War Cry of the Wind (2)

Zodd and Locus press on with their slaughter as Griffith watches and Sonia stands transfixed nearby. Deciding to seize the distracted Griffith, Silat sends his two Tapasa, who leap at him in unison, but midway through their jump both are struck down on either side of the girl. Their attacker is a small black shape no taller than her knee that rises into a cloaked figure, its face hidden behind a three-eyed mask trimmed with teeth. Disappointed in warriors he knows to be the finest of the Bakiraka, he is recognized by the Tapasa as Rakshas, a Kushan outcast.

Rakshas tells Griffith that the same oracle drew him here, vowing both to end his life one day and to guard him until then, and the smiling Falcon accepts him before Rakshas turns back to weave snakelike through the Tapasa's blows. Meanwhile the Kushan struggle to bar the main gate, only for it to burst inward and crush the nearest man. Through the wreckage strides a giant in dragon-styled armor, Grunbeld, bearing a warhammer and a draconic shield. He triggers a cannon blast from the shield's dragon maw, then extends twin blades from its base to butcher the terrified soldiers.

A lone pikeman rushing into the keep finds its garrison already dead and a far wall burst open and burning, with dark figures standing silent among the flames. High above, a bird watches Griffith and his band before flying off to the hills, where it settles in the hands of a young green-haired girl, an elf perched on her pointed hat. Withdrawing her mind from the creature, Schierke concludes that Griffith is no Falcon of Light but the Falcon of Darkness, destined to bring the world pain and misery, while in the town Sonia sees only a fairy tale made flesh as the dragon-armored giant bows before him.