The ground beneath my feet buzzes in warning.
A guttural growl shakes the ground, and a yelp sounds off to the right.
I don’t think I simply act.
Veering to the right, I plunge into the darkness, as I trust my instincts and the buzzing of the ground to guide me.
Using my air magic, I blast the shadowed beast off of one of Laikynn’s pack members, making it fly backward with a yelp. My swords appear in my hands as I stand in front of the fallen beast on the floor, angling myself so that I can keep an eye on the thing shaking itself. I quickly assess Laikynn’s pack member. He’s hurt, but he’s not dead. I breathe a sigh of relief.
“Hang in there, I’ll kill this fucker, and then we’ll get you healed,” I tell it quickly.
Chapter Four
Farren
It pounces, and I slash at it, making it yelp and temporarily retreat, which gives me a chance to study it.
I have no idea what the fuck it is. I have never seen anything like it before, but I do know that it was the thing that was stalking us.
It’s vaguely dog-shaped, but it’s bigger than even the Fae horses. It’s got six legs, one head with two snapping jaws, and when they open, there’s another set of teeth inside. It looks creepy as fuck. I can’t really make anything more than that out because it’s shrouded in shadows, which are inky black and writhing all over it.
I pull a face.
Yeah, I’m not fond of these. Whatever the fuck they are.
It charges and opens its mouth, and I instinctively know that it’s calling for backup. He’s the scouting party.
Absolutely not.
Rushing forward, I jump, flipping in the air and landing on the huge beast's back. Scissoring my swords, I imbue them with my magicand some pretty nasty spells, and they slide through its neck with ease, making me grin. That was easier than I thought it was going to be.
Then the whole beast explodes.
Explode might be the wrong word. It sort of explodes in the sense that I get covered in ichor, but it’s not as violent as an explosion usually is. It’s more like it falls into tiny pieces with a mini explosion.
I am aware that my description makes absolutely no sense, even to me, but I have no idea how else to describe it.
I manage to land in a crouch, completely unhurt, and groan, oh that is so fucking gross.
“Farren!” Storm yells, fear and anger in his voice.
“I’m coming, hang on,” I shout back. “Damn.”
“Did you seriously just say damn like we’re being unreasonable?” Aldrastos calls out.
“I didn’t realise you could hear me,” I call back.
I’m well aware that wasn’t what he meant.
The ground has gone back to buzzing gently, and I’m going to assume that means that there is nothing that is about to attack me.
I quickly jog over to the fallen pack member. “Oh, good, you’re healing. Do you need help getting up?”
He nods, his eyes wide as they switch between me and the grossness that covers me, “Yes, please.”
“Alright, I’m going to use my air magic because that is far gentler than I am, and I don’t want to hurt you any more than you already are,” I explain. “I also don’t want to get you covered in this mess.”
The creature smiles and then nods, and I gently coax my magic forward and use it to help as the creature attempts to stand. I keepmy magic in place as we slowly make our way back toward where the others are.
