Shadow
"How did you get here?" I ask. I notice that he doesn't have Xarxonzor with him. "How did you find us?" I hope I'm distracting him.
"No, you're not," he says. I flinch. Are my plans so bad that he can practically read my mind? "You're missing someone... That male elf. But you've gained people and power. It's too bad; it'll all end now," he says calmly.
"You think you can take us all on?" I spit. "Yeah, right!"
"Wait," Athena commands, her green eyes narrowing, "My father has a plan. There are surely others with him, waiting for us to strike." Her father nods, surprised.
"Well. You are correct. You surprise me with your knowledge, but don't think that I will show you mercy." About fifteen fully armed Hunters stalk out from behind sand dunes.
"I don't," Athena responds, not intimidated by the least. "Don't expect mercy from me, either." The leader of Hunters shrugs.
"Alright, then. Attack!" Come on! Why does everyone have to yell, 'Attack!' all the time? It's seriously unoriginal. Uh. I should be helping. I blast a Hunter with fire, and she dodges me. She stabs at me with her sword. I stop, as if surrendering, and she sneers. The Hunter lunges at me, but I jump out of the way and let out a roar, blasting fire. She howls, clutching herself, and another Hunter suddenly shoots at me with a gun. The bullet skims my leg, and I scream. I fly up in the air, out of shooting range, and try to drown him in fire. He holds up a shield, saving himself. I'll have to use lightning... Though I'm not very confident that I can.
I suck in a deep breath, which is hard considering I'm battling for my life, close my eyes, and look deep inside myself. I can sense a tiny, electric spark. I focus on it and try to mentally force it out. I hear thunder boom and open my eyes. The guard collapses, and I feel my strength. I blast another guard. Unfortunately, my power is so slow that they can easily sidestep out of the way if they're expecting an attack, and it's off-aim. I bite my lip, trying to think, and hear Dracoponian roaring and fly towards him, my leg aching. He's also in the air, but the Hunters have some kind of net-shooting pistol. Two Hunters, one shooting nets and one shooting bullets, are targeting him.
He blasts what I think is icesilver at them, but they dodge. Why are they all so fast- or are we just slow? I try to shoot fire, but they just hold up their shields. I know that they'll just dodge if I use my agonizingly slow lightning. There are several bullets in his wings, and he's barely flying. What can I do... I throw one of my daggers at the Hunter with bullets. It stabs him in the arm, and he runs away, howling. Stefan blasts him with water and he supposedly faints. I gasp as I see that the other Hunter has caught Dracoponian, who is on the ground and hardly breathing.
"Dracoponian!" I scream. He grunts, trying to speak, and blood pools out of his mouth. Chinglar suddenly leaps on the Hunter. She screeches as he claws her mercilessly. Just like he did with Wittnor. I'm about to rush over to Dracoponian and check on him, when a scream interrupts me.
Athena. I fly to her and see her fighting Kenneth. They're equally matched, both with the same weapon; a knife. Athena rolls out of his way.
"Wait! Don't help, Shadow. I'll take him on myself!" she yells. I'm about to argue, but I notice Pustyn in need of help.
"Here." I say, handing her my dagger quickly. She mutters a thanks and we attack four Hunters. The rest of them, except for Kenneth, surround us. Stefan, Echo and Chinglar crash into them. Echo summons a bow and arrow, climbs atop a sand dune, and starts shooting. Stefan blasts water out of his hands. Wait. Why didn't he just make water for us when we were thir-
We all attack them at the exact same time. I launch some fireballs and add some electricity to the mix at several Hunters. It hits a few. Stefan shoots water at them. Echo shoots three Hunters with her arrows, and while they're down, Durpner finishes them off. Chinglar and Pustyn swiftly attack some other Hunters. Right now, it's not going well. The Hunters don't outnumber us too much, but they're trained specifically to fight us. A Hunter nearly chops my leg off.
I shriek. She stands there, staring. I bite my lip. Athena is fighting her dad. Dracoponian is trapped in a gold-wired net. And Vapor... I don't even want to think about Vapor. Chinglar howls, and I turn to look at him. Pustyn and Durpner are busy fighting four Hunters. Luckily, that means there's only one that's attacking me. I gasp as I realize Chinglar's state. His right wing has been nearly torn off, several of his claws are stubbed, his ear is ripped, and he's limping. He's still fighting, though. Against three Hunters. I'm about to help him when I see Athena, covered in bloody scratches, with a broken arm. She's fighting her father, and now losing.
