The Lesson pt 5 by Diron Bates

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Not for the first time tonight Jeremy believed that his death was merely moments away. He could already imagine the talons plunging into his flesh, cleaving through bones in order to expose his meaty internal organs. As he rose from the ground his heart sank as he thought that rescue was impossible, but he learned that nothing was impossible. He watched as his mother took one giant bound towards the stairs, crouched low she swiftly cut through the air. Clearing at least ten stairs when she leaped, she planted one foot precisely on the edge of a step and used it to vault herself towards the creature that was trying to make a hasty retreat with a meal that consisted of her son.
She flew through the air like Superwoman, both hands curled into fists, arms straight in front of her. There was a fury in her eyes that Jeremy never knew existed.
The creature looked over its shoulder and screamed in fury as it realized that his mother dared to try and deny it its meal. It flapped faster but to no avail. The whistle that was beginning to become familiar to Jeremy sang through the air. He barely saw the sword as it sliced through flesh, through bone. The creature yelped like a wounded dog, its flight pattern quickly becoming erratic, and Jeremy felt himself falling. His mother still gliding through the air tucked tight into a ball, rolled several times and landed on her feet just as he collapsed onto the floor of the stone platform.
His whole body ached but he struggled onto one elbow recognizing that he had landed only inches from the edge, inches from an abyss that his mother could not save him from. He noticed that the two talons were still gripping obstinately onto his arms, spilling hot blood upon his shirt. Disgusted, he shook them off and kicked them over the edge and into the abyss. Limping he made it onto his feet. He believed that his mother had only temporarily saved his life because in the smoke clogged air were dozens of the winged creatures circling hungrily, at times even snapping their dangerous jaws at each other. The creature that his mother wounded was flying wildly about slobbering and snapping in pain. It spotted Jeremy as he kicked its talons over the edge of the platform and its scream dominated the air as it dove. There was no longer any hint of softness in the creatures eyes, there was only hate.
Jeremy reached over his shoulder clumsily fumbling for the zipper that would open the leather tube he had all but totally forgotten. His fingers were slick with sweat and clumsy from panic, he continued to search and found nothing. As the creature neared Jeremy abandoned the idea to fight and dove to the ground and wrapped his hands protectively over his head.
Two nimble feet landed in front of his face so softly that they barely disturbed the layer of dirt upon the ground. The creature saw the human obstacle and tried to slow down, but it was too late. His mother leaped high into the air with the sword balanced in one hand above her head. She brought it down in a powerful arch that neatly cleaved the beast in two.