Cornered

"Hoo, this isn't good," Haro said in a panicked voice.

"What is it?" Kies asked.

"The rest of them caught up with her," Haro explained Ammine's current situation to Kies. "She is fighting against multiple opponents at the same time right now."

"Do you know how many there are?" They heard several howls and he knew that there were multiple enemies but it was hard to tell how many exactly. Each time the howls were louder which was a sign that they were getting closer to the enemies.

"I cannot tell the exact number of enemies, but I sense there are at least four for sure," Haro estimated.

"Five? Can Ammine win against that many? Actually, what is she even fighting against?" Kies asked. Kies had assumed that it was wolves because of the howls but Haro assured him that the only wolves here in the forest were dire wolves, which had gone extinct long ago. Even Haro wasn't sure what creature those howls belonged to.

"Hoot, as I said child, I don't know either. But in the case that it somehow is dire wolves, we have much more than a slight problem at hand."

"You sound really on edge whenever you mention them," Kies noticed. "Are they that fearsome?"

"The word fear cannot be used to express how terrible they are," Haro hooted.

Kies looked around at his surroundings while they ran. Everything looked exactly the same to him. At the speed at which they were moving, the fight might already be over by the time they arrived. "I think you should go on ahead," Kies told Haro. The owl had been flying only as fast as he was running since he didn't want Kies to be ambushed, or somehow stray off the path.

"Are you sure of this child?" Haro asked Kies.

"Yes."

"Well, in that case, I'll go on ahead." Haro flew on ahead with the small banshee on his back. "While I'm sure you already know this, but do be careful on the way child," Haro reminded Kies as he flew off. "Do your best to catch up. The moment I leave, the things in this forest will start going after you the moment they sense you." After saying that, Haro went on ahead, leaving Kies on his own.

The only reason why Kies was so slow was because of the fact that he couldn't use his wind magic to speed himself up due to all the trees being in the way. He was pretty sure that with some practice, he would be able to navigate around the trees while moving at enhanced speeds, but this wasn't the time to start trying to do it. He made a note to add this to his mental list of things to do when he had the chance to.

Not long after Haro left, Kies heard the sound of footsteps behind him. Haro really wasn't joking when he said that things would start going after him the moment that he left his side. The footsteps grew louder as whatever it was that was chasing Kies drew closer.

Since it didn't look like he would be able to shake off his pursuer, Kies decided to turn around and face them. Kies slid to a halt and turned to find himself face to face with nothing. "Huh?" Where were they?

"Oh deary, your back is wide open."

***

"Ugh." Ammine distanced herself from the enemy. There were eight of them and the fight was turning into an extremely difficult one. They weren't giving her a chance to catch her breath. Whenever she would get away from one of them, another one would already be on her.

Ammine kicked one of them in the shin as it was running at her and the beast lost balance and fell forward. However, as it was falling over, it managed to scratch Ammine's arm, leaving a nasty gash on it. "Tch." She was exhausted and had wounds all over her body. Even so, she refused to surrender and continued to fight despite the huge disadvantage.

But just as Ammine was about to jump back from the one that attacked her who was now on the ground, it grabbed her leg to prevent her from escaping. It let out a taunting snarl as the others around her all closed in for the attack.

'Sh*t.' Since Ammine wouldn't be able to defend against all the attacks, she decided to focus on defending in one direction with her arms while coating her back in a layer of magic to attempt to reduce the amount of damage inflicted on her.

Ammine braced herself for the attacks, but suddenly she heard a whoosh come from her left. A blast crashed into her. The wind was fierce but it wasn't strong enough to blow her away. Was it Kies? Did those three finally catch up to her?

"Hoot, just in the nick of time." Ammine lowered her arms after the wind passed and turned to see a familiar owl perched on a branch nearby. "Do not fear child, I have you covered." Haro waved his wings at the wolf-like beasts as they were getting back up and they suddenly got planted back into the dirt, almost as if some kind of a powerful invisible force was pressing them down.

"What powerful magic..." Ammine muttered to herself. She knew that the owl wasn't normal since it could speak but she never knew that it could use magic and was this strong as well.

"Werewolves..." Haro observed the eight enemies who were pressed against the ground now, unable to move. They struggled to push themselves upright, fighting against the heavy winds that pinned them down but were unable to break free. "How strange, I don't recall there being any werewolves in this forest," said Haro.

While Haro was still plundering the situation, one of the werewolves suddenly managed to break free and let out a loud howl. "Hoot? How did that happen?" Haro quickly called upon the winds to bring the werewolf back onto the ground but it jumped to the side as the winds came crashing down on the spot it was just in. Within moments, the rest of the werewolves also broke free of the winds that were restraining them and let out a collective howl. "What!?" Haro was surprised that all of them managed to break free of his magic.

The werewolves regrouped and distanced themselves from Ammine and Haro. One of them barked something at the rest of the group and they all scattered. Within seconds, they formed a rough circle surrounding Ammine and Haro.

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