Mages of Myth - Book 3 Chapter 4 (Part One)

Chapter 4


“You guys have to admit,” Unicorn said later. “I saved us. I did. None of you will say it, but yes, I was the one—”
“Okay,” Pix said. “You saved us. We all thank you, Unicorn. Now go to sleep, please?”
Unicorn chuckled and lay back under his gypsy quilt.
The purple clouds covered the sky while the gypsies slept in the mud; some even slept in the cradle of the trees between branches. Rain fell around them and the thunder growled above them.
Phoenix looked around and saw Griffin’s quilt that lay open. He frowned. “Where’s Griffin?”
Pegasus hummed as his eyes lay closed. “I think he went to find the princess.”
Phoenix looked around to the quilt that lay near the wishing well. It, too, lay open and empty. He chuckled. “Copycat,” he muttered and lay back down. “Go get her.” He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
~
Jasmine walked between the trees of the forest and reached a spot where the rainfall gathered into a small pool of water. She knelt by its side and looked down at her reflection in the moonlight that crept from behind a gap in the clouds for a mere moment, and then hid itself again.
The forest lay not completely shrouded in darkness; whenever moonlight touched the forest once, its light lingered as a haze in the air. Jasmine stared at herself until something suddenly touched her shoulder. She drew a spare arrow from her belt, spun around, shoved the thing down to the ground, and pressed the arrow’s tip to its throat.
Griffin gasped under her.
Jasmine sighed and withdrew the arrow. “You scared me,” she whispered, and let him off the ground.
He rubbed his neck as she replaced the arrow to her belt. “I scared you?” Griffin asked with a smirk.
“Sorry,” Jasmine said and knelt near the pool again. “Why are you awake?”
Griffin knelt next to her. “Why are you awake?”
Jasmine glanced at him through the moonlight fog, and then watched the pool. “I come here to think.”
Griffin nodded. “And I come here to swim.”
She looked at him.
Griffin shook his head. “There’s another reason you come here, I know it.”
Jasmine sighed again. “I come here every night to escape the nightmares, okay?”
Griffin nodded. “Now that’s a reason.”
She stared at him in the moonlight. Her eyes twinkled with gold. Light raindrops fell upon her face and made her look as if she were crying. “You couldn’t sleep?”
Griffin shook his head. “We’ve traveled too many forests lately,” he said. “I suppose the night sounds never soothe me.”
Jasmine gazed at him for a long moment. “Do you ever feel like you’d rather not be a leader?”
Griffin scoffed. “In secret, I never tell my mages how I feel. I was taught that a leader never shows fear.”
“Well, my father once told me that if fear overtakes a king, then his kingdom shall crumble.” She shrugged. “I guess my kingdom hasn’t fallen yet.”
Griffin glanced back through the trees to where the campfires slowly died. “I think they’ll follow you anywhere. Fear or no fear, they are perhaps more loyal to you than they are to your father.”
Jasmine nodded and smiled. Her eyes twinkled again and Griffin found himself longing for that twinkle. “Maybe you’re right,” she said. She looked back to the pool of water. The moonlight illuminated her features.
Griffin’s heart beat in his ears. She was so suddenly beautiful, so…softly vibrant.
He quietly memorized her at that moment. Her eyes looked sad, as if in a daydream and longing for the past she had lost. She smiled faintly, as if to hide her woes. Raindrops sprinkled upon her long, shadowy hair and the moonlight made the raindrops glisten like tiny crystals upon her head.  
Griffin’s hand came up to her cheek and turned her face. He waited until her eyes met his own. His impulse took over and he leaned in toward her. Raindrops dappled her lips and Griffin felt their coolness as he gently brushed his lips to hers.
Even as if it were merely a request on his part, Jasmine accepted his touch and gave it back. She closed her eyes and wrapped an arm around his neck. She pulled him closer and pressed her mouth firmly to his.
A cry of fear echoed from the camp. Griffin opened his eyes and saw two yellow eyes glare at him through the bushes. A faint cackle sounded under the thunder before the eyes vanished into darkness.
Griffin broke the kiss and looked toward the camp.
Jasmine recognized his swiftness. She and Griffin stood and each drew weapons. They glanced at each other knowingly, and then raced back through the trees, toward the camp.
~
Pix screamed as a giant black gargoyle swooped down and grabbed her shoulders with its strong talons. She shrieked as the gargoyle lifted her into the night air. Rain littered the ground and thunder barked just above her head. She looked down and saw Unicorn drive away a black goblin that dragged a woman gypsy by her hair. “Unicorn! Help me!”
Unicorn swiped his sword at the creature, split its rigid little body in two, and spilt its blue blood across the mud. He looked up and saw Pix kicking her legs in mid-air, while the gargoyle reached its hands down, to claw at her face.
