The rush of air past his skull kept the shouts of alarm from his ears; he would not have heeded them if they had. He caught sight of his own shadow gliding across the water and looked to the wall in time to see one of the guards shield his own eyes with a hand; however beastly his body, his mind was still thinking, still tactical, and knowing that those below him were blinded by sunlight gave him his opening. The courtyard had begun filling with more figures, more fighters, but he knew this was the only chance he'd get.<br/><br/>He kept at full speed, wings tucked tight to his side; the men below traced him with their bows. It must have looked all the world like this monster was going to impact the temple, and that was precisely what he counted on- The closer he grew, the more the archers were pressed into a choice: Fire at a fast-moving target, or risk having it descend on them? It spoke to their great resolve how long they held their bows, but when the creature seemed to be mere seconds from swooping over (or on to) their heads, they at last fired- The sun clouded their vision, but years of training and experience had honed their aim.<br/><br/>The sound of arrows cutting air was distinct, and for a moment all was lost in a brilliant flash of sunlight- Save for a monstrous roar of pain. Of the arrows fired many arced to the ground, their aim having been distorted by the glare, or their trajectory bothered by the great sweep of the monster's wings; if one were to tell by the ineffectual 'clink', one had bounced off its beak. At once,it spread its wings and swung its hindlegs forward, forward momentum shifting in seconds to an upward stall; it gained a few meters in height but came to a near stop in the air, directly above the courtyard; now, with its relative stillness, could be seen the full extent of this bizzare fusion of terrestial and avian; the leonine muscle, the short fur eclipsed improbably by a thick coat of feathers at its mid-point- And two arrows, one embedded in the brown plumage of its breast and another on its side, just below the right wing.<br/><br/>The surge of momentum that had briefly suspended the creature came to an abrupt end, and from there it fell straight down, dropping like a rock- The fall was short, a few meters until its hindpaws impacted the ground, bearing its weight in a landing that elicited another shriek of pain, somehow both shrill and growling, and impossibly loud; landing close enough that the precipitous cloud of dust it kicked up washed over Wolfram in a wing-blown wave, the ground seeming to tremble for a moment as the beast fell to all fours. No doubt, along the walls, those guards that had not taken to rushing down to the courtyard were already again drawing their bows; the moment the creature was in the court-yard would still be sufficient for it to pounce, or rend, or charge, or-<br/><br/><i><b>"WAIT!"</b></i><br/><br/>It screamed in a booming, gravelled tone, underpinned with a roar; a strange voice, but unmistakeably intelligent. It fixed its eyes on Wolfram, and in them gleamed the harsh light of a hunting predator, but the creature was still, its breath loud and its chest rising and falling laborously around the diminutive arrow protruding from it. The flurry and fury of its descent was over; whether a single spoken word could stay the hands of the Guard was now their choice alone.