Chapter Twenty Nine: Suluk’s P.O.V.

Continuously fighting like this is wearing a lot of the new soldiers out quickly. They haven't built up their stamina like the rest of us, so I'm not nearly as surprised as Clover seems to be by this new information. We luckily managed to find each other in the chaos, and have been fighting back to back for the past hour or so. His back presses into mine; heavy, quick breathing matches my own as we look around through the snow and darkness trying to find any sight of the enemy. There might not be many of them, but they're formidable! Even for our small army.

"Captain, I don't see anyone here. That's alive anyways. Should we move?" Clover huffs out over his shoulder, yet he doesn't move from his spot without my orders.

"I think so. I hear fighting to my right, we need to go in that direction." His back slowly pulling away from mine, lets me know he heard me. The crunching of snow under our boots, as we take slow and steady steps, is all we hear for a while as the fighting has drawn to a stop. Things have gone quiet… too quiet. Something isn't right but I can't tell what. A loud snap echoes around us, and I know that sound all too well. My blood runs cold as my stomach churns. That snap was the sound of bone breaking, and I realized all too late that the crunching we thought was not only our boots but the enemies as well, is actually someone feasting upon flesh and bone. Clover seems to go stiff right next to me as recognition and realization finally hit him too.

The trail of blood grows thicker, from a few drops to a smeared streak and up into a red pool at our feet, as the stench of death is nearly overwhelming as we come upon the gruesome scene. A large Anthrophagi crouches over an unrecognizable body. All of its muscles on display, as the cold doesn't seem to be a problem for the creature. Clover looks horrified as he stares where it's missing head should be, like he's never seen one before, and I can't blame the poor guy if this truly is the first time he's seeing such a creature. Standing at just shy of seven and a half feet tall, it's stalky, muscular body seems too big for it to move right, much less as quickly as it does. Not to mention that it has no skull or neck, instead its eyes are either on its chest, or sit right where its shoulders connect to its chest on both sides. While its mouth, full of large, razor sharp teeth, sits in the middle of its stomach. Its thick bear pelt, crudely wrapped around its waist, sways softly in the wind, making the bones it's taken as trophies clank wildly.

When it turns around, catching our scents on the wind, its mouth dripping crimson red onto the already stained snow, eyes wild and full of blood-lust as its bulging eyes settle onto us. Clover's knuckles turn white as he grips his sword harshly, my hand seems to follow his movement as the textured leather strap digs into my palm. Its large, hairy foot takes one step towards us before we're lunging into action. Doing our best to try and get ahead of it, but we're both going into this with the understanding that this will be nothing short of a challenge. It's times like these that I wish I had a link with more people than just Kieren. If Clover and I could link right now, then we might stand a chance without me shifting into dragon form, or someone getting injured. For now, we'll just have to pray to the Goddess and hope luck is on our side as we fight.

Luck quickly seems to be on our side. Thankfully these monstrous creatures aren't very smart, and that is the advantage we're using right now. As Clover sneaks up from behind, utilizing the storm to his advantage, I take to a front attack. Keeping its attention on me isn't as hard as I remember it to be, but then again it's been a while since I've fought one of these. Clover is skilled, and experienced enough, that he seems to read my movements with ease. Guess we don't need a link after all if he keeps this up. As I draw its attention over towards me and away from the bodies, Clover breaks through the storm to land a hit onto its back, slicing through skin with his sword, before disappearing again. I'm not sure where he's at, but I'm hoping for the best; praying that he can see us better than we can see him at this moment.

The creature screeches out in pain turning its fist to hit nothing but cold, snowy air in Clovers wake before it's whipping back to me again. Its rage targeted towards me, as if I have a brightly painted mark on my chest. I manage to keep it at bay, accidentally taking a finger off in my attempt to keep my feet under me and its large hand away, only enraging it further. It takes every bit of will power I possess to not shift and hope I don't hit Clover with my fire as my frustration grows. Clover appears back out of the storm like an avenging angel flying through the air about to take its life. Sword in hand, raised above his head, as his eyes glow softly, never taking those lavender pupils off of his target, even as the snowy earth seems to rumble. As it goes to swing on me again, vines shoot out of the snow, cracking the frozen ground beneath, to wrap around its thick wrists and ankles. It never turns its hate filled gaze away from my body as even more vines come up and wrap around its midsection, keeping the creature in place as Clover lands upon its wide shoulders and thrusts his sword down into the headless thing. Its ear piercing scream and futile failing is its final act. It's dead, but it doesn't know it yet.

When it finally stops its moving and screeching, Clover lets the vines be swallowed back into the Earth as if they were never here to begin with. A small break in the snow is the only trace they leave with their quick disappearance. The Anthrophagi lands in the snow, kicking up a small cloud of white as it does, staining the ground and leaving a mark in the dirt where it now lays. Clover takes a ragged breath as he leans slightly on his sword, kneeling in the snow, after jumping off of the falling body. I offer him a hand, taking a sigh of relief myself. "You good?" He just nods, smiling. Looking up he clasps my hand and I help him to his feet again. "I thought that would be harder! You did great!" It's the only encouragement I can offer him right now, with my brain working on all kinds of different things and trying to link with Kieren to see where he's at.

