“I thought I sensed someone nearby.” a nasally voice whispered in her ear.

It sent a chill down Kaara’s spine as she turned to see the toothless Stickbug. He set his broken jaw back to place and regrew his teeth like a shark, “Perhaps I should thank you. Cowak was going to kill him.”

“Oh, you’re welcome mister-” Kaara didn’t see it coming until his long boney shin was already buried into her stomach. Kaara tumbled into the street, gasping for air but still maintaining her spell.

“You this kid’s friend? Or are you some stupid brat bitch who decided to be a hero? Which is it?” The Stickbug’s horns sprouted and he cracked one off. The bone grew into a gruesome sword.

Kaara was glad she hadn’t eaten all of her snacks earlier. She would’ve vomited it up over the Stickbug’s shoes.

He yanked Kaara to her feet by her hair, “Here’s how it’s going to work, girl. I’m going to strip you, and if you don’t have a mark, I’m going to gut you until you’re as red as this rat's nest on your head.”

Kaara had only been ninety percent sure that these were the bad guys. But now that she was a hundred percent sure, she no longer had anything holding her back.

A wall of water pounced between them, snapping around Stickbug’s forearm and freezing instantly.

Kaara cut her hair with a water blade, leaving him holding the rest. The Boar charged her, and she whipped her blade around to make him think twice. It slashed into his stone armor. Kaara clenched her fist, a whirlpool gushing into existence around him.

Stickbug shattered the ice and lunged, leaving Kaara only a split second to raise a wall of ice between them.

He laughed dryly, “This ice is stronger than your stones, Cowak. Her magic is even more impressive than the boy’s. Might even surpass my little dove’s.”

“You haven’t seen anything yet, Stick bitch!” Kaara shouted, clasping her hands together.

The wall came to life, and crashed down on top of The Stickbug. It melted over him, refreezing until he was bound. She pointed two fingers to the whirlpool and chucked the Bugcicle into The Boar right as he managed to get out of it.

A cold fog left her mouth, eyes aglow with magical power, “Come on out Chompy!” The whirlpool transformed. Kaara could feel her soul straining.

Between the healing magic and this spell even she didn’t know if she could maintain both. A serpent with scales of bladed water and fangs of ice came to life from the whirlpool, tossing the two about in its rapids.

Small shards of ice pelted them in a storm of razor sharp blades. They broke free and charged at her, but Chompy followed and dragged them back into its belly.

“You two idiots are really making me work for my pay tonight huh?” The Crow said over her shoulder.

Kaara’s ears popped as the wind was sucked from her lungs. Chompy was dispelled, flooding the streets. Her vision tunneled. She used her magic to keep her blood pumping so she wouldn’t fall unconscious.

“Clean up will you? This is beginning to get embarrassing. She doesn’t have a brand, so you can kill her, but leave the boy.” The Crow said as he walked past the two of them, “I’m going to make sure no one else interrupts. Provided the ruckus hasn’t attracted anyone outside of my paygrade.” He vanished in a plume of feathers.

Kaara still couldn’t breathe, but she stood up anyway, holding her arms out protectively in front of The Noxa.

The two of them charged at her. She raised a dome of ice around her and The Noxa, but they shattered through it. She used everything she could to maintain the dome.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

She saw Rorik, Tisku and Arik. She saw her parents and the look on their faces seeing her dead.

Why couldn’t she breathe? Why couldn’t air enter her lungs?

Kaara grit her teeth, and filled her lungs with water to breathe that instead. She clasped her hands together and tore them apart. The dome turned into a maelstrom of ice and repelled them back. She made the ice melt on impact and refreeze. Fog enveloped the area, the water on the cobblestones snapped to life and stuck their feet to the ground.

But they were too strong. A needle pierced her defenses. She was getting dizzy. The stone streets came to life and slammed into her. Searing pain enveloped her. The stones formed into spears.

Kaara broke their impact with water but it wasn’t enough. It pierced her gut. She could feel the warmth of her blood draining out. She refocused her spells to stop the bleeding.

She summoned another dome, but her soul fractured. Their blades shattered it like it was nothing.

The two of them had to be as strong as Tiksu. Kaara tried to heal, but the stone wouldn’t leave her; it just kept digging deeper. She saw her life flashing before her eyes.

CLANG! CRACK!

CRUNCH!

The stone slackened, Kaara used her blood to push it out. She fell to her knees.

What happened?

Stickbug’s head was buried into the ground with his boney ass hanging in the air. The Boar was on his knees, vomiting up his lunch.

He’d probably had too much street food. Now it really was street food.

Standing over the two of them was a warrior clad in the silver armor befitting a Venator Knight. The symbol of a white wolf was emblazoned on her breastplate. She had a long mane of black hair growing from the back of her helmet. It billowed in the winds as the cold air Kaara had created with her ice heated up.

Kaara felt warm, but she could see the water in the streets evaporating. She was being excluded from the knight’s magic.

She brandished her halberd and walked past Kaara to kneel next to The Noxa. Her helmet melted away like mercury as she touched him.

She looked just like him. Her eyes were kind, relieved, and filled with burning rage. She was beautiful despite her scars.

Those piercing red and gold eyes locked onto Kaara. She was holding back tears, “Thank you for protecting him. Are you alright?”

She had a deep smoky voice, Kaara could hear rage tempered by genuine concern for her safety in it.

“I’m alright! I can heal myself.” Kaara was starstruck by her.

“Good, then watch over my son will you? There will be an elderly xio here soon. Let him take you to Mt.Xirxus, I will only be a moment.” She turned her attention to Stickbug and The Boar, her eyes hardening, “Are you finished playing dead?”

The Stickbug pulled his head from the ground, having used his magic to heal himself and The Boar.

“I assume I have the two of you to blame for this?”

The xia let them heal, holding her chin up so she could look down at the two. It was as if she was waiting for the exact moment they’d fully recovered to attack them again.

Stickbug was in the middle of regrowing his horns again, “You wouldn’t be the first bitch knight who thought they could beat us alone. I look forward to showing your boy his broken mother-”

Kaara hadn’t seen The Venator Knight move. She only saw the aftermath. Windows shattered as The Stickbug was sent flying down the streets and into a building.

She turned her attention to The Boar, stalking ever closer. Her halberd dragging sparks on the ground, “I should be thanking you for making my son pass out. I wouldn’t want him to see what I’m about to do to the two of you.”

The Boar scrambled to take The Dove as a hostage, only to end up carving a trench in the streets with his body as he slid away at breakneck speed.

The Knight rubbed her shoulder, popping her neck with a tilt of her head. Her eyes were cold as her helmet reformed around her head. She picked The Dove up, “Get them out of here.” She said as she tossed The Dove into the air, a dull gray blur snatching her out of the sky.

An old xio appeared at Kaara’s side, The Dove under his arm as he picked up The Noxa. He coiled his crimson clubbed tail around her waist, “We should get out of her way.”

Kaara couldn’t do anything but nod as she was hoisted up.

That’s when Kaara saw it. Flames erupted around her body, cloaking her like it was part of her armor. Just like The Noxa, but far more refined. The head of a flaming wolf chomped down on her helmet, becoming one with her.

The flames were so bright they were almost ethereal, and yet Kaara only felt safe and warm in its light. Kaara remembered the Wulviir of her tribe.

There really wasn’t anything more frightening than a mother protecting her child.