39 Covet My Hear (2/2)

”Such flattery. I may just have to keep you.” The female softly chuckled, as she rose to her feet.

The girl from before suddenly approached them without warning.”You're not actually flirting with that 'dwarf', are you? Eww. Why did you even bring him here, Minerva? You know how Malick feels about outsiders.” She scoffed. ”It's bad enough my sister is mating with some domestic tomcat! She's going to get herself pregnant at this rate.”

”So what if I am? What you may see as an imperfection in your eyes, may not appear the same in mine. If Malick is displeased, then I'll deal with her consequences, you need not involve yourself, Morrigan... Shouldn't you be more concerned with Seiko's actions rather than mine?” The taller female, Minerva, replied with a stern tone. ”You do not wish to become an aunt, am I right?”

”No, of course not! Though, I still think you should have left that one out in the woods. He has no business snooping around in our affairs. He's a pervertive, rude, ugly little creep, Minerva.” Morrigan, the other female crossed her arms with a disapproving gaze. ”Who knows what kind of trouble he'll bring. Just look at his hands!”

”That's enough, Morrigan!” Minerva snapped, causing the shorter female to flinch, and nervously taking a step backwards. ”Take your leave of me.” Minerva stated, coldly.

Morrigan made a disgruntled expression as she turned away, and quickly stormed off from them.

Minerva sighed, keeping her gaze on the younger female. ”You must excuse my clan sister, she is young, and not used to seeing many outsiders.” Minerva apologized, before turning around to peer down to Miles.

Miles curiously peered up to her, with a gentle smile. ”I'm actually more surprised by what you said. Does this mean you weren't just humoring my advances?”

This made Minerva chuckle. ”Perhaps I shall leave it unanswered for now.”

Miles seemed conflicted, unsure what Minerva was thinking about him. ”No fair. Do I at least get your name?” He replied, in disappointment.

”It's Minerva, though I'm sure you heard my clan sister address me as such.” Minerva replied.

”Maybe.” Miles smirked. ”I'm Miles.”

She smiled back. ”Well Miles, I suspect it would be wise for you to return to your camp. You have other woman in your care, do you not?” Minerva crouched down, to place her hands on the bindings.

Miles looked to her with a surprised expression, realizing that she may have been watching him. Truthfully he liked the idea of that. ”So. You've been keeping tabs on me, huh?”

”Perhaps.” Minerva teased him, cutting the rope with her knife. ”There. You should return to your people now. These woods are not safe.” She said, standing back to her feet.

Miles stood up, looking at this towering woman. He took her hands, gazing up to her seriously. ”Minerva. Won't you come with me?” He inquired. ”I'd like to get to know you more.”

”No, I'm afraid not. I'm needed elsewhere.” She reluctantly admitted.

Miles released her hands, with furrowed brows. ”Will I ever see you again?”

”I can't be for certain, but for now you should go.” Minerva replied, motioning to the circling riders in the sky above.

Miles grew uneasy at the sight, and begrudgingly turned from Minerva. ”I hope I'm not too late.” He grimaced, knowing he had to hurry. Miles urgently made his way into the woods, with the camp as his destination. Minerva turned around with her ears fixed backwards, to watch Miles vanish into the woods. Dusk however was approaching in the sky, as Miles hurried back to camp, knowing things may no longer be safe there.

Meanwhile around the camp grounds, the scene was panning up from the grassy field, to come into view of hand resting on the ground. Drawing closer, it was revealed that Eclipse was laying there, with fresh burn wounds on her left arm and hand. She was clutching to the ground, wincing from the pain. It was clear that she had been flung from the tent that rested across the campsite. Something big was there with them, thrusting Djinn back into the dirt with a large black tail. Clawed feet stepped closer to the tent, where a terrified Talis was trying to protect her nest. With her arms and tail coiled around it, her back was left unprotected to the attacker.

Clutched by her neck, Talis was forced away from her eggs, and elevated into the air. She struggled with tears flying from her eyes, as she saw what was standing in the shadows behind. It was none other than Gaigas holding her throat, as if she was weightless. ”G-Gaigas... P-Please... Stop this...” Talis begged, but was ignored. She felt her body forced away, as she was thrown into Djinn.

The camp around them was becoming engulfed by fire, and Ronan was no where to be seen. Gaigas however had turned his attention to the eggs, where the violent dragon crouched down to pick one up. His eyes trailed back to look at Talis, who was now in Djinn's arms. A diabolical grin crossed his face, before he turned back to the eggs and started devouring them.

