The road they were following was from the Elven empire, ancient magics keeping it clean, despite the utter lack of anything else around them. There was nothing in sight except for low hills, scrubby brush and the occasional dark and foreboding copse of trees, along with occasional broken stumps of buildings, stray walls or corners of buildings. They had passed a few villages, all walled and protected, defended against stray monsters by the sturdiest fortifications they could muster. They’d even picked up a few jobs along they way, dealing with some monsters, and getting Hakara a bit more used to combat. Parth was still engaged on whatever her mysterious “elven business” was, although had at least passed a note along to apologise for her absence.

Ahead of them, the road passed through a steep valley. A figure emerged from the undergrowth, and they slowed. Stathis eased her sword in her scabbard, keeping an eye out for ambushes. They were tall, wearing dark leather armour, a sword sheathed at their waist, messily cut black hair streaked with white and tied back out of their face. They waited by the round, one hand resting on their own hilt, just as cautious.

'Greetings, travellers.’ He didn’t take his hand off his sword, as they slowed next to him. ‘There’s a harpy nest up ahead, I was hoping someone would be along to lend a hand. No money in it, more’s the pity, but it’s that or take a week-long detour. You look to be used to bloody work, unless I miss my guess?’

At times like this, Parth would have been invaluable, her senses far sharper than Stathis’. The uneven terrain could easily hide attackers, or monsters. Although he looked the part of an adventurer at least, with his rough, battered equipment.

‘We’re adventurers, yes. We’ve not heard anything about harpies though. Is the route blocked?’

‘Vicious bastards, yeah. Dove in at me when I tried going through, damn near ate my horse out from under me. Doesn’t look like they’ve been here long though, I think they’ve been driven off from somewhere else. Although you appear to be guarding a noble, so I understand if she would prefer to stay back.’ He gestured at Janaxia, even giving a slight bow, as she preened under the attention.

‘She’s one of us, no need to worry about all that. She can look after herself.’ Stathis paused, trying to think of the most diplomatic phrasing. ‘Would you mind leading? Not that I doubt you, but I am a little worried in case this is an ambush.’

He gave a cold, humourless laugh. ‘Well, that’s understandable. Although I hope that you will protect me when the damn things attack?’

‘Of course. How many harpies did you say?’

‘A small pack, maybe a few dozen.’

‘OK. Janaxia, Hakara, get yourselves ready. Semari, when we get closer, go high and stop them getting aloft. I’m Stathis, by the way.’ As Janaxia and Hakara prepared themselves for combat, Stathis kept talking, hoping that he didn’t know magic, or wouldn’t notice Janaxia’s memory-warping incantations. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Brand. Used to be with the Silver Wolves, until they disbanded, about 6 months back. Too many of us settling down at once, and I didn’t feel like working with a fresh group. Thought I’d head out here, find a village that needed a swordarm and had the gold to pay. Didn’t expect bloody singing birds dropping from the sky like that! Damn near had me as well, lousy bastards. Um, begging your pardon, milday.’

‘There’s really no need to be polite on Janaxia’s account, it only encourages her.’

Janaxia looked up from her spell. ‘I think a little courtesy is quite charming, and should be encouraged whenever possible. Although the Silver Wolves, you say? Would there be any connection to the Black Wolves?’

‘Aye, that would be us, before we got older and greyer. Happens to the best of us, sad to say.’

Janaxia nodded. ‘It was quite some years ago, but were you present at the Grand Ball in Ruthenhagen? Guarding, who was it now, the ruling family of some minor border kingdom? You all looked rather dashing, in your matching uniforms.’

‘The King of the Greenwood Hold, I think? And his entire family. That was a good night though – easy work, good pay, and no shortage of pretty girls! Although you must have been no more than a child yourself, unless I misjudge your age, my lady.’

‘Oh, such flattery is not needed.’ Her smile suggested otherwise. ‘I’m sure your skills will be of use, although a flock of harpies scarcely seems a threat.’

A faint song filled the air, seductive and alluring, attempting to draw Stathis in. She ignored it, focusing on the ugly squawks beneath the sound. Hakara shuddered for a moment, before shaking it off, as Janaxia went glassy-eyed and started her horse forward. Stathis managed to intercept her, pinching the back of her neck, snapping her out of the enchantment.

‘Janaxia! Don’t get distracted. Hakara, Janaxia, try and bring them down in the air. Semari, don’t get too far away, and don’t try and ride them, they’re not big enough to support your weight. Brand, we’ll keep them busy and distracted, let the others do their work. We’ve normally got an archer as well, but she’s away at the moment. That work as a plan for you?’

He nodded, drawing his sword – well-crafted steel, worn and well-used, but in good repair. Stathis nodded in approval, readying her shield as she dismounted.

As they approached the valley, the song got louder, the underlying sounds harder to hear through the layers of enchantment. A rank odour of filth and excrement filled the air, picked-over carcasses littering the floor, in various stages of rot. The most recent was a horse, entrails splayed out across the ground, a thick cloud of flies feasting on the remains. The song echoed around the confined space, making the power even stronger, as Janaxia stumbled forward, needing yanking back by Stathis.

‘Would you focus, dammit? Or I’ll put a collar and leash on you!’

Behind her, Semari looked dazed for a moment before slapping herself in the head to dispel the effect. Brand seemed to be made of sterner stuff, and Hakara was nervously biting her hand to keep herself focused, drawing blood from her hand.

She yanked Janaxia downwards as a harpy attacked, swooping through the air, leading with vicious talons. It passed barely above her head, meeting Semari’s arm coming towards it, smacking it out of the air with a brutal crash. It fell to the ground, twitching a few times as it died. Then the rest of the flock attacked, the creatures pouring out of cracks in the walls, a storm of charming song and savagely sharp talons and claws. They weren’t skilled, and seemed unprepared for victims fighting back, her blade smashing through wings and bodies, but there were a lot of them, and their claws and teeth were filling the air, impossible to entirely avoid.

