Hounds Rising

Helena stared into Myla’s eyes, and time seemed to stop. She could see Helena’s eyes start to flick as lightning pulsed through her irises like dark clouds. When she spoke, Myla felt the thunder in her voice as the tempest inside rose out in anger.

“You shouldn’t have done that…” Helena spoke, barely over a whisper.

Myla stumbled back, her eyes still adjusting to the new stimuli. Her brain raced as she tried to take in the latest information from Helena’s memories, but everything felt jumbled. She needed to waste time.

“Shouldn’t have done what? You fell out of the sky, and you know more than you should. I’m only making sure that you aren’t a threat.”

Helena stood slowly, keeping her eyes trained on Myla. She raised her hand, which held a shaving of licorice root. While Myla wasn’t a spellcaster, she did learn about their material components. It was heavily useful for her paintings since various plants could be used for color dyes.

The licorice root sparked, then caught flame in her hands, instantly turning to ash and smoke before she let it fall to the ground. Myla could see something change in Helena, but she wasn’t sure what. She took another step back, readying herself.

“I’m done with these games. You will die for this.”

She reached her hand out, palm facing Myla, and the sparks of electricity danced between her fingertips. The lightning, as if magnetic, created a ball in her hands of pure light. Before she could release it, a snapping sound echoed, causing Helena to recoil and the ball of light to vanish.

Ana moved to Myla’s side. Her staff held tight in one hand, her other facing Helena, the shards of some magical force fading as she let her arm fall to her side. Myla realized that Ana must have countered the spell that Helena was about to cast.

“What do you want here?” Ana asked her. “Do you just want to kill Myla, or are you trying to kill us all?”

“I’ll kill all of you if you stand in my way…” Helena spoke through clenched teeth.

Myla blinked. Her world shifted, and her focus adjusted as Helena’s eyes were only inches away from her own, staring deep and through her.

How did she move so quickly?

Something felt wrong, but a haze came over her. Her mind was a cloud of fog that she couldn’t see through, and her thoughts had disappeared except for a few echoes deep within. Her body was frozen, and she couldn’t focus on anything else.

Then, her body erupted in pain. She looked down to see Helena’s sword hilt pressed against her abdomen. Blood trickled out onto her clothes and the elf’s hand. She watched as the sword was pulled from her body, splattering blood between them, staining her leathers and Helena’s white and gold robes as if making crimson constellations across their garments.

Myla held her hand to her side and felt Ana’s shoulder beside her. She blinked again, trying to stop the clenching of her teeth. To her right, Lyla’s arms wrapped around her sister as she dropped to her knees.

She closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of shouting, but it was too hard to understand. A burning ran through her stomach, and a light as bright as the sun pushed through her closed eyelids.

Myla?

Opening her eyes, Myla could see her sister looking back at her. Carefully, she looked down to see her sister’s bracers dimming as she moved them away from Myla’s stomach. Where a wound once was, it was now gone as if it had healed instantly.

I’m okay now, I think…

Lyla helped her stand again, and she could see dark shadows wrapping around Helena’s body as she tried to cast a spell. Between Ana’s dispelling and the rest of the party, it seemed they were keeping her distracted long enough for something, not truly hitting her, but keeping her busy. Ana stepped back, keeping her body towards the elf, but turned her face to Myla.

“Do you trust me?”

She wasn’t sure what to think. It sounded like Ana was going to give her over. It sounded like she was only trying to save herself.

But would she really do that? Myla thought to herself.

Her mind was still foggy, but memories surfaced of when Ana had asked the same question, once before turning her into an eagle and another where she was transformed into an ape. She wasn’t sure about Ana’s plan, but she had to act on instinct.

Yes or no?

“...yes.”

Ana grabbed her hand, and they both jumped forward. As their feet lifted off the ground, a swirling mass of energy appeared before them, and Myla used her other arm to shield her face from it. She felt the arcane power wash over her as she flew through it, landing on the ground and rolling up against a tree.

She stood up quickly and looked around. There was a tree behind her, giving her cover, and she could see a small cave about twenty feet away to her left. On her right, Ana stood up, shook the leaves off her knees, and pulled the cloak off her. She placed the cloak over Myla’s shoulders and spoke.

“I don’t have much time. This cloak will help you hide. I’ll be back.”

“Wait! Where are we?” Myla asked.

As if answering her question, she could suddenly hear shouting far away. Ana turned and started running towards it. Myla gazed through the trees, finding bright, colorful lights blasting in the distance.

She must have teleported us away.

By the look of it, they were hundreds of feet away. It would take Ana time to return, but she didn’t have time to worry about it. Myla had two choices: the cave or the trees.

I don’t know what’s in the cave and can see while in the trees, but there’s also the chance I could be spotted…

Instincts kicking in, she climbed the branches, making it thirty feet up and into the foliage. She could still see the spells being cast and hear the shouting. She prayed that they all made it out alive.

Below her, she heard the sound of a branch snapping. Carefully and quietly, she moved from one branch to another to get a better view. A bear cub walked out of the cave, looking around frightenedly. It turned and ran back into the cave entrance, escaping the sights and sounds, only to return a moment later with two more cubs and the mother.

It’s a good thing I didn’t run in there! She thought to herself.

There was nothing else to do but wait. So, she did.