Alex patted his shoulder. "I believe you. Now we have a pack of velociraptors to deal with," Alex said grimly.
Meribah nodded. "We've done our research - these beasts are cunning and strategic hunters. We'll divide them into smaller groups and take them down one by one." She squared her shoulders and picked up a spear.
Galen stepped forward, head held high, and a determined glint in his eye. "Let's do this," he said with a clink of his chains.
Alex shook her head. "You can't fight velociraptors wearing those shackles. Not with any hope of victory." She gestured to the metal cuffs around his wrists and ankles.
Galen squinted skeptically at Alex, the light glimmering off his brown eyes. "Dad said if you touch restraints with a Guardian sword, they vanish."
Alex's cheeks burned, and she looked away, shoulders slumped in defeat. "Dang it, he told you. I was trying to protect you."
"Tia!" Galen's outburst was astonished, not angry. "Why would you even try to do that? You know I love being a Guardian." As if in response, his Guardian sword appeared, and he took it. However, when he touched it to his shackles, nothing happened.
Alex peered at the restraints. "Cursed by The Adversary, no doubt. Well, you'll have to wait."
"Tiaaaaa," Galen said in a half-playful, half-warning way. "Send some power through your sword and touch the shackles."
She stuck her tongue out at him. "Pest."
"Tiaaaaa, do it, please."
Alex closed her eyes and summoned her power, sending a wave of energy along the length of the blade. The metal of the ankle cuffs glowed white before crumbling away in a cloud of gray dust. Alex coughed and waved it out of her face, then repeated the process with the wrist cuffs, until there was nothing left but a lingering odor.
They took off running towards the back of the building, and as they rounded the corner, Alex's heart dropped. The Anolis warrior was astride one velociraptor, the others loping after her in pursuit.
Alex sped aloft and blasted a velociraptor, only to have her power splatter harmlessly on its hide. She remembered she had red-blasted a velociraptor in the eye, but that had enraged it. She wasn't keen on the Steel Claws and Galen facing an incensed velociraptor.
Two velociraptors broke away from the pack and sprinted in different directions. Alex yelled a warning, "They'll set up an ambush! The pass is ahead!"
But before the running Anolis could catch them, they had vanished into the shadows of the foliage.
Alex fired a big, showy blast in front of the ridden velociraptor and its pack mates to slow it down. She watched as they did, but one velociraptor reached forward with lightning speed and clamped its jagged teeth around the Anolis rider's leg. The warrior cried out in pain, hacking at the raptor with her dagger, but to no avail; it still yanked her off the saddle.
Meribah and the Steel Claws surged forward with battle cries. Halberds and spears glinted in the morning sun as they advanced on the raptors. Galen's Guardian sword glinted dangerously in the light as he wielded it with practiced agility.
Alex soared higher, her eyes darting back and forth for any sign of her prey. She flew cautiously, not wanting to take the risk of them pouncing on her from above. Her palms itched to fire off a few red blasts from her hands, hoping to flush them out, but didn't dare with the fear of giving away her location.
When they entered the hidden pass and Alex's heart rate accelerated. Would the velociraptors target the village? Or would they concentrate on their pursuers? A scream decided for her.
Alex flew towards the direction of the scream and found an Anolis male pinned under a velociraptor. The Anolis was clearly in agony, writhing around as the velociraptor dug its claws into his sides. His basket lay on the side, berries scattered.
Alex swooped down and landed on the velociraptor's back, hammering it with her sword. The velociraptor roared and tried to throw her off, but Alex dug her feet into its sides and held on tight.
The Anolis male crawled away as Alex continued to hack away at the velociraptor's neck. With a rustling of the bushes, the second velociraptor lunged towards her. Alex flew up, the velociraptor's claws scraping on her slipstream over her legs.
"Ambush!" Alex yelled. It gratified her to see Meribah and several Steel Claws run up.
Both velociraptors faced them and one jumped toward Galen, apparently smart enough to attack the one with the least effective weapon: a sword. Alex intercepted it by speed-bursting into its side. Alex dropped it almost immediately, but they were so close to the ground that the velociraptor gained its feet and turned on her. It jumped and Alex sped under it, landing on the ground behind it. Alex turned and charged, sword glowing red. It spun quicker than she could imagine, front claws catching her sword while a deadly back claw raised to disembowel her.
A Steel Claw's spear impaled the velociraptor and pushed it offline from Alex, so its claws couldn't touch her. Alex swung her red-glowing sword and almost beheaded the beast. She stood panting over the corpse of the velociraptor, her sword dripping with its blood. She looked over at the Anolis male lying in the underbrush.
"Are you okay?" she asked him.
The male nodded weakly, his eyes full of gratitude. "Thank you, Guardian. I thought I was going to die."
"Why in the world were you gathering berries so close to the hidden pass? And by yourself? Didn't you think it might be dangerous with velociraptors running loose?"
The male shook his head. "I wasn't. Anolis warriors kidnapped and left me for the velociraptor as a trap for you."
"Second ambush!" Alex screamed as mounted Anolis warriors broke out from the bushes from both of the raised sides of the pass.
****
A/N
Thanks to loyal readers
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Dangerous Prodigals and Adopted Children : Book 6 of the Guardians Saga
Fantasy#3 dragon romance, #2 girl hero, highest rankings. Gabe's dangerous daughter returns home. But will she follow in her father's footsteps or continue In her murderous mother's ways? An unlikely father figure steps up to adopt Gaala and Hexei. Will t...
