The Sky Demons Part Two: Quest

Chapter Two- The Dead Forest

Kayira- The Dead Forest

Tenmar growled softly, smoothly slipping the dagger concealed under his shirtsleeve into his hand and together we crept into our kitchen and living room, masterfully avoiding the areas on the floor which we knew to creak and reaching the centre of the room in complete silence. From this vantage point I could see directly into the open doors of the bathroom and one of the bedrooms. On my other side Tenmar kept watch over the second bedroom and the reinforced, closed door of the storeroom. The cheap orange curtains were closed over the windows and so the room was lit dimly and tinged the same colour.

I felt Tenmar relax slightly behind me in the long-lasting and complete silence of the house, only to stiffen and become tense as soon as footsteps sounded from the second bedroom. The footsteps were heavy, made by someone wearing heavy combat boots. They must have been made by a mercenary: no one else would have been allowed entry into the dorms, I had no idea why they might be here but after the letter the guild had sent us I definitely felt worried about it.

“Pssst. Kayira.”

I turned my head to look at Tenmar, he and Firah’s eyes were fixed on the doorway.

“The person in there’s male. A spectrumosa. I can smell an animal somewhere too, but I’m not sure where.”

“Right,” I whispered, turning my head to search my side of the room for any sign of an animal. I didn’t have to look far. Directly in front of me sat a green furred lynx with a tail that branched in different directions and a yellow orb decorating its forehead. The moment I laid eyes on it it leapt shrieking to all four paws, its fur standing up on end and clumping into sharp looking spines all over its body. Even before it jumped at me- a spiky front paw curled inward as if it wanted to fist me in the face- I was drawing a reinforced wooden cylinder from a pouch, which extended into a full sized staff. I swung my staff lightly into its side before it could reach me, knocking it across the room. It got dazedly to its feet, yowling all the while and then skittered in the direction of the bedroom at the same time as we began to hear exclamations and the thud of boots coming from that direction.

Tenmar’s body flashed golden and he stepped between the cactus cat and the doorway in the form of a colourful rooster with reptilian legs and a tail. He stood with his eyes closed, crowing a warning to the cactus cat as it watched him wearily should he open his eyes, which carried the power of petrification while in deishan form. Firah stood next to him; smoke curling from her nostrils, acting as his eyes through their link.

Meanwhile the spectrumosa finally emerged from the second bedroom, he was yellow of hair and eyes, broad and muscled but of slightly below average height. I watched him wearily, noting the way his eyes strayed towards Tenmar. I raised my staff, daring him to threaten Tenmar in any way while Firah stared down the stranger, making Tenmar aware of his new position.

A second of silence ticked by and then the cactus cat- whom could apparently bear it no longer -leapt at Firah, who snapped back, fire erupting from her mouth as the cat’s spikes glanced off of her hardened scales; the two rolled around together on the floor.

In a moment Tenmar was in anian form, his dagger drawn as he attempted to pin the spectrumosa against the wall. The stranger sidestepped at the last moment but moved jerkily and began to fall, flailing about and grabbing Tenmar’s arm, pulling him with him. Tenmar grunted at the sudden wrench on his arm and dropped the dagger, but was not shocked enough to fail to punch the guy with his free fist as he began to be pulled down. I reached out with my staff at the same moment and Tenmar fell against it with an ‘oof’ of air escaping from his lungs the very moment after his fist connected with a cheek. I pushed the staff back, forcing him back to his feet and then swiped it back and down, pushing it against the spectrumosa’s chest until he was on the ground. I moved closer, keeping the staff hovering over his chest but repositioning it as I moved so that it was the tip and not the side that I was pressing against his chest.