The War Against Aberon (Rough Draft #1)

Chapter Twenty-Five

    A great roar exited out into the air and Zaffre's heart jumped into her throat with hope. Another second later and one of the men was in the jaws of Freya. Zaffre watched as the two attackers were quickly defeated under Freya's claws and teeth. When their bodies lay prone Zaffre rushed forward with tears in her eyes, adrenalin fading. Her faster movement jostled her soldier and she was frozen in pain. A whine left Freya at the noise.

    "I'm okay, I'll be okay," Zaffre could barely whisper out.

    The Pumeon took a step forward and nudged her head against Zaffres. Feelings of comfort flooded the Felipara's system. She held herself for a second there, her good hand and arm up and petting Freya's mane. She drew in a breath before stepping away and looking at her shoulder. The gold-handled dagger was completely imbedded with no sign of the blade in sight. Blood poured out around the injury, covering her armor and clothing. Just looking at it seemed to raise the pain level.

    Zaffre took a glance at Freya before looking back at the injury and placing her hand on the dagger's handle. She needed to pull it out and do some field dressing. She squeezed her eyes shut as Freya growled at what she'd decided to do. Before the Pumeon could stop her she pulled the knife out swiftly and with a squish. Another cry left her as the fire in her shoulder turned into a forest of flames. She blinked away the tears that built up and tried not to let any of them fall as she took in deep lungfuls of air.

    Before she could move to dress the injury with anything around her, Freya came closer and connected their foreheads. Zaffre wasn't sure what she was doing until she saw her bond's eyes flash and suddenly they were the white they were when the magic was working to draw her into the soul plane. Except for this time, nothing happened and Freya only took in a deep breath before Zaffre felt something start to tingle in her most recent injury. It was the same feeling that happened when the claw marks Freya left on her legs were healed. Only this time it was localized and not flowing through the rest of her body.

    They stood close like that for a few minutes before Freya staggered back and Zaffre looked to her shoulder and saw a wound still there, but blood wasn't gushing from it. The deepest part of it had been healed. Zaffre gasped as she turned her head to thank Freya but something was wrong with the Pumeon when her eyes locked on her. She seemed to be barely standing and her muscles rippled in exhaustion. She'd sacrificed he energy and good health to help Zaffre. The sacrifice came at a bad time.

    One of the crab monsters slammed into Freya's side as another struck out at Zaffre with a pincher. She was flung feet away as Freya was converged on by the crabs. Her snarls ripped the air as she swung out her paws at them, but Zaffre could see the movements weren't as coordinated as before. It was a miracle she hadn't been tackled to the ground when the copper thing struck her side. Zaffre attempted to get up and try and help, but her body refused her. The crab's strike at her doing everything but pulverize all of her ribs. It was much worse than the Volbrix tail.

    She sat slightly up on her elbows, but the Felipara could barely manage that. She tried to breathe but her lungs seemed to barely work and she was stuck watching her bond get beat up. She tried to get up again but just screamed as her tortured torso made its distress known. Zaffre cursed as her noise pulled Freya's focus and one of the crabs was able to get a good grip on one of the Pumeon's back legs. Zaffre again squeezed her eyes shut and bit her tongue. The iron taste of her blood started to trickle into her mouth as she got an iron grip on her will. With all the strength she had in her she forced he body to fully sit up. In another show of will, she was shakily on her feet.

     She braced herself to start walking as her body yelled at her repeatedly for getting off the ground. As she started to take a step forward, however, she was faced with the fact that she couldn't. A glance down told her why. Both her feet had slipped under the sand and her legs were drifting in. She started to try and move her feet and step out, but it was like the ground had taken hold of her ankles. She was stuck and being pulled under quickly, her knees already starting to go under.

    Her panic was coming back as it got harder to breathe. Zaffre didn't have her sword with her, the weapon having been flung from her hand when she was tossed so far. She didn't have anything to keep her above ground and she was running out of time quickly. Her thighs were halfway under and she could feel herself being pulled down faster. Her time was running out and Zaffre couldn't have been more unprepared.

Word Count-1686

A/N:

Look at that, another chapter!

Well since I've proved to myself that I can write and hopefully finish a book. I have a question for those reading this one.

I don't feel like editing The War Against Aberon just yet and making a new draft, so how's about a new story? I have numerous ideas bouncing around my head. So, I'm giving you some options to decide what y'all want to read.

8355-The Bot-Life Rebellion:
Sci-fi novel featuring a battle bot who really doesn't like fighting, but has to do it anyway when she gets mixed up in creating a future for all bot-kind.

The Secret of The Keepers:
A modern fantasy novel with a bunch of unique creatures and mythical beings who are either trying to fight against their government or fight for it. All without letting any humans know they exist.

Howling at the Moon:
Werewolf book about a girl who didn't even know she was a wolf and has to juggle running for her life as well as figuring out what she is, who she is, and how the hell life is supposed to make sense when creatures she thought were myths pop up out of nowhere. Including herself.

The Insomniac:
General fiction about a girl who has about the same amount of energy as a two-year-old on a sugar rush, but only sleeps forty-five minutes a night. There may or may not be a supervillain on the rise as well.

On the Dark Side of the Moon:
Apocalypse novel where most of humanity is dead, and a high school student has to deal with major grief as well as surviving in a world where she's the only one in it.

Hope you like the options! Tell me what you think and what you'd prefer in the comments!