Talis weakly tried to get to her feet, with the look of horror crossing her terrified face. Inaudible screams cried out at Gaigas as she ran at him, to only be knocked away with a forceful spiked elbow. Talis fell to her face in the dirt, sobbing from desperation and panic. Her glazed over eyes faintly saw the male Terra turned around, to drop an empty scaled shell to his feet.

Talis' eyes widened as it shattered on the ground, followed by more screams and tears. ”Nnnnnooooooooo...” Her shaken voice whimpered, as she collapsed from attempting to get up.

”Tzz. If you want my spawn so badly, I'll just give you some more.” Gaigas grunted, turning his attention back to Talis, as he approached her.

Djinn could feel the motion from the ground, and urgently slithered to Talis' aid. She coiled her snake-like body around the female dragon like a shield, as she hissed at Gaigas.

The black dragon grew annoyed, abruptly grasping hold of Djinn's snake hair and pulling it roughly. ”Get out of my WAY, or YOU'RE NEXT!” He bellowed at her.

Djinn endured the pain, holding her body close to Talis the best she could. ”Do with me as you want, I won't let you HURT HER!!” Djinn retorted, defensively.

”M...Miles....” Eclipse muttered weakly, seeing the approaching feline coming their way at top speed.

As the urgent footsteps rushed Gaigas' way, he swung around to catch Miles' sword, that came thrusting his way. Gaigas shoved Miles back, quickly shifting his wings to use the spiked tips like blades. One after another, Gaigas jabbed his wings at Miles in a flurry of attacks, that were too fast for the feline to keep up with. Miles was struggling to keep grip on his katana with only one hand, but he couldn't give up so easily. He chose this route, and now he had a job to do. Gaigas took advantage of this, and used his tail to trip Miles, as he released more green flame breath from his jaws. Miles scrambled out of the way with haste, but parts of his tail lit up. He panicked, falling back to his rear as he patted them out in a hurry.

”I've had enough of these intrusions.” Gaigas growled, raising his cupped claws into the air. Enveloping within them, dark magic began to swirl in around the camp like a plague, covering everything in a festering layer of purple darkness.

The dark ooze began to glow as it wrapped around his prey, constricting them with great force. Trails of dark particles were levitating around it, like toxins in the air. Miles forced himself up, slashing away the dark matter as he struck Gaigas with his blade. The Terra felt this wing tear, as the sword penetrated the soft tissue of it.

”RAWWWW!!!!” He roared, letting out a sharp cry of pain, as he quickly pulled himself away from the feline.

The dark aura began to circle around, before shooting at Miles like falling stars. Miles took the blunt force of the magical attack, being flung into a nearby tree. Miles had a bit of blood dripping from his nose, as flinched from the sudden surge of pain in his head. This left the girls open, drawing Gaigas' attention to them. Clutching Djinn by the neck, he attempted to force her from Talis. Djinn's blind eyes focused ahead at Gaigas, as they began to glow as she made a sharp shriek. From this close proximity, the blind gorgon was able to use her petrification magic. The left side Gaigas' face and body began to slowly turn gray with rock-like growths forming upon his skin. It cracked in some places, as those parts of his flesh began to harden and calcify like rock.

”WHAT MAGIC IS THIS!?” Gaigas shouted in a panic. The black dragon scrambled backwards, as he dropped the snake Terra to the ground. He urgently flew up to avoid becoming completely petrified, as he bursted out of the woods and into the sky, where the surrounding army was already hovering.

Miles sat up, looking way up into the air. ”We need to leave this place...” He stated, in concern.

His eyes caught notice of Djinn releasing Talis, who rushed for the burning tent to her destroyed nest. She was in tears, frantically digging through the rubble of broken eggshells. Miles got to his feet warily, to see the dragoness in her fragile state. His heart really went out to her, but something caught his attention. Underneath the destruction, was a single egg that was left untouched. Talis went from complete distress to relief, as she quickly pulled the egg to her chest. However the tent was falling apart from the blaze, forcing her to retreat, nearly tripping in the process. Djinn however was not too far behind, and caught her before she could hurt herself or the egg.

”Is there any left?” Djinn asked, understanding the emotions and situation, despite not being able to see it.

Talis subtly tried to smile, as she took the gorgon's hand to place on top of the egg. ”One... One survived.” She explained, as a tear dripped onto the scaled egg. Talis hugged her, while holding tightly to that lucky little egg.

”Thank goodness.” Djinn smiled, accepting the motion.

