16: Leonata and the Laws of Nature
1349 Words
“Everyone, get behind me!” Kendra commanded as she tapped a gauntlet in her hand and it immediately transformed into a large golden shield.
We all had our swords drawn and the Leonata pack poised for the attack. It was hard to believe they were only nine when they looked like a frigging horde.
Without any warning, one of them suddenly jumped at Cole but he was fast and swatted the creature away before it could do any damage. “Any hint on how to fight these things?” he asked.
“Don’t let them bite you,” Kendra replied. “Their venom’s more poisonous than a snake’s.”
Suddenly, a big ball of fire whizzed past me and landed on a Leonata. But all it achieved was pissing off the darn thing more.
“What in the world was that for?!” I shouted as I turned to find whoever wanted to turn me into a walking bonfire.
“Well, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, don’t he?” returned one of Cole’s friend, shooting me a mean “Any other idea, genius?” look.
“Guys, focus!” shouted Kendra, wrestling her shield from the teeth of two leonata; or whatever the hell the plural of those things were called. God, everything about those creatures just infuriates me?
I charged at one of her contenders and struck it with my sword but it ricocheted off the body of the beast- that thing must have had metal for a skin or something- “Kendra, how the hell do we deal with these things?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “It seems nothing short of a lightning bolt can hurt them.”
Lightning, of course, I realized. Why the hell didn’t I think of that before?
Without wasting time, I commanded “Lightning!” and three bolts came shooting down from the sky to destroy three of them. The rest of the Leonata pack on seeing their comrades explode to smithereens in front of them retreated into the woods without even putting up any more fight; I couldn’t say I was all convinced about the “victory” then though.
“Way to go, Troy!” said Cole as he rode up to me and gave me a playful arm punch. “I always knew you had it in you.”
Surprisingly, his punch felt like I was hit by a mega-huge semi-truck and my head exploded in pain and I almost fell over. Why do I never learn that powerful magic isn’t meant for a second year apprentice? I groaned.
“Are you okay?” asked Kendra, very worried at my reaction.
Fortunately, I was okay then and was about to give her my affirmative reply when a scream suddenly pierced the forest. “Vic!” I realized and spurred my horse on towards the sound even though Kendra was shouting, “Troy, be careful. It could be dangerous there.”
I got there to see Stan standing next to a bleeding Victoria. The others seemed to be recovering from an attack as well.
“Get away from her!” I shouted at him as I rushed to meet her but she quickly got out of my arm’s length. “What happened?” I asked no one in particular.
“We were attacked by some lion-like thingies,” Stan replied.
“Leonata,” explained Kendra.
By that time, Vic had stomped off into the woods and I rushed after her; her wound was really bad and I felt apprehensive about her going off all alone.
But she was okay when I found her; even better, she was still mad at me. “Well, if it isn’t Mr. Lying Pants himself,” she said when she saw me approach.
“You’re hurt.” I pointed at her bleeding shoulder.
“I can see that, Troy. I have eyes,” she returned sarcastically and got down to casting a healing spell on herself.
“Let me help,” I offered but she slapped my hands away so hard I felt the pain pass through my body twice in quick succession. “What else do you want me to do?” I asked as I put my hands up in frustration. I mean, why couldn’t we just move past this?
“How you about leave me alone and never return?” She turned away.
“Can’t do that, Vic, and you know that.” I returned to her front.
“Just leave me alone!” she shouted and tried to walk away again.
But I easily caught her. “You have to trust me, Vic." I said to her, "I would never do anything to hurt you, not intentionally.” Then I let her go.
She straightened up, gave me a long deep stare before saying, “Prove to me I can trust you by telling me that deep dark secret you’ve been keeping since you arrived.”
I felt sweat break on my forehead as my heart sped up three times faster. She was so onto me and she wouldn’t back down until her curiosity was satisfied. Well, I did say she could trust me; plus the boyfriend-girlfriend relationship extended to no secrets, right?
“I’m sorry but I can’t,” I replied.
“That’s what I thought,” she returned and shoved me roughly out of the way as she stomped off.
Suddenly, Vic's movement became unsteady and before I could even move a muscle, she hit the ground; hard.
“Vic!” I shouted and ran to hold her. But I quickly withdrew my hands on contact.
Thing is, her body was cold; as cold as death.
“Don’t worry, she’ll live,” said the nurse after checking on Vic.
“She was bitten by a Leonata,” I explained.
“I heard it the first twenty times, Mr. Sanders,” she returned as she turned to walk out of the infirmary, “and like I said, she’ll live.”
The others had gone to fill Oliver and Francesca in on the update but I opted to stay behind in order to tend to Vic.
“Am I dying?” she asked weakly from behind me.
I turned to see her trying to get up and I had to stop her before she fell face down on the floor. “No,” I replied after I got her settled, “not while I’m still alive.”
“So, what did the nurse say?” she asked.
“She’ll live.” I made an imitation of the nurse’s voice and Vic laughed; it was a really welcoming change, believe me.
“I’m sorry I’ve been so difficult,” she said all of a sudden as she held my hand so tight I feared my blood was going to stop flowing to that area.
“I know,” I replied. “Me too.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt the moment but we have a real pressing issue at hand,” said Francesca as she walked in then with the guys.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Kendra told me that you were attacked by a pack of Leonata,” she said.
“Yes, but we already took care of it.”
“Well, the thing is that Leonata are supposed be creatures of the midnight. But they just attacked you in the early evening,” she explained to me. “That was Trichloris bending the law of nature and he could have successfully bent that law of nature, it’s safe to assume that he can bend any law of nature, even that of life and death.”
- Writer
