Fall

Piper

Piper worked fast. She kicked dirt onto the fire, smothering it so their movement was hidden to Tennyson and Taft. The horses whinnied and pulled at their ties.

Stuffing the charcoal pork deep into her pack, she jumped up and twisted her alea. It deadened into the weight of the mace, and she planted her feet into the ground to await what came next.

Finch had his vitrum hunting knife at ready, she could see that much in the dimness. The fire was still dying between the clods of dirt, slowly fading in its own smoke.

Tennyson laughed. It was low and gritty. “You gave us a run for our money, but we’re here now.”

Piper closed her eyes, and saw through Reine. The fera’s vision helped her see through the darkness. Reine crept closer to her, swinging her head slowly to catch—

Tennyson came out of the trees at a run, Taft with him in stride. The opposing leopard gave a wild challenge, a sprawling cry that spiderwebbed through the air.

Reine roared back, a solid shout of thunder. Piper lifted her mace, and swung.

Tennyson bowled into her, knocking the wind from her lungs and forcing her to the ground. Taft smashed into Reine, and the fera’s vision blurred. Piper opened her eyes to swing madly at Tennyson. Again and again.

But he had something this time. A wooden board. A shield. With this, he was able to avoid being clubbed by the mace while attacking Piper with its sides. Piper had to keep activating her own shield to counteract this.

Reine rolled with Taft, slashing and biting until they broke apart. Taft gave his spiderweb cry again and raced towards Reine as she did the same. They met halfway, both rearing and aiming for the throat.

Piper felt a sweat break out on her forehead. Tennyson and Taft were both larger and stronger than her and Reine. They were only biding their time until the end they both knew.

But there was one advantage they had.

Tennyson cursed as a blur of scarlet masked his face, angrily pecking and screeching. It was Chip.

Across from them, Taft howled in pain, spinning to see Finch with a bloody knife. The spy’s face only now had a look of fear. He had just realized he had the leopard by the tail, and he had cut it at that.

Taft’s wounded tail slapped Reine as he turned, and Piper’s fera took the distraction by pouncing on the larger cat, biting his fur.

Piper came to herself just as Chip was lifting away from Tennyson’s face. She bashed her shield in his face, wincing as she saw his nose break through the clear boundary. When he opened his furious eyes, she hit him again with the shield.

Finch and Reine were holding Taft off, but barely. Taft was a thing of power, and their attacks were only making him angry.

Piper took a risk, and turned her alea off completely with a turn of the mace’s pommel. Oh Life, please let this work. She quickly got to her feet as Tennyson was regaining his bearings, and activated her alea again. Instead of the crossbow she wanted, the short sword was in her hands.

She held it close to Tennyson’s throat, pinning him to the ground. His breath was shallow, his eyes wide.

“You,” he panted, “surprised me.”

Piper felt sick, but her voice failed to show it. “Call off Taft.”

She could feel him behind her. A presence menacing without words. Reine confirmed this by sending an image through their link. Piper didn’t dare look back, or she would be lost.

“I’ve explained this before… that he’s your problem,” Tennyson said. This was always his way out, his final card to play. “If I die, you will have a big problem.”

“I don’t plan to kill you,” Piper spat. “So get that out of your head. But,” she had Reine help her as she leaned close to whisper, “I could bring you right to the edge of death.”

Tennyson laughed, and the bulge in his throat rose to tap the blade. “You had me for a second, girl, but now I know you’re fibbing.”

Reine took a step to them as Taft did the same. They were on a delicate string, with each reacting to the other.

It was Piper’s turn. She held the blade to the skin, and dug slightly. She couldn’t do this. She had to do this. It was life. It was death.

It wasn’t hers to take.

Taft was another step closer to them. Reine was a second behind.

Piper, she said. You have to do this.

They were in the battlefield again, with Piper hovering over the enemy and Reine so far away. She had the weapon, had the motive, but couldn’t take the leap. Loy was below her, yelling to his death. Piper, Piper!

“Piper!” Finch careened forward as Tennyson wrenched her blade out of her hand and held it over her head. He flashed his rotten smile once more.

She was wrenched back as Taft grabbed her shirt. The dark earth knotted in her hair as she was dragged like the pig Reine had brought earlier.

Life! Piper struggled in the manner of a beached fish, trying to free herself from Taft’s teeth. Reine slammed into the enemy leopard, and Piper was able to scramble away.

She lifted her eyes to see Finch make a leap for the alea. It had turned back into a cube in Tennyson’s hands, aware of the changed person.

Tennyson used it as a weapon anyway, crushing its sharp edges into Finch’s shoulder while slamming his wooden shield against him, pushing him back.

Finch curled into himself, clearly in pain, before lashing out with his knife. Chip flew in front of Tennyson’s face to mask his sight.

Piper frantically searched for something to fight back with. Branches of all sizes littered the ground. Piper sifted through a stack of them, and ran to Tennyson.

She came up to his side, and put all her strength into the swing. The branch acted much like the mace, except it crackled in protest when it made contact.

Tennyson crumpled in a howl. Taft broke from Reine, and pelted to his human.

Piper picked up the dropped alea, and watched it shimmer into a crossbow. “Surrender?”

Reine came to Piper, and sat next to her. Exhaustion radiated from her bones. If they do not, I will kill them.

Tennyson bared his teeth. “What are you waiting for? Kill me.”

Taft stood over him, daring them to.

I’m tempted, Reine growled.

Reine’s bloodlust was strong, but Piper’s caution was stronger in her own mind. No, I—

That’s when the hissing began. A great body of a sound that swarmed in the underbrush.

What? Piper turned back and forth. She backed away from the noise, but it surrounded them.

Reine tugged Piper to the trees. Climb! Climb!

Pulling herself up slick branches, Piper didn’t stop until Reine’s panic ebbed into wariness.

Finch had apparently gotten the same warning, for he was in a nearby tree.

Tennyson was on his feet, with Taft circling quickly, by the time the grove below erupted in a writhing mass. Blues, greens, yellows, browns and every shade of a tropical rainbow slid along the ground. They moved in unison, as an army.

Piper swallowed. She knew what this was.

Monkeys swung through the canopy, screaming. Lithe shapes crept along the high branches, some in the form of big cats.

Reine unsheathed her claws, ready to fight, before blinking in surprise as the fera swarmed past them. They dove into the former camp, a waterfall of fury. Trampling, screeching, howling, the fera created chaos.

Their horses from the West finally tore from the trees in madness, running from the scene.

Piper watched in awe as the army made even Taft lower himself in defense. It was a sudden and swift change, as sweeping as a wave.

“Tennyson and Taft!” a voice bellowed. “Prepare to die!”