Gone
The sun was making its way towards the top of the sky as Aura slunk through the undergrowth. She sniffed the air, searching for her prey. There seemed to be a sick rabbit around here somewhere. She just had to figure out where the darn thing went. Kero was hunting a ways away from her, trying for a fish in the river.
She paused, perking her ears and gazing to her left. The trees thinned, opening onto a patch of grassland. A little ways off was the ranch. The two ranchers had guns and traps, and were loading them into their truck. She left her trail, slinking closer to listen in.
"…and I noticed tracks. I followed them a ways, and they go right into the reserve. I looked around and they're not too far in."
"Think they're still there?"
"Why wouldn't they be? They're just a bunch of mangy wolves. If they left, that means they're coming back."
She smothered a growl. 'Those poachers! They're after my pack again. That's a wildlife refuge! They are not allowed to go there!' She glared angrily at them, baring her teeth. She turned and bounded to the river. She had to go tell the pack to scat, but Kero'd want to know where she went.
Kero looked up at her with a fish in his mouth. "I got one!" He mumbled around his prey. He noticed her agitated look and shifted the fish to his paws. "What's wrong?" He asked.
"I gotta go tell the pack to run. Ranchers turned poacher, going up after them." She said, pulling up her wings. Kero mumbled a moment.
"Think I'll come with you." He said. 'Make sure she doesn't do something stupid.' He thought to himself. She might attack and get spotted, not paying attention in a fight or chase where her wolves were concerned. Her tail tip was twitching jumpily, and she kept looking around anxiously, shifting on her paws.
The two took off, flying hurriedly towards the mountain reserve.
-----
Eriol walked into his study, feeling a little bored. "TV's still over rated." He joked to himself, casting the spell to let him watch Aura. He saw her flying over a stretch of woods with Kero in tow. He thought for a moment, and began to conjure another spell.
-----
Aura flapped quickly, soaring to her pack. The truck was far below, and getting far behind. 'At this rate, I should get there in plenty of time.' She noted to herself, growling. She caught a breeze, and coasted on the air current. She looked down at the small river below and perked her ears. 'Oh no' She thought hearing the high whining of trouble.
The water rose slowly out of the river. She backpedaled in the air, yowling as the water reared up to eye level. She zipped back towards Kero.
As he got ready to fight beside her, she snarled and clenched her teeth around her key, turning it to her staff-blades. 'I don't have time for this!' She tossed a pink card into the air. Freeze gave a battle cry as he dived towards the mass of water. The water twisted out of the way though, splattering little, stinging water bullets at Aura and Kero.
The chimera snarled and let out a jet of fire. The water twisted away and lunged at the pair. Kero flapped madly, dodging the water, and roared when he saw it had smashed into Aura. The two fought against the water angrily. Aura backed back from an attack, whipping her head around as she felt feathers brush against her.
Yue hovered next to her, watching the river blocking her path. He launched a blast of crystals at the torrent, freezing patches in the river. But the current quickly washed the ice away, smashing it. The water turned and rushed at Yue. Aura yelped as it shot past her, smashing Yue onto the ground below. She growled, seeing chunks of ice float through the current.
She thought another moment. 'Ice… Freeze is too big, it dodges him, I need smaller ice bits, that can't be dodged easily. Ice flakes. Snowflakes. Snow!' She pulled out the pink card, tapping her nose to its base.
--
Snow watched Auras staff hange color, a blue ice core, fading in color at the edges to white. Her eyes glowed icy blue for a moment, sending a small blizzard of freezing crystals into the river as it rushed towards Kero. The river reared back, as if wounded, turning to face Snow instead. Snow glowed again, sending a blizzard around the waters. It bubbled, slowly falling onto the forest floor as many, many snowflakes, and soon disappeared altogether.
---
Aura growled as Snow returned to her card. She watched Kero, as he dived to a small path in the woods below. She followed behind, spotting Yue laying down there, out cold. She landed, and tapped her nose to his neck. Then, relived to find a pulse, turned anxiously to the path she had been on. Kero looked over.
