She only had to wait a few moments.
The dragon shifter's arrival was announced by a brief yelp. One of the night watchmen, evidently catching sight of an unauthorized presence marching up the hill, called out in a gruff voice—only to be promptly cut off by a strike to the throat. It was the cry of another Wuff, stationed near the hunter's tent, that alerted the rest of the camp to trouble. “H-Hey, who goes there?”
Minx slipped out of the shadows and dropped him with a well-placed arrow before anyone could answer him.
The fight was on.
Kaleb stood on the far side of the hill, elbows-deep in a brawl with the amassed night watchmen. From his rear, Mau suddenly ascended the top of the hill, snarling at the Wuff battlers who were stumbling groggily from their tents. Their approach had been silent and efficient, leaving the Wuff horde unprepared. Soon, though, the Krah camping on the hill opposite would surely take notice of the commotion. Speed was of the utmost importance.
The Fae huntress launched at once into a furious attack, spraying the hilltop with arrows. The swordsmen and archers arriving on the scene had been thrown into such a frenzy of confusion that they could scarcely take cover before the well-placed shots claimed them. A few hunkered down behind wagons or relied on the flimsy tents to provide protection, but within the first minute of the raid on the camp, the area near the campfire was already growing crowded with fallen Wuffs.
Minx spied flickers of movement in the darkness below; a squad of Krah had been dispatched from the other camp to put down the unexpected attack. She knelt by one of the wagons and began sniping them, hopeful that Kaleb and Mau would be able to manage the sleepy Wuffs without her help.
The pairing of dragon shifter and Faelyr performed admirably, crossing the hillock and easily claiming the camp for themselves—that is, until the hunter emerged. Where the Wuffs had been taken by surprise and were scrambling to mount even the barest defense, the hunter was clearly of a different breed.
He did not exit his tent at once—rather, he sent a cloud of arrows sailing from the entrance of the structure, nearly striking both Kaleb and Mau, before stepping out with his signature swagger and a wild grin on his lips. The grotty hunter didn't look the least bit tired; in fact, like a nocturnal animal who'd been biding its time deep in its burrow, he now emerged with a fearsome energy. His earthy fingers played the string of the bow effortlessly, peppering the field with a swarm of razor-sharp arrows. And this time, he wasn't playing around. Previously, he'd taken it easy on Minx, sparing her the worst during his antagonistic game. Now, every shot was intended to kill.
The hunter's volleys came perilously close to felling both Mau and Kaleb at turns; the dragon shifter avoided death by a hair's breadth, the dense plate armor on his body absorbing the force of two arrows in quick succession. Mau, ever nimble and darting behind various obstacles, managed to scurry out of the hunter's sight before she could be pierced.
Minx divided her focus between the oncoming Krah and the hunter's relentless attacks. I have to do something. If I don't put down these Krah, and fast, we're going to get swamped. With all the swiftness she could muster, Minx dropped two of the Krah rampaging across the field below, and then turned to strike at the hunter. She remained on one knee, hopeful that she could keep out of sight. If the arrow comes from down below, he won't see it until it's too late. The hunter, momentarily distracted by Kaleb and Mau, appeared vulnerable to her.
She would have only one shot. She tested the air, ensuring that the wind wasn't strong enough to force her shot off course. Except for the current of battle in the air, all was still. The time was right.
Dodge this! Minx nocked her arrow and let it fly, exhaling deeply as the shot screamed toward its mark. She grit her teeth and watched as the shaft arced past the edge of the campfire, as intended.
And then it connected.
She heard the hunter's growl before she saw where the arrow landed, and then jumped to her feet, preparing to launch another. Despite her best efforts, the shot had gone a bit low. She'd failed to account for the hunter's movements, and had only managed to hit him in the right leg, near the waist. The arrowhead had eaten through his light armor and become embedded in his flesh, but judging by the way he jerked toward her she knew it was anything but a killing blow.
The hunter turned to her with eyes as big as saucers. His sharp teeth glistened as he loosed a violent shout and cast his bow onto the ground in a fit of animalistic rage. He began a swift march toward her, yanking the arrow from his flesh and throwing it into the fire.
She'd hoped to kill or seriously injure him with that shot; instead, all she'd done was throw him into a blind anger.
Minx was stunned into inaction as the hunter began sprinting toward her. She watched as he pulled a dense wooden club from beneath the edge of his fur cape, and couldn't land another shot before he began swinging at her. All of her energy was diverted into dodging, and she ducked behind the edge of a sturdy wooden wagon just in time to avoid the punishing tip of the club. The weapon, wielded between the hunter's quaking fists, pulverized the corner of the wagon, littering the ground with shards of jagged wood. Spittle flew from his
