Caracara's Hunt

It threw him away with a flick of a paw like he weighed no more than a b.u.t.terfly and turned to the large crowd who"d been watching the show in morbid fascination. The beast"s eyes were icy blue, and a chill went down the backs of everyone who met them.

A child wailed. Its cry sent a jolt through the crowd, breaking the spell. The mother grabbed her kid while another woman fainted. One man ran, another jumped on his horse to get away. Some tried to move their wagons, while others fled without a care for their valuables.

The beast waited for a moment, letting chaos ensue, then made its move. It aimed for a young woman ushering two terrified children into a wagon. The woman had her back to the beast, so she didn"t know that she"d been targeted.

Arawn"s eyes closed; he didn"t want to see her fall with a b.l.o.o.d.y gash on her back.

Steel clashed against something. Arawn"s eyes flew open, and he saw Corwal standing before the woman with his sword raised. The beast pulled back its paw that had just been blocked and growled, showing its long canines from under raised lips.

Terror coursed through Arawn, but was soon followed by shame. He was so used to standing apart, avoiding the horrors happening around him, that he didn"t even think about trying to help. Even if he was no longer the same boy who was afraid of his own power.

Ether flooded toward him, and he sent it at the beast in a couple quick blades. The creature had already killed, so there was no need to hold back.

Yet the ether blades burst into sparks upon touching the glossy skin and evaporated. Arawn sent more, but there was no difference. It looked as if he was throwing burning logs into a lake. Flashy, but what was even the point?

"What are you doing?" Corwal shouted at him as he took a couple steps back. The woman behind him had almost fainted upon seeing the beast up so close, then grabbed her kids and ran off. "I told you they"re immune to magic! Use your sword!"

That was a brilliant piece of advice until one remembered that Arawn hadn"t held a weapon in his life. He looked at the piece of metal hanging on his hip, then shook his head. Trying to use it would only result in him getting injured.

Instead, he gathered twice as much ether. It came to him eagerly, brushing against his fingers like a familiar pet. He let it collect while counting seconds till it would push through his skin, then sent all of it in one huge blade.

This time, the beast bothered to turn to him. As their eyes met, the beast was obscured by a shower of blinding light. It covered a large area, hiding everything from sight.

"Immune, right," Arawn muttered. He was a monster as well, so that beast had nothing to pride of before him.

A shadow rushed out of the light. With an inhuman screech, the beast pounced on Arawn. On instinct, he threw himself to the right. The beast couldn"t change movement mid leap, but it still reached for him, extending its left claw toward him.

Ether burst forth, blasting it away. Arawn hit the ground with a thump, the impact going through his whole body.

"Rise!" Corwal ordered. He stood with his sword raised, remnants of ether still glistening in his hands. Without taking his eyes away from the beast which had landed in a cloud of dust and now turned to them in a low crouch, he said, "Eliot, check the wagons, see if they have any liquid."

There was a small noise from somewhere to the side, and Arawn shifted his eyes to see Eliot scurrying away. The boy was shivering like a leaf in a hurricane, but he was still moving.

"I probably should do that too…"

His limbs seemed to belong to someone else though. They were weak and shaky, unwilling to haul him up. It took a moment for Arawn to realize that he was actually terrified. The feeling was familiar, but it was the first time it came from something outside of him.

As he struggled with himself, the beast decided that they weren"t fun. It snarled and ran to the side. In a few dashes, it caught up with a man in a long robe and slaughtered him. Yet it didn"t stay to feed. Instead, it went for another victim.

"Here," Eliot said. His voice was barely audible, so he repeated himself, a bit louder the next time. "Here!"

Corwal dashed over while summoning ether. It rushed into the four barrels of wine Eliot had found, and a wine snake rose up. With no hesitation, it flew toward the beast. Corwal jogged after, and Arawn followed.

"I"ll hold it while you batter it with ether. Use as much as you can, no holding back."

As they ran, Arawn saw that his last attack had singed a palm-sized area of skin. It wasn"t real damage by any stretch of the word, but the beast had decided that they were dangerous and better avoided.

This was great for them, but not the other people who"d been lining to get into the city. The beast hunted them like rabbits, and neither Corwal nor Arawn could do anything about it. They were humans with only two legs while the beast galloped around on all four.

The wine snake sometimes caught up to it, but it couldn"t do anything by itself. Attacks with force were meaningless, and if it tried to wrap around the creature"s mouth and suffocate it, the beast just tore it apart with its claws.

