Winter 82, 124
Galinn sat pensively with her eyes closed in a crossed legged pose as she shifted her vision between the various birds she had flying around Græntún. She dispatched ten of them months ago to keep an eye on one particular human who had caught her eye. That man… he hadn't turned out to be quite as interesting as she'd initially thought. She'd always known that he'd die by her hand. He was due back home any minute now and she was waiting for him in his own bedroom.
She spotted him with one of the birds while she directed the others to explore other areas of the city. She was looking for criminals – people that wouldn't be missed if they suddenly disappeared. She was particularly interested in those with arcane powers, but finding one that was a law breaker was easier said than done.
The front door creaked open and a bundled up man walked in. He closed it and let out an exhausted sigh. He shrugged off his coat, hung it, then made his way over to the fire place. Galinn watched him through the bird as the fire was lit and he finally took a seat.
Galinn got to her feet and walked into the room. She held up a finger to her lips as their eyes met. He still let out a startled gasp and nearly fell out of his chair.
"Hello, Naru," she said with a smile. She pulled a chair over to him and sat opposite him with her back to the flames.
"Uh… hello. I don't…"
"I've been keeping an eye on you. You've been a bad human and I'm here to offer you a choice. You can help me, or I can arrange for your punishment."
Naru's face paled. He wanted to protest, to claim, somewhat truthfully, that he hadn't done anything wrong. But nobody in the world was free from guilt. Everyone did something bad at some point in their lives. He gulped and nodded, saying, "I'll help however I can."
"Good. I'm a nice aelf. I won't ask for too much… Just the names of other criminals. Ten will do."
"Uh… alright…" he said as he wracked his brain. He didn't know any serious criminals. If he did, he would have reported them. "I know someone who sells watered down ale, and…"
Galinn's hand reached out in a flash and grabbed in by the neck. She squeezed hard enough to prevent him from making a sound, then threw him against the wall before he could try pushing her away. She walked over to him as he tried to gasp for air. She tore one of the curtains and used it to wrap around his neck. She could have interrogated him, but she genuinely did not believe that he knew any criminals worth going after. It was times like these that she wished that she was able to read minds.
She tightened her grip and waited patiently for his body to stop moving. She'd done this so many times over the years – the only difference was that when she felt his heartbeat start to weaken that she murmered "trjálundur" to open up the portal. She rammed her elbow into his lower back to crack it and prevent him from escaping and then threw his body through the portal.
Naru's story was now over.
"Are we going to do plan B?" Fluffy asked as she poked her head out from behind her cover where she'd been hiding.
"Yes, come morning."
Galinn spent most of the night letting her birds fly around with the instruction to follow anyone suspicious. In the meantime she worked on some paperwork for work and tapped into some of her other tethers to make sure everything was going alright. She eventually dozed off on Naru's table until she heard roosters call. She sat up with a jolt and rubbed her eyes. Morning, her usual sleeping time, but she had to capture some more bodies.
"Let's get going," she said to Fluffy with a yawn. Her birds had found nothing so she would have to go with Plan B. She made a mental note to make more fetches later to make searching for trouble easier.
They left the house just before dawn and made their way out of the city, towards the edge where faelnir hunters commonly found game. It was here that Fluffy's tiger had been waiting. The travelled as a group until they came across a couple human hunters. Kage hid behind a tree while Fluffy whispered to her tiger. There was a roar, followed by screams.
"Tiger!" shouted a hunter as he scrambled out of the way. His friend had just been swatted aside like he nothing more than an insect. The body rolled and slid across the ground until coming to a stop against a tree trunk.
"H… help… me…"
Nobody would be helping him. The tiger playfully chased after the fleeing man, walking almost casually behind him because their size differential was so great. The hunter ran for help, too scared to look over his shoulder to see just how close the tiger was to getting him. His screams had their intended effect of drawing other humans.
Despite their valiant efforts, the humans weren't prepared to go up against a 20 foot tall tiger with no notice. Arrows served only to annoy the beast as it swatted each one aside. Two hunters down… three… four… five…
"It's almost too easy," Kage thought as he trailed behind. He was collecting the bodies and tying them together. Fluffy's tiger knew it wasn't supposed to kill, but it was hard to swat a fly and not kill it. Its victims were barely alive as they were tugged along the forest floor. It was looking like he wouldn't even have to use his bow.
There was a sudden gust of wind that made a chill run down Kage's back. He looked up ahead to see that the tiger was averting its eyes from whatever had produced the wind. A mage, perhaps?" Kage picked up his pace.
The tiger's face was peppered by a flurry of sharp stones while its rider fought to hold onto its fur to stay mounted. Fluffy managed to get an eye open and saw that there were two mages standing opposite them. As the tiger bent down to let the wind pass around its body, Fluffy was thrown off of it. She shouted in surprise.
"Kill them!" Fluffy shouted as her body started to glow and quickly shifted into that of a raven. She flapped into a tree and hid on an upper branch.
The tiger leapt at them, but they moved in time to dodge. The zephyri was as quick as the wind, carrying the terarri off to the side. Moments later, there was a volley of arrows that thudded against the tiger's flank.
"Annoying," Kage said to himself, "but mages… that's exactly what we're after."
The tiger had been in charge before, but both sides seemed lot more evenly matched now. The two mages and three archers were keeping the tiger from being able to kill anyone else. Every time the tiger would pounce, the wind would push its target aside. Every time it tried to look for someone else to attack, earth would spray up into its eyes and make it yowl in pain.
Galinn shrugged the bow off of her shoulder and quickly drew an arrow. She timed it between bursts of wind to hit one archer through the throat. Not a second passed before another archer was similarly disabled. The short aelf dashed from tree to tree to get a good shot at the third one – he never stood a chance.
The tiger had all but given up on the fight. Without Fluffy there to command it, it turned tail and ran from its source of pain.
"Ho there," Galinn called as she stepped out into the open and waved her hand, "good job with that tiger."
"Thank you," the Terrari called back. "your arrows helped keep it occupied. We couldn't have done it without you!" The zephyri looked absolutely exhausted, showing signs of using far too much magic. He needed rest.
Kage nodded and said, "you two deserve some rest. Here, I'll open a portal for you."
"That would be greatly appreciated," whispered the zephyri.
"Trjálundur."
The portal opened and the two mages started towards it, nodding in thanks to Galinn as they did so. Just before they walked through, she shot an arrow into each's backs. Straight through the spine, disabling their motor functions. They just stood there for a few moments before Galinn pushed them through and into the pile of bodies.
Galinn gathered up the rest of the bodies and threw them through the portal as well. All in all, it'd been a pretty good day.
"Now to go find the tiger. I hope it hasn't been injured too badly," he thought. That tiger was from all the way across the world – it'd be a shame to see it die.
9 nonmagical bodies
2 mage bodies
Fluffy: 1 master cast to seeming into a raven quickly