Chapter 4: Tara Valdeze
Pushing the shock of this new surprise down, Zak flings toward the new call. Sliding to a stop, he peeks through the bushes into an underbrush-less area of woodland.
There before him stands a girl about his own age. Thanks to his improved sight, Zak notices that she is wearing a dark grey jacket, a navy blue shirt that has a silver lion paw with one eagle wing of the same color to each side, grey slate colored cargo pants, and onyx combat boots. He also notices that she has brassy brown hair and steely-blue irises which glowed slightly from an unknown source.
In her left hand she clutches a seven inch, double sided combat knife, and she has a holstered pistol strapped to her right thigh.
Zak follows the girl's glare, only to be met with an unpleasant sight that instantly made a low growl rumble in his chest.
'Van Rook.' Zak growls angrily to himself, 'Figures-- and look he has a new lackey.'
Sure enough, standing next to Rook was a another of his apparently easily replaced apprentices. His uniform was similar to Doyle's but it was green themed and it lacked the sleeves altogether.
Zak turns his rapt attention back to Rook as he begins to talk in his Russian accent, "So my little bird, are you going to give up quietly or are we going to have to play rough? My client doesn't want you damaged, so I suggest you surrender now."
The girl's humorless laugh rang out like a bell throughout the forest in reply, "Like I would want to make your job any easier for you than it already is! I mean two grown men against an eleven year-old girl? That is hardly a fair fight."
"Then why don't you come quietly so we can skip the fi-"
"My answer still stands," she interrupts, her eyes scanning the bush that Zak was crouched behind and locks eyes with him. She obviously knew he was there; she returns her gaze to Van Rook, "Besides, I meant that it was hardly fair for you!"
The girl whips the revolver weapon from its holster quicker than Rook or his apprentice could track, and she fires a round at the faceless apprentice, spinning behind a tree for cover. The laser-like blast struck the apprentice on the shoulder and sent him flailing to the ground, a grunt of pain escaping his lips.
Rook took to the offensive immediately and charged forward, using his jetpack to add to his speed. The girl turns around the tree trunk to fire another shot, not realizing that Van Rook had gotten too close for the weapon to be of any use. She squeaks almost inaudiably in surprise as Rook lunges at her and catches her chin with a punch.
The girl sprawls out on the ground and moans, and Van Rook plants a boot on her gut and aims his wrist blaster at her face, "such a fiesty little girl, aren't we-"
With a roaring howl, Zak launches himself from his place in the bushes and into Van Rook's back. With a stunned cry, Van Rook is sent flying into a wide tree trunk, his head smacking into the living wood with a satisfying thump. Zak rounds on Rook's apprentice, who had just recovered from the stun of the laser blast. With a growl Zak leaps at the man and sinks his claws into his shoulders, taking the man off of his feet and to the dirt.
The man, being stronger than Zak thought he was, put up a good fight. Zak struggles to pin him down without accidently killing him, but the man would just find another leverage point. Suddenly Rook's apprentice throws a handful of dirt into his eyes, and he pulls a knife out and stabs it into Zak's muscled shoulder.
He howls in shock and pain and backpedals away from the knife-weilding man. While Zak tries to blink the dirt out of his eyes and shake away the pain the man charges at him and tackles him to the ground, jamming a fist into the injury that he created. Zak howls in agony again as a fresh wave of pain strikes through his body again.
The apprentice brings the knife to the young Saturday's throat and prepares to finish the fight when out of the blue a taloned claw comes and tears him away from Zak.
Regaining his eyesight, Zak is greeted by the view of a brown griffin crouching protectively in front of him. The griffin shrieks a warning at the apprentice.
Knowing that he wouldn't be able to fight off both beasts, he runs over to Van Rook, scoops him up, and flees into the night.
With a pained sigh Zak changes back to his human form, the wound in his shoulder sending searing pain through his body. Zak looks over to where the girl had fallen, but she was no longer there.
The griffin takes a step towards him, and creens reassuringly. Suddenly its outline fades and its general form is surrounded in a haze. This causes Zak to blink as he tries to see it clearer, but instead of the griffin, the girl whom he had saved kneeled next to him.
She touches his unwounded arm and says, "Don't worry, I won't hurt you," her eyes moved from his to the wound on his shoulder. She frowns and whispers to him, "It's going to hurt, but I'll take care of this."
She looks back into his eyes, and he nods giving her the go ahead. The girl places both of her hands on each side of the knife wound. Zak's eyes grow large as the girl's hands began to glow bright blue. He looks up into her eyes, which where focused on his wound and the irises were glowing the same color. He looks again at the stab wound, and it was no longer bleeding and the edges were pulling together. A wave of pain shoots through him.
"So, what's your name?" Zak gasps as another wave of pain made it's way through his body, as the girl heals his wound, and as an after thought he adds, "I'm Zak Saturday by the way."
She glances up at him from her work and smiles lightly, "I'm Tara, Tara Valdeze. Thanks for helping me out back there, I'm not sure if I really would have been able to beat those both of those guys." her frown returns, "I'm sorry tht you got hurt. Those two have been hunting me for two days, it's crazy!"
"Rookie doesn't ever fight fair, so you're not the only one."
Tara lifts her hands from his shoulder, and Zak rolls it experimentally. He flashes a grin at her and says, "It's just like new, thanks!"
"Good." she stands up and offers him a hand.
He takes it and she pulls him to his feet. He asks her, "So you're a shifter too?"
"Yeah. I've been one for maybe five, six days. Obviously, my form is a griffin."
'"Yeah, I've been able to to transform for three days, tops," Zak glances around the clearing and asks, "Hey, do you know a place nearby where we can stay? I don't think that it is wise to stay here. If Van Rook's client really wants to capture you, then it's not wise to linger anywhere."
Tara nods as she grabs her pistol from the ground where it dropped, "Yeah, there's a kind woman that I came here to find. I know her well, she'll put us up for the night, we can talk there."
Sorry that this was a short chapter, but I promised Kishira that I would update ASAP, so here you go.
Taking the fight to Argost. Sangheili Warrior Girl out.
