Episode 8: An Alluring Proposition (Part 4 of 6)

It is unclear to Locke how much time has passed when he finally stirs from his slumber; however he finds that he feels very nauseous and hung over.

"Uh," Locke groans as he shifts around.

As Locke attempts to move, he suddenly realizes that his body is completely covered in sheets and pillows from head to toe. Something very heavy also appears to be lying on top of him.

". . .What?" Locke says weakly to himself as he feels everything on him.

While he is tempted to immediately shove everything off from on top of him, the darkness and warmth of being under the sheets is so alluring that Locke decides to stay under the sheets for a little longer as he is still quite dizzy and sleepy. As Locke lays stills, he hears what appear to be footsteps and thumping overhead on the deck. Deciding that he should probably now investigate his surroundings, as he remembers he is not in his cabin with Lilanei anymore, Locke presses his hands against the sheet and other various things on top of himself before thrusting his arms up and shoving them off to one side. As he does so, Locke hears the loud boom of the table, which had lain on top of him until now, falling off his body and onto the floor. Locke then sits up and glances about the room to find it is in quite a state of disarray; he also notices that Alexandra is no longer there and that a bright light comes from the window nearby – indicating to him that he must've been asleep all night. Meanwhile, footsteps, thumps, and bangs continue to emit from the ceiling above him. Locke slips out of the bed and rubs the back of his neck which aches from the position he stayed in all night.

As the setting around him begins to sink in, Locke grumbles, looks around the room, and calls out, "Alexandra? Alexandra, are you here?"

No answer comes. He stands around for a moment before realizing that he has left Lilanei alone all night and wastes no time in heading out of the room, as he walks to the door which he notices is cracked open. He opens the door fully and steps out into the cabin hallway before looking down the hallway to notice that most of, if not all, the doors are open. Locke begins to walk down the hallway, his head turning from side to side as he walks past the doors, before he finally stops and settles on the the nearest door to his right. He walks to the door and peers into the room, seeing that this room, much like Alexandra's, has been ransacked and the occupants are missing.

"What's going on?" Locke asks himself before he then quickly dashes back to his and Lilanei's cabin to check that she is okay.

As he darts through the open cabin door, Locke is taken aback to see the room is in a similar state to all the other cabins. All of their possessions are gone, and the bed in which Lilanei slept lies tatters as the sheets droop off the side of the bed and onto the floor.

"Lilanei!" Locke cries as he kicks a chair that was laying on the floor away in frustration. "Damn! Who has done this?" He roars in anger, before calming himself slightly and thinking, "It couldn't have been longer than a day that I was out for. . . Was it? Let's see. . . I was in Alexandra's and we had a drink before I began to feel. . . then I woke up. Everybody seems to have gone, but where? They can't all just be up on the deck and left their rooms all like this. . . Unless. . ."

With that, Locke turns and leaves the room, not bothering to check the room's wardrobe or drawers as they are either open or thrown on the floor. He makes his way down the hallway and begins to quietly climb the stairs up to the deck. He gets halfway up the staircase and stops so that he can peer through the stairwell to see if anyone is on the cabin deck. As he peers up into the deck, Locke believes that he hears loud laughter as well as some chattering; however, before he can focus on the talking, he feels a sudden shove from behind as he's forced up the stairs and tackled to the floor on deck – feeling his hands become restrained and the entire weight of whoever is at fault for his capture pressing down upon his back.

"Hey, what?" Locke cries as he falls to the floor; grunting, he turns his head which is slammed against the deck as he growls, "Release me! Unless you want to be eating this decking!"

The assailant says nothing as he merely chuckles beneath his breath. Nevertheless, at this time, Locke glances around the deck from his prone position and notices that many of the passengers are sitting on the deck floor with their hands and feet tied; all the passengers are also hunched together in a group. He finally notices that in the group sits a very sick looking Lilanei, who rocks back and forth dizzily with an ill expression on her face.

"Lil!" Locke cries, calling to her before trying to shove his assailant off him. "Let me go, you monkey!"

The assailant, however, simply lifts Locke slightly by the shoulders before slamming him back down into the deck as a way of silencing him. As he does so, Locke sees the outline of a large pair of black boots as they step in front of his face – that is, before everything goes dark as his assailant pulls a sack over his head.

Suddenly, he hears a deep and bellowing laugh as the man in front of him cries, "Har, har! That takes care of the last straggler. . . Ye all are now the private property of the Ibius Scoundrels! I'd guarantee ye yer lives, but. . . then I'd be lying! Har, har, har!"

