of the beast.
Gabe managed to knock the wind out of the Wintok, stunning him for a brief moment. Taking advantage of his opponent’s temporary state, Gabe leaped forward with a sidekick, planting a foot firmly in the monster’s belly. When the Wintok doubled over, Gabe used the brief second to raise his blue, glowing sword high above his head and plant it firmly between the creature’s eyes.
Pulling his blade free from the Wintok’s skull, Gabe breathed a brief sigh of relief before turning to go to his friend’s aid. His companions were however in no need of such services. Haim was finishing up putting an end to his opponent with a thunderous blow of his hammer while Uri was putting on a foot fancy display. Utilizing the open air around them, Uri did a back flip and as he turned, used his feet to strike the Krinam in the face. The Krinam didn’t even see it coming. He fell back to the ground with a thud. Uri leaped on top of the serpent being, thrusting his sword upward through its skull, a groan escaping his lips.
Uri wasted no time, “We need get them off the road though, in case anyone sees them. We wouldn’t want to alert someone to our presence.” Uri suggested.
“Very true.” Gabe replied. The three made quick work of tossing the bodies down the hill along the roadside and were back at Rachel’s side in no time.
“Wow, my heroes.” Rachel cheered.
“We better hurry before anyone else sees.” Uri urged.
“Agreed,” Gabe said, taking hold of Rachel’s arm and carefully leading her into the thick, dark woods.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“How is she?” Uri asked, looking over Gabe’s shoulder.
Gabe shifted his sleeping wife, resting her weight on his other arm. “She’ll be fine after she sleeps a bit.” Gabe answered.
“Will she ever stop doing that?” Haim asked, not bothering to look at anyone as he asked.
“Shut Up.” Uri instructed quickly.
“What? I just wanted to know. It’s not very safe for us to have an unconscious person on our hands all the time.” Haim defended his question.
“That unconscious person is the reason we’re out here. She is exactly why you are here and the only person you should be worrying about. If you can’t protect her then your mission has been a complete failure, and worse, the war is lost.” Gabe snapped, not taking his eyes off Rachel.
“Alright, sorry I asked.” Haim said in response.
“And by the way, dumb ass, humans do not build up a tolerance to magic, she’ll always pass out from transportation spells. That’s why we don’t use them to travel unless we have to.” Uri added.
“That’s not the only reason. Let’s not say we are stuck because Rachel can’t transport often.” Gabe continued. “What about trackers? Do you really want to go leaving a trace everywhere we go?”
“Look, I said I was sorry, ok already?” Haim said in a final attempt to diffuse the situation.
“Mirada is about two miles east of here. Do we leave Rachel here? We can retrieve her after talking to Mirada.” Uri asked.
“Not an option, I’m not leaving her.” Gabe informed the men flatly.
“Ok— ok—, I’m not saying you have to. I’m simply trying to figure out a way where we won’t be losing so much time, that’s all.” Uri offered.
“If Mirada is as sought after as you say, it’s not wise of us to head straight to her anyways. Use your head Uri! What if a tracker picks up our trace before it fades?” Gabe inquired.
“Really? Because there are trackers in the middle of the woods, just waiting to catch a read on us. Don’t treat me like I’m an idiot, Gabe. I have had a lot more experience with this stuff than you have.” Uri snarled.
“We left a trail of dead bodies behind us!” Gabe added in an irritated tone. “I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to think they could find our trace.”
“Fine, whatever. I’m not going to argue with you. If you want to stay and wait, then that’s what we’ll do.” Uri replied.
“That’s what we’re doing. Haim, can you start a fire? We can rest here until nightfall, maybe by then Rachel will be awake and we can set out for the witch’s home.”
“Really, Gabe? You know she’s not a witch, what is with your attitude?” Uri protested.
“Oh, sorry, Oracle, whatever.” Gabe grinned as he responded.
“What if someone sees our fire?” Haim inquired.
“Are you scared or something?” Gabe mocked his friend.
“Ok, you need to tell me what is going