Chapter 46: The Waterfall
Evanna and Ronan looked at each other and simultaneously sprinted forwards, their weapons ready. Ronan dashed towards the two humanistic monsters Ger was fighting while Evanna charged towards the beast lurking behind the tree near Axel. As she approached, she sheathed her swords and grabbed Axel’s throwing axes by his sides. The monster jumped down and crawled towards her, but she immediately threw both axes at its head; the first it slapped away with its pincer, and the second struck it in the eye.
The axe only seemed to make it angrier as it screeched and bolted towards her; she jumped and rolled to the side, grabbing her sword as she did so. Her sword blocked an incoming blow from the creature’s sharp leg, just in time, the force nearly unbearable for her to handle. Instead of pushing into it, though, she relented her power and dove forwards as it fell forwards.
Evanna immediately struck out and sliced its neck open, causing black blood to spray on top of her. With a disgusted grunt, she jumped out of the way and looked to see how Ger and Ronan were doing.
Ronan evaded the monster’s long arms that swiped its claw-like nails towards him. However, one nail caught him, scratching him across the chest. He realised his movements were a lot slower than they usually were, and his head began to pound with a headache. Yet the adrenaline kept him pumped, and he raised his sword above his head. Before he could attack the disgusting creature, it fell to the ground, with Ger’s sword stuck into its neck.
They both sucked in a deep breath at the exertion it took before bursting out laughing at the situation. They looked in Evanna’s direction to see that she took the brunt of Axel’s weight as he stood up like a toddler unable to walk, his arm slung over her shoulders. His huge form seemed to make her walk slower, and the men could almost see her knees begin to buckle and shake. They ran forwards and took Axel from her.
Evanna breathed a quick thank you as she glanced at their surroundings nervously. She was worried that more creatures would come; either the ones that followed Cilv would return, or there were just others lurking in the woods.
"Go back to the river," She ordered. Ger looked at her confused but didn’t question her; he could see the tension radiating from her. In that moment of assessing her, he also saw her lip and head was cut; he quickly looked away once Ronan was taking a slight lead ahead with Axel’s dead weight. Evanna put her swords away and pulled the throwing axes out of the monster, making a loud squelching sound as she did so.
Evanna quickly caught up with the others in front of her while they helped Axel; she kept her guard up, glancing at their surroundings as she spun the axes lightly in her hands. If she didn’t like swords so much, she might have opted for the small axes. She shook her head quickly at the passing thought and almost felt herself relax when she saw the gushing river ahead of them. The three ahead of her stopped; Ronan and Ger looked at her for leadership while Axel’s head slumped forwards.
"That way," She tilted her head the way they originally went earlier. If the river wasn’t so wide or wild, she would have suggested just swimming to the other side even with Axel and the condition he was in. Her body felt restless and uncomfortable with them still on this side of the river, but as they continued at a slow pace, they soon found themselves approaching a waterfall. Her eyes lit up, and a triumphant feeling settled through her as she saw a fallen tree just above the fall of the water.