The Fae huntress pulled two arrows from her quiver and promptly nocked them both. “OK, so... any good ideas?”
Kaleb eyed the advancing combatants, adopting an offensive stance with fists balled. “I've got one,” he said, pointing gingerly at a Krah carrying a steel sledge. “Don't get hit by that thing.”
Minx grumbled. “Anything less obvious?”
“Steer clear of Alla. Don't kill her. It's possible we'll be able to save her—to bring her with us after this. If we want to know what Torrent's been up to, we need to keep her safe. Got it?” Kaleb started toward the treeline to meet the attacking force head-on.
After the day she'd had, Minx would have liked nothing more than to square things up with Alla. It was only her potential use as an informant regarding Torrent's moves that kept her from marching into the woods and hunting her exclusively. “All right,” she replied, “but when she's outlived her usefulness in that regard, I may just get rid of her.” She loosed a second volley, this one bound for the same archer who remained pressed to the wounded tree trunk for cover.
The region, she knew, was crawling with remnants of the dark army. The Wuffs that had taken her and Mau as hostages had only been one cluster of many, and the appearance of these Krah reinforcements didn't seem all that strange as a result. The chaos the dragons had sown had likely been a double-edged sword; it had spooked the Wuffs terribly and allowed Minx to go free, but it had also alerted nearby mobs of the need for assistance. Given enough time, more dark warriors were sure to arrive. They already numbered more than a dozen, and it was possible dozens more would appear in answer to Kaleb's unscripted light show.
For the moment, none of that mattered to her. She was simply thrilled to be free, and to be fighting at Kaleb's side once again. She watched as the dragon shifter met the hammer of a raging Krah, seizing the handle of the swinging weapon before it could connect against his armor and warping the steel shaft with his raw strength. The lizard-man staggered back, only to catch his own hammer in the gut. An arrow sped out of the woods from another sheltered archer, but this one missed Kaleb by an even wider margin than the last, and the dragon shifter strode confidently toward the treeline, ready to engage all comers in rapid succession.
“I'll tell you what I'm going to do,” announced Kaleb, cracking his knuckles. “I'm going to transform and send another fireball into these woods. I'll burn the whole thing to the ground, and all of you along with it. How's that sound? Then again, if you lay down your weapons and answer a few of our questions, I may reconsider...”
A Wuff swordsman came dashing out of the woods and lashed out at Kaleb with a savage cry. The curved blade he swung struck the dragon shifter's hefty plate armor, cracking on impact. The brittle weapon crumbled into shards, leaving the attacker with only a hilt clutched in his fist.
Kaleb took hold of the assailant's leather shoulder pads and hoisted him into the air. With a grunt, the dragon shifter threw him over his head, sending him sailing into the canopy. The Wuff cried out, landing noisily in the brush—and upon hitting the ground, he did not dare rise again.
The dragon shifter took a deep breath, stood bolt upright, and prepared to take his dragon form.
Strangely, though, nothing happened.
“What the...” Kaleb looked back at the Fae huntress, his anger giving way to confusion. “Something's wrong...” He tensed, attempting to shift once more, but it was all in vain. “Why can't I shift?” he demanded angrily.
From the woods there came a harsh, guttural voice. One of the Krah was speaking in his foul tongue, and Minx noticed that he was hanging well behind the rest. He wore thinner armor than the others, and did not carry a weapon. The movements of his clawed fingers and the staccato speech issuing from his lips hinted at his intentions, however, and Minx immediately took aim at him. “There's a spell-caster in the mix!” she warned. “One of the Krah! I don't know what he's up to, but—”
By this time, Kaleb was already aware of the spell-caster's presence. “So, is that why I can't shift?” he asked, nostrils flaring with annoyance. “They're interfering with my powers, are they?”
Other warriors stepped in to shield the spell-caster from attack. A pair of Wuff archers took pot shots at Minx to dissuade her from focusing on the high value target, and other Krah stomped out of the woods to meet her from close-range.
Before any of the Krah warriors arrived within arm's reach of the Fae huntress, there came a great roar and a flurry of movement from her back.
Mau blitzed across the field and crashed head-on into one of the warriors, knocking him prone and laying into him with all her pent-up ferocity. The Faelyr's meaty paws struck the Krah senseless with a series of blows to the head.
OK, if they don't want me to hit the spell-caster, so be it. I'll mow through their defenses till there's no one left to take an arrow for him! Minx fired at another Wuff sword-bearer, stopping him in his tracks with a blow to the abdomen. The Wuff tumbled into one of his fellow warriors, knocking him off balance and making him an easier mark for Minx's next shot, which came an instant later.
Though unable to shift, Kaleb had little trouble taking on the dark warriors one-on-one. With brutal efficiency, he plowed through each and every Wuff that dared come near him. His rattling blows shattered bone and cracked armor; his throws and slaps, though not lethal,
