Jack
There was a game I used to play with my brothers when I was young. I had missed it but I was finally going to be able to play it again today. I used to love the game when I was young and even now, as an officer. Then, I would play shoot with my brothers, shifting into wolves and running at one another with our claws when the game got intense. As an officer, I enjoyed shooting at the enemies with my guns, loving the sounds as the bullets popped and echoed in the air.
That was fun. I didn’t have guns now but I was going to shoot at some idiots and I was going to enjoy doing it. John was a genius. I couldn’t imagine how he had come up with the idea. I shrugged. That wasn’t a big deal. John had always been a genius. We all were.
We waited as patiently as we could, knowing that they were going to come out soon to check up on Mia. Neigh had told us of how obsessive they were with women that they abducted. He had also told us of how we could weaken them so we could defeat them easily.
We knew that they were stronger than we were and having an edge over them was certainly what we needed at the moment. Having a knowledgeable ally like Neigh was certainly the best thing that could happen to us.
“I’m glad that you came for us.” I told Neigh.
He chuckled. “Don’t mention it, man.”
I shared a glance with my brothers and we all laughed. Neigh had adapted to our way of speaking. He must really be having fun with us. Well, we weren’t known to be boring.
“Eyes on the field, boys.” I told my brothers.
“Yes, sir.” They replied with a chuckle.
Just as we expected, the trolls walked out of their house and towards Mia. We could see them clearly from where we were hidden but they couldn’t. To avoid getting sniffed by their noses, we had rubbed our bodies all over with the mud in the area.
We didn’t know how good their sense of smell was and we didn’t want to take a risk. We would all be gone if they sniffed us out without us being able to weaken them as we had planned to. Our advantage over them was our hidden whereabouts.
“Are you ready to eat now?”
“As if I would ever change my mind about eating poison.” Mia sneered.
Yeah, that was my girl. I chuckled and almost covered my lips with my hands until I remembered that it was covered in mud. I placed my hand down gently beside me and held in my amusement. Quinn gave me a sideway glance as if to rebuke me not to give them away. I nodded and did a zipping motion over my lips. The rescue operation was as important to me as it was to them.
“You are still acting stubborn.” The troll sighed.
Mia sneered, her lips formed in a disgusting manner as she looked at them. “You are wrong. I’m not acting stubborn. I’m naturally stubborn.”
“What do we do with you? It’s been hours and you are like this. What a frustrating young lady you are.” The troll sighed.
I chuckled with amusement. He sounded exasperated and that gave me joy. He didn’t know what he had gotten themselves into. Was he saying that she was stubborn? He hadn’t seen anything yet.
“If you had waited to have a chat with my mates, they would have told you who I am and my personality. You would have known better not to take me with you.”
My eyes rounded with surprise and delight. Did she just call us her mates? Did she just brag of us as her mates to the trolls? I could swear that I heard pride in her voice as she said those words. I was excited and filled with wonder, beaming with pride that I almost missed Quinn’s command.
“Now!” He hissed.
I focused on the target before me just as I knew that my brothers had also focused on theirs. I pressed down hard on the bottle that was in my hand, acting as a gun at the moment. Neigh had confirmed to us that the sap of the Aselia tree weakened powers and told us that it would also work on the guardians.
That sly horse. It wasn’t any wonder that he had told us to take as much sap as we could get. He had known that we would need it here before we would have to leave and get to the human world where we would have to use it for what we were here for.
We had filled the bottle with the sap of the Aselia tree and punched a big hole in the lid. I set the hole directly on one of the guardians just as my brothers had done on each of the other guardians. Neigh stood by watching us, with his mouth open. I knew he was as nervous as we were at this time. This was the moment he had been waiting for, almost all his life. He was finally going to get his revenge and we were going to get our girl.
At Quinn’s command, we pressed down hard on the bottles in our hands and splashed on the guardians before they could leave where they were. They weren’t expecting an attack and didn’t move away on time. They were soaked with the sap and by the time they turned back to react. It was too late.
It was like magic. They didn’t wear clothes and the sap splashed all over their furs. I watched with amazement as it began to dry up on their skins and as it did, they began to show signs of weakness. They faltered on their steps and their bodies began to shake.
“Now!” Quinn shouted.
We rushed to where they were with our mouths open in a loud cry of war. Everyone had their instructions and knew what to do so there wasn’t any time to waste.
We charged at the guardians, fighting them one on one and giving all we had to the battle. We knew that Neigh was going to take care of Mia so we didn’t fret about her while fighting. We only focused on the bloody idiots who had dared to take our girl. The fight wasn’t as intense as it had been that first time as the sap had weakened them and they didn’t have the powers to use the cunning skills they had up their sleeves the other time.
I was amazed at the power of the sap. Coming on this risky journey was truly worth it if this was how powerful it was. I couldn’t wait to splash it on the dark wizard and see him weaken. It would be a delight to end that evil but right now, we had a different evil to fight.
I grinned as I got a hit at the guardian I was fighting with and heard him groan. That felt satisfying to hear.
I took a glance at Neigh and nodded. He had everything under control. He leaned up and handed Mia a knife with his mouth. She took it from him and quickly set herself free, yanking the binds on the cage open with the sharp knife. She wasn’t surprised to hear him speak and did just as he told her.
He got down back on all fours and told her to jump on his back. She nodded and did. I smiled at her courage and watched with pride as he ran off with her to a safe place so we could focus on the fight and not be distracted. It would be another disaster if one of them used her as a hostage. I knew they couldn’t disappear with her again because of the sap but they could hurt her if they got their hands on her. It was better that she wasn’t anywhere near danger.
I snapped back to reality, growling as I stared at the troll. I smiled as I swiped at him with my claws and dug in deeper, tearing his flesh out. He groaned and sank to his knees, blood gushing out from his wounds. I heard groans all around me and knew that my brothers had dealt with the ones that they were fighting with as well.
We stepped back from them and watched with disinterest as they bled out. They had so many fatal wounds that I had no doubt that they weren’t going to make it.
“If you ever make it back to the world again, don’t be friends and don’t go about stealing someone else’s girl.” I snorted at them.
We didn’t get a response and we weren’t bothered. We weren’t expecting one as well. To my amazement, fires started to crack out from their furs and they sizzled out. In few minutes, they were no more and where they were was filled with burnt ashes.
I sighed. I guessed life in their forest was really different. There wasn’t time or a chance for them to mourn their loved ones if there wasn’t a body left after death. I was glad though that the guardians had burnt to ashes. That was relieving in a way. It was good to know that they weren’t going to get back to life.
We dusted our hands and turned away, walking to where Neigh was supposed to wait with Mia. It was time to see our mate. Oh! How much we had missed her. She had only been missing for some days but it felt like she had been gone for years. That felt like such a long time that I felt I had gone to hell and was just back. I hoped that didn’t happen again. I couldn’t stand the thought of being apart from her again. Well, we were done with this forest and would soon be out of it. There was no chance that we would run into dangerous elves, trolls or goblins whose natural way of living was to steal a girl that wasn’t meant for them.
“Gentlemen, shall we?” Quinn asked.
We nodded and continued walking. We walked fast normally but the pace today was shocking. With the way my brothers were walking and it seemed like they were running, I knew that I wasn’t the only one who had missed Mia a lot.