Naida blinked calmly, innocently, as the breeze swirled menacingly around the streambed. The bayyo stumbled dizzily to its bruised paws, frantically swinging its great head this way and that to relocate its target and dispel the dancing multiples it saw of every object. Round stones clattered back out of the air around the bayyo from their spin around the vortex; Zane had retreated back into the brush to avoid the heavy projectiles, while Makzin was safe behind Naida�s protective wind-wall.
Zane, backing away further into the trees, was still calling for Gideon. �Get up here, Gid', we need you!�
As he spoke, two more animal forms emerged from the frosty hole in the forest, one a fox the size of a wolf, the other a humanoid creature hidden beneath blackened armor, bearing a rifle as long as he was tall. �So much for tailing it,� Gideon said in his softly quiet voice as he aimed the rifle at the dizzy bayyo. He fired only once, sending the dart whizzing out of the trees to burrow through the bayyo�s thick fur.
Timber, his fur standing on end as he leapt from the underbrush, let loose his own magical attack with a heavy canine snarl, electricity crackling through the air and crossing to the bayyo in a dancing bolt. The cat roared in confusion and pain, twitching violently as the magical electricity coursed over its body, half falling to the ground again. A wretched stench of ozone and burnt fur mixed into the breeze as Timber skirted in an arch around the bayyo and back towards the treeline, his silver-ticked red fur fluffed and wispy in the wind�he cast an anxious glance to Makzin, and Makz knew that Timber would rather run to him, but knew he was unable to cross the barely visible wall of wind between them.
Gideon was preparing another tranquilizer, one noticeably bigger and with a different fuzz-color from the one Zane had attempted to manually apply, but Zane, coming quickly through the trees, put a hand on the shorter warrior�s armored shoulder to stop him �We�ve got him, Gid��
Gideon grunted in assent, but loaded the weapon anyway and kept it trained on the bayyo, just in case.
The bayyo pulled itself to its staggering feet again, finally fixing its circling gaze on Naida once more. Naida�s dark eyes peered harmlessly back, but the bayyo roared and lunged disoriented at her. The avesaur frowned, her eyes narrowing like an angry mother. Wind whipped up once more, this time to hit the tiger full-force with her wall of air; the bayyo was caught by the ramming wall and flung backwards to skid back across the rocks.
The bayyo lifted its head with a frosty growl, but Gideon�s tranquilizer was taking effect, and in its drugged confusion, it decided now was the time to run rather than fire off another beam of ice. It struggled to its paws one final time to stumble back towards the relative refuge of the forest; Zane and Gideon moved aside, allowing it to pass at a safe distance.
It collapsed just beyond them, falling heavily against the old trees.
There was an audible sigh of relief among the group. Makzin reached up to Naida; she looked serenely down at him and smiled tiredly. She floated down to him and wrapped him in a tired hug; he hugged her back with one arm as he brought up his vambrace once more. �Thank you, Naida� I�m sorry I had to ask you out here, I know you don�t like to fight. I�ll see you at home, okay?� as he spoke, Naida�s azure body grew bright and incorporeal. He saw her nod sweetly just before her body turned back into pure, blue-white energy, which drew back in a swirl into the gem in his vambrace.
He pat the vambrace reassuringly as he resettled the paintball gun on his shoulder, the balls within the attached container rattling with the movement.
Zane was examining the sleeping tiger, taking care to avoid the sedative-laced red paint Makzin�s gun had splashed across the bayyo�s fur. �Well Makz, we�re gonna need help moving this boy�� he said. He knelt beside the bayyo�s belly and flipped his headset eyegear to his forehead, examining the bayyo intently. �Interesting��
�How�s the wound?� Makzin replied to Zane as he walked over from the stream, meeting with Timber halfway and walking together to Zane and Gideon�s side.
Zane sat back and looked up at Makzin. �Well, looks like he tore some stitches.�
Makzin frowned, distractedly running a hand through Timber�s fluffed red fur to flatten it back some as he kneeled and peered at the bayyo�s belly. A wide line of fur dusted with dried blood stretched along his side from ribs to his hind leg, following a darker scar that was but half-healed, held together with precise stitching. �Stitches?�
�An old wound� or an operation�� Zane thought aloud, obviously perturbed. �Explains why we�ve no record of such a large wild bayyo in these mountains, if someone was taking care of him. The question is, why�s he out here and rampaging through the forests?�
Gideon, face hidden behind his mask of black wood, settled the butt of the rifle to the ground to lean on. �They turned him loose.�
Zane, Makzin, and Timber watched Gideon, who shuddered at some thought and looked away from the cat. Zane bit his lip, looking away and beginning to work in silence to stop the blood flowing freely from the numerous bullet-wounds in the bayyo's chest and face.
* * * * *
