Patrolling Ⅴ

The gorge is still and silent except for the rustling of leaves until Bane angrily stomps his hoof against the ground. "How can we trust this human? We trust in them not, Magorian. We all know that wizardfolk only know how to tell lies!"

The is a murmur of voices in agreement with the words spoken by the centaur. All humans magical or nonmagical were never to be trusted. Because all humans alike only sought to enslave centaurs and use them as beasts of burden and war. Slaves. And they all vividly remembered the tales of their ancestor's sufferings at the hands of the humans even until this day.

Seeing the unease and unrest among his herd members, Magorian raises his proud, high-cheekboned face to stare sternly at those standing on the other end of the field. "Your words have merit, witch, but we trust them not. And we shall be victorious and reclaim back our forest," he said as he tightened his grip on his bow.

"Please Magorian!" Firenze pleaded one last time as he stepped forth.

"Silence, treacherous colt!" Thundered a dun-colored centaur named Eraseron. "You know the herd laws. You will be lucky to retain your life this night, foolish colt!"

A bearded centaur tugs on his beard and shakes his head. "He is still a colt," the bearded centaur named Calchysios argued. "Culling is not an appropriate sentence rather banishment from the herd would be better."

"Enough!" Magorian loudly said. "We shall discuss Firenze's punishment at a later time!" The murmuring members of the herd fall silent as they all turn their eyes slowly forward one by one and tighten their grips on their bows in unison. The spider's pincer's quietly clattered as their eight beady black eyes gleam murderously.

Standing at the side of the Acromantulas Hagrid blanches with eyes darting wide in panic, before darting back at his family. His younger brother peeks out from behind his parent's figures, while Fiflor, the mate of his mum raises slowly the tree in his hand. On the other hand, Fridwulfa is calm as she leans slightly forward and digs her feet into the ground. Fridwulfa had been a chieftainess once, and she knew the ways of a battle, unlike her mate. She had killed giants, before including intruders. And know that she had observed the prowess of her foes, she was confident in her ability to defeat them.

(And yes, most giants were lazy, but there were those that were cunning. After all, even the weakest of giants was capable of vast destruction; for brutality and violence were in their blood. For it was said that giants were born from the blood split of the warring Spirits during the Great Spirit War.)

Magorian releases a battle cry as Rowan goes for her wand and the centaurs reach for their quivers and draw their bows. "Release!" Magorian cried out as a slew of arrows flew towards their foes.

Fridwulfa crosses her arms over her face to protect herself from the slew of arrows that flies towards them. Filfor does the same, while Grawp continues to hide behind his parents. The Acromantulas spit out a fiercely, strong thread of spider silk and swing them into the sky like needles to drag and pull arrows astray. Hagrid finally blinks out of his stupor and shouts in panic, "Stop! Will ya!"

Pulling Firenze behind her, Rowan points her wand at the sky and shouts, "Ventus!" A cyclone of swirling wind emerges from the tip of Rowan's wand. Many arrows already mid-flight in the air fly astray and clatter harmlessly to the ground, while others reach their destination. Several Acromantulas shrieked in pain as sharp-pointed arrows reach their mark including Fiflor, who lets out a great bellow of pain shaking the very air, while Fridwulfa darted forward. Despite her enormous girth, she is nimble on her feet as the earth trembles beneath her bare soled, dirt-covered giant feet.

Bending down as she runs, Fridwulfa scoops up a nearby boulder, before hurling it with full force at the centaurs. The centaurs neigh as they stomp away as literally the ground is blasted from underneath as a cannon-like boulder smashed into the ground before them. Several members of the herd are physically flung away, hurt and stunned from the explosion.

Magorian bares his teeth enraged but does not order the charge forward as it was futile to engage Giants in such a manner, their ancestor's tales of woe and war had taught them all too well. Giants did not solely feast on humans in ages past but on all manner of magical beings including the centaurs. There was a very good reason as to why the Giants had lost the war against the humans in ages past for not even the darkest of creatures dared to ally themselves with such a treacherous foe. It was not a giant that was cunning, but a giant was always hungry. And who would trust a foe that was a simpleton one day and a butcher another? The answer was that none dared to.

"Retreat further into the woods," Magorian ordered as a whirling ball of mud rushes towards them and explodes nearby. "We will tie the giant's movements with the thicker forest trees." The centaurs willingly comply as they retreat forward, while others aide their fallen comrades, and shoot arrows proving cover for the slower retreating centaurs.

The acromantulas seeing their chance rush with pincers clacking towards the wounded members of the herd that were limping and hobbling to their feet with the aid of other comrades. However, before the acromantulas can reach the injured centaurs the advancing acromantulas are struck by a wave of blue sparks that turn into ice.

"Glacius!" Rowan had said and used the freezing spell to halt the movements of the acromantulas. It would have been better to use fire, but she did not truly wish to hurt nor kill the giant venomous spiders. Aragog was still alive and he had a long memory and more importantly, she would still attend Hogwarts for at least two more years. She would rather not encounter any more dangerous and venomous, giant magical spiders.

A figure flashes past Rowan, who loudly curses upon seeing the white-blond hair glinting in the moonlight and that of a palomino body. "Firenze!" She cried out as she ran forward and ducked as various trees nearby splintered into pieces from a mudball slung from Fridwulfa.

The earth violently shakes even more as Fridwulfa exits the clearing and enters the forest. With ease, she grabs a fallen tree that must have been over fifteen feet tall. The tree sways in her hand as she ruthlessly uses the tree and swings as though playing golf. Earth and trees break into pieces before her as she brutally advances sending perilous debris towards the centaurs.