The Rustling Leaves

The noise of the rustling leaves came again, this time louder than before.

"There is definitely another demon." Beatrice said, looking around nervously, "but where could it be?"

They heard the leaves rustle again from the opposite side.

"Oh no. This is creepy..." Lyra said.

Beatrice came over to Lyra and hugged her before getting into a fighting stance, "Don't worry, Lyra. Ace and I will protect you."

Lyra smiled while she was still trembling. "I know."

"Get back!" Ace said.

The rustling noise started all over again. But this time, it seemed to come from every direction, not just one.

"We're surrounded." Beatrice said.

"We're need to get out of their circle as soon as possible. We don't even know what we're facing. We are at a huge disadvantage." Ace responded. He was nervous, but he still tried to think rationally.

"I think we should go they way." Lyra said, pointing in the direction of the most noise.

"Are you crazy? Over there is probably the most dangerous place to be." Ace said.

However, Beatrice disagrees with him. "Let's listen to Lyra. Sometimes the place that seems to have the most danger is actually the safest place."

"So we should head towards danger instead of away?" Ace responded.

"Yes!" Both Lyra and Beatrice said at the same time.

"We're already surrounded, so what's one more risk?" Beatrice said.

"It's better to face a few than to face all." Lyra added.

"Alright." Ace said. "Lets go now. Before they attack."

"No let's wait a bit." Lyra stopped them.

Ace and Beatrice gave her a confused look, as if she just said something crazy.

She clarified, "if we go now, they will just have to readjust to keep us surrounded, and they would be alerted that we know where they are. If we wait until they begin to attack, we can escape, and they will have a more difficult time catching up to us."

"But isn't that more risky?" Ace asked.

"No. It's actually safer. We know more about the situation than they do currently. We have the advantage in information. We just need to use it properly." Lyra explained. She was tired of explaining every little thing, but she knew it was important for them to learn.

"Let's stop talking now, and get ready to run." Beatrice said.

"We need to show them some weakness so that they try to attack us sooner." Lyra suggested.

"Good idea." Beatrice praised her.

Lyra already looked weak because of her age, so she did not have to do anything to show weakness. Ace and Beatrice lowered their weapons slightly, as if they were trying to relax their arms, and suddenly the rustling got a lot louder.

To Lyra it seemed as if it was in slow motion, but in reality it happened quickly.

A flurry of feathers filled all the surrounding air. The three could not see anything through the feathers, except an occasional beak.

Each beak was coming towards them quickly with the intent to kill. The demons this time were birds.

They swooped down and attempted to attack Ace and Beatrice, and for some reason they could not even notice Lyra's presence.

Lyra, Ace, and Beatrice ran in the direction they originally planned. They were stopped by the birds a few times, and in each of those times they would wack the demon on the neck or under the wings.

However, with each attack, the birds retaliated. They used their sharp beaks to attempt to bite them, and they used their sharp talons to attempt to pierce the flesh.

However, the birds' attempts were useless. There seemed to be some spot of invisible barrier protecting the three humans.

Finally the three managed to escape the huge flurry of birds, and they made it out completely unscathed.

Neither Beatrice nor Ace understood why they managed to make it out so easily, but Lyra knew well.

Lyra set up the barrier that blocked their attacks after all. However, she could not tell that to Beatrice it Ace. That type of magic was too complex for a young girl to be able to pull off successfully.

"I think... we should continue going some more..." Lyra said, while panting a lot. She was pretending to be out of breath from running. "They might... still... catch up to us... if we stay here..."

"You're right." Ace said, looking at Lyra who was still out of breath. "But where should we go?"

Beatrice looked art the surroundings and noticed that there was something that looked kind of like a cave opening nearby, so she pointed it out. "Over there! It looks like there is a cave! We could stay there for a night."

She lifted Lyra onto her back because it looked like Lyra could barely continue running, and then they went to the cave.