The wall of the inner academy was set higher than the outer section, and so, from the wall, one could look straight across at the top of the outer keep. Victor and the others ran to the inner wall, trying to following the wyvern, but all they could see was the red gleam beneath its wings, surrounded by darkness. “We’ll never catch it like this!”
A sudden idea come to Victor’s mind. “No, not like this, but there is a way.” He ran back the way they had come and made once again for the outer wall. “We need the ballista! It’ll be just like hunting the griffin!”
“But this is not a griffin!” Gretel argued.
“Same concept though. Just trust me!”
And so, they hastily recovered the ballista with the help of some extra hands and wheeled it up to the inner wall. Meanwhile Sam rushed into the keep, and from the higher point she lit a beacon for all – including the wyvern – to see. After firing a few arrows, she caught its attention, and its sleek lizard eyes narrowed in on her. But the trap was sprung too early. Victor was yet to attach the roped harpoon to a pillar. “Not yet!” he cried.
He was too late. The ballista fired and the harpoon penetrated the Wyvern’s wing. It howled in pain, but was barely beaten, and as it flapped its great wings it took off again. Still holding the rope, Victor was hurled into the air, until he flew so high that he dared not let go. Above him the Wyvern sank into the stars, and beneath him the academy began to diminish. “This was not part of the plan! Let me down! Let me down!”
The extra weight put a strain of the Wyvern’s ability to fly. It tired and dived again to the academy, where it perched on a high building. Victor, however, swung on the rope and braced himself as he crashed through a window. Glass shattered. Victor rolled across the floor, still holding the rope, and when he sat up he saw that he was in a bedroom.
A large cabinet sat beside the window. “That ought to do!” Victor tied the rope to it and lugged out the window. The rope drew tight. With a howl the wyvern was dragged into the street, and there it crashed and was dealt with by the remaining hunters.
Victor watched from above. He rubbed his shoulder, although his entire body ached, and as he limped slowly for the stairs he muttered to himself: “I am never doing that again…”
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