"Har, har, har?" Locke echoes in a mocking voice. "This isn't Long John Silver or Blackbeard, is it, mate?"

The man bellows in laughter again as he exclaims, "Ah-har! We've got a comedian aboard! Ye best keep ye mouth shut, whelp! Lest ye—" Suddenly, the man stops speaking as Locke hears a suddenly "blurgh!" sound followed by a loud thump against the deck; the man pauses for a moment before crying amusedly, "Har, har, har! Pathetic landlubber! Martel, clean that dirty wench's mess up, will ye?"

As he commands, Locke hears the heavy banging of what sounds like talons stomp heavily past him and across the deck.

"I don't believe it," Locke begins. "Damn pirates! My old man told me fairy tales about mindless peasants like you. . . But then again, the pirates in his stories didn't sound as lame as you do, Captain Long John Beard the V, or whatever you want to call yourself. Why don't you show yourself to me, coward? From one wayward soul to another, let's introduce ourselves. . ."

As Locke completes his challenge, he feels a blunt kick to the head, which causes his already pulsing headache to ravage his head even further as the pirate cries, "The name is Captain Belamros and ye best be rememberin' that name – for it'll be the last ye ever hear, landlubber! Now, ye best be keepin' yer little mouth shut before ye find yourself walkin' the plank!"

"Plank?" Locke asks. "The only plank I see, or hear rather, is you, 'Captain.' If you wanna shut me up, make me!"

Captain Belamros howls with laughter as he shouts, "Ye hear that, boys? I think the lad be issuin' us a challenge! Martel – best not leave the boy waiting then!"

Immediately, Locke hears the same heavy banging of talons against the deck before he feels a very heavy and blunt blow to his head, which promptly sends him into unconsciousness.

Soon, Locke awakes – still with a pounding headache. He sits up from the stone floor he was laying on and once again rubs his sore neck, which is suffering from cramps due to being on the cold, hard floor. Locke now looks around at his surroundings, seeing that he has obviously been locked up in a prison on what he figures were orders from Captain Belamros.

"Oh. . . My head. I don't think my skull can take too much more of this," Locke moans.

Glancing around again, Locke notices that the three walls to his left, right and back are made of stone, while the fourth wall in front of him consists of large prison bars and a door. From his position, he can see many cells running along the left side of the hallway, across from where he stands, as well as more cells to his left and right. He glances across to the cell directly in front of his and finds it is empty, except for a skeleton slumped in the right hand corner of the cell – which he can easily see due to the prison area being brightly lit by lanterns on the ceiling. Getting up off the floor, Locke stumbles over to the cell bars, wraps his hands around two of them, and tries to peer out of the cell.

"Guard? Guard!" Locke calls, before he hears a low rumble and is taken aback in surprise when he sees a large bird-like monster stomp suddenly past his cell – a Hippogriff.

It looks into the cell at him and emits a large, threatening breath through the nostrils on its beak before turning and continuing down the hall.

"Is that it?" Locke asks. "I'm being guarded by a freakish pet? Huh. . . Hey!" He then calls out. "Is anyone else here?"

Locke listens closely and hears through the echoes of the prison block sudden footsteps as someone shouts, "Locke! Is that you? It is Locke, isn't it?"

"That depends, pal!" Locke shouts back. "Who wants to know?"

The man's voice cries out, "Marc!"

"Oh, Dara's man, yeah?" Locke calls back.

"That's right!" Marc cries back, a bit quieter than last time. "You sound really close. Are you hurt?"

"A bad head, but that's partly self inflicted, my man," Locke replies as he rubs the back of his head. "How about you?"

"I'm fine," Marc replies before pausing. "But Dara. . . Dara is somewhere else! The women and children have been taken to another floor."

"Lil," Locke sighs, before he then looks to the left, trying to peer to the other cells down the corridor as he asks, "Do you know if any others are here?"

As Locke glances to and fro down the hall, he sees the many faces of merchants and travelers who were on the ship, before Marc finally replies, "Yes. . . This is where they've stowed the men."

"Ah," Locke replies before then raising his voice. "Hear me, brothers! Are you all okay?"

In response, he hears many disgruntled grunts of the many men, seemingly quite downtrodden and hopeless after being captured.

"Well, at least they're alive," Locke quietly remarks to Marc.

