Harpy soared downward before lifting upward just above the terrain. When she swooped, she released her captive at the edge of a massive chasm. His entire body flopped helplessly forward and came to a rest just short of the cliff of the abyss…

 

“Humans are great fools; aren’t they, King?” Harpy said innocuously.

 

“Uggh…” the captive king grunted as he regained his consciousness momentarily. He then lifted his head to open one eyelid and looked upon his Verdian captor, before dropping his head again in exhaustion. He collapsed like a discarded puppet at the edge of the bottomless-looking rift.

“You looked hungry. Thought you’d like to eat some dirt before we made the long trip down. That is what you humans eat, correct? No? Ha-ha, ahhh, you’re no fun… Since we are going on this trip together, we may as well keep each other company… right?… some jokes to lighten the mood. Are you looking down? Deep, huh? Yeah, it is superrrr deep… I flew down it once. I dove for a day straight and still didn’t hit the bottom… crazy really. It leads to Tartarus. Nice place… that is if you like pain, ha-ha. You do like pain, correct? I mean, I assume that was the reason that you tortured those warriors. Sorry, Zeus told me… that was why he sent me to capture you and put you down…. there… That’s also why they call me the Hunting Dog of Zeus! By the way, my FAVORITE name… Favorite! Its a little long to ask anyone to use it all of the time though… I prefer Harpy. It’s better than the ones ‘they’ give me. Awwwful names. I mean they first called me Aello. It means storm… I mean, well, yes, but I am soooo much more than that… he-he. They also called me… what was it… Oh yes! Poderage. That one means fleet-footed. I guess that kindaaaa works but… Anyway, Harpy means ‘snatcher!’ Cute, right? I know you may not think so… given the circumstance… being the snatchee, he-he”

At this thought, Harpy smiled heartedly and began to hum to herself as she paced around the king; her wings were folded tightly to her back.

“…Don’t think I hate you by the way. All that torture stuff is totally fine with me. Honestly… Buuuttt, you angered Zeus, and he has all these rules… justice, etcetera… blah, blah, blah. Bffft, whatever…right? He is okay though, little handsy though, I hear… gross, right?… You’re a good listener. Not much of a conversationalist though… That is ok. Anyway, like I was saying, humans with their names. Right?… like “Hippo” in Greek means horse… They’re the same animals!” 

Harpy said incredulously.

“Names don’t change anything. They call Chloris… ‘Flora’ here. And people pretend they are different, ha-ha. Stupid creatures humans are… no feathers and wings either. How do they have their OWN faction?! Wow, and ugly too… No offense! … But, anyway, back to my point, even my Zephyrus… Zephyr here… We had two children in case you didn’t know: Balius and Xanthus. They are sooo pretty. I mean like super pretty. Since you don’t speak my language, Balium means dappled, which basically means spotted… black spots on his gorrrrgeous white fur, and Xanthus means blonde… so you can kind of visualize them, right? Although, whatever image you have in your head, double the beauty and you mayyyybeee have an idea of how amazing they are… They are Achilles’ horses. You know who he is, I assume. Yeah… we are pretty proud.”

At this moment, Harpy took to the air in dizzying excitement. She maintained strong, slow beats with her wings and gave herself enough force to hold herself almost in one spot. Harpy continued to speak from above him… Looking all around her as she continued…

“I watched them smash into the battlefield of the fiercest war in our history! CRASH! Bammm! You know, Troy. Wow, I was proud. Zephyrus was as well. Finally tore him away from Flora… his wife. Flora! Ha! I mean Chloris, why should I take one of your…humans’ silly names… Anyway, she gets soooo jealous. So jealous. Anywayyyy… Ahhh, too fun… Anyway, are you ready?… King? …King? King! … uh oh… oh no… not again… Zeus is going to be furious! Again… I did it, again! Ok… calm down, Harpy… breath, breath”

Harpy took a deep breath and frantically her eyes darted as she started looking for her captive…

To be continued…