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Chapter Thirteen: Interrupted

The three of them, the original herd members, stood their ground as they were attacked. It wasn't out of noble desire to kill themselves or look dramatic, but simple knowledge from experience; if you were running at a stationary object that didn't move, the odds were you were going to hurt yourself more than the object. If you were a sabre and you were going to attack said stationary object, unless you had enough strength or altitude to jump on top of it, the only way to do so would be from the front.

Diego, Sid and Manny backed instinctively into a circle. Diego was in the front, facing his former pack members. Manny was to the right, closest to Ellie, his eyes locked on her rather than the sabres. Sid was on the left, in the least danger, but as Silver closed in on him, he still acted as though he was in the most danger out of them all.

It was an eerie scene. A sloth, a mammoth, a redeemed sabre. Five hungry carnivores, just as lost now as they had been when they were in the underground. One wounded mother, a terrified daughter, two possums and the drifting, dizzying snow.

Even as the herd fought as best they could together against the pack, Ellie stirred and opened her eyes slightly, the first thing she saw being the worried faces of her two possum brothers. And even as she regained consciousness, they traded anxious and furious looks, before running back to distract the sabres as best they could. Peaches buried her little warm body in underneath her mothers, and Ellie wound her trunk over her daughter's eyes, keeping her close to her body and away from her blood.

The battle had taken a surprising turn. Silver was limping, blood dripping from her hindquarters, still being poked and prodded with dry sticks by Sid. Diego was in an incoherent argument with Akira and Shi even as he fought them, while Alexia and Damian were attacking Manny. The male mammoth had backed up so that he was protecting Ellie's body as best he could with his own bulk, erratically swinging his trunk and tusks, keeping the two at bay.

Diego, snarling, hissing, and gritting his teeth, was in the most trouble. He knew that the battle that was underway here was nothing, nothing, compared to what it would be if Akira decided to pull all her forces away and attack the mammoths. If she ordered that, he would be almost helpless to stop her. And he wasn't going to let that happen. So prancing and pouncing, he danced with her in a war to save his friend's lives, distracting her as best he could. Shi was the only problem in his plan. The older sabre was mimicking every move of his, counterattacking, riposting and parrying almost everything he could do. It was a moving stalemate, if that even made any sense.

Sid brandished his two sharp sticks at Silver, waving them threateningly in the air. She watched him in disbelief, unable to believe that a sloth was managing to actually hurt her, even though she was a sabre. He struck the two sticks together, sparks jumping off them, and they began to burn.

"Hah!" Sid yelled. "I have created – fire!"

It was one of those unbelievably awkward moments where you say something, thinking nobody's going to listen to you, and find that everybody is. All the sabres – Diego included– turned around, drawn by the lure of the flickering golden lights. Manny muttered "Uh-oh…" , and Akira was opening her mouth to snap a command, when a shockingly familiar voice cut through the night.

"RUDY!!!"

"Buck?!" the herd demanded unanimously, looking around wildly for the weasel. A stranger's laugh cut through the night.

"Oh, now this is interesting…"

The pack's ears went flat against their heads, before Akira gazed up at the figure standing beside Buck, on top of the hill.

"Raze…?"