The big gryphon was not impressed by the Charr's grin, and simply stared unblinkingly, lifting Rilana's unconscious form protectively towards his white and black underbelly with both sets of fore-talons as he leaned back on his haunches. Kona's dark wings flared outwards just as Svarak lifted his sword, anticipating the strike as the glittering sword slashed through the invisible barrier and the ground fell out from underneath them. The pit was too narrow for him to glide properly, so the gryphon flapped hard, letting air spill out from under his impressive feathers to slow his descent and avoid landing on the huge dragon at the bottom. Carrying his Mistress was little different from carrying prey, though Kona was much more gentle with the limp Moon Fey than he would have been with a horse or reindeer.
Kona set Rilana down on the stone, leaning down with his huge beaked face to nuzzle her head from side to side, small birdlike squeaks of distress whistling through his maw as he pawed at her worriedly. His ear-tufts twitched. He put himself between her and both Svarak and the dragon, trusting no one, especially when the charr came towards them with the sword. Did he not care that she was hurt?! Kona tilted his head at the sword as Svarak embedded it in the rock and ruffled his wings angrily.
It was only the repetitive concussive shaking of the ground under the massive footsteps of the huge ice monster that earned a flutter of Rilana's eyelashes. "Svarak?" Only the Lord Knight made her head hurt this much. She moaned softly, her face twisting with a pained frown as she lifted her hand, reaching dazedly towards where she thought Kona was. "Kona?" Missing, her hand landed on the very tip of the dragon's tail, and his voice, weak as it was, seemed to hammer reverberatingly inside her skull.
"...ow. Shush, my love. Don't worry." She wasn't sure if she said it out loud or inside her head, or both, her tone as gentle as if she was tiredly comforting a kitten. Her eyes opened blearily, taking in the scene as she repeated her attempt to grab at Kona, who her her use his neck as he lifted her to her feet. Glancing around, it took a silent query at the gryphon to figure out what had just happened, and together they backed away from the approaching monster, though all of Kona's fur raised in fluffy irritation and mistrust as they scooted closer to the dying dragon.
Turning somewhat gingerly as she continued to recover from smacking into the shield, Rilana turned and looked at the dragon, reaching out to touch his sickly-feverish graying scales. "Oh you poor thing." She stroked her fingertips across the ridges over its eyes, hoping that the first dragon she ever touched wouldn't die so soon.
The sword, Kona reminded her. He says not to touch the blade.
Fear, greater than any she had felt since entering the tower, slid uncomfortably into Rilana's belly as she thought about touching the Null Shard. Almost as though ignoring it, she climbed back up onto Kona's back, only reaching down for the handle of the massive blade and trying to pull it. She could barely lift it, and grunted as she laid it across her lap so that it wouldn't flail about as Kona jumped into the air again.
With a glance back at Svarak, who was literally punching the ice golem to death, Rilana and Kona flew up to the bubble-shield and the gryphon hovered in place while Rilana carefully poked at it with the huge sword. She held the hilt with one hand and balanced the blade across her forarm, both to help control the weight and to keep it from touching Kona's back.
The shape of the shield lit up before her eyes, illuminated by the power of the sword. Rilana couldn't explain how she knew, but she could feel that the funneling shape shooting up through the tower was the link between the dragon and whatever was draining its life away. Shoving the sword-point through the barrier and urging Kona forwards, the pair swept swiftly around the pit to destroy the shield.
--
Upstairs, Ortha dutifully followed Alya into the Library, one head keeping an eye on the tiny half-elf while the other promptly began sniffing around and began scarfing the edge of a large book. The balauradon had no interest in loot, not even as something Rilana might be interested in. The two-headed creature seemed to grow especially gluttonous for a few minutes while the Moon Fey was unconscious, growling wetly at Drisceya when the drow moved closer to her, but then looked up with irritation.
The songweaver had disappeared again.
Grumbling, the balauradon sniffed around and began to climb the staircase, most of a book still sticking out of one of her mouths.