"I'll take care of Yue, go help your pack." He said. She turned and tore down the path. It wasn't even a mile now.
----
Eriol watched his water spell crumble into snow. "Very good. Snow." He said. It looked like his work would be done soon, at this rate. He shut down his portal, oblivious to the trouble he had caused.
----
Aura darted around trees. Her paws only skimmed the ground. The ranchers would have arrived by now, and they might have tracked her pack down. All that mattered now was getting to her friends in time. All that mattered was making sure they were safe. She had to. She dashed over the border into the reserve.
A shot rang out through the woods. A chill ran through her. 'No! Oh no!' She raced as fast as she could as another shot rang out. She caught the trail, following it through the territory as she heard another shot, now followed by a yelp. She skidded to a halt as she came to a fern covered ledge.
The black wolf, just past being a cub, backed away, as a fourth shot rang out. The wolf screamed, falling to the ground.
Aura stood stunned on the ledge, as the ranchers-turned poachers talked among themselves.
She lowered her head; angry tears trickling down her muzzle. She bared her teeth in a quiet growl.
"There. they won't be hanging around now. Good riddance."
"Let's get out of here before someone catches us."
Two last tears fell, to be replaced with drops of blood, trickling from two new cuts on her gums, caused by two long teeth pushing out in the back of her mouth. Her growl grew angrier.
"Yeah, don't need to be fined or something."
Her tail lashed, the growing tuft at the end whistling through the air. Her blunt claws scraped furrows in the earth as her growl grew into a snarl.
"You hear something?"
"Yeah, let's get out of… Son of a-!"
Aura snarled and leapt down from her hiding place, roaring the poachers. Her white eyes had a dangerous gleam to them now, as she stalked towards them.
She rushed forward, leaping into the air with a scream of fury. The poachers screamed, aiming at the enraged beast.
----------
Yue blinked his eyes open, finding Kero next to him, in his false form.
"Hey, you okay?" The plush toy-like guardian asked. Yue nodded and sat up, looking around him.
"Where's our master?" He asked, rubbing his head.
Kero looked out to the woods. "When we were attacked, we were trying to get to the pack, because the ranchers are following them. They shouldn't be, but they are. So Aura was going to tell the pack to get farther away." Kero explained. "I told her I'd stay here with you, and she should go on ahead. You wanna go find her now?" He asked.
Yue stood up and spread his wings. It was nearly nighttime now. He looked down at Kero, who was returning to his true form. The two took off.
"She went ahead to take care of the wolves?" Yue asked icily. Kero nodded nervously. You could never tell what Yue was thinking… Well, Sakura had usually been able to guess somehow, but…
Kero shook the thought from his head. Right now, he had to make sure his master was all right. That she hadn't done anything stupid trying to protect the wolves.
Yue looked over to him, pointing down at a white smudge below.
-----------
Dirt shifted. Paws worked slowly, moving moist soil back in place. The second hole was covered.
Dirt coated her paws, hiding the blood on the chimera's paws as she scooped the last pawfull of dirt. Her ear twitched to the sound of wings to her side. She looked up at her two guardians.
"Aura?" Kero asked cautiously, edging forward. He sniffed the air. There were trickles of blood running down her foreleg. "Did you find them in time, or…"
The chimera shook her head sadly, and licked her teeth nervously. "No, they were shot. Are you two okay?" she said, looking towards a patch if pine needles to the side. Kero nodded, glancing towards the forest too.
Aura looked up at the stars rising in the sky. Kero tried again. "You wanna get home? It's almost dark out…" But Aura shook her head.
"No, you two go on ahead, I'll be back sometime tomorrow morning." She turned back to the hole she had covered, sitting down. Kero hesitated, then turned and nodded up into the air. He and Yue took off, leaving Aura to sit near the mound of earth.
She closed her eyes, trying to slow her breathing. 'He didn't notice, no one else will either.' She thought with relief.