Marc mutters, before finally saying, "Locke. . . I'm worried about my wife! Who knows what those terrible brutes are doing to her, right this moment! I've looked and looked, but I can't find any way to escape. They've taken all of our things. . ."

"I'm worried about Lil, too," Locke answers. "Hang in there, Marc. I'll think of something. I am a rogue after all. . ."

Locke watches as the Hippogriff continues to pace up and down the prison. Locke rubs his hands up and down the cell bars, before then feeling the hinges of the cell doors to see if there's any weak point in the construction; however, he finds that despite the shabby appearance, the hinges of the prison are well kept and show no weakness. Despite this, Locke takes a step back from the door and kicks his left foot out at the cell bars with an almighty "clang!" Nevertheless, the doors fail to break as Locke whines in pain as he hurts his foot.

"Are you alright?" Marc suddenly exclaims.

"Yeah," Locke replies with a slight hiss of pain. "I'm used to this now. . . Marc, what's your cell like? Do you see any cracks or flaws in any part of its construction?"

"No," Marc mutters. "It looks quite impenetrable. . . I have even checked each stone brick individually to see if there was a loose one, but alas. . ."

"Damn," Locke hisses.

Nonetheless, he then begins to run his hands over the brick walls of the cell to try and find a weak spot. His eyes then widen as he notices one of the stones on the back wall is slightly jutting out.

"Ah-ha!" He whispers triumphantly as he begins to pull on the brick, continuing, "Come on, ya—“

With a loud grunt, he suddenly stumbles back as the stone removes itself from the wall and falls against Locke's upper body. Locke places the stone down at the back of the cell, so that the Hippogriff or any guards don't notice what he's doing. He then glances into the rectangular hole in the wall, and at first does not see anything; nevertheless, he feels around the hole with his hand and suddenly caresses a couple of items. Locke removes these items and finds he is holding a very old and worn sling as well as a small metal pellet. Locke looks at the sling and pellet and scratches his head with the end of the sling, trying to think of what to do with it.

He walks back over to the cell bars, keeping the sling and pellet hidden behind his back, before he then asks Marc, "Who has the keys?"

Marc soon replies, "Keys? Well. . . I don't know. Erm, the last pirate I saw in this block came merely to feed the Hippogriff, which guards us now."

Locke thinks for a moment and then acts, shouting, "Oy! You ugly monster! C'mere!"

The Hippogriff, which now stomps past his cell, simply turns to Locke before shaking its head and ruffling its feathers with a slight sniff as it continues to walk away. Locke shakes his head in a mocking gesture before spitting out at the Hippogriff.

"Dumb bird," Locke mutters as he peers out of his cell once more, this time to look and see if there are any keys on the walls – but he sees nothing; Locke calls to the Hippogriff once more, "You stupid walking bunch of feathers and fur – come here now!"

He's severely annoyed when the Hippogriff simply ruffles its wings and keeps walking, this time back to Locke's left.

"Oh yeah? Well spit on you, too!" Locke roars with annoyance. "Bring me your master! Bring me a pirate!"

Locke waits a few moments, but the Hippogriff continues its slow descent down the hall, leaving Locke stuck for a strategy.

Marc sighs and says, "I fear we may never escape. . ."

"Don't give up hope yet, Marc," Locke whispers. "You're in the presence of Locke Kallidin. This rogue will get us out, you mark my words. . . Marc. Tell me. Are we still on the Mighty Blue?"

"Of course not. Why—Oh, that's right. They knocked you unconscious, didn't they?" Marc asks.

"Yeah, so where are we?" Locke asks again.

Marc replies, clearly with a frown on his face from the tone in his voice, "I don't know. . . They concealed our faces with sacks before we arrived in this hell. They then guided us down many ladders and the next thing I knew, I was being thrown in this cell. I'm afraid that's all I know."

After listening to Marc's explanation, Locke then presses himself up against the cell bars and watches for the Hippogriff to walk past once more. As it begins to walk past his cell, Locke reaches out and grabs the Hippogriff, quickly pulling on it before drawing his hand away to antagonize it. The giant creature caws angrily as it swiftly snaps back and bites Locke in the hand with its beak. Shaking his hand, Locke then quickly grabs the sling and loads it with the pellet, before he pulls back on the elastic material of the sling and then lets it go – with the pellet flying towards the creature in an attempt to hit it. As the Hippogriff is now glaring to Locke with a demonic gaze, the pellet hits him directly between the eyes as the bird then throws its head back and cries in anguish and anger. As this occurs, Locke feels a harsh snap against his hands, as the sling he used to throw the pellet, snaps in his grasp.

