This chapter is dedicated to DiegoReedemedLover, debit13 and Xx Falcon's Eye xX for their reviews. Thanks, guys!
Ƭħє ŞąЬяє'ƨ Şħąmє
Chapter Twelve: Return
Diego was halfway through the air, claws extended –
Ray's paw was going closer and closer to Peaches' throat –
Diego was too far away, too far away –
Ray's paw touched her throat, and then – !
The world seemed to slow down, everything becoming blindingly clear, enough for Diego to see Peaches' eyes open, become filled with terror, and Ray's paw agonizingly, bit by bit, begin to slide across her neck. One scarlet drop of blood began to run down her throat, and then Diego collided with him. The force of the hit was enough to knock Ray flying out of the way, his small size nothing compared to the ferocity and strength of Diego. The adrenaline rush the older sabre was on was dizzying; sheer energy and power that he didn't even know he had was flowing through his body. Never before had he felt so close to death and so alive at the same time. Not while fighting dinosaurs, not while hanging over a pit of lava, not while half-drowning in an attempt to save the possums… Never.
With a terrifying snarl, he positioned himself in front where Peaches had been. She'd now run and buried herself underneath Manny, trying to wake him up as best she could. The older mammoth was stirring, blinking, but still clearly dazed by Alexia's powers. The female sabre had leapt back down and was trying to dazzle him again – but his daughters pleas seemed to be getting through to him, rather than her unique power.
Silver prowled towards Diego, then slashed at him once she was close enough. He instinctively countered, ducking and swiping across her face, nearly taking out her eyes. She hissed in pain, before Lars jumped on top of her and then off her, using her as a springing board to get to Diego. Diego rolled to the side, Lars meeting the ground with a dull thud and sliding on the wet snow, losing control and thwacking into Ellie's side.
The female mammoth groaned and then woke up, taking in the situation immediately and trumpeting a screaming warning to the rest of the herd. The noise in itself was more than enough to wake up all of the animals and shake them out of their trance, but when they saw the sabre pack, the result was catastrophic.
Sid yelped with fear and ducked behind Manny. Manny planted himself in front of his daughter. Ellie, however, did a completely unexpected thing and charged the sabres!
Silver, Shi, Lars and Damian scattered like water, none of them wanting to get hit, before they simultaneously leapt on her, sharp teeth and claws ripping through her thick coat. Crash and Eddie literally swung into action, using Ellie's trunk as the swing. Crash landed on Shi; Eddie on Damian. The two of them began rodeoing the sabres, pulling at their fur and shrieking incoherent insults, generally doing their best to irritate the living daylights out of Shi and Damian. Lars blinked in shock, before a powerful trunk swept his lean body up and threw it into a rock wall. He dissolved into unconsciousness, and it seemed for a moment as though the battle may be swinging in favour of the herd.
Emphasis on seemed.
With a horrifying scream of rage, Akira launched herself from a high rocky peak at Ellie, landing on top of her head and biting through her thick coat, fangs piercing her throat. Ellie stiffened for a moment, before letting out a low sigh and sliding to the ground, dizzy already from shock and blood loss. Akira dragged her fangs through the body, leaving two meter-long trails of bleeding wound before jumping off the mammoth and yelling a command:
"REGROUP!"
As though a switch had been flicked, the pack stopped their fights, sprinting back into what looked like a pre-organized formation, conspicuous gaps where Ray and Lars should be. The herd clumsily tried to do the same, but the possums scurrying back to Ellie to check on her and Peaches shrieks of terror as she ran back to her mother effectively dissuaded any attempt.
That left Sid, Manny and Diego stood in the middle of the clearing, side-by-side.
Manny looked down his trunk at Diego, a wary look in his eyes, before Diego offered him a tired grin and said the two words which had been plaguing him for the last couple of weeks;
"I'm sorry."
Manny's expression melted into one of trusting understanding, and he didn't need to say anything before Diego understood that he was forgiven. That was all the time they had, though, before five very angry sabres attacked them.