Chinglar sees me looking at both of them, and howls, "Help her! I'm alright!" That's incorrect, very incorrect, but I obey and fly to my friend. She and Kenneth are fighting on a sand dune, and she looks like she's falling. I grab her and fly up, beyond range of weapons.
"Thanks..." she says, and shuts her eyes. I can hear her breathing, and I know that she's passed out. Her father yells something, but I don't hear. I lie Athena down behind Echo.
"Guard her," I command. She nods, looking shocked by everything. I suddenly hear a laugh, and realize that Kenneth is fighting Chinglar, along with the three Hunters. I gasp, fly over, and blast them with the thunder-fire mix. I scream in pain. My energy is starting to go... It hits one of the Hunters, and he falls to the ground. I do this again, somehow finding the strength, but the other attackers are expecting it. One turns to fight me, along with the original Hunter I was in combat with. I try to reach Chinglar, and fail. He stumbles back weakly, into a sand dune. An arrow is sticking out of his back leg. He's probably the best fighter out of all of us, without Dracoponian, and he can barely stand.
He slashes Kenneth in the face, who mutters a swear word and slices back with his ruby-handled dagger. I blast one of my attackers, and he runs away, heading for Echo. I think she'll be alright. Now that both of them are gone, I blast one of the Hunters tormenting Chinglar. That just leaves Kenneth. Suddenly, a Hunter throws a rope around my wings and hands, and brings me down. I yelp as they stab me, tears forming in my eyes. But I don't pull away, I just yell, "Echo! Help Chinglar!" She nods, leaves the Hunter she was attacking, drops her arrows, and tries to kick Kenneth. He ducks and punches her in the face. Chinglar howls again as Kenneth slashes him.
A blur of green-gray bashes into the lead Hunter, and bites his arm. Then, it turns to me, slicing through my ropes. It stops to unfurl sky-blue wings. Chinglar's eyes widen. "Layla?" he asks disbelievingly. It's another chingle.
"Huh. Thought you were dead. Can't survive without me, can you?"
Chinglar rolls his eyes.
"Just help us!" he snaps. The chingle, probably Layla, sighs and turns into a hurricane of bites. Soon, the Hunters have run away.
"This isn't over," Kenneth spits. "Hunters, the portal!" They run into a giant sand dune and disappear. The sand dune seems to evaporate.
"So hey," Layla says. "You've probably figured it out by now... I'm Layla." I nod.
"Do... You... Know where... We can... Get... Healed?" I ask, loosely hanging on to reality. I fight back the darkness threatening to take me.
"Eh, sorta. If you can walk some more. In the Witch Hills. I know some witches that'll help you." she smirks. "You really need help. What were you thinking, walking around with Chinglar?" Chinglar hisses softly and steps back.
"Layla, there's no need-"
"Yeah, yeah. They should know." she looks at us. "He's a murderer and a thief. Heh heh." she adds, seeing the distorted anger on Chinglar's face.
"Wha- What do you mean?" I ask. Chinglar glares at Layla, and answers for himself.
"Yes, I'm a murderer," he says calmly, which was not expected. "And a thief. But Layla is not telling you the whole story."
"So what is the whole story?" I inquire.
"It is something that I cannot tell you, not until I know I can trust you,"
"Wha-" Chinglar suddenly collapses, and I rush over.
"Chinglar!" I exclaim worriedly. I'm sure he has his reasons, and he shouldn't kill, but he's become a friend. I don't want him to die. "And you guys..." I scan the others. "Now what? We're half dead." I see Stefan leaning over Chinglar.
"Anybody have plants?" he asks. I shake my head no. What a weird question. Echo mutters something. "What?"
"I have some." Echo says.
"Why do you want them?" Athena asks Stefan.
"I... I think... I feel like I can help Chinglar, and all of you. But I need herbs." Echo shrugs and hands him some belleminds, a kind of flower. And some tree bark and sap.
I'm a Summoner," Echo explains. "But you already know that." Stefan takes the poppies and some sap, and puts it on Chinglar's broken wing.