"Ha ha ha!" Locke laughs before kicking the cell door softly and then reaching out to the Hippogriff, only to withdraw his hand before it strikes again. "Not so," Locke begins as he kicks the cell door again, "tough, are ya?"

The Hippogriff, deeply angered, suddenly rushes at Locke's cell door and slams into it as it emits a horrible, high pitched screech. Unable to break through the bars, the Hippogriff steps back a few feet before sitting on the ground a few feet in front of Locke's cell before it glares at Locke angrily.

"You know, you stupid bird," Locke begins. "Get me out and—"

Suddenly, Locke quiets himself when he hears a pair of footsteps begin to echo down the hall. Suddenly, Locke sees a Half-Elf pirate step in front of the cell door before he motions to the Hippogriff, who walks away angrily.

The pirate now stands before Locke's cell and glares down at him as he cries, "What is this? Quiet yerself, landlubber!"

"Shut up!" Locke snaps as he kicks the cell door once again. "You pirates are talking big right now because everybody's incarcerated and at a disadvantage. In a fair fight, you cowards couldn't lace my boots."

The pirate snarls before he withdraws his short sword and slams the blade into the bars of the cell as he cries, "I ain't got time for yer mind games, boy! I got meself some work to do, so are ye gonna quiet down, or am I gonna have to make ya?"

"You're gonna have make me. . . mate," Locke says with a snarling grin.

With another vicious snarl, the pirate thrusts the blade of his short sword into his cell, forcing Locke to step back. In one swift motion, he then removes a set of keys from his side, before unlocking the cell door, stepping in – as he continues to hold the short sword in front of him – and finally closing the door behind him as he locks it.

"I'm unarmed, matey," Locke announces in a mocking pirate voice. "Daren't ye face me the same way, bucko?"

The pirate now smirks as he slightly withdraws his sword and says, "Well. . . 'matey.' Don'tcha know? We be pirates! And we ain't got time for ye petty morals nor ye ethics!" The pirate then thrusts his sword forward, attempting to slash Locke across the waist. "Now face me, ye snivelin' whelp!"

"Ha, okay!" Locke cries as he jumps back from the slash before he raises his fists. "Let's do this."

With his fists raised, Locke snaps his right arm out, allowing his fist to fly at the pirate's jaw; however the pirate simply laughs and tilts his head to the side as Locke withdraws his arm back to the side of his head, which he uses to cover his temples.

Still laughing, the pirate yells, "Yar har har! Ye call that a right hook?"

With a cackle, the Half-Elf pirate then proceeds to lift his short sword in the air and slash it in a downwards motion towards Locke's shoulder; however Locke takes a step back in his small cell as the strike fails to hit.

"Ha ha, and you call that a sword strike?" Locke laughs back. "Quit swinging like a girl. Put up your dukes!"

Dropping his fists, Locke makes a quick step back before then shifting his weight into his left foot as he leans onto his left leg, raising his right leg in the air before violently snapping his leg out into the pirate's chin. Locke's boot snaps into the pirate's jaw, the force of which throws the pirate against the cell bars head first. The pirate slides down the bars, blood covering the bars as he falls to the ground, no longer breathing.

"Game over – mate," Locke says as he spits on the pirate's hair.

As Locke does so, his eyes suddenly widen as he notices that his sickle is sheathed to the pirates back. Locke bends down beside the pirate and unclips his sheathe from the pirate's back, placing it around his boot once more.

"Thanks for keeping this warm for me," Locke announces as he then notices the set of keys clipped onto the pirate's belt.

Locke snatches the keys away before he grabs the pirate and throws him to the back of the cell. He then walks to the cell bars and looks for the Hippogriff once more, who at this time is at the far end of the hall to Locke's left. Acting quickly, Locke takes the key, places it in the lock, and with a turn unlocks the cell door. He walks out of the cell and closes the door shut before locking it and rushing to Marc's cell to his right – however, he stops in his tracks when he feels the warm breath of something behind him. Locke turns around and his eyes widen as he sees the Hippogriff standing in front of him with an angry scowl on its face.

"Hello, beastie," Locke mutters. "Let's play."

The Hippogriff simply responds by raising its mighty wings in the air as it flaps them menacingly at Locke before it drops to the floor once more as it prepares to pounce the young rogue. Without hesitation, the Hippogriff launches itself forward, extending its large and pointy beak at Locke's neck in an attempt to attack; however Locke ducks down onto his heels and the Hippogriff's strike harmlessly passes over his head.

