I held my breath as we hid in the shadows. Haruka was carrying me on her back while Rosa held up her battered and feeble short-sword. The tree's we hid behind provided some cover, but not much. We could hear the footsteps of danger get closer and closer. The crunch of snow becoming louder and louder. Suddenly an idea came into my mind.
"Guys, I have an idea. You won't like it but just listen." I whispered loud enough for them to hear. As I explained my plan their faces went more and more into 'ah hail no you ain't doing dat' look. Rosa's words matched her expression.
"We are not doing that Tal'. Think of something else!" Rosa exclaimed loudly. Me and Haruka both shushed quickly as she quickly put her hand over her mouth.
"What choice do we have, Rosa?" I gave her a definitive glare. My golden eyes looked straight into her purple ones. It was then Haruka chimed in.
"We'll think of something else, for now we have to wait it out." Her words didn't sit well with me. She put me behind a tree closer to her after that, little did she know that was a fatal mistake.
I quickly transformed into my wolf form while they weren't looking. Of course they noticed soon after as I ran towards our pursuers. My wolf form came with its perks, that being my back legs work. Sadly it's only in this form, and every time I transform while no full moon is out it puts immense strain on my body. In that moment I didn't care about that, I cared about being the distraction.
I heard Rosa and Haruka call out once they realised that I was in my wolf form. I continued running nonetheless. It didn't take long for me to find the culprits of our chase, I barreled into one of the men and jumped to the one next to him, biting the second man's arm.
The man fell to the ground with me on top of him. I growled as he hit me over and over with his fists, yet I did not let go. I needed to buy them time to escape.
Suddenly I felt myself be thrown off the man, I let out a yelp of pain as I landed back-first into a tree. That was no normal force used, no human man could use that much strength. Looking up I see a large.. Man? He was at least two times taller and rounder than the other men, his cloak barely covering his face.
His large pale green grotesque hand reached out to grab me, nails black and split, covered in dirt and blood. I was still in shock. This isn't a man, this was a troll. I tried to move myself away from the hand but to no avail. It wrapped itself around my puny body, exerting more force little by little. Within a few minutes several bones had been broken and crushed. I was surprised I was still alive.
A loud yell hit my ears, it sounded muffled. I looked over to where the sound presumably came from, my sight distorted and blurry. Two figures were hitting the troll, all the while the other men about to attack them.
Before anything more could happen, a fierce shout resounded. I was dropped to the ground suddenly, the force knocking the wind out of me. While weak I instinctively turned into my human shape once more, the pain of my wounds not as evident as I couldn't feel my legs.
The person whom the shout belonged to sounded as if he was ordering something. I couldn't tell what in my confusion. It was then I couldn't hold out any longer and my vision faded to black.
While the man- possibly their leader- was speaking, Haruka had snatched the dagger of one of the men during the fray. The leader afterword ordered his goons to tie them up. The redhead just glared daggers at the goons mercilessly beating Talia, kicking and punching her around like a sack of potatoes. The troll apparently was a familiar of the leader and disappeared a few minutes ago, at least it wasn't beating her.
Haruka slowly took out the dagger she stole and silently and slowly began to cut the rope. Rosa spat swears and curses at the cloaked fiends. The sun began to go down, signaling the start of a very long night.