The yellow eyes stared out at Xan from under the trees, unblinking. Then they were suddenly joined by more pairs of yellow eyes. Each pair began to spread out, forming a wide semi-circle around the camp, before stepping forward out of the trees and into the light of the campfire.

The eyes belonged to a small group of indigent-looking Canidans, who all appeared to be of fox descent. Their yellow eyes peered over their long snouts, their lips curled back into smiles over their pointed teeth. They all carried weapons that were mis-matched and in poor condition.

One of the Canidans stepped forward from the middle of the semi-circle. In his right hand he carried a long, nicked sword, while his left hand was gripped tight around the collar of a large, snarling hound. He grinned evilly at Xan. Then he spoke in a language Xan couldn’t understand. His words were interspersed with yips and growls, and whatever he said made the other Canidans laugh.

Xan’s eyes quickly roamed over the interlopers, sizing them up. There were six of them, including the leader, and with the boat behind him and Taika, the Canidans had them surrounded.

From her place next to Taika, Dee also stirred and sat up. “Wha’s goin’ on?” she mumbled. Then she gasped, eyes wide, as she looked up at the Canidan that was looming over her. The Canidan grinned down at her, then jumped, trying to spook her. Dee squeaked in fear and scrambled behind Taika. All of the Canidans laughed again.

“What do you want?” Xan called out to the lead Canidan. The leader turned his foxy grin back on Xan. Then he gestured with his sword towards the boat.

“Boat is yours, yes?” the leader growled.

“That’s right,” Xan said, straightening up. The leader then leveled his sword at Xan.

“One-who-seeks sees boat, comes to tell Aksel. Aksel brings kin to see boat. Boat belongs in wide water, not on cliff. How boat get here, Aksel wonder? Then Aksel think: outsiders must have shiny green rock, to make boat fly. You give us shiny green rock, you live. You don’t, you die.”

Xan surmised from the leader’s stilted and simplistic way of talking that this Aksel fellow wasn’t too familiar with the Traders tongue. Still, the Canidan’s demand was all too apparent: give up the Terra Sang, or forfeit your lives. Once again, Xan’s hand instinctively reached for where a sword was supposed to hang at his side.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” he said, tightening his fists. “We need it to help our friend.”

“Friend? The sickly one?” Aksel said, looking over at where Katar still lay. At an unseen signal, the Canidan closest to Katar stepped forward. He placed a boot on Katar’s chest, pinning him in place, then leveled a crossbow between Katar’s eyes. Katar raised his hands in a submissive gesture as he fought to breath.

“Then he die first,” Aksel threatened.

Taika moved to rise, the fury evident on her face. But Xan grabbed her by the shoulder.

“Alright then, Aksel. We’ll give it to you,” he said. Then he gestured at Dee, indicating that she should grab it. Dee stood frozen in place, looking up at him with wide, fearful eyes.

“What are you doing?” Taika hissed to Xan, trying to rise again. But Xan kept a firm grip on her shoulder.

“Not yet. Wait for the right moment,” Xan hissed back. Then he gestured to Dee again, quietly snapping his fingers this time. At this signal, Shadow slunk over to Xan and started climbing up onto his back. She peered over his shoulder at the Canidans, growling quietly.

Her eyes still wide with fear, Dee slowly made her way over to the boat. She climbed up over the side. Then she unlocked the lockbox and opened the lid. A soft green light spilled out from the Terra Sang inside. At the sight of it, Aksel’s eyes gleamed greedily.

“Good. Now, give!” he ordered, leveling his sword at Xan again. Xan shrugged in pretended nonchalance, then looked over his shoulder at Dee.

“You heard what he said. Let’s give it to them,” he said. Then he gave Dee a subtle wink while simultaneously squeezing Taika’s shoulder.

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Dee swallowed audibly. Then she tried to heft the Terra Sang out of the lockbox, but as it was too big for her little arms, she resorted to making it hover out of the box. With a wave of her hand she guided it out and over the side of the boat, where it came to rest just behind Xan and Taika. Then she hopped out herself, landing deftly next to the crystal.

It was at that moment that the Canidan pinning down Katar decided to dig his heel into Katar’s chest. Katar groaned in pain.

That was the last straw for Taika. She slammed her fist down onto the ground. The Ember Sang still hiding in the campfire responded, and a wave of fire exploded upward and outward towards the Canidans. The sheer force of the explosion threw them off balance, and more than a few were knocked to the ground.

