Survival

Part five of Rogues in which we find Allwyn and Juunikyuu guarding their lives. I had a little help with Juuni in this piece from her creator so my love goes out to her for helping me get through the block and getting this chapter finished!

Allwyn immediately regretted leaving her friend. What if they didn’t follow her? What if Juuni didn’t make it? A sudden crash behind her pulled her back to reality. Two of the creatures were tailing her, looking into their eyes Allwyn filled with dread. The pupils were jet black with no surrounding iris, hollow and foreboding; they bore right through her as if seeing right into her very being. She had seen these eyes before in books but these creatures looked nothing like the beings that were in her mind, then the realisation set in, these were no ordinary bounty hunters. Ignoring the chills running through her body she ran on hoping to find a clearing where she could gain an advantage over the changeling bounty hunters.

-***-

Juuni had soon responded to the onslaught of arrows and had braced herself for what seemed like an inescapable brawl with their pursuers. Having left her belongings on the side of the lake she searched through the water for a makeshift staff, finding only a small fallen branch she took a deep breath and held it defensively before her. Not knowing exactly what she was against made it harder to decide on a tactic, so deciding for an all out approach she watched her opponent approach from the bank and tried not to panic.

-***-

The sounds of the lake were far behind when Allwyn found herself on high ground with her attackers below, exhausted from the unexpected climb she pulled an arrow from her quiver and proceeded to take aim. As the arrow flew through the air towards its target Allwyn shot backward against a tree, arrows had their advantage in groups but alone she was vulnerable as every arrow would give her position away. A glance around the trunk of the tree gave Allwyn all the information she needed, the changelings had blades, and all she had was her bow. Close combat was not an option right now; she needed to put distance between herself and them. Analysing the clearing she decided the best tactic would be to put height between them as opposed to distance. Throwing her bow over her shoulder she leapt at the tree she was hiding behind and threw herself up towards the sheltered branches.

On reaching a suitably sheltered branch Allwyn looked back down at her pursuers, they were now at the base of the tree next to hers following her tracks. The branch she was sat on let out a creak alerting the changelings to her change of position, they immediately looked up and saw their pray, frantically Allwyn climbed higher again and contemplated her next move. It was clear by now the changelings had no intention of climbing the tree after her so for now she was safe to sit and work out where she would go next. Leaning back against the tree she kept one eye on the guardians now below and thought back to Juuni and what may have happened to her.

-***-

Juuni was now in the full swing of close combat with the third changeling, finding the branch a very effective staff, parrying the huge creatures blows were easy as its size gave it a high centre of gravity. She had taken a fair few blows though and was beginning to feel the effect of such a constant, prolonged onslaught of attacks. A well timed parry sent her opponent backwards into the depth of the lake and Juuni stepped back in shock, knowing he wouldn’t stay down for long she summoned all her strength and began to focus on where the changeling fell. As she focused Juunikyu could sense something was very wrong and was suddenly awake and alert. Why hadn’t the changeling resurfaced yet? She had only parried an attack and he fell into deep water so the fall wouldn’t have caused serious injury, distracted by her thoughts, Juunikyu was unaware of her opponent surfacing just behind her. Only a slight ripple gave her opponent away as Juunikyu spun and released her focused energy toward the creature. A blinding light filled the air around the lake and both the changeling and Juunikyu fell backward and into the water.

-***-

Allwyn shifted on her branch, the changelings below had since set up camp in preparation for the long wait for her to come down. The meat over the fire gave off a scent which made her stomach growl. Ignoring the protests of her body she sidled closer to the end of the branch and peered through the leaves to watch her captors. ‘It’s now or never,’ she thought to herself as she edged closer and closer to the edge of the branch. As she leapt the changelings looked up and saw her escape attempt, rushing, they lifted bows towards her and arrows hurtled past her body as she glided through the air to the next tree. Filled with anger Allwyn pulled her bow from her back and loaded an arrow. She let the arrow fly and it struck the ground by her attackers feet, she stared down at the arrow in disbelief, “Oh no, not again, I thought I had control of that power.” The changelings jumped at the flames now dancing at their feet, “So it is true.” They snarled up at Allwyn, “The elf does have powers,” they trod out the flames as Allwyn decided on her next move. Pulling another bow from her quiver she focused on the tip, as the arrow flew it split in two and struck both the changelings, turning their bodies to ice. Leaping down from the tree she ran back towards the lake.

-***-

A swirl of feathers and twinkling sparks reflected on the waters surface as the Angel Senhi emerged. Juunikyuu snarled as she clasped an arrow embedded in her arm, twisted and then pulled removing the sheath and blade in one swift motion tossing it aside.

“How dare you attack us you foul creature! State your purpose and why I should not kill you where you stand!” Juunikyuu bellowed as a shadow began to clear at the surface of the water, power emanating from deep within her. The changeling squared up to Juunikyuu, as he broke the surface she was able to get a clear look at his face for the first time. Never before had she seen such terrifying eyes. They held no soul and yet they seemed to take bites out of her very own. Like two black and lifeless pits that seemed to drink her up, yet he was an elf, like Allwyn. The elf said nothing but seemed to regard his opponent a little differently. “Speak! Why do you attack your own?!” Juunikyuu continued, now that question warranted a response. “My own?! My own?! How dare you associate me with those tyrants! Those betrayers! I have my orders and whilst the girl must live I’m sure there will be no qualms about having killed you!”

 

Author's Note

Advanced critique encouraged, I understand that parenthesis (plese excuse if I have the terminology wrong, I'm a scientist not a true literary author) usually indicate a passage of time, but in this chapter I have used them as a change of scenery also to help break the text.

Reviews

[A. Cornelius]

Wow, there's a lot to this chapter. A nice little action sequence. We have our two protagonists beset by black eyed apparently elven monsters. I loved the descriptions of their eyes. Very emotive. Great stuff. I was a little curious what the rest of them looked like, but that's nothing that a little extra detail wouldn't fix.

I did end up with some questions about this chapter too. Such as, why the bounty hunters didn't pull out their bows and shoot Allwyn when she was in the tree? Surely they could have gotten some kind of angle on her but even if she was hiding with full cover, why not build their fire under the tree and burn her out. It'd be a lot faster than just waiting for her to move.

You also bring out some powers in the main characters with this chapter that we've not seen before. Which is nice. Magical arrow attacks are fun, and not really frequently done. I'm not sure what happened with Juunikyu, I think she changed into something else, but it was a little hard to tell.

Lastly, you also need to make sure that you're starting a new paragraph with each change of speaker. It got a little confusing especially towards the end.

Overall I really am enjoying the story. And as always if you want more detailed editing of this or any other chapter, just let me know and I'll email it to you.