Wherever they pa.s.sed, ether particles were disconnected from one another. The snake"s head would then fall to the ground, leaving a reddish wine stain.

Corwal stopped with his jaw clenched tight. He breathed hard while looking around for anything to aid them. But there was nothing.

Open fields surrounded the city, giving the beast plenty of ground to frolick. It was in its element, dashing left and right, while they could only lumber after it without any hope to catch up.

"We need to do something!"

Frustration mounted in Corwal"s voice. He sent the snake to ram into the beast"s side, but it didn"t even seem to notice. Ether just relaxed upon touching its skin, blinking out of the material world.

A battle horn came from the city at that moment. Fifty raiders galloped out the gates, all decked in armor and holding heavy lances. They were followed by another twenty in brown garb.

The riders thundered toward the beast, surrounding it in a large circle. Once the armored men were in place, the brown-robed ones called to the ether. It crawled into the ground and rushed straight for where the beast stood.

It noticed the attack and snarled. When the ground beneath it was about to move, it lunged for one of the armed men. Yet it wasn"t the closest one. That surprised the soldiers, and their reaction was a fraction of a second late.

By the time the ground opened up where the beast"s lunge had landed, the creature was already in midair once more. Its weight was enough to send the soldier"s horse to the ground, and it crashed with an ear-piercing screech.

The beast swiftly ended its suffering, but before it could get to the soldier, the others attacked. Growling, the creature slipped pa.s.sed two lances aimed at its back. The ground moved and swallowed its paw, but it wrenched it free once the ether in the land got disconnected.

More soldiers came, slashing at its sides. The beast snarled, snapping its teeth at them, but it couldn"t reach anyone without opening itself for at least three direct hits to its sides. It began back away, but soon that direction was blocked as well.

The soldiers surrounded it in an ever narrowing circle, not giving it a moment"s respite. Lances kept coming from left and right, back and front, keeping it on its toes. Even the ground couldn"t be trusted, catching it at the most inopportune moments.

Yet the beast"s skin wasn"t just immune to ether. It was extremely thick and all but direct hits just glanced off it. After being harried by ten soldiers in a small circle for a while, the beast only had a couple bleeding cuts. The rest were nothing but barely visible bruises.

"They"re going to kill it, right?" Arawn asked in a low voice. His heart was beating fast, but he couldn"t tell if it was out of fear or excitement for being able to see such a fascinating hunt.

The normal soldiers worked in unison with earth users, covering each other"s weaknesses. When the beast tried to pounce, the ground under it gave way. When it tried to slash with its claws, lances and shields barred its path of advance. By themselves, neither group could have kept the beast down, but together, they were like an invincible wall that kept it caged.

"Does it look to you like they"re achieving anything?" Corwal snapped. "They"re amateurs, barely able to defend. They"ve never had to work together in a real fight. Come. We need to save those fools."

Arawn began to run as as fast as he could without another word. What he"d deemed as brilliant mastery was apparently horrible inadequacy, so he thought it was better not to voice any other stupid observations.

"It"s soon going to get tired of playing with them and will try to rush out, so prepare the ether. Once your line of fire is clear, slam all you have against it. We can"t let it escape again."

With a nod, Arawn felt for the ether. A portion of it was being used by the earth mages, but there was more than enough for everyone.

"Now!" Corwal shouted out while dashing forward slightly to the right of Arawn, so his line of fire would be empty.

Arawn didn"t see anything out of order, but he trusted Corwal"s judgment and called for the ether. It surged to him in white streams like a hungry ocean, swallowing him. The sudden power was exhilarating, coursing through him without seemingly having an end.

He felt like he would burst, but he didn"t let go, didn"t send the power out just yet. There was more that could be gathered and used against the beast. Just a little bit more, and he could wipe it out without caring for its ether resistant skin.

Someone shouted, but he ignored it. There was only him, ether, and the beast. As Corwal had said it would, the beast suddenly rammed itself against one rider. The man"s companions stabbed at the exposed back, but half their weapons glanced off from bad aim.

The beast made a noise that was disturbingly close to a laugh and rushed out with only a couple more flesh wounds on its skin. When it was free, it growled, ready to dash away, but Arawn was standing not ten meters away from it.

There was so much ether around him that he could barely see. But the beast was huge, so all was fine. He raised his right hand and made a slashing motion in its direction.