As soon as the wave of fire exploded out, Sage flew up into the sky. He circled once above the camp before diving at one of the Canidans who was still standing. The Canidan yowled in pain as Sage attacked him, clawing at his arms and face.

Xan rushed at the Canidan that was holding Katar down. He had only taken step, however, when Shadow blinked and closed the gap between them. Xan grabbed at the crossbow, forcing the Canidan to aim away from the camp. The two of them tumbled to the ground as the crossbow’s bolt streaked away into the trees. Shadow blinked away with a loud squeak.

Aksel had borne the brunt of the explosion. His hound, however, had managed to duck under most of it, escaping with only some singed fur. As Aksel was thrown backward, the hound charged forward. It lunged at Taika, aiming for her throat.

“STOP!” Taika commanded. In an instant all of the hound’s ferocity entirely left him. He skidded to a halt in front of Taika, then just lay there whimpering, tail tucked between his legs.

Dee watched all of this unfold, momentarily frozen in terror. The next moment one of the Canidans was leaping towards her, club raised and ready for an attack. Dee screamed, closed her eyes, and swung her fist at him.

The Terra Sang glowed, and a swatch of green energy expanded out from Dee’s fist. It connected with the Canidan squarely in his abdomen, lifting him up and away. He flew backwards for several yards, until he collided bodily against a tree.

The two remaining goons stood up, readying their swords. But before either of them could move to attack, Katar rolled onto his stomach and slapped a hand on the ground.

“Hinder them!” he commanded, his voice once more reverberating with power.

The ground beneath the two Canidans began to give way as the stone suddenly turned into sand. They struggled to move, but the more they struggled, they deeper they sank, until the sand was up to their waists.

Xan managed to rip the crossbow from the Canidan’s grip. Now with it in his control, he swung it backhanded at the Canidan’s head. The Canidan’s body relaxed as he fell unconscious. Then Xan stood up and turned, holding the crossbow at the ready. He was surprised when he saw all of the other Canidans either knocked down or incapacitated.

Aksel groaned. He sat up, glaring at Taika. His reddish fur was still smoking in places. He growled a single word at her in his native tongue.

“Screw you, too,” Taika spat back. Then she turned her attention back down to the whimpering hound and commanded, “Take your master and leave this place.”

The hound whined as it backed away from Taika. Then it turned tail and ran towards Aksel. It bit down on Aksel’s sleeve, trying to pull him away. The Canidan shoved the hound away, growling at it. But the hound would not relent. When he lost his grip on Aksel’s sleeve, he chomped down on Aksel’s arm instead. The Canidan screamed in pain, hitting and shoving the hound to no avail as it dragged Aksel away through the trees.

The two Canidans caught in the sand traps watched in horror as their leader was hauled away by his own hound. They then turned back to look at Taika, eyes wide and ears laid back in fear.

Taika was ignoring them, however. As soon as the hound had turned and ran, she had immediately gone to her father’s side. She slipped his arm around her shoulders and attempted to lift him.

“Xan, help me!” she cried.

Without hesitation, Xan rushed over and slipped Katar’s other arm around his shoulders. The two of them worked together to get Katar into the boat. Then Xan turned the crossbow on the two remaining Canidans.

“No sudden moves,” he warned them. Then he muttered to Dee, “Get our things and get the Terra Sang back in the ship.”

Dee scrambled to gather up the few belongings they had left around camp. She threw everything unceremoniously into the boat. Then, with another wave of her hand, she guided the Terra Sang back into the lockbox. Taika, meanwhile, made sure her father was settled and then retrieved her Ember Sang from the camp fire.

Xan kept the crossbow trained on the Canidans until Dee and Taika were finished. Then he carefully made his way into the boat too.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said.

Dee concentrated on the Terra Sang, lifting the boat up into the air. Once he was sure they were high enough, Xan dropped the crossbow to take up the sheets and the tiller. A moment later they shot off into the night sky, leaving the Canidans and the smoldering ruins of their camp behind them.

Shadow blinked onto Xan’s shoulder and proceeded to rub her head against his. Sage caught up with them not long after, landing sloppily in the rowing well before righting himself.

They traveled along in silence for several minutes, still reeling from the encounter. As Xan adjusted his grip on the tiller, his foot happened to knock against something. Glancing down at it, he groaned inwardly with silent embarrassment. This whole time, he had been threatening the Canidans with an empty crossbow.