Flower Falls and Crystal Calls

Missed Me

Chapter 14

Caius had the group pausing before they rounded each bend to make sure they did not run into the beast unexpectedly, so it was only a short time later that they came upon it hunched over some other unfortunate monster that it had taken down. At least it was preoccupied.

Caius turned back to them and silently gestured for them to climb the walls and circle around. They each had spears they could use to try and use from a distance. If nothing else, it would allow them the advantage of wounding it before they had to fight it and drive it back.

Elle followed them up as quietly as she could. It might have been impossible two months prior, but she had been doing nothing but working her ass off, so she was shocked to find it wasn't that difficult.

Once they were all up, they kept low and scooted to the area around where the king behemoth was still munching away. Elle grimaced at the crunching noises, but thankfully, she didn't have a weak stomach. She took a brief look around and was pleased to see the area was like most of the canyons, and the walls weren't straight down. There were several ledges, so if they needed to get down fast, it would be possible to jump from one to the next with little issue.

She looked across the way again to see Caius finally give the signal to attack and raised her spear with the rest of them. She hoped like hell her training paid off as she hefted it back and flung it forward on his signal.

They all watched as time seemed to slow, and the seven spears whistled through the air. Much to Elle's relief, they all embedded in the thing's hide, though her's didn't stick when it reared up with a roar. In the end, it barely mattered. The beast was still alive, and very much pissed off. Caius gave a yell and jumped down, with the rest of the men quickly following. Elle didn't hesitate to do the same. As much as her adrenaline was flowing at the size of the beast, she couldn't afford to let it get to her. Not now.

Once they were on the ground, each man darted in and grabbed a spear. Even Elle had managed to grab the one that had fallen. They were all taking turns rushing in and jabbing at it and rushing out again before its giant paws could find them. The only exception was the female in their midst. Any time she would try to join the pattern, one of the men would jump in front of her.

She finally growled in frustration when she realized they were doing it on purpose to keep her away from the thing. She had seen it before in the heat of battle and knew they probably weren't doing it consciously, but it still pissed her off. She quit trying to get close to the fighting and stepped back before she threw the spear down. Just because she couldn't fight on their terms, didn't mean she was out.

It wasn't long before she called up every spell she could think of. She immediately started casting them at the behemoth, one right after another, paying close attention to how it reacted to each. She cursed when it seemed revitalized by the lightning, and the men all turned to glare at her, but it was nearly knocked off its feet when she hit it with earth. She grinned at them and did it again. Despite the unexpectedness of her actions, none of them were inexperienced warriors. They didn't hesitate to jump back into the fight.

It took a little bit of finesse for Elle to work on hitting the beast without hitting her teammates, but she had been practicing with the crones long enough that she wasn't completely inadequate at it.

Elle almost cheered when the beast staggered to the side, so she didn't understand why everyone started scrambling backward. Her question was quickly answered when it let out another roar even louder than the ones before, and much to her horror, stood up on two legs. It opened its front paws wide, and the canyon walls shook with the sound it released before it looked down again. Elle swallowed hard when she realized it was looking straight at her.

Everyone must have realized at the same time, that she had severely pissed the thing off. It was also at about that time that she remembered what behemoths were known for doing when their health got low. She cursed under her breath and switched tactics before she started trying to focus on evasive maneuvers. At least her brain didn't lock up.

She hadn't even noticed that several of the men had been trying to get the things attention, but it ignored them all as it barreled toward Elle with a screaming roar. She managed to roll out of the way of the first swipe of a giant claw, but the other one caught her and sent her flying across the clearing to slam against the canyon wall. Both Caius and Laer could be heard yelling from behind the behemoth. "Elle!"

All the men had rushed over and had reengaged with the beast, as it had turned away as soon as it thought the pest was dealt with. They were all shocked when they heard a voice behind it. "Hey, ugly! You missed me."

None of them had time to wonder how it was possible before a massive chunk of ice crashed into the things head and distracted it enough for them to see her run past it and rejoin them.

Caius had no idea how she was still breathing, but he had a feeling it had something to do with the slight glow that covered her skin. He gave thanks for the fact that she was a l'cie and then pushed the thought aside. They had bigger things to worry about. The behemoth had recognized the fact that the irritant it thought it had killed was still standing. It roared and tried to slam a paw down on top of her, but Caius grabbed her and threw her to the side.

Elle rolled with it but came up frowning. She was calling out as soon as she was on her feet. "I can handle the blows. Let me keep it distracted while you take it out."

Most of the men looked at her like she was crazy, but it was Laer that spoke. "No way! I refuse to let you kill yourself!"

They were all shocked when Mirus quickly followed up. "Let her. She is a l'cie. I can already see this is her ability. We have no time to waste."

Elle nodded to the man and didn't wait for another response before she sent another wave of rattling earth to knock the beast off balance. Caius gritted his teeth, but he had to make a choice. He needed to decide whether to continue trying to protect the woman next to him, or to take down the beast according to orders. He growled to himself as he lunged forward. He had already stated she was a capable warrior, now it was time to allow her to prove it.

He forced himself to ignore it as the beast lunged past them and continued to go after the tiny woman. She was fast enough to dodge most of the blows, but even when she was not, he was continuously reassured to hear her taunting voice. None of them gave any ground and continued to chip away at the things hide. Blood covered the ground, and he was pleased that most of it belonged to their enemy.

By the time the behemoth fell to its knees and crashed into the dust, every person in the group felt like joining it, but somehow, they all managed to keep their feet. Caius looked around at them all, and could not hold in a smile when his eyes caught Elle's across the body of the fallen beast. She smirked and raised a brow. "So, now that we've done the impossible, how do we get this thing back?"

Laer threw his head back in laughter and clapped her so hard on the back he nearly knocked her off her feet. She glared over at him, but it held no heat. Even the Ballad twins were grinning at the exchange.

The one that had been the most vocal on her behalf came over and held out his hand. She took it with a raised brow. "I knew you were an emissary of the Goddess, but I had no idea you were a warrior. I suppose I should have known after you tried to take out a pack of gorgonopsids with sharpened sticks. Glad you came along."

She laughed as she let go. She had almost forgotten about that. Laer came up to her other side. "What is this?"

She shook her head. "Ask me later. It looks like we still have work to do." She had noticed that Caius was watching the exchange with interest, but hadn't yet answered her question. No matter what they ended up doing, she doubted they were going to make it far that night.

Once Caius realized he had been staring, he shook off his thoughts of how hard it had been to have this woman in particular in the fight with him. He wasn't sure what it meant, but it was something he would need to think about. Later. For now, they had a beast to prep so it would not spoil before they could get it back to Paddra. He turned and started issuing orders that were quickly filled.