Artemis Child

Artemis Child Ch37

'Gena didn't need a jacket, she was already wearing mine. Plus she is hot anyway.' I thought as we walked down a path through the woods that surrounded the lake.

(No not that kind of hot. Well actually she is really.. you know what I mean.)

The quiver rested on my right shoulder, like a loose sling. My bow was at the ready, even though I have never fired anything except my father's .38 special bolt action rifle. Although that had its own sight on it.

Just thinking of the gun brought back the kick and recoil feel in my shoulder. It would be a chilly day like this. The sun would break through small parts of the trees. This would illuminate the patches of grass that some deer were eating at. My mind would sharpen as my sight set on my target. "Squeeze the trigger, don't pull it." My dad had whispered next to me. *Pow* The bullet would rip through the air, and peirced its mark into flesh.

The bullet that I had fired, cut straight through the lower nap of the deer's skull. A clean, painless kill. My brother would pat me on the back as my target fell to the ground. The other deer would dash away from their fallen brethren. "You're a natural." My dad said that day.

Almost tripping on a root from the ground brought me back to reality. I realized I was gripping the bow tightly, my hands loosened returning my finger tips back to normal instead of white.

Toni had sent his hawk up into the air to keep it from being claustrophobic in these woods. Although it loved to fly, for some reason it came back down. It perched on Toni, and gave a small cry. "Company?" He asked it. It squacked this time.

Seconds later we heard the sounds hooves and angry rooster sounds. They came from all sides, so many Hippalectryons. Most had beak marks, and blood on them. Others had dust and ice cream in their beaks which meant they ate other monsters from before.

They were so much bigger in person, and their beaks were the size of shovels. They had four large claws on their front set of feet, some were chipped, broken, or jagged.

Looking into their eyes my senses kicked in, and my mind said that a heart was located in one of the legs. Unfortunately my ability couldn't tell me which leg. "Attack the legs." I whispered, and notched an arrow. Serena had her weapon as a shield, with Toni behind her. Gena lit the point of my arrow on fire, and I handed her my ring. Andrew and Kaylyn were up front, so he stood ready to cover her.

Just as they attacked I willed my ring to change. A black gauntlet covered her left arm while flames climbed onto her axe. The first kill went to Serena, she did a matador thing. Then climbed onto the enemy.

She bashed the side of its head with the shield, the let it run straight into a tree. The beak stuck, then she switched and sliced its legs. Kaylyn fired, but the Hippalectryon got to close. Andrew covered her though.

Gena, lit a patch of dry grass with fire so we couldn't be taken from behind. She kept it under control, and she tore through two enemies with ease. I fired my bow for the first time, and a pocket of air blasted with so much power my ears popped.

The arrow plunged into a leg of the beast, and the black flames from the tip roasted the beast like a chicken shishcabob. Toni fired bullets, but the only material around him was trees. So the wood bullets, only gave the beasts splinters. Serena took advantage of that, when ever a Hippalectryon flinched she had a chance to attack openly.

The leader seemed to just watch, and study our movements. It had a large live scar, from the two that attacked it during the chase.

I let loose another arrow it hit one, but another got into smelling distance. Let me just say, they smell worst than week old fried food. Gena, brought down her axe on its head, which allowed me to pull out my knife and slice its legs.