In enough of a hurry to be willing to take Attie at her word, he turned to the northeast. "Very well, let's go." With that, his body became covered in his own glow of magick that slowly shrunk as his body transformed into his falcon form. Once complete, he glanced over to ensure Attie had changed as well and, seeing her ready, opened a Telepathic link between them. He probed at her mind's edge with a soft imaginary tap of a finger against the 'wall'.
*Attie, I've opened a temporary mental link between us. You can just direct a thought at me and I'll hear you fine, but the rest of your thoughts will be private. I'll get us pointed in the right direction, then get some altitude. I want to check for nearby threats. You just keep on the bearing I set and I'll catch up in no time.*
With that, he launched himself from the ground, flapping furiously to gain altitude until he could comfortably soar for a few moments. He then oriented himself towards the distant village and focused on locating the tell-tale rippling of the air that indicated a pillar of warm rising air he could use to quickly ascend. Thankfully, there was one almost directly in their path. He glanced over at the slightly faster blue jay and sent another message.
*Okay, keep on this track. I'm going higher.* A few seconds later, he caught the edge of the thermal and began a slow bank to stay along the inner edge of the pillar of warm air as he ascended rapidly. Within a minute, he had a much better view of their surroundings. A few seconds of searching easily found Attie and he followed her line of travel with his sight. Many miles in the distance was the town he had seen before… and further beyond that he could just make out the sight of a small cloud of dust being kicked up from some large group moving across the plains.
He couldn't tell what it was at this distance, but his gut told him it wasn't anything good. Having now gotten a better idea of the situation, he banked out of the thermal and drew his wings back slightly to begin a slight dive. As his altitude decreased, his speed increased, allowing him to quickly catch up with the smaller form of Attie. He flared his wings a bit with a cry (to announce his presence) to slow his speed as he finally caught up with her, still about a hundred feet above her. *Okay, it looks like the village still hasn't begun to evacuate. I counted ten buildings, but one was a barn of some sort. There was some sort of large group moving in the direction of the village a few miles beyond it, but I couldn't tell what it was. I'll check again as we get closer.*
They flew onward, Trafalgor going up a thermal for a better view twice more along the way. The second time, they were nearly to the village and Trafalgor's gut clenched as he looked beyond the village to identify whatever the group approaching was. As he'd feared, it looks like a small horde of creatures from the Void were moving in the general direction of their destination, but not directly towards it. They were still a few miles out, but he had no doubt that they would change direction as soon as they noticed the village. *Attie, the group beyond the village is not friendly.* He thought hard for a few moments, then grimly continued. *I believe a change of plans is required. I need for you to start evacuating the village and get them to gather absolutely only the essentials while I go delay the enemy. Once I've bloodied their noses, I'll fly back and open a Gate to let them escape… We'll decide what to do from there after they're all safe. Okay?"
He didn't wait for her response before banking out of his current thermal and tucking his wings back sharply to dive off in another direction so he could keep their focus off of the village as long as possible. As he selected the best place for him to attack the small horde of about four hundred from, he noticed an unexpected sight in the distance. An… odd and damaged looking airship was flying a mile or so beyond the horde on the opposite side from him. He didn't know what, if any, help it may be able to give in this instance, but he didn't feel that relying on it would be prudent. Putting it out of his mind for now, he completed his dive, flaring back to land atop one of the many loping hills in the area and transforming back into his natural human form.
He glanced over his shoulder and could make out the village about a mile and a half to his south, then turned his eyes eastward to the small army of abominations from the Void about the same distance and angled more towards the village then him.
Well, he couldn't let that stand at all.
He quickly summoned his bow from the aether and called forth his full core of magick. For Trafalgor's normal spell usage, he usually did not need to call upon his entire core. Instead, he would gather magick from his surroundings and only use a bit of his own magick to set his desired spell into motion… letting the gathered magick from the world fuel it. However, when he needed to perform much more powerful spells… well, his magick always worked best with a bit of self-hypnosis.
And so, in his mind he called forth his mental image of the core of his magick… an enormous hourglass… and with a thought, he turned it. And with that, Trafalgor opened his eyes, his body now a conduit for the magick within himself and the surrounding area's natural flow. He called forth a spectral arrow and drew back the string of his bow, taking aim at the distant army with an impassive mien. He imbued the magical arrow with the power of holy light… then flowed even more magick into it and his bow… the arrow grew brighter and brighter, but Trafalgor's eyes did not blink, nor did they stray from his target - the largest grouping of abominations near the center of the formation.
Suddenly the arrow's head seemed to splinter slightly, giving it a crystalline look, and Trafalgor's eyes narrowed slightly. He drew in a slow breath, held it, then released. His lungs emptied and, in the space between heartbeats, Trafalgor released his attack.
A streak of light cut across the landscape, digging deeply into the earth exactly where he had intended it to with an explosion of light that would have temporarily blinded anyone looking directly at it. Thankfully, Trafalgor was prepared for it with his eyes already closed, knowing without a shadow of a doubt his aim was true. He opened his eyes to the sight of a very upset horde now trying to cross the intervening mile between them as quickly as possible. He would have time for one, maybe two, more shots before he would have to abandon his ranged attacks and make his escape.
He manifested another arrow and drew his bow back once more. A few moments later had another streak of light reaching out to kill another dozen creatures near their right flank… and then he repeated the process on the left flank to winnow their numbers down further. Hmm… It seemed his overestimated their speed a bit. With a small smirk, he nocked another magical arrow and began the process of charging it up as he drew his bow taut one final time. There… right in the center of the formation was a group of grotesque bulging forms that didn't look like good news for anyone native to Revaliir. He exhaled, waited for that precise moment between heartbeats, and loosed his last attack straight into the lead meat sack. When his vision cleared, he dismissed his bow and mentally turned his internal hourglass back onto its side with no further need to draw on his full core.
He gave a nod. "That should keep their attention on me. Time to lead them on a merry ch-…" he trailed off as his attention shot into the sky. The air ship that he had noticed before seemed to be coming directly towards him… in fact, it looked as if it were on a crash course! Trafalgor braced himself and prepared to transform and escape if it looked like he needed it, but his original plan was now shot. If anyone survived this crash, he couldn't in good faith leave them to fight the abominations by themselves.