The mage of magic and quicksilver gripped his medallion where he stood and cried out above the thunder: “ACCIO MONOCEROS!”
The gargoyle swiped its claw against Pix’s cheek and cut her flesh. She screamed just in time as a bolt of silver lightning struck the creature’s spiked wings. The gargoyle screeched and dropped Pix from its grip.
Unicorn stood under her falling body to catch her, but then a night creature shaped like a hairy ape head butted him in the stomach. Unicorn fell into the mud with the creature.
Pegasus struggled with a creature that was half man, half boar. The mage called out: “Accio Pegasus!”
Pix suddenly landed on a firm body. She looked and breathed a sigh of great relief as she found herself riding sidesaddle on the flying horse of the ancient muses. The horse whined and cried out triumphantly through the rain.
The horse flew to the ground and ran out the landing. It paused long enough for Pix to slide off and then it charged into a group of little goblins. The night creatures dropped the stones they were preparing to throw, and ran off in the other direction with cries of fear.
Griffin and Jasmine emerged from between trees. When Griffin saw the night creatures struggle and terrorize the gypsies of the camp, he turned to Jasmine. “Find a hut,” he ordered her. “You’ll be safe there.”
Her eyes blazed. “I’m going to fight, mage! You can’t stop me!” She swung her sword and ran toward a giant black lion that scratched at the wall of a hut where a gypsy family hid.
Griffin shook his head, hoped she would be okay, and then called out, “Accio Gryphus!”
 He then heard two more calls above the storm:
“Accio Bennu!”
“Accio Faery!”
A light, a flaming bird, and an eagle with a lion’s body flew down from the raging sky and each cried out in its own call as they landed to the ground. The phoenix swooped down and caught a goblin in its burning beak. The griffin screeched in an eagle’s call and then grabbed a black weasel that chased the children. As the griffin rose into the air once more, it swung its talons and flipped the weasel in mid-air. It caught the night creature in its beak and broke its body in two.
The light that was a pixy screamed out in rebellious, headstrong valor and then swiftly flew around the head of a black werewolf. The wolf looked away from the older gypsy man it had stared at hungrily. The gypsy scrambled to his old feet and ran for a hut while the pixy distracted the wolf.
The pixy named Faery flew at one side, and then the other side, to dodge swipes of the creature’s claws.
Suddenly, the wolf cried out in pain as a sword’s blade burst out from its chest and then quickly withdrew again. The mongrel growled and fell back and splashed into a puddle of mud.
Pix swung her sword, as her kill lay lifeless on the ground. She nodded her gratitude to her creature and her creature, in turn, cried out above the fights between mages and night creatures: “Cheeeaaarrge!” The pixy drew a tiny sword from her waist and Pix ran beside the flying sprite.
Jasmine jammed her sword into the side of the black lion. The night creature growled and roared, but Jasmine grinned triumphantly. With her sword’s blade still held firmly in the flesh of the beast, the two circled in place, like a dance. Jasmine met the black eyes of the animal through misty moonlight. She withdrew the blade and retreated a step back.
Her mistake gave the creature enough time to turn its body, leap up, pounce upon her, and pin her to the ground. It bared its teeth and its eyes looked down to her throat. Before it could strike, the griffin named Gryphus called out an eagle’s cry, and then grasped its talons into the lion’s back. The distraction gave Jasmine a moment long enough to wiggle out from under the beast. She got to her feet and ran toward the wishing well. She watched as the griffin released the lion and then stood face to face with it. It arched its wings, as if in threat to the night creature.
The black lion growled and bore its teeth to the half-breed creature. Both animals crouched down low, ready to pounce upon each other. Both suddenly stood up on their hind legs and clawed at each other’s body. The griffin’s talons sank into the lion’s paws. Blue blood seeped from the wound and the lion roared in pain. The griffin then opened its beak and violently chomped down on the lion’s shoulder.
Both creatures fell to the ground and rolled in the mud with each other. The lion finally bit down on the neck of the eagle and Gryphus screeched out through the storm.
The black lion bit harder, and as soon as it tasted blood on its tongue, it leapt up off of its enemy, and quickly turned its eyes to Jasmine, who still hid behind the well.
Jasmine gasped and knelt lower to the ground.
The black lion roared and charged after the well, but then a sword’s blade ran through its torso. Jasmine peeked out from behind her fortress and her eyes widened.
Griffin stood beside the lion with his sword stuck in its side. He braced himself and waited until the lion fell onto its side. When the beast lay still and silent, Griffin withdrew his blade. He then plunged his sword into the animal’s shoulder, just to be sure.
Thunder rumbled and lightning struck between the clouds.
The night creatures turned away in fright of the new creatures that stood against them. They ran into the darker parts of the woods, and the cries in the camp ceased.