37 Pests: Part Two
Axel swung his mighty axe and hit one of the flying creatures in the face as it buzzed towards him. He already used his throwing axes, and instead of using his shield, he kept it on his back, swinging his axe around, kept them all at bay. He took on three at a time, diminishing them all in one swipe.
Only one bug got the jump on him earlier, making him fall to the ground, but since then, he was impenetrable. Glancing to his side, he saw Ronan taking on a few as well, and on the other side, he saw Evanna and Ger finish a weird looking creature before they parted.
His shoulders relaxed; he did not realise he was tense until he saw Evanna safe. Axel felt his heart stop when he saw her fall into that hole, and an ugly beast of a centipede came out. He had grown fond of the girl; she was like a little sister to him. But he tended to remind himself that she was a princess, although she never acted like one, yet the air around her commanded respect, proving to people that she was someone of importance. Which did not help when they were on the road. His head snapped back to a beetle that appeared in front of him; he raised his axe and slammed it down on top of it.
Evanna ran in the opposite direction to Ger after helping her with the weird slimy creature that attacked her. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a few of them making their way towards the horses. How many of these things were there!? Glancing back in front of her, she skidded to a stop where a flying black insect appeared. It swiped its two spiked arms towards her, which she narrowly dodged, rolling to the side.
As she stood up again, her eyes widened; it was nearly on top of her. Before she could raise her swords, it grabbed her, clamping its arms around her; Evanna felt herself being lifted off the floor as its wing's started buzzing. Her arms were stuck by her side, she looked up to its head to see there were two long, sharp mandibles opening, and it brought its head down towards her. Before it could snap its jaws over her own head, she managed to manoeuvre both swords into its stomach.
It shrieked before releasing her from its iron grip; Evanna landed hard on her bottom, followed by the creature that now lay dead by her side. Standing up quickly, she bounced on the balls of her feet, anticipating the next attack. Her heart was thumping loudly, adrenaline pumped through her veins as she assessed her surroundings.
Evanna suddenly remembered some of the flying creatures making their way to their horses; she started running in that direction again. Her eyes widened as she saw three of them already carrying one of the horses away, her heart clenched at the sight. Glancing back down to what was in front of her, she saw Midknight on his two back hooves as he kicked forwards at another creature. The other horses were behind him. Her stallion always a knight.
She saw red. Anger consumed her as she saw it swipe down towards Midknight again. A mighty battle cry left her lips as she ran even quicker towards them,
"GET AWAY FROM MY HORSE!" She screamed before sinking her swords into the back of the creature.
It fell to the ground, its wings twitching before finally stopping; Midknight huffed at her, telling her she took her sweet time. Pouting, she walked closer and stroked his neck, then sighed in content; he was alive. She brought her forehead to his, apologising for her late appearance, then turned around, ready to defend the horses.
But from the looks of it, the fighting seemed to be nearly over, there were countless bodies on the floor and hardly any creatures left. The ones that were still with them hovered nearby, their wings still making loud buzzing sounds. It looks like they did not expect such a fight from their breakfast.
Her body relaxed when nothing came to attack them, and her senses were slowly calming down, she still felt cold, but there was no 'pull' or shiver going down her spine. Her eyes wandered over to her companions, wondering whether to get involved or not. They were finishing the last of the creatures off and did not seem like they needed her help. Or so she thought, Ronan's sword just flung out from his hand and landed on the ground behind him, too far away for him to reach for it. He held his hands up in surrender as he started to slowly back away from the creature,
"Is it too late to apologise?" He asked, with a forced smile on his face.
"Roach!" Evanna shouted before tossing her own sword to him. He caught it easily and stabbed the creature swiftly.
"Did you really just apologise to a bug?" Axel grunted before pulling his axe out of another body.
Ronan shrugged, "I'd rather die with a witty comment, you know?"
Evanna's mouth gaped before she raised her hand to cover the smile that spread on her face at the fool of a man across from her.
"You are so dramatic. Nobody is dying", Ger replied; his bow was now on his back, and he held his sword to the side, which was covered in yellow blood from the creatures. He continued to walk towards Ronan and Evanna.
"Wit!? What wit?" Axel shook his head.
"Nobody's dying!? Did you not just see the swarm of bugs that attacked us?" Ronan's voice came out high pitched, a look of disbelief on his handsome face. He then put his hand through his dishevelled curls before trying to tame them. Ronan looked to his side to see Cilv jump from a tree and land gracefully on the ground. She then sauntered her way towards the group, stepping over the fallen bodies on the ground; her hands raised with a look of disgust on her face.
