The Heroes of the Elemental Academies Book 2: Dragon's Breath

Chapter 13: The Hunters

Seth

     It only took them one day after entering the Elven lands to come under attack. It was in the morning and they only had half a days journey left until they made it to the capitol. Strat was watching as his friends break down camp in the shallow wood where they had made camp the night before. the trip so far had remained uneventful and for that Strat was thankful. Strat made himself some coffee from the pot, that Michelle had put on when she had awoke in the morning, filling the entire area with the smell of coffee. Unfortunately the fire was only smoldering so the coffee didn't get heated all the way. Strat shrugged, a warm coffee was definitely better than no coffee. He was deeply engrossed in thinking about half heated coffee when he felt it through the earth. The vibrations of about a two dozen or more running feet. But these steps weren't frantic they were paced and careful. Light steps that were hard to even feel, the steps came from all around their camp and, they travelled only in one direction. Right for the camp. Strat whipped around and his mouth opened to warn his friends of the impending attack, but Seth beat him to it.
   Seth
   "Incoming," Seth yelled as he pushed Rylee out of the way of a bolt of darkness as it came hurling out of the densely packed forest. It whizzed overhead striking a half taken down tent and exploded. The explosion sent Matt tumbling over the fire pit. In an instant mike and jack were on their feet weapons in hand. However, Aria and Michelle weren't so lucky. Dark bolts struck the two of them as they came running back towards the center of camp from where they had been loading up the horses. They tumbled to the ground where they laid clothes smoking. Seth raised his left hand and punched the earth and a wall of stone rose out of the ground encircling the camp at about chest height. A moment later a dome of brilliant white light encompassed the encampment as well offering additional protection. Seth grabbed Rylee's hand and pulled her upright as she reached for her weapon.
   "Everyone find cover!" Seth heard Strat yell Seth and Rylee ran for the earthen wall. Seth looked back to see Strat holding up the dome of light as bolts of darkness slammed into it. As each bolt hit the shield they exploded shaking the ground and deafening Seth with the noise. Seth put his hand out and fire a bolt into the brush where he spotted movement. An unearthly howl erupted and a demon fell forward through the brush dead. Seth peeked over the barricade to look at the demon he had just felled. Seth had only glimpsed it briefly but what he had seen didn't seem right. But as two more bolts flew into his barricade he decided to wait and focus on the battle.
   Seth looked out over the encampment trying to locate everyone. Aria and Michelle were still down. Seth felt a twinge of pain as he saw their unmoving bodies. Seth noticed that as a bolt exploded near Aria her hand twitched which meant that they were still alive. Seth scanned the camp to find the one person he was truly worried about. Rubia. It wasn't long before he spotted her. She was crouched behind a tree tears running down her face as she openly sobbed. Terror was written all over her face as bolts of darkness few in every direction. Standing over her was a kind of demon Seth had never seen before. Seth's first impression of it screamed hunter. it was sleek with longer legs it was less humanoid and instead had the look of a predator. It still stood on two feet with two clawed hands but its legs boasted powerful hunches that spoke of a speed that other demons didn't possess. It's wings were folded along its back and instead of a almost human face it had a long snout, its mouth full of wicked sharp teeth. It wore armor even if it was only black leather chestplate with a thin hood. that only covered half of its snout. The demon was looking down at Rubia with a hunger in it's eyes. 

   "Rubia!" Seth exclaimed as he began to gather his feet beneath him to run to her side. There was no way that Seth was going to let that demon no matter how terrifying it looked, hurt Rubia. But, before Seth could even begin to move Seth heard the distinct sound of a gun being cocked. From over where the horses were came a flash of light and the demon screamed in pain as it was riddled with holes. In an Instant roots of a tree began to grow out of the wound and wrap themselves around the demon killing it almost immediately. It fell sideways landing only a few inches from Rubia's terrified face which caused her to scream. Then running across the clearing was John with out any armor and still in his boxers he was holding his weapon. which much to Seth's surprise seemed to be some kind of sawed off shotgun, made of pure silver. Bolts flew at him from every direction, as he ran he yelled something that Seth couldn't make out as he dove for the tree that Rubia hid behind. He threw himself into a roll and came up gun at the ready. he pointed his gun at Seth and fired. For a split second Seth actually thought that John had been aiming for him and he felt his blood chill. But when he fired Seth heard the scream of a demon from the other side of the earthern barrier. John scowled at Seth.