“I can feel some predators flying through my leaves,” Drovo added.
Axon closed his eyes again and nodded. “Soletes, five of them.”
We were close enough to the mountain that perhaps we would make it if we ran.
“Run!” I gave the order and Axon and Lumod led the way. The rest of us formed a line behind the females. There were notenough hunters to carry all the females, so we would have to protect them instead.
Gabby
CW: animal attacks, violence against attacking animals
We all ran like hell as soon as Tarak gave the order. I watched in amazement as every tree root that passed under Drovo’s feet flattened into the ground so no one would trip on them. I spared a glance behind me and was equally impressed when I saw the tree roots rise up from the dirt even higher than before, which forced the now visible jagwas to slow down.
Unfortunately, it didn’t slow them down enough. As we ran through the forest I could see the mountain peeking through the trees, but as I looked behind me I could also see the jagwas gaining on us. The feline creatures with leathery skin and thick pink and brown tendrils of hair were closer now than ever before.
I heard a whooshing sound and saw a white web shoot out from Axon and wrap around the leading jagwa. The feline fell to the ground with a snarl. I focused again on the mountain and saw Drovo lift his hands in the air, calling forth all the vines hecould. Vines slithered like snakes through the trees and formed a wall behind our group.
A loud thumping could be heard throughout the forest as the animals he’d trapped behind us ran at full speed into his vine wall.
I breathed a sigh of relief and ran as fast as my legs would allow toward the mountain that was growing ever larger before me. A peaked wall of stone had never looked so good in my life.
“Ah!” Beatrice shouted to my right. The jagwas had found a way around Drovo’s wall and three of them were running alongside us now.
Rhaz shifted into his honey badger form, with thick light brown fur, long claws extending from his fingers, and sharp fangs gleaming in his mouth replacing his Sirret features.
He sprinted to Beatrice’s side and slashed open the jagwa closest to her with one swipe of his claws. The beast lay dead on the ground, unmoving.
“Are you alright?” Rhaz’s eyes were wide as he searched every inch of Beatrice, making sure she was unharmed.
“I’m okay,” she nodded, visibly shaken by being swiped at by one of these monsters.
“Stay close to me. I won’t let that happen again,” he assured her as he slowed down his pace to run by her side.
“Oh god!” Kayla screamed this time as a jagwa leapt in her direction.
Drovo let out a roar as he simultaneously created and threw a sharp wooden spear into the beast’s neck. The jagwa fell to the ground, dead, before it could ever reach Kayla.
“Oh my god! It’s a fucking Pterodactyl!” Taylor was looking up in the sky at five flying predators that hovered over us like vultures circling roadkill ready to be picked apart.
One of the flying dinosaur-looking creatures swooped down, talons out, and swiped at Taylor’s back, causing her shirt to rip.
“Ah!” She stumbled and Brexl was there immediately in his grim reaper form ready to catch her.
“Thanks,” she patted his arm as he helped her to her feet.
The pterodactyl wasn’t done with her yet, however. It swooped down again, but this time Brexl was ready. He swiped his spiked forearm into the air and gashed the predator across the eye. The large bird screeched and flew away.
Now that Taylor was safe again, Brexl wrapped his arm around her. “I would carry you on my back, but I don’t want to hurt you with my spikes.”
“That’s okay, but please don’t leave. I don’t want to be swiped at again by those things.” Taylor’s eyes darted back and forth, keeping her vision trained on the four flying beasts that still roamed the sky.
“I promise to stay by your side until you order me away,” Brexl assured her.
The two ran side-by-side toward the mountain.
“Incoming!” Tarak’s warning got my attention. The pack of jagwas had caught up to us. One after another leapt into the air, attempting to pick us off or get us away from our group. We were surrounded.
“Stop!” Tarak ordered. “There are too many to outrun, we must stand and fight.”