"Birch bark. Golden birch. That's a human tree. Echo, can you summon it?" she nods and exhales a breath, focusing. She's probably the least battered of all of us, and therefore has energy to summon little things. Some golden birch bark appears in her hands, and she gives it to Stefan, who breaks it up and puts it on Chinglar's arrow wound. His wing and wound close up, repairing itself.
"What?" I ask, bewildered.
"You're a Ginko," Layla says. If Chinglar knows her, I guess we can trust her. But am I right? Can we trust a murderer's friend? "That's good. You can heal us, quick." Stefan blinks several times, and smiles.
That's great, I try to say, but it comes out as an exhausted "Just help us," Chinglar's eyes flutter open, and he coughs. "I doubt you can even help us all, though. You're a beginner." I realize that everyone, including me, is crying. What can we do? Our efforts are failing. We're just not...
"Chinglar." Echo's voice is hoarse. "Where did you learn to fight? We all need to fight like you if we're going to survive this." I step back. She means...
"You mean we have to kill, mercilessly." Stefan echoes my thoughts. Chinglar swivels his head away from us.
"If you fight like me, your life will be ruined." he warns. "There'll be no turning back." Stefan closes his eyes.
"Echo, give me some... Something heal-ish." Echo nods and produces a few berries and flowers. She also gives him some reeds. Stefan pushes a berry into Pustyn's mouth.
"So." I break the silence. "When Stefan's done..."
"Dracoponian..." I check on the dragon, a tear running down my face. His scales have lost their cold touch and are now warm. I take my daggers back and cut through the rope, careful not to touch it. Dracoponian is also allergic to gold, like all Vamcorl, and so it isn't good that the rope is weaved with it. He hisses softly and opens his eyes. They look panicked. He rolls over and coughs up terrifyingly red blood. I try to turn his head and suddenly notice that while being in the mountains, he's grown a lot.
"Oh no," I whisper. Dracoponian mutters something. "What?" I ask quietly.
"D- dragon- dragonsplume. Heal me. Quick." I turn to Stefan. Echo suddenly gives him a bundle of white and red flowers.
"Dragonsplume. I should have known. It heals dragons very, very quickly."
"Really?" Stefan ask. "That's good to know." He crushes the petals and spreads them on Dracoponian's wounds, which almost instantaneously begin to mend. "I'm going to need more." Echo tightens her hands into fists and a cascade of flowers fall from the sky. She grits her teeth."Where did you learn about this?" Stefan asks, oblivious to her pain.
"School... We had to learn it, because the fire dragons were on our side. At least, a lot of them." she explains. Stefan nods.
"I think... Dracoponian?"
"Mrrgh," Dracoponian replies. "I mean," he says, "It's helping. Thanks. You're a Ginko?" Stefan nods.
"It's lucky, isn't it?"
"Yep." Dracoponian flicks his tail and heaves himself up. "Help. The... Others," he pants. Stefan doesn't argue, and begins to heal the rest of us.
...
"We should stop for the night," I say.
"Hmmph. I thought you didn't want a leader." Chinglar snorts. "If I can't lead us no one should."
Stefan suddenly jumps up and down. "What-"
"Energy! I," he jumps, "feel- en-er-get-ic!"
"You're going to feel very tired," I say. He rolls his eyes.
"I don't know why, but," He stops jumping, "I feel like I'm unstoppable!" Suddenly, a fire sparks behind Stefan. He turns around and stumbles back. "Shadow!" he scolds.
"Wasn't me," I snap.
"Who else could it be?"
"I don't know!"
"Stop making excuses! You just have anger issues!" My cheeks flush red.
"I do not!" I spit. The fire suddenly becomes bigger. He growls and dunks me in water, which would normally be nice in this weather, but isn't now. The fire doesn't stop, but it endangers all of us. The whole team scatters to safety.
"Wait, it isn't her," Stefan says.
"Finally," I shout, exasperated.
"It was me."
"What?!" Stefan shrugs. "I think-"
"That's not normal," Echo butts in. "Two abilities, right after the other like that? There should at least be a day between them." Stefan yelps.
"So... What's wrong with me?"
"It's just... Literally impossible," Echo explains. "Wait. Does that mean..." she stops herself. "No, no." Stefan narrows his eyes.
"What?" Durpner slaps a hand over Stefan's mouth.
"You... Are a- a-" he pauses. "You must be a Dawnor!"