Over the next few days, they walked through the Black Forest in the direction they assumed would lead them to Leon's old friend. The forest itself livened up a bit, strange animals and birds moving everywhere, watching the two stonekeepers.
Emily noticed how silent Trellis was, and wondered if he was always like this. It looked like he was trying to contain rage, and he never spoke or glanced at her unless it was absolutely necessary. She assumed he had trouble with his stone, too.
He knew he was failing to scewer his emotions. In his mind, he vowed he would never show the slightest hint of gladness around her. It was too risky. And too complicated.
Lezelldium told him, "Forgive me for my harsh words, but you really suck at this."
The Elf Prince narrowed his eyes in fury and tried not to growl out loud.
Of course, Emily took note, but she didn't say anything because he would probably explode into a tantrum. Then she flung her arm out and stopped him.
He started, "Wha-"
"Sshhh!"
They stood and held their breath.
He whispered, "I don't hear anything."
She whispered back, "Exactly!"
He raised his eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Dropping her arm, she explained, "A moment ago, these woods were full of animal sounds. Now I don't hear anything except for the wind in the trees."
Then he realized the same, looking around. Something didn't feel right. "Wait a minute," he said, holding up a hand. He turned his gaze to the forest behind the young stonekeeper and shouted, "Emily! Look out!"
She whipped around and had just enough time to hold up her staff while an ugly wolf-like creature barred down on her and snapped at her face. "TRELLIS! HELP!"
Trellis used his stone to zap the wolf and it whimpered and fell back towards the bushes, where at least four others were standing. "Oh, crap."
Emily scrambled to her feet and stood next to him. "What are those things?!"
"I'm not really sure. There are a lot of different types of them."
"Well, how exactly do you defeat them?" she asked as the pack started circling the two stonekeepers.
"I'm gonna go with 'attack like there's no tomorrow.'"
"Good plan."
One of the beasts lunged and ignited the fight. All of them came rushing forward.
The Prince of Elves punched a dog in the face and flung another one into a tree with the stone's power.
The stonekeeper burned the mutts and whacked them with her staff. One jumped her back and she face-planted into the dirt. "TRELLIS!"
He kicked the one on top of her in the gut and the first one came back and bit his leg. "AAHH!" It overturned him and pinned his shoulders, drooling on him. The remaining wolves approached and stood over the human and the elf, waiting for te right moment to start devouring.
Somthing flew out of the trees and tackled the wolf that was on Trellis. It moved so fast that the whole pack was cut up by a single blade within ten seconds. A dog head landed at Emily's feet. She resisted cringing.
A cloaked figure stood in the clearing with them. "Sorry you had to see that lovely display," it said. A pair of gloved, furry hands lowered the hood and revealed a female fox. She took Emily's hand and pulled her up. Taking a few steps back, she said, "I'm Evalia Redbeard."