The Mountain in the Clouds, Part 46

This entry is part 46 of 49 in the series The Mountain in the Clouds

And then beside me, as unreal as any of it, was the bird. It looked familiar, like that which I’d once met in the labyrinthine hedge maze so long ago. Like the Hermit’s cockatrice, only now it was not yellow but red, and had a lizard tail instead of tail feathers, and it wore two goat-like horns on its head.

The beast ran up beside me with its long taloned legs. It kept pace for some time, seeming to run from a shared enemy. Then it turned its big, beady eyes towards me, opened its beak and “caw-cawed!”

The Mountain in the Clouds, Part 48

This entry is part 48 of 49 in the series The Mountain in the Clouds

Gumpelthwomp and Giggazzibar stood back to back, determined to hold on as long as they could for each other. I was in Gumpel’s hand, and while I was above the crowd of monsters, I felt no sense of safety. Any moment the beasts would be upon us. Their gnashing teeth made me shudder, and the real worry that they might chew upon my live body made me want to vomit.