Nesrin also appeared on Midknight's saddle after flying down from another tree; the little fairy was able to capture the creatures in the air, and Ger would then shoot them down or shoot them as they hit the ground. But he was distracted quickly when some of the creatures approached him at a closer distance, and he needed to use his sword for close combat.
Axel looked around at what was left of their little campsite. Two of the tents were destroyed entirely, either being far too ripped to be called a tent or parts of it dissolved from acidic saliva from some of the creatures that tried to eat it before realising it was not food. He looked back at the group to see most of them were covered in yellow slime. Cilv was the least covered; he guessed she could not take down as many due to being in a tree.
"Three got away. They took one of our horses," Evanna announced. All of their heads then turned to the horses behind her to see who's was taken.
"Maisy!" Ronan cried out; his eyes widened in shock and despair.
"I am sorry, I was too late," Evanna said gravely, placing her hand on his arm in comfort. He then turned around and put his head into her shoulder while his arms pulled her in for a hug. His hands clung to the back of her shirt. Evanna's eyes widened in shock, but she rubbed her hands on his back to soothe him. She did not realise he loved his horse as much as she loved hers.
"That's enough, Roach." Ger's voice hardened. Evanna looked sternly in his direction.
"Did you really just fall for that?" He questioned. She looked back at him, puzzled before Ger came forward and dragged Ronan away by the back of his shirt.
"Maisy wasn't even your horse! She was mine!" He continued before shoving Ronan to the side. They glared at each other, then Ronan turned to face Evanna, a sheepish grin on his face. Her mouth fell open; she could not believe he just used the death of a horse to get a hug from her. Evanna did not know what to say. Instead of responding, she turned around to stroke Midknight, removing her gloves this time so she could feel him properly.
Her head snapped to the side as she heard Nesrin in a fit of giggles along with Cilv and Axel with his loud laugh. She shook her head and rolled her eyes. Ronan started to walk towards her but stopped when Ger stood in front of him, arms crossed against his chest.
"I really am sad, though.." He said; Evanna looked back at the childlike expression on his face. A small smile crept up on the corner of her lips. She couldn't stay mad at that face.
"Oh, shut it", Ger grumbled.
After much deliberation between the group, they decided that Evanna and Cilv should ride Midknight together. However, when Cilv brought her bag to place on his side, he neighed and bucked his hind legs, so the bag flew over them. Cilv growled at him in return before grabbing her bag again and storming back to face him, but he then brought his two front legs up, ready to kick.
"Woah! Midknight!" Evanna ran in front of Cilv, her hands were raised above her head, he brought his legs back down, and he snorted, she hissed in return from behind Evanna.
"They can't ride together", Evanna stated. She brought her hand onto his muzzle, soothingly stroking him.
"Stupid, mangey cow", Cilv muttered; Evanna glared at her, holding her tongue at the insult she directed at her horse.
Ronan came forwards and petted Midknight on the side of his neck, "Well, he has no problems with me. Maybe we should ride together-"
"Absolutely not!" Ger and Axel said at the same time, "Ger, you share with Raven," Axel continued. Evanna climbed onto Midknight, not questioning Axel, but she watched as Axel and Ger had a quiet debate between them.
Ronan was still stroking Midknight at her side; he then spoke up, gaining her attention, "Midknight is such a majestic horse, shame, maybe another time", he winked at her, then turned around and climbed onto his own horse. Nesrin by now had flown over to his shoulder, sitting down and talking to him, though Evanna could not hear what was being said.
Ger walked to Midknight and placed his bag on the horse's back, strapping it on him. He looked up at Evanna anxiously,
"Come on, Ger, we don't have all day", Axel shouted from the front of the group.
Without another word, Ger mounted Midknight, sitting behind Evanna, he tried to keep some space between them, but as soon as Midknight started to walk, he slipped down, bumping into the back of her. His eyes widened at how awkward he began to feel. The feeling increased when Evanna reached back and grabbed his hands to place them on the sides of her hips.
"If you don't hold on, you'll end up falling off. Midknight can be a handful," She said, smiling innocently, unaware of the internal struggle he was dealing with.
After much discussion, they decided to leave the campsite in its disastrous state. The tents were left ripped and fallen apart, and the huge insects' bodies were scattered across the earth. It was better for them to leave it a mess and make the Flori believe that the people who camped there were long gone and dead. For they were now in the deeper parts of the forest, they knew their luck was bound to run out, and they would bump into them.
Little did they know that the Flori were already on their tails.
