26.4ᴘᴀᴛʀᴇᴏɴ.ᴄᴏᴍ/sᴛʀᴀᴛᴏᴛʜʀᴀx

Rain lunged forward and his paws slammed into the clawed feet of the Harpy arresting her momentum, the Queen shrieked her fury and beat her one massive wing blowing dust into the air, rippling the grass and shaking the trees. They wrestled, Rain's paws struggling to hold back the powerful kicks of the avian as her one good wing beat the air keeping her aloft. As they fought and grappled, Rain began to be pushed back from the sheer wild strength of the Queen and around them Harpy-goblins descended through the canopy.

"This cavern will be mine and every Goblin and Half-goblin will be my property! My army! You will not stop this, you cannot stop this, you cannot stop me!" roared the Queen as her talons raked at Rain's forearms.

"No," came a voice, "But I can."

The Inquisitor's longsword pierced through the back of the Queen and burst up from her stomach on the other side, bright steel coated red, a strange growth. The Queen screamed and fell to the ground as Opal scrambled back between Rain's legs and under the bush.

Rain stood over the Queen as she lay curled on the ground, one wing clutching at the sword through her gut.

"My children will avenge me beast, they are loyal."

"We'll see."

He grabbed the Queen by the throat and lifted her into the air as a dozen half Harpies surrounded them, crying out their anger.

"If you don't back off I will end her right now," growled Rain.

"What have you done to Mother!"

"Mother we can still save you, do not worry!"

"What do you want beast?"

Rain looked over the dozen half-harpies eyeing him warily.

He held up a paw and spread his digits. "For the bargain price of five of you to die beneath my teeth I will let her go."

The Queen's eyes rounded. "N-" Rain tightened his grip, cutting off her words.

"No! Fuck you wolf! Never! We will never sacrifice our own, we lo-"

The one who had spoken up paused as a Harpy-goblin wing came down on her shoulder, then on her other shoulder.

"Sorry sister but you just aren't worth much to us, you've always been weak winged. We need Mother more than we need you, she's the only one who can keep our Harpy blood from becoming diluted."

"Wha- b-but-"

The two Harpy-goblins either side of her hauled her forward, her heels digging into the ground uselessly.

"N-No! S-sisters!"

"Die for Mother."

They held her still as Rain ripped out her throat, her eyes shifting from wide eyed fear to the relaxed visage of death.

The brown haired one on the right shivered, her eyes transfixed by Rain's bloody teeth.

The one on the left spoke up. "Beast, we gave you one of our own, surely this is enough, Harpy-gobbos aren't Gobbos, we're worth so much more, even this one. Return our Mother, be reas-"

The brown haired one suddenly lunged forward, but not at Rain, instead she wrapped her wings around the one on the left and flung her into Rain's waiting jaws, instinctively he ended her life with a snap.

The rest of the Harpy-goblins stared at the one who had suddenly sacrificed her sister. She breathed in and out shakily.

"I'm- I'm not going to be one of the five to die! I want- I need to live!"

Bedlam broke out. Sister attacked sister and the air was filled with screams and talons rending and incising flesh, flashes of blood sprayed through the air to spatter down on the green leaves of the jungle. Feathers torn from wings littered the ground and small downy feathers floated through the brawl.

At last, a trio of Harpy-goblins were forced down on the ground, their sisters pinning them. Rain was fairly sure one was already dead and judging by the amount of blood on the ground the other two wouldn't last much longer.

A bedraggled sister with flecks of red covering her face and hair lank with blood turned to Rain.

"You got your bargain and then some beast," she said between heaving breaths, "Blood payment has been rendered under Harpy law. Give her to us and we'll let you leave."

Rain pushed the Queen in front of him and released her neck.

"Daughters, did you not see his eyes?" said the Queen sadly. "It was never going to end this way."

Rain grabbed the hilt of the sword sticking out her lower back and heaved the Queen forward, the blade protruding from her belly pierced the half-harpy in front skewering her. The Queen embraced her daughter as she screamed.

The remaining six Harpy-goblins roared their fury and threw themselves on Rain, anguish disfiguring their faces. Rain backed away, his arms raised to protect his face. When an opportunity arose he grabbed at their talons and hauled one toward his mouth where he swiftly ended her, one, two, three, their strength was nothing compared to the Queen and their talons could not cut far into his body.

The barrage of talons continued, lacerating his arms and causing the wolf to retreat through the jungle. He tripped over a root and rolled backwards, bursting unexpectedly from a treeline into a large grassy clearing. The last two harpies followed him howling their mindless rage and he grabbed them both from the air hauling them down to the ground. Their strength faltered below his own and he held them in place while one by one tearing out their throats.