The voice of the tree echoed in Lana's mind as her body went rigid in fear. Her face turned pale and she bit back the tears welling up in her eyes.
"Run, Levalis!" She screamed trying desperately to keep the tears from welling up in her eyes, "towards the old human settlement."
Guilt quickly consumed her for leaving her baby with another. She felt arms wrap around her tightly as well as the tentacles of a father who found new strength.
With little warning, all three were strapped into their non-existent seats as Levalis leaped over roots, raced under branches and dove around obstacles. He was a panteri on fire, a devoted father who would never accept a specific outcome. Pushing through exhaustion, nothing would keep him from his son.
They burst through the treeline of the Purple Forest. The bright, cheery sun defying the terror that consumed four hearts as they raced into the unknown. The trees quickly gave Lana an update. They are heading toward your tree. Rosalie is injured. Hurry!
I need a map! Which direction are they approaching from?
The trees responded and gave her what she needed. She could feel the cold sweat beneath her as Levalis pushed himself beyond his limits. Lana guided him, adjusting his angle to intercept as best he could. She could see two green dots in her field of vision. She started counting the red dots and stopped at 20. Too many…
She gasped and the tears she had been fighting started to fall. One hit Kyle's hand and she hastily wiped it away. Now was not the time for that. We'll get there. We have to.
She wanted to key in, desperate to actually see what was happening but couldn't. Doing that would cloud her vision with what the plants were seeing. If a course correction was required while she watched, it could cost them precious seconds. It could be the difference between life and death.
Kyle's arms tightened around her. He could feel her fear. He hated every second of this race against time.
"How many are there, Sis?" She heard a voice behind her Love. She could hear his attempt to stay calm but knew he was failing.
She gulped, not wanting to say the number. She also knew not saying it would increase the panic. She tried to answer but the speed they were traveling at took her words from her mouth. She turned her head and yelled to make sure her voice reached her brother.
"20."
Her jaw tightened and her eyes focused on the dots. They were closer to the tree now. Levalis was struggling for air but he refused to allow his son to be taken from him. By shear force of will, he burst into the clearing and collapsed to the ground.
Dobin and Kyle instantly stood with their backs to each other as the scimmia closed ranks and surrounded them. Lana had seen on her map Kent and Rosalie were under the tree. She had seen with her eyes, Kent pulled his aunt under its protective branches. She also saw they weren't alone.
She froze for only an instant.
"Lana…" it was Kyle's voice, but she was already on the move. She could hear abilities going off and howls from enraged scimmia. The sound of rocks pelting off Levalis' thick hide. His roar of outrage. She could see them circling tighter, trying to head her off before she got to the tree.
Something came over her as she raced toward her son. She extended an arm and a Qi-infused thorn exploded through the forehead of a scimmia seconds later. She didn't stop to think about it. The branches parted in front of her and closed quickly behind her.
In front of her was Rosalie, bleeding. Only her eyes were moving, tracking her nephew. A few feet away from her was Kent, surrounded by three scimmia. He was limping. His tentacles all limp but one. She could see blood on him from the many cuts caused by the sticks the scimmia used to attack her son.
Something overcame her and she screamed in rage. She drew out her whip and swung with the fury of a Mom. Soon, the three enemies were headless hulls.
Outside, in the clearing an angry Dobin was no longer worried about proving his worth. He had advanced to a degree in his studies where he no longer needed to use words to put up a stone wall. He no longer needed to gesture.
As the scimmia acted, thinking dinner came to them, Dobin put up a 20-foot stone wall ensnaring his prey. There was no way he was going to allow a single one to escape.
Kyle was so enraged, his eyes were glowing a bright, cold blue. He was combining wind strikes with fire. He wasn't killing the monsters, the monsters who hurt his son. He was maiming them. He heard his beautiful butterfly scream their son's name. Soon, it was followed by another scream. Was it anger? Sorrow?
He didn't look in the direction she had run. No. He looked at all the scimmia arms and legs that littered the ground. They weren't bleeding to death. Not this time. He had a better, more deserving idea for them.
Behind the wall of branches. They heard the roar of a monster in immense pain.
The humans didn't look at each other. They didn't need to. They continued to dish out what these monsters deserved. It wasn't just a massacre, it was punishment.
Meanwhile, a panteri father could do nothing but lay there and breathe.
The two brothers jumped off Levalis' back simultaneously as if their minds worked as one. Kyle was on one side while Dobin was on the other, their backs to Levalis. Each grabbed the heads of the screaming scimmia and brought them to Levalis' mouth.
The panteri father lifted a lip as if to smirk and ate what was provided. Not from the head, but from the other end first. Every single one of the monsters who chased after and attacked his son and sister-in-law were eaten alive. He took great pleasure in making sure to keep them alive as long as possible.
One thing he did was nuzzle the crystals in the direction of the humans who traveled with her. They earned it.