Almost

*POV* Cassy Iris Aleera

"Okay, breathe, focus, then speak the words I told you to." Mink instructed. I squatted beside the pile of small sticks we had gathered for a fire. I tried but nothing happened.

"Okay I guess your friend was right, you can't say words aloud so it affects your magic. This might be harder than I thought." She sat back on her heels.

"Maybe try just thinking about it really hard?" She was all out of ideas and so was I. The bird lay dressed beside us, now we were just wasting precious time trying to light a fire.

Cupping my hands I focused on the warm air around us and my hungry stomach. A small fire blasts to life in the palm of my hand, I jolted expecting it to be hot. It wasn't.

"Yes! Okay now just hold it close to the stick!" Mink said excitedly, I nodded and placed my hands over the sticks, it took a second but soon the fire was sending wisps of smoke into the air.

Mink quickly started feeding the fire, while I turned my hands back towards my face and looked closely at it, but a second later it disappeared, fizzling out. While the meat cooked I tried to redo the motions and get the fire to light once again.

It took a couple times trying, but I feel I had perfected it quite well. Mink pulled the meat off the fire and smothered it, then we ate.

"You've been doing pretty well, I mean since we first met." My cheeks warmed at her words. "You are more confident in yourself." I knew she was right, I smiled. "How are you doing?" She returned my smile.

"I am fine." I worried about her but didn't press her. Silence fell and we ate quickly, before we started out again. The day wore on as we trudged on clouds covered the sky making the shadows deeper.

Mink motioned for me to stop with a motion of her hand, I came up behind her. "We are really close. Keep your guard up." I nodded and we advanced.

We broke through the tree line and I looked down the rocky slope that ended with an abrupt drop off that fell into the choppy ocean waves. "Right there!" I squeaked, pointing at the 4 figures dressed in black that had reached the bottom of the hill. "I see them." Mink answered.

She took my arm. "This is our chance. Are you ready?" She pointed to the small clearish area right before the cliff. "I will get us down there, then we have to fight them." I nodded.

I wasn't too sure I could do this, but I was willing to try. Mink slipped an arm around my waist and pulled me tight against her as she spoke the spell.

The feeling of turning into wind and moving at lightning speed was like being pulled apart and being put back togather all in the same second, but there was no pain.

The sensation lasted for maybe 10 seconds. I opened my eyes and my head spun as I looked around at the 4 men that stared at us in surprise. "YOU HAVE SOMEONE WE WANT!" Mink shouted at them.

"Don't let them get away!" She told me as she advanced on them. Two of them moved forward us to meet her attacks; the one holding Clay on his shoulders shifted him and turned to head back up the slope.

I headed in his direction, stepping over rocks and shrubs. He seemed to move quite quickly. "STOP!" I yelled, as I started to run. Something hit the ground in front of me and I hit the ground hard.

I lay there on my stomach for a couple seconds before I scrambled to my knees and looked around me. Mink was still fighting the two men while the one with Clay was half way back up the slope. I spotted the other guy just as a bolt of wind left his hands.

My arms came up to shield me as I waited for the blow. After a couple seconds I opened my eyes and looked up at the wall of dirt that had manifested in front of me a foot away. I lowered my arms and the dirt fell.

I stared in shock at the man that stood only a couple feet away from me. Our eyes met and his mouth began to move. I scrambled to my feet just as he fitted his invisible arrows into an invisible bow.

I ran, spotted a large rock a couple feet away. I dove for it as arrows of lethal air rained down around me. One struck my leg making me cry out with a silent scream and tuck my legs closer to my chest.

Blood worked its way out of the finger-sized wound. "You need to attack! Cassy!" I heard Mink's faint voice as she yelled at me.

I took a breath and focused on the ground around me. 'I can do this!' I jumped up pain lancing through my leg and shoved the ground at my feet away from me. The man spelling his next attack starred in shock as a wave of rock and dirt shot towards him.

He avoided it by picking himself into the air a couple feet. "Oh come on!" I thought as I pulled pillars of hard dirt from the ground and shot them high into the sky.

I was desperate to hit him, to knock him from the sky. It turned into a game of dodge and I wanted to scream as my frustration grew. Sweat rolled down the sides of my face and my arms grew tired.

My vision began to blur and I let out a tired breath. I hadn't realized how much power I had been exerting, all of a sudden my legs felt weak and my attacks faltered.

I swayed before I fell to the ground breathing hard, I wondered if the air mage would take that time to end me.

Tears entered my eyes. "You're giving up!?" Monique sounded disgusted. I shivered as my mind went blank but the pain never came.