Ambush

Jerry jumped up and scanned around with his area detection. He mentally kicked himself again for letting his senses slip. He easily found the ten men Vrkane was talking about, they were still twenty to thirty yards away from the house, but they were closing fast. His erratic behavior scared Tu'Xanz's wife and daughter again, but he didn't have time to console them right now. He pointed outside with both arms raised straight out at his sides. He spun in a circle hoping Tu'Xanz was getting what he meant. Then he slowly started to count off on his fingers till he reached ten. When Tu'Xanz just looked at him like he was going crazy he repeated his twirl hoping he got its meaning. When it seemed Tu'Xanz still didn't understand, Jerry grabbed his staff from where it was leaning against the table next to the chair he was sitting in and ran to the front door. Tu'Xanz was right behind him and grabbed Jerry arm spinning him around just as he was about to step thru the opened door. Jerry heard a bang that sounded just like a gun was fired, then time slowed down around him. Just inside the tree line about twenty feet from them was a man kneeling down aiming what looked like a large metallic rifle at them. A very large arrow was flying toward them at incredibly fast speed. Even with time slowed Jerry had to quickly jerk to the right out of its way, but he didn't forget that someone was behind him this time. As he jerked to the right his left hand shot out and caught the arrow six inches from Tu'Xanz heart. Tu'Xanz finally realizing the danger he and his family was in, he instantly sprang into action. His right hand slapped down on his armor sphere and before it even formed on his body he already had his full quiver on his hip and his bow in his hand. Even-though time was slowed down for Jerry he was still impressed with Tu'Xanz's speed and dexterity. As Tu'Xanz turned back to the door he already had an arrow notched and aimed at the man who had fired at them. Jerry also noticed that Tu'Xanz armor was different now. It had a helmet that covered most of his head, and it glowed with a deep red outline that traced the entire perimeter of his armor. Bengala interrupted his inspection of Tu'Xanz bringing him back to the danger at hand. 'We have let them get past us so that we are behind them. Should we attack now?' 'No I want you to spread out more Vrkane head up to the road and then attack those guys from behind. Bengala you heard to the barn and attack the guys over there. I'm going to head for the forge and I'll send Tu'Xanz your way Bengala.' Jerry tapped Tu'Xanz on the shoulder then pointed on the far side of his coral. He then pointed to himself and then off toward the forge. Tu'Xanz nodded his understanding and took off at a run. Jerry took off at full speed using his A.D. To find the best point of attack. When he was ten feet from the forge an attacker swung out from behind the forge at fire right at Jerry. Jerry had already launched himself into the air as soon as he felt the guy move so the arrow sailed harmless under him. Using his elevation advantage he thrust down with his spear punching with armor and flesh as easily as if it were paper. Since he was expecting resistance he ended up colliding with his opponent and tumbling to the ground. This left him open and exposed. He heard two more gun blast and knew he couldn't move in time even if he slowed time down. He pushed with all he had and felt the tip of one of the arrows just begin to poke him when it stopped. He looked over his shoulder and down at his right leg to see the arrow hovering over him. The very tip of one sticking in his calf, his two attackers froze in the process of reloading the guns. They had never seen anything like this and were terrified at what they saw. Jerry slowly climbed back to his feet and paced forward to where they sat unmoving. He looked at the saber-tooth expecting it to have broken on the armor he pushed it thru but was shocked to see it in tact. Holding the staff in his right hand so that the saber-tooth was near the ground, he folded his arm across his body then snapped it straight out to his right relieving the terrified attacker of his head. The next attacker snapped out of his fear and reloaded his gun. Jerry started running at him before he could raise his gun. As he was trying to take aim Jerry feigned left for two seconds then quickly shifted right. The attacker fired at the wrong spot leaving him wide open for Jerry's attack. As Jerry got close he switched the spear to his left hand and punched it thru the guys stomach. He was more prepared for the ease his weapon tore thru them, so he was encumbered as he kept moving heading for his next target.

Vrkane heard two more loud bangs and used that as the signal to begin his attack. He ran like a silent ghost in-between trees heading for the road. The men were so focused on where the sounds of their comrades guns went off that the first one never registered Vrkane's attack. He died never knowing what hit him. The second attack heard something but, Vrkane had never stop moving with his attack, so when he looked there was nothing there. Vrkane had moved around the back of the tree he was standing in front of so as he swung back to where he was originally looking, the last thing he saw was a large mouth close over his face.

Bengala had farther to run to reach her first target. He had taken up a sniper position in a tree that allowed him to see most of Tu'Xanz yard from his vantage point. He sat about fifteen feet off of the ground, but his legs were hanging down. Bengala could see he was following Tu'Xanz as he ran toward the barn. Without slowing down she jumped and latched on to his leg yanking him with such force his leg broke in her jaws. As he hit the ground his back slammed down on a rock severing his spine, killing him on impact. Tu'Xanz was firing on the attackers coming out of the woods on the other side of the coral from Bengala, so all the attackers were trying to get a sight on him. They didn't stand a chance when Bengala came out of the trees behind them and tore her next target limb from limb.

As Tu'Xanz ran in the direction of the barn he whispered words of power to his bow, so that by the time he reaches the corral it too glowed a deep red. His helmet closes in over his eyes to the point where he shouldn't be able to see. But it gives him thermal vision, he can now see the attackers perfectly in the dark. He sees three attackers in the direction he's running. A quick glance to the left shows two more, one in a tree and another closer to the back of his barn. He can also see Bengala racing over there so he stays focused on the three targets to his right. As soon as he rounds the corner of the coral he sights and shoots three arrows not even pausing to see if they reached their target. He didn't have to, he knew there was nothing short of Jerry's abilities that could avoid his shots. After he shot the last arrow he looked to the left to see if there were any more enemies. But as he looked around the only people he saw standing was Jerry and his animal friends.