Chapter 272 (2/2)
Oddball watched with its big eyes as the arrows carouith its scrawny legs, and took off like a bolt of lightning
Its wings beat with unrivaled speed But to Oddball, everything see slow as a snail
It reached the first arrow and kicked it with just enough force to change its trajectory The arrow had been headed right for the girl's back Oddball slipped passed the second arrow, then used its duck-like bill to strike the third That one threatened the girl as well
An explosion of golden light erupted fro feather The bird dashed passed the re by and then sinking into their leader's body Half a blink later the tiny bird burst out of his back
Three lives were unceremoniously ended by the little critter It'd slowed fros frantically Four pluht a distant thug right between the eyebrows as they struggled to reload their crossbows
Autule herself out of the bedsheet
She looked around in speechless confusion Half a dozen arroere scattered around her in a circle Then, froht a flash of yellow and another hoodluround like a sack of potatoes It all happened far too fast for her to see clearly
The bird moved even faster than a bullet! What kind of creature was this? Certainly no typical bird, that was for sure!
The several thugs left decided this wasn't worth dying for They thren their weapons and high-tailed it toward the safety of back alleys
Autumn had never seen a creature like this She was just as terrified as the thugs, and was preparing to flee herself when the bird appeared right in front of her It gave her a gentle peck, which earned a terrified yelp froirl She covered her face and scrambled back
The strange bird kept knocking its beak against the back of her head until Autuet her to follow She sahat the bird could do to soft human flesh, and with no alternative she picked up the parcel of eboncrys and followed it
Huh? The variety shop? Autu before the fa whether toopen, apparently under its oer, and a lazy voice called out to her from inside “Come on in!”
The little yellow bird entered without hesitation
Autuh with far more caution The store's interior was dira e rattan chair, rocking back and forth He looked perfectly at ease The little bird went right to hihted on his left hand, where it pecked at a pellet of food
Did this strange creature belong to the store's owner? Autu to catch on
“You saved me,” she said, half in a trance
“You're not as stupid as you look” Cloudhawk stopped rocking and looked over the girl's face, absent the veil He'd seen any nuot enough in that parcel to buy half of this town You're obviously an easy target, but you made no attempt to hide your wealth I honestly don't kno you even made it here alive”
Autumn's face burned with embarrassment “I'm sorry for the trouble I can compensate you”
“And how exactly do you plan to 'compensate' me?”
“I…”
He interrupted her aard silence with a laugh “You've already delivered the stones right to me, so think carefully”
Autuhtened steps backward But a glance at the yellow bird and she knew there was nowhere to run, it justman, but if he raised a bird like that there was definitely more to him than as on the surface
Her mind raced She had an idea
screwing up her courage, Autumn pled her case “If you… If you could help me, there are many more crystals where these came from”
Cloudhaas ever ht as pile of rocks and weak as a child, but she definitely hadhim much more eboncrys Maybe her family came from a place where it was made
Luckily for her, ued him “What do you need done?”
“I want to hire you to bring h My tribe's ancestral treasure is there soive me the equipment I ordered, and take me back to my people If you do that you'll have as much eboncrys as you want You have my word!”
“Tribe?” Cloudhaas curious “Is your tribe out in the wastelands?”
No one froroup a 'tribe' None of theirl had to be from some isolated wasteland settlement somewhere, a place she'd probably never left before now That would explain why she altzing around like an idiot Most importantly, it seemed like wherever she came from was also where eboncrys was made
But that was hardly information that ise to share!
If his suspicions were true and word got out, things would turn froirl It wasn't just wastelanders, elysians would be scra over one another for information about where she came from She was the key to an incredibly valuable prize!