The moment Night realized what Preciser's plan was this time around— leaving only him to fight his pet alone in a shaded area too dark for Sunray— his first thought was Oh, no ya don't!
Instantly he shadow-transferred himself back into another shadow, still close enough to Sunray and the creature, but far away enough so that it would have no choice but to come out in order to fight them.
However, it didn't move.
"Sunshine, try shooting it," he muttered under his breath.
"Can't," she whispered back, not looking over at him. "My weapon can't stay solid in darkness unless I'm touching it."
Oh, crap.
They couldn't just sit there all afternoon waiting for it to come out and fight them, but they also couldn't leave and let it wreak havoc without them there to protect the citizens. This thing was obviously trained.
Night closed his eyes briefly and took a long breath. Okay. Change of plans.
He slowly started forward back into the shadow with Preciser's creature, studying its features critically. It had to be the weirdest-looking thing he'd ever seen, which was saying a lot, since he'd seen a lot of weird stuff. It had two black heads, each having a pair of eyes colored the same that followed him as he moved. Its body was bulky brown like a grizzly bear's, but the claws were curved instead of long, and it had two tails.
Which . . . were . . .
Alive?
The thing had snake tails. Typical.
He stopped a few feet away, his heart rate going about a million miles an hour, wondering what would happen next. He could feel Sunray's tense gaze burning the back of his neck, but he couldn't turn around and tell her everything would be fine, because as soon as he looked away, the creature would lunge. Besides, something told him everything wouldn't be fine.
Apparently, usual behavior didn't apply to this animal, whatever it was. Within a millisecond it flew into aggression, bared its teeth, and pounced.
Behind it! he thought, shadow-transferring himself there just in time as its claws swiped the air he'd occupied a moment ago. It skidded to a halt right in front of the barrier—in front of Sunray— and he tensed, ready to protect her if necessary. She'd already nocked an arrow and raised her bow threateningly, but the creature ignored her, turning back to Night, and she lowered her bow in frustration.
It let out a snarl and charged once more, but Night didn't shadow-transfer again. Taunting it wouldn't get rid of it. Instead, he summoned his seax and pointed the blade towards it, hoping the sight of a threat would discourage it. Of course, the threat only made it angrier.
He dashed forward and smacked it upside the right jaw with the flat of his blade, which momentarily caught it off guard. In that brief silence, he slid underneath it and stabbed upward, just in case it had the same weakness as a hedgehog, but he only hit armored plates.
Of course. He dropped his weapon arm at his side in exasperation. Why the heck is that possible?
He tilted his head back to look at the creature as both its heads glared at him upside-down and roared. He scrambled in the opposite direction, at the moment forgetting about the snake tails, then jumped and crawled sideways when they hissed and lashed out at him. Just as he made it out to clear air, one of the snake's fangs sliced painfully down his left arm. He winced and grabbed it, momentarily stunned, but quickly shook away the pain and leapt further away from the thing, spinning around to face it again and raising his blade.
YOU ARE READING
Where Light Meets Dark
Novela Juvenil[COMPLETED ~ TO BE PUBLISHED... eventually] Sunray was the light, lonely and shining. She was a beacon of hope to the public, but quiet in her own life. To everyone else, anyway. Night was her shadow, sworn to protect her just as much as his home. H...
