She could hear their angry cries in the canopy above her as she drew closer, reaching the level of the lowest branches. They even held crude clubs, which they were waving and occasionally throwing towards the fellacai until they realized wind gusts were redirecting them away from the shiny treats. Jade was proud of their ability to work together, and also a little amazed at their combat ability. There were seven apes, all of whom utterly dwarfed her babies. They were basically fighting the equivalent of giants and holding their ground.
A bow appeared in her hand as she neared, a quiver falling into place on her back. Drawing an arrow as she perched on a branch, she shot the reinforced projectile at the largest of the beasts. Arrow after arrow was drawn and shot in succession. The first three apes died, dropping like rocks from the branches as arrows lodged in their heads. The remaining four scattered, realizing the danger that approached them from behind. In their anger, they turned their attention to the interloper who’d killed three of their brethren.
Fellacai all but forgotten, the furious apes swung in and out of the trees towards her, dodging the arrows she sent at them whenever one came into view. She’d apparently only hit the first three because they’d been surprised. Her babies, exhausted from the fight, quietly waited for her to deal with the problem after she reassured them mentally. They’d done their best, and now it was time for her to finish off these attackers. She’d finally been reminded of something Count Eamonn said when he was introducing the fellacai: other creatures loved to have them as snacks.
She dove forward into the air right as a club smashed into the branch where she’d been standing. One of them managed to get behind her while she was distracted by her babies. It seemed surprised when, after flipping arse over teakettle, she rolled to a stop in midair instead of falling to her death. Standing on the wind platform that she’d hastily erected, she was panting slightly, glad her danger senses tingled in time.
Furious, she saw the other three had surrounded her and were hiding behind the branches as they peered at her, obviously trying to figure out how to reach her as she stood in midair. “You think you can hide from me? Dream on.” Concentrating, she sent her bow into her ring to keep from dropping it as she lashed out with four razor-sharp streams of wind. The monkeys didn’t have a chance to realize what happened before they were beheaded, a bloody mist filling the air. She caught their bodies before they could fall to the forest floor like the other three. Dragging them in one large wind sphere, she dashed to check on her babies.
“Andy…” She knelt next to her babies, reaching for the tiny mint and chocolate colored butterfly. Carl was hovering protectively next to him, and it was obvious he’d healed Andy up a bit already. She held her hand out and Andy wearily hopped on. She finished healing him quickly, then beamed at the rest of her babies. “You did well, my lovelies. Come here, hop on. You’ve earned a rest.” Her babies flapped over to land on her hair as she held Andy up to allow him to hold on too. Once she was confident that they were all secure, she stepped into the open air and began to descend, more slowly now that she was making sure her babies were okay every inch of the way.
As she approached the ground, she realized that many of her people were studying the fallen apes. “Jade! You’re okay.” She could hear the relief in Marcelle’s voice as the woman emerged from behind one of the giant apes. Now that Jade was really looking at them, she realized they were twice the size of a human, and she was casually hauling four of them and their bloody mess behind her so that it didn’t attract other creatures.
She nodded a little wearily. “I’m fine. Let’s get these back to the shelter. I don’t want the blood to attract anything else.” Marcelle nodded, and Jade wearily grabbed the other three with wind magic, adding them to her floating bubble. With blood magic, she called every drop they spilt on their way down, holding it in a separate little bubble. “Let’s go.”
She figured the guards could see her mental exhaustion, because they took up ranks around her and her ‘prize’ to escort her back. She could feel the other earth magician erasing the traces of their passage and felt vague gratitude that she didn’t need to worry about that, too. The door to the shelter was open when they reached it, and she smiled at the worried faces that turned to relief when they realized the entire team returned safely.
Walking silently down the tunnel, she turned to enter a larger room she’d connected to the main room and deposited the corpses there. She figured the skins and meat would be useful for the people living here and in the city. She cast a chill of ice around the room so that it would act like a freezer and preserve the meat, then walked back into the main room.
“What exactly happened?” Marcelle asked her with soft concern as Jade snapped out of it, having been staring absently at a wall.
“My fellacai were attacked by these creatures as they were scouting.” Her voice sounded numb and a bit dead, even to her. She absently took a seat at the stool one of the men guided her to, staring blankly for a moment at the food placed in front of her before she reached for it, beginning to eat. She quickly grabbed an empty nearby plate and put some leafy greens and juice on it, to which her fellacai eagerly flocked. They needed to restore their energy after that fight too.
The silence of the room made her chewing seem especially loud as she ate almost robotically. She was polishing off the last few bites when a comment broke the silence. “I think she needs to take a nap before we leave.” She didn’t know who the male voice belonged to, but it sounded reasonable to her tired mind.
Looking up, she met the concerned gaze of a man who appeared to be in his late twenties. He had such pretty brown eyes that matched his dark brown hair. Honestly, he reminded her of a young Ryan Reynolds. “A nap sounds good, but wake me up in half an hour. We need to get there during the day, if possible.” The young man nodded to her, then held out his hand. She smiled wearily and took it, allowing him to help her up now that she’d finished her meal. She let him lead her over to a bedroll that looked like it’d been prepared for her, laying down and absently growing a baby tree in a small pot of dirt she pulled out and shaped in the rock next to her head, so the fellacai could take a nap too, once they were done. Looking at the nice man, she asked quietly, “What’s your name?”
He smiled brilliantly down at her as he responded, “Matthew Rylee, at your service. Get some sleep.” She nodded and murmured her assent, closing her heavy eyes. She thought she heard him moving away, but she fell asleep almost immediately.
***
“Jade, time to wake up.” She stirred groggily at the voice and the hand gently shaking her shoulder. Blinking sleepily, she stared up at Marcelle’s face in momentary confusion.
Yawning, she nodded and sat up as she focused on Marcelle, her memory slowly flitting back into place as she remembered the events of the last few hours. “How long did I sleep?” She had a sneaking suspicion she’d slept longer than the half hour she’d instructed them.
“It’s been about an hour. You looked like you needed it.” Jade sighed, nodding. She probably did. After all, she’d slept terribly last night and been using magic almost constantly since she woke. Even energizing herself with light only went so far.