Chapter Five: The Darkness Within
Thorn had been standing there for over two hours, and frankly, she was sick of it. She was getting more irritated by the second, and Shadow's constant blabbering was just adding fuel to the fire.
"Hey, how much longer do you think it'll be?" Shadow asked for the sixth time.
Thorn's anger flared. "I DON"T KNOW!" She yelled, frustrated. Her expression softened when she saw the hurt in her friend's eyes.
"Sorry, Shadow, I'm just frustrated after all this standing and waiting."
"Well, you won't have to wait any longer," A cold voice spoke from behind. Thorn jumped and spun around quickly. She was relieved to see it was just her uncle.
"What do you mean, master?" Thorn asked.
"We're arriving…now." Huntsmaster said as the heavy feeling in Thorn's ankles subsided. The blackness lightened to a dull gray, and she was soaking wet. For a moment she wondered if they had accidentally landed in the ocean, when she noticed that she could breathe. She blinked the water out of her eyes and looked around. She could scarcely make out some mountains nearby and a thunderstorm up above. Thorn then heard the Huntsmaster, who was standing next to her, yell something she didn't catch.
"Separate! Draw your arrows! We're under attack!" Huntsmaster repeated, his gaze thrown upward. His eyes glinted maliciously.
Thorn looked up quickly and saw, with a mix of shock and horror, dozens of dragons descending rapidly towards them. She reached down for her bow and arrow. Pushing her hair out of her eyes, she readied the weapon. Squinting one eye, her vision blurred by the thickening sheet of rain, she fired. The arrow hit its intended target, but to Huntsgirl's amazement, the arrow just bounced off the dragon's scales. What the heck? She looked down at her bow, and noticed that the green power button wasn't glowing. Basically, her weapon was useless against tough dragon's hide. But all our weapons were inspected before we left…Thorn looked around hopelessly, and, surprisingly, about half the Hunters were observing their bows. Oh god no…Thorn thought, seeing a small flash of purple.
"Gremlins…" Thorn grimaced. She looked down at her staff, and gave a little smile when she saw that the little creatures hadn't gotten to it yet, since the power button was still lit.
Most of the Hunters were unfocused and confused, fighting over working weapons.
"Idiots…" Thorn mumbled. The dragons had now entered the battle, and the Huntsclan was going downhill. Remember the mission, she thought. She scanned the area quickly, and saw what she was looking for. A unicorn had just defeated a Hunter less than eight yards away. It was neighing in victory when Thorn seized her opportunity. She ran over to it with quiet foot-falls, moving as silent as night, testing her training to the limit. It was almost too easy; the unicorn had its back to her while facing another Hunter, who was losing. Quick as a rattlesnake, she struck, jumping staff first into the battle. The unicorn turned, but it was too late. Thorn's Huntstaff plunged through the pearly fur, and sank deeply into the creature's flesh. It gave one last shocked look before it fell onto its side. Thorn had made her first kill.
A/N: For all of you who expected a Thorn who would go soft at the last minute, sorry to disappoint you. In the next chap we'll see how she feels about it. It won't be what you're expecting…PLEASE, FOR THE GOOD OF HUMANITY, REVIEW! I don't own American Dragon: Jake Long. If I did season 2 would be out now.