The eight of us sat, crouched beneath the tall grass.
Handsome Rowdyfoot was as beautiful as his name suggested. He had a long, glossy black coat, gray flaming markings twisting around his fur, and a white chest. All of his precious clothes — the green bow, elf tail armor, fox hat, and phoenix amulet — were freshly repaired after the Battle of Sarepia, except for a chip in the amulet that he refused to mend because he thought it made him look more rugged. And his eyes… He had these blue-green eyes that I could lose myself in for hours.
Fang was a large tiger. His long front teeth, glistening in the sun, were his namesake, but the rest of him was almost as impressive. The orange fur and muddy brown stripes were criss-crossed with battle scars. Fang was a lieutenant, and he ruled over the third subsection of Sir Gilbert's Circle. His scars were proof of the toil it required.
Cloud was a light gray tiger with a white chest and paws. He was thin, light, and fast on his feet, fond of darting in to strike and darting back to dodge. He was in Fang's subsection, but I had heard he was a conniving, thieving liar. The only evidence of this was that the pretty purple gemstone, which Handsome said the color of my eyes, had disappeared one night and ended up in Cloud's pack.
Mountain Peak was another tiger, one of Fang's trusted followers. He had the same orange pelt and brown stripes, but the fresh, clean fur showed a comfortable life. He hadn't been in as many battles or saved as many lives as Fang had. For the most part, Mountain Peak was fine with being the planner. But Sir Gilbert himself had requested to see the tiger's strength in battle.
Fall Leaf was in Handsome's subsection. She was irritatingly pretty, covered in splotches of gray and brown and white. She loved to wear a full set of elf armor, but her helmet and tail armor were getting polished and she wanted to wear a sword for the mission, so the only piece of elven was her gauntlets. Handsome and Fall Leaf were led by their lieutenant, Howl, and their Alpha, Greely.
Juniper Bravebelle was a horse, and one of the four Jammers who joined forces with the Alpha's Guard in order to rescue me from Phantoms. She had taken off all of her adornments of flowers in leaves in order to move more freely, and her tan fur, chocolate mane, and orange stars were open for all to see. She fought under Sophia, who was a moony horse obsessed with flowers, shells, and jewels, but Juniper was as brave as any wolf or tiger.
Excluding myself, the last of us was Snickety Fastclaws. A purple hyena, he was the least fierce and strong out of the group. He was weak and slow in comparison, but Biff was cruel and wanted Snickety to join the mission anyways in order to prove himself. Snickety's purple DJ headset was usually turned off, but for all I knew, it was thrumming with music at the moment. He certainly seemed distracted.
And me. Eternal Snowymoon, one of the few known survivors of the Phantom's brutal attack. Handsome was the only Jammer that made it out of the Adventure Base Camp after the attack; a few animals were unconscious in the Camp; and then there was me. The only one who had made it out of the Phantom's prisons.
That alone was the only reason that I belonged there. Not my skill, not at all; I knew what the Phantom dungeons were like, and for that they were forced to bring me along.
Handsome had told me that I was amazing and strong and beautiful. But I was still shaky and slow after the Phantom's brutality. The opposite of amazing.
We gathered together outside the Phantom fortress, preparing to attack. Because of his rank, Fang was chosen to lead us, and Handsome was second-in-command. Fang had hand-picked Handsome because of how well he performed in rescuing me, and that was just what we were doing now. Rescuing other Jammers.
"Come on," Fang murmured, pointing with his tail to the twisted Phantom door. "Let's go."