Chapter 15 ~ Elektra
Elektra gulped at the sight of the horrid beast, and gripped her bow, a silver arrow in place, ready to shoot at any sign of attack from the beast. It growled, and she flinched. She's never liked monsters - her passion was healing and herbs which she took after her father. It was a skill she was always interested in, so she had a superior knowledge of plants and herbs. Enryx's passion was driving Chariots, which he took after both of their parents.
The beast lunged forward at the group, and they parted to dodge the monster. Elektra shot an arrow at the monster's head, but just when it was about to hit the monster, it lunged at one of her other friends, thought it was too foggy to see who it attacked.
Her friend squealed and she heard the beast roar. Rosamynd! Elektra recognized the voice and instantly jumped forward, aiming for the animal silhouette. The fog had cleared a little when the arrow penetrated it, and it looked like very gigantic... pig? It seemed to furry to be a pig but she shrugged it off and shot another silver arrow at the weird creature. The arrows dug into the animal's head and the pig toppled onto the floor next to Rosamynd. Suddenly, she heard something that sounded like a cross between a pig with a cold and a lions roar. It wasn't coming from the boar that she just killed. It was all around them, surrounding them. Without warning, a pair red eyes were enclosed around them. Low growling noises were coming from underneath.
"Boars!" Adrian exclaimed.
"Not just any boars, Erymanthian Boars!" Vytoni leapt over the boar as it charged at her, attempting to land on it and stab it's back, but her dagger glanced off it's thick fur and it shook violently, forcing her to drop to the ground, "I read about them in A Guide to Monsters."
"A Guide to Monsters?" Enryx asked, drawing an arrow into his bow.
"It's the Beginner's book of Monsters," Lysandra informed, clutching her dagger at the ready.
There was a high-pitched snarl that seemed to signal the boars into attack mode. There were around ten boars surrounding them, making a small circle and edging slowly towards them. The boars all charged and lunged forward all at once. Elektra shot an arrow into a stomach of one, but it was still alive. She continued shooting arrows at others who were attacking her friends. She noticed Trudy trying to go after a boar but Adrian stood in front of her protectively to fend off the attacking boars.
Lysandra was throwing knives at a couple of boars that were coming at her, hitting all of them and leaving them unconscious on the ground.
"Lys! Look behind you!" Kat warned her, and Elektra noticed Enryx running over, shooting the boar squarely in the eye before Lysandra could turn around. Lysandra nodded in gratitude to Enryx. Elektra looked around and saw that they had exterminated all of the boars, for they all had disappeared in a flurry of dust and fur, leaving behind only their gross odor. There was a huge weird wailing sound coming from the fog that had thickened during their fight.
"What was that?" Rosamynd's voice shook, peering into the thick haze.
"I have no clue!" Elektra said, bow and arrow at the ready, aiming at the creature. This one is much, much bigger than all the other little ones.
"It's a mama boar!" Adrian said dumbly, causing the group to lose focus for a few moments and just at him in confusion.
Vytoni, Adrian and Nethrys charged at the boar, and the others who had long range weapons tried to find a better aim while Elektra stayed close to Katerina.
Distantly, Elektra heard Katerina cry out to her, "Can I go fight now? They need me."
Nethrys and Adrian struck their swords at the monster's thick hide at the same time, hoping that it would do more damage. The beast grunted, opening it's mouth and Vytoni then stuck her bow staff down its throat, trying to crush it windpipe. The boar gnashed it's sharp teeth together, breaking it. Vyti shot it a very mean look, drawing her sword and promptly stabbing the roof of it's mouth. Elektra could see the blade, coated with dark, gooey blood, protrude from the top of it's mouth, just above the tusks.
It still wasn't dead. Elektra quickly shot an arrow into the boar's huge nose, hoping it would clot and stop it breathing. But the boar just sneezed it out and growled louder. Gross. By then Katerina had already gone towards the action, holding up her indigo-black dagger, with Trudy by her side. Elektra and Enryx kept shooting at the boar, while Lysandra and Rosamynd got a little closer and started aiming their daggers for the Boar's weak points - which they didn't know, so they just aimed for joints, vital organs and the occasional eye.
"How did the Erymanthian Boar die again?" Nethrys yelled over to Lysandra, swiping his sword at the boar's skin, holding up his silver shield.
"It didn't," Lysandra said, dodging as the said creature charged at her, "Even Hercules couldn't defeat it - only captured it, and he was in snow, where the boar couldn't moved properly. And now, its here and we have absolutely no idea how to stop it."
"Then how the heck are we supposed to kill, or at least capture this pig?" Adrian said, rapidly slashing at the beast.
"You can't," Vytoni shook her head, looking around for something.
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Elektra asked, continuously shooting and aiming at the creature.
"We need to retreat. Beating this thing is impossible," Kat furrowed her eyebrows, looking at the caravan and back at them, as if measuring the distance.
Enryx and Elektra took a last shot at the beast. Their arrows twined and formed a huge explosion in front of the beast. They all sprinted towards the caravan as black ash clogged up the boar's vision.
"Where did those boars come from, anyway?" Adrian asked, pushing open the caravan door and holding it open politely as everyone rushed in and put down their weapons. Elektra immediately took the wheel and started to drive away from the beast. They were driving further away from their destination but they'll find another route around.
"I have no clue but to avoid that from happening again. We should have people on watch all the time, one person driving and one person being lookout!" Enryx ordered.