"You need to get that beak blunted a bit," Locke says with a grin as he stands back upright. "Let's see if I can that do for you! Yargh!"

Locke charges forwards with his sickle in his right hand, and as the Hippogriff gets closer to him, Locke thrusts his sickle out quickly and violently at the creature, allowing his sickle to strike the beast right in the breastbone. Fearfully, the bird cries with a mighty screech as it backs up slightly and ruffles its feathers before then glaring down at Locke and emitting a heavy breath. It then swiftly rushes forwards as it thrusts its beak toward him once more just as before and snaps at the rogue's left shoulder. The sharp point of the Hippogriff's beak cuts through Locke's vest and shirt before grazing his shoulder in a deep scratch, although it does not draw blood.

Clutching his shoulder for a moment, Locke looks to the Hippogriff. With no hesitation, he lifts his sickle in the air and slashes downwards towards his left side, slashing the Hippogriff over its previous wound on the breastbone before dragging the blade upwards and then slashing it in a downward motion across the Hippogriff's chest to the right – drawing blood from its chest as Locke takes his now bloodstained sickle from the beast. The Hippogriff howls in great pain as it once again steps back slightly and looks to Locke. He can see that its eyes are now filled with great fear when suddenly, the bird steps back even further before turning and attempting to flee.

"Come back here!" Locke cries angrily as he now runs after the Hippogriff.

Now within a couple of feet behind the monster, Locke jumps and clears the distance between itself and the Hippogriff as he lands on its back. Taking his sickle, he lifts the blade into the air and then slams the crescent shaped blade down deeply into the top of the Hippogriff's skull – the blade piercing the skull as the beast drops dead to the floor beneath Locke. Slipping off the Hippogriff's back, Locke rushes back over to Marc's cell, placing his sickle back into his sheathe on his boot before he arrives in front of it.

As Marc sees Locke run towards his cell, he clutches the bars in front of him tightly as he exclaims, "Locke! You've managed to. . . How did you. . . I can't believe it! Dara was right about you two – you're amazing!"

"Dara wasn't just blowing hot air," Locke says with a wink as he takes one of the keys and places it into the lock.

Suddenly, Marc cries, "No! What are you doing?"

"Getting you out of here," Locke replies. "I'll release everyone, and we'll fight back!"

Motioning with his hands, Marc exclaims, "But you can't! If the guards come back and find we are all gone, they might do something horrible to the women and children! You can't free us. We must stay here and act as a distraction. . . Besides, I fear we would be no use to you in battles."

"Well, if that's how you want it, then so be it," Locke replies, placing the keys on his belt. "Sit tight and I'll go and pay our dear Captain a visit."

Now, with a very sullen expression, Marc softly says, "Locke. . . Dara, Thia, and Alek are all I have in this world. . . Please, I don't care what happens to me. Just save them."

"I'm going to save everybody, my man," Locke announces. "Lilanei included with all of them. . . and Alexandra. Like I said, sit tight here and just wait for the fireworks. Once you hear the commotion, you'll know it won't be long until Locke Kallidin liberates the people of the Mighty Blue! I'll see you later."

With that, Locke tips his two fingers towards Marc in a parting gesture and walks away from his cell and down the corridor. He stops and looks down at the Hippogriff, pondering on what to do about its carcass. Deciding the creature would be too big and heavy to drag into a cell, Locke simply climbs over it, makes his way to the ladder at the end of the hall, and slowly begins to climb it as he unsheathes his sickle and prepares for any dangers ahead. After climbing up the ladder through a large hole in the ceiling, Locke emerges in what appears to be a large storage area. Treasure and items are scattered thickly throughout the room, except for an empty path that leads across to the other side.

"Hm," Locke says as his eyes widen at the sight before him and he licks his lips. "Very nice. I might have to pick up a souvenir before we leave."

With that, Locke follows the passage that cuts through the heaps and mounds of treasure. As he walks, he immediately spies a large pile of ruck sacks and bags lying to his left. Among them, he quickly recognizes his own ruck sack, which now sits on the ground – his crossbow being thrown nearby.

"Lovely," Locke whispers as he toddles over to his items before placing his crossbow, magazines, as well as his ruck sack all on his back and then clipping his coin pouch to his belt.

