Jade curled up by the fire, holding her knees to her chest with her face hidden beneath the black hood. She was dealing with demons of her own. Having recently promised herself never to get close to anyone again, she had locked all those feelings up in her heart, never to be betrayed by them again. It wasn’t just the unbearable pain of losing another close friend, it was just that sometimes it felt like it had all been her fault —as if anyone close to her would suffer a terrible fate.
Well, it was too late for all that now. The shield of ice had melted away, whether she wanted it to or not. She now had two friends she could hardly imagine being without. What had she done before she met them? It was like she could not remember her lonely life any more, as recent as it was. She never wanted to feel that way again.
Suddenly, they heard a twig snap off in the distance. They all knew better than to give away the fact they had been alerted. Nobody lifted their head or made a move, but each one kept a subtle eye on each other, trying to get some idea how they would deal with the possible threat. Jade suddenly felt stupid. They’d had nothing but time to devise a plan in case something like this happened. They had gotten this far without incident, which in itself was hard to believe, and now here they were out in the open, in front of a comfortable fire they never should have built in the first place! She had become too relaxed, too complacent, and now the very person she swore to protect could be in danger, all because she lowered her guard. They tried to communicate with their eyes while not saying a word.
She gave a subtle nod, then exploded into action with the familiar clicking sound coming from her wrists. The three might have been reflections in a mirror as they leaped into forward somersaults at the exact same time, hoping to put distance between themselves and any danger that might be right behind them. The three reflections came to their feet and spun to face the would-be attackers. Now armed with very different weapons, this was the first time they did not appear to be the same person.
Two large shadows came charging at them through the darkness, growling and snarling as they galloped. “Alcatross!” Jade was able to scream as two silver projectiles launched from her hands toward one of the beasts. She dove to the side as the giant panther-like creature came to a stop right where she was standing less than a second ago. It tuned to face her with its enormous head bearing a dog-like snout and three tiny horns on its forehead. It had one dagger lodged deep in its eye and another protruding from its chest. She leaped back into a double handspring as it lunged toward her, but it never got that far.
It stumbled forward as it took heavy unseen blows from behind. Jacob twirled his staff in an offensive explosion, driven more by fear than any channeled aggression. His trademark barrage of pitter-patter shots that didn’t carry full force but were certainly hard enough assaulted every inch of the beast’s back legs and finally its head as it turned to face its newest challenge. The beast winced from the reckless assault coming from multiple angles at once.
Eric held his stance low and tight as the second beast charged into the camp. It was clear he could easily impale the creature the way it was coming right at him, straight as an arrow, but he would also take the brunt of the charge. This was not a time to take a blow to give a blow, given the size of the thing. He dipped his shoulder and rolled to the side as the beast lumbered past, but not before slashing the creature’s leg as it galloped by. The hit was solid, and the alcatross howled as it fumbled to regain its balance.
Eric knew his blow was true and pressed the assault immediately. Keep the pressure on. Don’t ever relent, his dad always told him. As the creature turned back to let out a roar, cold steel slashed across its face, buckling the great beast as it lowered its head, retreating on all fours, cowering and shaking its head the whole way. The wound across the beast’s face was long and gaping, and it could not put any weight on its wounded leg.
Eric knew he had the upper hand as he effortlessly worked his sword into its dance of death, slashing high and low through the creature’s flesh with absolutely no wasted movement or fear of needing to defend. It lay on the ground, gurgling a low growl. For the helpless creature the merciful deathblow came quickly, as the whole battle had taken mere seconds.