"Thanks, but save your praise for when we make it out of this whole thing alive." He chuckles and looks around as a loud, agonizing, chorus of screams make their way over to us through the wind and snow. We both stop what we're doing to look at each other with curiosity. "Guess we're going there next." He chuckles and takes off running through the storm. I'm hot on his heels in no time, finally catching up from his sudden flee to see what the commotion is all about.

When we arrive to all that screaming, many are already laid out as if an intense battle has already decided who is a victor. We maneuver our way around the bodies, to not disturb them in case they are just passed out right now. Finally getting closer to where more screams are becoming deafening, the first thing we see through the snow are bright, glowing red eyes, lined with reflective gold staring at us. I know before getting any closer who we're dealing with, and I place a hand on Clover's chest to stop him from getting in the way. He looks at me visibly concerned and confused for a moment, before I point my finger at the battle ahead of us. "Just watch. You haven't been privileged to see this yet." I speak lowly as to not distract her from her opponents. She seems satisfied that we will keep our distance and wait for her to be done, before turning those predatory eyes back to the other once again.

Three, large men rush in to try and crowd, or overwhelm her. One a tall lion shifter, another a human male (which I find odd, but I've learned recently even some humans sympathize with Ridges cause), and finally a muscular Minotaur that towers over all of them. Before they get too close to land a blow, a glowing red ring of fire in the shape of her curvy body bursts from the already burning hot woman. A plume of smoke rising through the snowflakes to swirl in the wind and disappear into the darkness. Her hair floats, wildly behind her not only from the wind, but the flames as well, looking like molten lava continuously flowing from her scalp. Her small feet melts the snow, long before they actually touch the ground to leave a trail of scorched dirt in their wake. Like footprints that would lead you to the underworld. You can't tear your eyes away from her, as you watch the barely visible, deep, inky black skeleton enveloped in a roaring inferno, shaped like a woman that's slowly encroaching on her prey. She's a predator. Deadly. Lovely as a Goddess. As fierce as any God of war. She is death, itself. With one wave of her hand through the air, fire jumps from her fingertips to form swirls of wild flames. They dance and wait to be commanded; to be freed.

Her sight's set; her flames ready; those men standing stiff as the stench of fear fills the air. She's ready to take aim. All it takes is a slight nod and those eager flames are released onto the petrified men. Screams of fear and pain fill the air as they try to run for their lives, but they quickly realize how useless it is to try and escape her clutches. She doesn't take prisoners in this form. She doesn't show mercy to those who threaten her loved ones. And when the flames have devoured and consumed everything they can while they're freed from her body, they float through the chilly air back to her in the form of a broken crown to wrap around her head, before softly slipping back into her body. Her eyes deliberately rake over the land, looking for any other enemy with a predatory caution to them. Once they have seen as far as they can from one side to the other, those fierce, fiery, unwavering eyes turn upon us. While Clover goes stiff next to me, not even daring to breathe, I slowly lift my right hand. As my fingers gently touch the middle of my forehead I bring them down at a leisurely pace. Down and out to the side, like I have practiced with Zip; who has taught her daughter the same move means that they are friends and not to be harmed.

She returns the same gesture back to me, a warm smile revealing black teeth. She looks at Clover, with a mix of curiosity and intent. As if a ghost of recognition tries to haunt her memories, but can't quite reach her yet. Prepared for a battle if he fails this test, even if her body language suggests she doesn't want to. His bewildered eyes look between us for a moment, and she uses that time to take a scorching step forward, preparing for a fight. I nod to him and move my left hand discreetly at my side, to remind him what he needs to do. A quick shadow of realization flashes across his face before he does the same; bowing slightly at her as he also brings his hand down. It makes her flames escape in small bursts and dance about her, her version of a blush in this form, as she waits for him to stand, and returns the gesture back without a bow but a slight tilt of her head instead. Her head turns abruptly as if she's trying to listen to something just beyond the swirling snow, her body tense and poised, ready for a fight.

Clover takes the chance to turn to me with wide eyes. "That's Gingers Sprite form?! I thought Fire Sprites were supposed to be small and dainty, not that!" His hands fly out to wave at Ginger standing there, that laser focus never leaving whatever she is trying to see through the snow, while Clover whisper-yells at me.

"Now do you honestly think any child of Zipporah's would be 'normal' in any sense? Of course not! We may not know who Ginger's birth parents are, but they were powerful and made a daughter so fierce she's practically a one woman army. You think that's impressive, just wait until someone actually pisses her off, or gives her a challenge." I chuckle out to him, crossing my arms and keeping an eye on her. Waiting for her to take off and follow safely behind. "Still have that crush on her after seeing that?" I ask out of pure curiosity, watching him closely to see what his honest reaction will be. He might not have said it out loud, but it's been obvious to everyone (except her) since day one.

"Crush? I think I'm in love!" As soon as the words leave his mouth he slaps over his lips, as if he had time to catch those words and put them back where they ran away from. That makes me laugh loudly, as his cheeks, ears, nose, and neck take on a deeper red than they already were from the cold. Patting his back with a firm hand, as I try to reel in my laughing as his wide lavender eyes turn towards me again.

"I knew I liked you! We both like strong women with a will of fire so unshakable it's annoying from time to time." I smile brightly down to him.

Ginger glancing at us over her shoulder, draws my attention back to her before she takes off into the snow. Following her melted footprints at a safe distance behind we prepare ourselves for battle again. As awkward as it is, Clover and I hold hands as we follow Ginger, trying not to lose each other as the snowfall becomes thicker.