”Eclipse? Is she okay?” Talis suddenly turned in worry, to the wounded elf.

Miles peered over, as he made his way over to Eclipse. She was still laying on the ground, with her arm bleeding pretty bad at this point from the burns. The feline crouched down to her, trying to help her up.

”...Behind you.” Eclipse softly spoke, in a fatigued tone, as she peered over his shoulder.

As Miles turned around, he spotted his phoenix fly into view. A smile came to his face. ”Ember.” He said, as the giant red bird landed beside him, to nestle his face.”She's my ride, don't worry.” Miles faintly laughed, as he stroked the bird. ”It's not safe here anymore, go ahead and climb on.” Miles stated, helping Eclipse onto his phoenix's back.

”There's no way she'll be able to fly with all of us on her back.” Eclipse spoke up.

”I know, but you're too wounded to walk.” Miles replied.

”Where's Ronan?” Talis inquired nervously, as she and Djinn approached them, trying to avoid the cinders coming from the nearby flames.

”He's probably in that village...” Miles pondered. ”He should be fine, we don't have the luxury of waiting on him right now. We need to get someplace safe.”

”The path to our hideout has little to no shelter. Templar will be upon up before we even reach a halfway point.” Eclipse stated.

”Pretty risky then...” Miles pondered.

”Eclipse, you should rest. Leave everything to us for now.” Djinn tried to reassure her friend. ”Miles. Do you know another location?”

Miles thought on the village, but he couldn't guarantee they would be allowed in. He didn't have much time to ponder on this, and quickly came to a decision. ”Yeah, we may need to go underground to get there though. Come on, the longer we wait around, the sooner we'll be caught.” Miles urged them to follow him.

However, as he turned to the best route, several Templar Pegasus riders came swooping in with their elegant lances. These lady knights clustered together like a pack of winged lions charging for their prey. The force of their powerful wings were so strong it blew the flames out from the nearby damage Gaigas had caused. Their hooves landed, rushingat the group with a vengeance. Miles decided to take front, running at the incoming knight as if this was a jousting tournament. His sword was drawn, slashing at the winged horse, only to be thrusted back from the bladed lance.

The other Templar units began to surround the wounded maidens, separating them from Miles. In the state they were in, it was as if they had been greatly outnumbered. There was no way they could get out of this, Miles thought, as his determination seemed to fade as the Knights prepared to strike once again. Just when all seemed to be lost however, a barrage of arrows came bolting in like strikes of lighting. One of the riders near the girls, took immediate mortal damage, slumping onto their mount before falling to the ground. Another rider fell off from the force of an arrow through their leg, as both Pegasus flew off into the sky. This left only a few remaining, with Miles still in the line of fire.

Another arrow blasted, piercing the rider's cranium before they collapsed to the dirt below. As their Pegasus fled, Miles noticed a form behind the falling white feathers. Perched in a nearby tree, was that beautiful feline archer, Minerva. He was filled with relief upon seeing that enchanting woman, but her job wasn't yet over. Still two templar remained in pursuit of Eclipse and the others. They were far too weak to fight back, rendering them defenseless. With a quick flick of the wrist, more arrows were drawn back on Minerva's bow, and quickly fired off at the attackers. One took a hit to the chest, dismounting as the other had before her. With only one Pegasus remaining, the Templar knight redirected her target and flew for Minerva.

Like an amazon, Minerva leapt from her perch, diving towards the incoming rider. She withdrew a Bowie knife from her boot as she landed onto the back of the horse to stab the knight in the back. The knight quickly attempted to flee, knocking Minerva off as she flew her mount into the air. Mid fall, Minerva pulled to her bow, and fired another shot at the Templar, connecting with her target. The body dropped rapidly, with the neck snapping on impact, as the Pegasus fled off after the others. Minerva landed on her feet, approaching where Miles was. However, one templar remained, still pinned up against a tree ahead of her. With this opening, it gave the lady Templar the opportunity to draw a bow and arrow. Before she could fire the shot though, Minerva redirected her body to target them, and impail them with one last arrow.

Miles stared in amazement as this intense female placed away her weapon and turned to face him. She drew closer, and crouched down to extend her hand to him. ”Just couldn't stay away from me, could you?” Miles joked, as he took her hand.

Minerva smiled as she pulled him to his feet. ”I suppose I just can't help myself.” She replied, before her gaze shifted to the approaching phoenix and the girls. ”It might be wise if I accompany you and your pack after all. These woods have gotten far too dangerous with those Templar flying about.”