"But that means you, Nethrys and I will be just switching shifts between the three of us all the time!" Elektra exclaimed.
"That is correct," Enryx nodded, "Nethrys and Vytoni will take first shift, everyone better rest up and be ready for theirs." Everyone nodded and went over to their bunks. Nethrys took over the wheel and Vytoni slid beside him, avoiding the unusually solemn driver. Elektra hung up her quiver of arrows and bow and climbed up onto her top bunk, hoping to take a quick nap before lunch to regain her energy. She slipped under her warm covers and slipped into unconsciousness.
Elektra awoke from her light doze and sat up in her bunk. She looked up at the clock just in front of her. Twelve o'clock? I've only been asleep for an hour! She threw back her covers and climbed down the bunk, looking around. Katerina was on her laptop, scribbling down some notes on a notebook by her side. Trudy was doodling on a sketchbook she had brought with her, occasionally looking at Adrian who was snoring quietly in his slumber, smiling to herself. Vytoni was still in the front seat next to Nethrys, reading some sort of thick book with one hand unconsciously on the hilt of her sword and bow staff -obviously mended or replaced- next to her. Elektra walked over to Kat, who was furiously typing on her laptop so fast smoke seemed to be coming off the keyboard.
"Hey Kat, want me to check on that leg?" Elektra asked, picking up her first aid kit and her healing and herbs box.
Kat shrugged and put down her laptop, "Why not?"
"How's it feeling?" Elektra asked, tending to her leg, which wasn't so deep and serious anymore.
"Not so bad, I guess. I can kind of limp on it," Katerina replied, sweeping her brownish-blonde hair into a ponytail.
"Well, it should be completely healed either today or tomorrow," Elektra informed, looking over her wound.
"Thanks Elektra!" Katerina smiled gratefully at her, then turned back to her computer.
"It's no problem," Elektra replied, packing up her stuff and putting it back onto the table.
She announced, "Lunchtime!"
Adrian shot out of bed, "Food!" Everyone laughed at Adrian who just looked around, confused. Elektra went into the kitchen and started making lunch, some pancakes for the missed out breakfast, fruit, sandwiches, chicken wings and drumsticks, pasta, burgers and fries. She took out the cooler which stored all the drinks and took out nine cans of coke. She laid it all out on the dining table in the den.
Nethrys had parked the caravan and was waking people up and telling them that lunch was ready. Everyone had sat around the huge dining table, chattering to each other.
Everyone started stuffing their faces with food, especially Adrian who was sitting next to Trudy, eating two chicken drumsticks, one in each hand. He was too engaged in his food to notice anyone. She looked around and saw Lysandra and Vytoni talking quietly amongst themselves and Kat and Trudy were talking and laughing about something funny one of them had just said. Enryx and Nethrys were showing each other battle plans and arguing about which of their weapons were the strongest. Rosamynd was next to her, eating quietly, watching a movie on the portable DVD player. I've got no one to talk to.
"Hey, Elektra!" Someone called. Elektra looked up from her food and saw that Katerina had walked over to her with a huge, sunny smile on her face.
"Oh, hi!" Elektra replied, and her face brightening up as the gorgeousgodling came to sit down next to her on the rusty, pale bench. "What happened? Weren't you talking to Trudy?"
"Yeah, I was. And actually I still am," She said, as she nodded to the direction of Trudy flounced over to them, after pecking a quick kiss on Adrian's cheek- which he didn't notice, as he was stuffing his face with food.
"Hey, guys. What's up?" Trudy asked, sitting next to her.
"Thank you for healing my leg, by the way. I'm sorry I was a bit rude before, I was just scared that my leg would never heal from the monster's bite," Katerina apologized.
"No problem," Elektra smiled, "Water under the bridge." Elektra grinned and continued eating her pasta. They continued talking and eating for a while, until Nethrys brought up an interesting conversation topic.
"So Katerina, I heard you could turn invisible," Nethrys said, taking a bite out of his cheeseburger. Katerina shrugged and nodded, sipping her coke.
"Can you show us?" Adrian excused his food to look up at Kat. Katerina nodded and stood up against the pale, cream-colored wall. She closed her eyes and concentrated hard, and soon her skin and clothes turned paler. The last visible thing on her body to transform were her turquoiseeyes opened for a split second then turned a milky white color. Everyone gasped in awe. Wow. Elektra looked on enviously. I wish I had a cool power like that.
Katerina turned back to her normal self, and sat down and drank her coke. Conversations started back up again, filling the air with a dull buzz of chatter . Suddenly a face popped in the air - Chiron's face. Iris Message.
"Children, I haven't got much time, but I forgot to tell - Daniel, it's alright, the lava wall isn't going to kill you!"
"What is it, Chiron?" Enryx asked.
"Well, children, I forgot to tell you that your quest must be complete by the winter solstice, another part of the prophecy just came with it."
"Another part of the prophecy? What do you mean?"
"You must face others like yourselves
In family history you must delve
There's no need to scour the earth and seek
For your deadline arrives at winter's peak."
Everyone stared at the centaur's face for a long time.
"The winter solstice? That's only a few months away!" Elektra said, breaking the chilling silence, "Actually, that's not too bad - I mean, the kid's quests have a much shorter deadline, and we have a quarter of the summer and the spring to complete it. But still, we shouldn't waste any time."
"I must go now Godlings, but you must act fast," The iris-message ended, leaving the nine Godlings staring at each other in complete and utter shock.
~~~END OF CHAPTER 15~~~