Stathis lost track of the others through the blur of feathers and violence, except for Brand, who had found a crack in the rock that protected him from most angles, fighting with steady, methodical strikes, being sure to finish off each enemy before moving to the next one, keeping himself well protected as he fought.

Stathis shouted, trying to be heard over the lulling siren call the harpies were still emitting, even as they fought and died. ‘Hakara, Janaxia! Blast the area and bring them down!’

A few moments later, heavy chunks of ice started to fall from the sky, smashing through fragile bird bones, knocking them from the sky. Stathis had just thrown herself backwards, bashing against the canyon wall, when the world turned black and vanished. She turned and swung her sword in front of herself, feeling the occasional shock of impact as she hit something, more by luck than judgement. Searing, seething cold started to pierce into her exposed skin, followed by the now-familiar sting of acid. Trying not to look down into the infinite gaping void she knew would be beneath her, she made slow, careful steps, feeling bodies crunch beneath her as she moved.

As ever, the sunlight came as a sweet mercy and blessing, when she emerged from the sphere of darkness back into the light. She turned, to see the perfectly smooth surface of pure black behind her, chunks of ice pouring into it from above. The song was now completely gone, thankfully, as the ice storm petered out, then the darkness blinking away afterwards. Where it had been there were mangled and battered corpses, melted by acid, torn apart by tentacles, frozen and smashed. But, at least, very much dead, their blood mingling with the other refuse they had dragged here. A few stragglers were still in the air, Hakara launching magical darts to kill them.

Brand had managed to shelter from the worst of it, coming out of his defensive crag cautiously, sword still at the ready. He looked at the ruined and mangled corpses, before wiping his blade clean.

‘Well, that was easier than I expected.’ He turned to Hakara. ‘My thanks to you, such magical support is always useful.’

Stathis looked around, trying to see Semari, before a shout came down from above. Semari was up on the canyon walls, waving down at them, as she punched another harpy out of the air. ‘There’s some shiny stuff up here, although it’s all dirty and crap-covered. Want me to toss it down?’

‘Bag it up and get down here!’ Stathis shouted back. Janaxia, of course, was cleaning herself, faint traces of dirt pulling themselves off her clothing. She looked at the pile of corpses with distaste, clearly wanting to move over the messy heap, but without dirtying her shoes. Well, that was something she could sort out for herself. A bag fell from above into the middle of the bodies, splashing gore and feathers everywhere, catching Janaxia in the mess. She shouted a curse at Semari, who vaulted down to land beside Stathis.

‘Not much there, looks like shiny junk. Oh, and a nice ring.’ She held it up, wide golden band gleaming.

‘Might be valuable to someone, I guess. Janaxia, get a move on! Just step over them and clean up afterwards!’

Her distaste clear, she nevertheless steeled herself enough to walk across the splattered, smashed and acid-seared bodies, making a point of hitching her skirts up as she strode across. As she stopped, magic was already fussing over her clothing, blood and dust getting pushed away. Hakara was less precious, kneeling to examine one of the bodies as Janaxia spoke.

‘Well, at least that was brief. I trust you weren’t overly troubled by my spell, Stathis? As you do normally object rather strenuously to such things.’

‘Guess I’ve gotten used to it. I still think you should try and learn some better blast spells, but that was well timed, thanks. Brand, you OK? I should have warned you, Janaxia knows some, uh, unusual spells.’

‘Came as a shock, I’ll say that. And I think it’s just about done for my armour.’ He pulled on the leather, a long strip coming off in his hands, melted by the acid.

‘Hopefully there’s enough loot to get you something new. Reckon there’s anywhere close by that might give us a bounty for them?’

He considered. ‘Could be. There’s meant to be a town or village not far ahead, at least now we’ve cleared the path. They’d probably want the road clear, might give us something for this lot.’

Semari went and picked up the bag, ignoring the bodies surrounding it. She bought it over and opened it – a double handful of dirty coins, some cheap-looking jewellery, no doubt scavenged because it was shiny rather than due to any value. There was a battered-looking steel bracer, as well as literal rubbish, shiny bits of metal and glass the harpies had scavenged.

‘Anyone injured? Hakara, good work with your magic. Mind having a look at this, see if any of it’s magical at all? Seems unlikely, but about the only way it’s going to be worth much. And Janaxia, learn to focus! You really should be able to shake off a harpy’s song. I mean it about that leash, just pinch yourself or something!’

Janaxia opened her mouth to snap back, then thought better of it. ‘I will try harder in future. Their song was entrancing – I must say, I find it surprising that Semari was unaffected, I would have thought her mind simple prey.’

‘Nah, it’s easy. Just gotta, like, focus through the song. And then punch ‘em in the face. Like, it’s a little distracting, but no biggie, just don’t let it control you. It’s like not peeing when you gotta pee, you just push through. Although I bet if they’d been, like, sexy-bird-ladies, you wouldn’t have blasted them.’

‘They were but monstrous beasts, capable of nothing but death and destruction. There have been a few attempts to tame such, but such invariably end badly. No, even if they were of more fetching appearance, the end result would still be the same. Now, unless we have a pressing need to stand next to a pile of bodies, shall we depart this place?’

Hakara was cutting apart the bodies, removing teeth and organs with disconcerting ease, presumably something required for her magic, Janaxia keeping a fastidious distance, as Semari threatened her with a handful of bloodied feathers. Stathis sighed, moving to break them apart, until Hakara was done with her bloody work and they could move on.