Locke stands back up from his crouched position and looks around the room, trying to find Lilanei's items. He doesn't see her things; however he does notice a bag which has been dropped in the center of the walk way and appears to have gold pieces trickling out of it. Locke follows the trail of gold, picking up each piece, until he stops in front of the bag of gold and picks that up also. He adds the dropped gold as well as the gold in the sack into his coin pouch. As he does so, he suddenly hears a jingling as two platinum rings fall from the sack and onto the ground, rolling around on the floor before his feet.

Locke crouches once more and inspects the rings before saying to himself, "Nice!"

Locke pockets the rings and once again rises to his feet before he carries on. Seeing nothing else of great importance in the room, Locke opts to climb up the next ladder which lies at the end of the room and also leads up into a hole in the ceiling much like before. As Locke finishes climbing the ladder and brushes off his clothes, which are now quite dirty, he now looks up – and is immediately met with the pointed beak of another Hippogriff.

The creature is accompanied by an Elven pirate, who growls, "What is this?"

"Why, it be Cap'n Crunch!" Locke replies as he holds up his sickle with a grin. "An' I be about to make ye' walk da' plank! Release one's wench at once and thou will spare ye. . . That's how you talk, isn't it?"

With a snarl, the Elf motions forward with his long sword after which the Hippogriff roars and flaps his wings at Locke in a threatening manner. With a shrill cry, the bird then lunges forwards with its beak and bites at Locke's waist, the bite squeezing down on Locke's waist who lets out a yell and pulls back in pain. As he stumbles, the Elf pirate launches forward and attempts to jab him with his long sword; however Locke swiftly dodges the strike, causing it to miss. Without thinking, as the Elf withdraws his sword, Locke launches forwards with his sickle, jabbing it into the Hippogriff's left leg, just above its talon. The blade grazes the Hippogriff, giving a stinging but not deadly wound.

The Hippogriff stumbles back on its injured foot as it emits a low cry of pain as the Elf pirate then rushes forwards and slashes at Locke's chest with his long sword. The slash cuts deeply into Locke's chest, causing it to gush with blood. He roars in pain before quickly withdrawing one potion, which he opens and gulps down quickly, before discarding of the empty glass bottle by throwing it at the Hippogriff's face, as it growls at his taunting throw. Focusing his glare on the Elf, Locke then takes his sickle and pushes it forth, attempting to land a striking blow with it. He rushes at the Elf and grabs him by the collar before violently pulling the Elf forwards, and when the Elf stumbles towards Locke, Locke thrusts his sickle violently up into the bottom of the Elf's chin – the sickle plunging into the Elf's head before killing him. Locke throws the Elf to one side and glares at the Hippogriff.

"I'll tame you, ya ugly sack of feathers and fur!" He cries.

Although it does not understand what Locke yells at it, the Hippogriff is nevertheless angered by his tone and as it begins to flap its wings wildly, its feet slowly begin to ascend from the ground. Nevertheless, the Hippogriff doesn't realize the room is too small for it to take flight in, as it thumps its head against the ceiling before it lands on the ground with a disgruntled growl.

"Ha ha ha! Aw, grounded, eh birdy? Maybe I should. . . clip your wings!" Locke hisses before he launches another attack at the Hippogriff.

Immediately, Locke does as he says as his strike is focused on the Hippogriff's left wing which he forces his sickle to jab right through – the blade slashing through the feathers and into the bone of the wing. As blood seeps through its feathers, the Hippogriff lowers its wings and cries in fear and pain. It looks to Locke with wide eyes and much like the last Hippogriff, it begins to back up, down the narrow hall. Locke immediately begins to twirl his weapon in his right hand while he walks after the Hippogriff.

"Come back, you coward. Why are all you creatures all bark and no bite? That's right – cower. Cower in front of your master, before I slaughter you! Argh!"

Once again, Locke grips his sickle tightly after twirling it in his hand before he lunges forwards and thrusts the blade straight into the Hippogriff's chest, much like he did before – blood spurting out of the fresh wound as it whines in pain and begins to lower towards the floor as Locke withdraws his sickle once more. To Locke's great surprise, instead of running, the Hippogriff suddenly shoots its head upwards, its beak aimed directly at Locke's face as it attempts a desperate attack. However, it is too weak and stunned to strike Locke successfully. Backing off, Locke then growls and thrusts his sickle back into fresh wound he caused the Hippogriff, this time forcing his sickle deeper into its chest. This fatal wound now kills the Hippogriff outright as it dies and drops to the floor.