arvog and I will join you afterwards, the skies are too dangerous right now.” Ves'ra explained.

“I see. That's a good idea chief.”

Ves'ra nodded towards the old kobold and moved towards the fire, getting herself something to eat. You could never have too little food after all.

Now, what would they need to take that bird on? Its feathers should be perfect for armour, so long as they weren't attacked with fire. Which made fire magic an absolute no go. What remained though? Stopping air from entering its lungs? Possible, but what stopped their prey from just flying off? No, they’d have to kill it within the first minute or injure one of its wings enough that flying off wasn't possible.

Blunt force perhaps? With several of the physically inclined kobolds supporting one of the earth mages, they should be able to create and use a really big club. Ves'ra grinned dangerously. That big chicken wouldn't know what came for it! And even better, she didn't need the hero to come up with that answer.