Lilly reined in Snow with a sharp tug, stopping just a few feet away from the man, who looked up in surprise.
"What do you think you're doing here, Ignatius?" she demanded, her voice sharp with anger.
Ignatius took a step back, evidently surprised by her sudden appearance. He glanced around before responding. "I came to talk, Lilly."
"We have nothing to talk about—especially not at sunset on my property," she shot back. Every fiber of her being screamed at her to not trust him, even if he seemed unarmed.
Yorik soon arrived, riding Charcoal with a hard expression on his face. "Ignatius," he greeted coldly. The tension was palpable, a taut string waiting to snap.
Ignatius glanced between the two. "I'll be on my way then," he said finally.
Lilly felt his gaze focus back on her.
"I’ll come back when it’s a better time to talk," he spoke unhurriedly. It was a promise spoken politely that still felt like a stab to the gut—a threat.
The horizon was a canvas of ethereal beauty as Ignatius Timber made his way toward his horse. The sun now hung very low, casting long, stretched-out shadows across the ground. It dipped gently, touching the very edge of the world, painting the skies in hues of burnt orange, deep purples, and soft pinks. The chirping of evening crickets harmonized with the distant calls of birds returning to their nests, as the world prepared for night's embrace.
This was the sunset she had planned to watch with Yorik. It was wasted on Ignatius. She regretted running off when Yorik was finally opening up to her, but she had to keep her farm safe—even if it meant running off a rich, schmoozing land-grabber.
As Ignatius mounted his horse, Lilly tried to calm her racing heart as she and Yorik dismounted. She felt Yorik's hand on her arm, grounding her.
"Are you okay?" he asked, genuine concern in his eyes.
“I’m just…” Lilly’s response was interrupted when Feather’s bark turned into more of a whimper. It was coming from the other side of the barn.
Lilly frowned, realizing that she had been so caught up in her anger at Ignatius that she hadn’t realized until this moment that Feather had never run to greet her when she rode up on Snow.
Swiftly, Lilly dropped Snow’s reins and ran around the barn as quickly as her legs would carry her. What she saw made her jaw drop in horror. She saw Feather, fur puffed up and front claws extended, backed up against the barn wall with nowhere to run. The small griffy looked like she was trying to be tough, but a scared whimper escaped her lips.
In front of her, a harrowing cackle escaped from a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth with saliva dripping from its mouth. It was the glawackus. Its jaws snapped shut inches away from Feather, but the griffy used its front claws to rake across the beast’s muzzle.
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The glawackus reeled back, letting out a furious growl of pain. Its jaws opened in a snarl of anger. Its eyes focused solely on the tiny griffy that had managed to wound it. A nasty gash marred its muzzle, blood dripping onto the ground, mixing with its saliva.
Feather, for all her bravado, was clearly outmatched. But the griffy wasn't giving up. She spread her wings wide, trying to appear larger, her piercing eyes locked onto the beast's, challenging it, daring it to make another move.
Every second felt like an eternity for Lilly as the scene unfolded before her. The tranquil evening ambiance was shattered by the raw tension in the air. Drawing from every ounce of courage she possessed, Lilly lifted her arms high and unleashed a shout. It was a voice forged from memories of her first encounter with the glawackus, a tone that once sent the creature running.
But tonight, the glawackus wasn’t scaring off that easily. Its yellow eyes remained fixed on the small griffy, not once straying to the desperate woman trying to divert its attention. Every muscle in its powerful frame tensed; and with a speed that seemed impossible for its size, it lunged, jaws snapping viciously.
Feather's reflexes were sharp. She pushed off the ground with her feet; and with a quick flap, she narrowly evaded those deadly teeth. Yet as she ascended, a few of her soft, golden feathers floated down, having been yanked from her tail by the glawackus' swift bite.
Feather landed in front of Lilly, the relatively small griffy trying to protect her against all odds. Lilly's heart missed a beat. The danger was mere inches away from turning into tragedy. The once-gentle evening was now pierced with the stark realization of the ever-present threats lurking in the shadows. There was no more time; Feather might not be so lucky next time.
With desperation pumping through her veins, Lilly's fingers wrapped around the cold, smooth surface of the creature containment stone in her pocket. She took special effort to avert her eyes, making sure to not look directly at the beast’s memory-wiping pupils. Using all her strength, she hurled the stone toward the beast, hoping to capture its attention or scare it away, just as she had once done. But to her horror, the stone merely collided with the creature's thick, matted fur, producing a dull thud before bouncing off and settling in the dust.
The only thing she could think of to do next was try and activate the stone. She had no magic, but she threw every ounce of her will behind the single command: “SAVE FEATHER!” She willed the stone to come alive, to act, to encapsulate the threat before her, fueled by the sheer intensity of her emotions.
The stone lying on the ground seemed to pulsate with a life of its own, its luminescence cycling through a spectrum of hues—first, a soft yellow, almost like the first light of dawn; then warming up to a deep orange reminiscent of a late sunset; and finally blazing into an intense, fiery red that illuminated the immediate vicinity with its ethereal glow.
Out of her peripheral vision, she noticed a fast-moving blur. It was Yorik, bravely charging forward atop Charcoal with a determined expression, ready to come to her aid. However, what emerged from the stone caught her completely off guard.
A swift and agile creature the size of a small fox made its appearance. Its fur shimmered and danced with living flames, casting an array of light and shadow around it. With every step, sparks danced from its fur like tiny stars. Instead of confronting the glawackus, the fiery fox darted in an unexpected direction, making a beeline for the safety of the barn’s shadows.
Lilly’s heart raced. The unexpected twist had her momentarily disoriented. Turning her attention back to the glawackus, she was met with an even more astonishing sight. The creature's once-solid form was now dissipating, its terrifying visage slowly becoming translucent and pulling toward the glowing stone. It was as if the beast was being drawn into the stone, vacuumed into another realm.
Even in its diminishing state, the glawackus' malevolent yellow eyes locked onto Lilly's with an intensity she couldn’t break. She saw in those eyes a depth of hunger that a meal would never satisfy and knew she would have nightmares. Briarhaven would be a safer place with one less glawackus in it. Its final, haunting cackle echoed eerily in the air, growing fainter and more distant with each passing second.
As the world around her grew darker by the second, she smelled smoke; but all she felt was confusion and fear. Where was she?