Alastair has a moment to consider just what the hell he’s done, before the basilisk rightfully starts trying its hardest to get rid of this new irritation. As Alastair feels a shift coming from underneath him, he crouches down and shuts his eyes, trying his hardest to grab onto anything in order to avoid being thrown from what surely is going to be the wildest ride of his life.

  Unfortunately for the basilisk, this new irritation is significantly heavier than the previous one, limiting its normally lightning quick movements into a slow and sluggish crawl. It tries to lift its head up and finds it unable to, its head falling back down onto the ground and causing a jolt of pain from the branch that’s still stuck in its mouth.

  Alastair opens his eyes again in surprise, realizing with a chuckle what’s happening.

  “Too heavy for you, huh?” he mocks, as he pulls out a dagger and tries to pry up one of the scales that Blue damaged. “It’s a good thing I always eat my veggies.”

  He manages to dig the tip of his knife into the tiny hole left behind by the ostrich’s talons, lifting it up and managing to get the knife into the meat of the thing’s skull.

  Alastair watches with a smug sense of satisfaction as the scale is pulled off, stretchy sinew snapping and bleeding as it goes. Alastair flicks the scale off to the side, raising his knife high into the air, ready to plunge it down as deep as it’ll go. “I’ve got you now, you bastard.”

  Alastair feels the snake shift beneath him slightly, before all of a sudden, it spins around in an attempt to crush the pesky thing that’s clinging to it. He jumps off of it quickly, landing awkwardly on the ground and watching in amazement as the basilisk continues its barrel roll, presenting its soft underside for a moment before flipping around right side up.

  “Jump on it!” Nora screams, letting out a small groan of pain as she desperately tries to get up again to help Alastair. “Don’t let it get back up!”

  Alastair nods in understanding, getting up again from the ground before smoothly leaping onto its head before it could lift its head and menace them once again. The weight of him presses the basilisk’s head down onto the branch once again, causing it to let out a hiss of pain and frustration.

  “What now?!” Alastair asks, as he searches for his dagger in order to continue his slow excavation of the thing’s skull, finding that it’s no longer in its sheath.

  “Just… Just keep it down!” Nora shouts, as she also furiously looks for anything that could help. She grabs her bow and looks back at the basilisk, wondering if she could hit its eye now that it was slowed down. Seeing Alastair clinging to its head, she grows nervous, worried about hitting him instead by accident. “I’ll think of something!”

  “Well, think of something quickly!” Alastair shouts, as he starts hitting the spot that he’d already peeled back in a desperate attempt to distract the thing. His concentration so intent on inflicting the maximum amount of damage possible against the thing with his bare fists that he almost screams and swings at the fluffy thing that lands on the head next to him.

  With a furious cry, Blue begins jumping up and down against the basilisk’s head, his claws skittering and catching against its scales. In its furious jumping, it gets closer and closer to Alastair, almost scratching him before Alastair brings an arm up to intercept the furious baby. “Blue! No! Not now! Bad ostrich!”

  The Basilisk starts to rotate once again, throwing Alastair off of it. Blue leaps high into the air and lands on its soft underbelly once again, scratching a few of its scales off and causing it to bleed.

  Nora’s eyes widen in realization, as she watches Blue as he continues to jump up and down, never once pausing or stopping. “Jump on its head!”

  “Yeah, I got that!” Alastair replies, as he does just that, the moment the basilisk is right side up again. “But what the hell do we do now?! I can’t just live on this damn thing’s head!”

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  Nora lets out a groan. “I mean, jump on its damn head! As hard as you can!”

  Alastair cocks his eyebrow at her, wondering if she was delirious from the pain, until he realizes just what she’s asking.

  Without wasting any more time, Alastair sits up on its head, kneeling on it while he finds his balance. Waving his arms in the air to steady himself, he climbs onto his feet, almost falling over as the snake takes that opportunity to move its head as furiously as it can with the weight of both the baby gigantoraptor and Alastair on it.

  Alastair crouches down, takes a deep breath, and then jumps as high as he can. Bending his feet in the air, he slams down as hard as he can onto the thing’s skull, forcing it down onto the ground and stunning it for a moment. It hisses out in pain but stops struggling for a crucial moment. Nora, watching carefully, sees the moment of pause, a glimmer of hope in her heart.

  “Don’t stop!” she shouts at Alastair, “It’s stunned!”

  Alastair crouches down and leaps into the air again, Blue following after him as both of them smack down onto the things head. “You sure?!”

  Nora watches as its tail flicks out in pain, the rest of its body remaining still. “Yes! Keep at it!”

  Alastair jumps once again, driving the branch inside its mouth just that bit deeper. Many minutes pass as Alastair leaps up again and again, slamming down on the thing’s head over and over again. His breathing starts to labour, sweat dripping down his forehead as his legs slowly turn to jelly. All the while, he’s been forced to watch where he lands, Blue’s razor-sharp talons having scratched deep gouges into its skull and causing it to bleed. All the while, Nora desperately sits there, waiting for the moment when the thing will finally still for the last time.

  “I’m… Running out… Of steam!” Alastair pants, as he jumps as high as he can, coming up short and landing ineffectually against its head. He lets out a breath and desperately tries to inhale, getting shakily up on his feet again.

  Nora’s heart tightens, as she sees the basilisk shift once again. Its remaining eye seems to clear up, its body shifting behind it in an agitated manner. It starts to roll once again, taking Alastair and Blue off-guard. Blue leaps off and stands aside, cheeping furiously at the basilisk, while Alastair falls ineffectually to the side, barely rolling out of the way of the snake and avoiding getting crushed.

  Alastair falls to the ground heavily with a groan as the snake continues its roll. “Come on, get up again!”

  Alastair tries to do just that, falling back to the ground as his legs shake from the exertion. He watches in defeat as the basilisk rolls itself upright once again, free for the first time in minutes to lift its head up.

  Nora’s heart sinks as she watches it slowly shake off the effects of having its skull repeatedly stomped. It turns towards the still-struggling Alastair with a murderous look in its eye, its head low and its body unfurling behind it, ready to run him over. Nora turns to look at Alastair, hoping against hope that he’d stand up once again, which is why she almost misses the sight of Emily clambering onto the thing’s skull, her hand glowing weakly as she points it right down between its eye.

  With a furious cry, Emily unleashes the wind bolt that she’s been spending the last few minutes gathering the mana for, feeling it impact hard against the thing from nightmares and driving it deeply into the earth. She hears a tearing and a cracking sound as the branch she shoved into its jaws pierces the roof of its mouth deeply.

  The Basilisk squirms underneath her, thrashing in pain and almost knocking her over, the thing barely clinging onto life still. Emily takes a deep breath, fighting against the burning sensation all over her body as she reaches deeply within herself once again to dredge up every last drop of mana that she has. Her hand glows faintly, flickering as if it was a candle in the wind. But just enough for her to use.

  She unleashes a second bolt straight down, smashing the snake against the unforgiving earth and driving the branch straight through its brain and out the thick skull bone above it.

  The forest suddenly turns silent, as all eyes stare at Emily with amazement. She stands on top of the basilisk, her breath coming out in shaky gasps, her legs wobbling beneath her.

  “Did… We win?” She asks, looking at Nora with a tired expression.

  Nora, unable to find her voice, just nods back to her.

  Emily’s face stretches into a satisfied smile, as her eyes droop closed and her body sways. “Good…”

  She collapses on top of her kill, passed out before her head even hits its still-warm body. In the silence that she leaves behind, the three still-conscious beings all share looks of relief, and in the case of Blue, a concerning amount of hunger.