This Battle Lord's Quest by Linda Mooney Page B

The
smoke floated upward, undaunted by any wind. She was tired and drowsy, and her
muscles protested slightly from the day’s trek, yet her mind continued to race
along at breakneck speed.
    Branches cracked.
    Atty unbuckled her belt and leaped to her feet, bow
at ready. Across the way, she could see Paxton nodding to sleep. Renken was not
visible from where she was.
    “Warren!”
    “Uh. Huh?” He lifted his head, appearing dazed, but
his hand was already on the hilt of his sword.
    The bushes to her left swayed. Smaller trees bowed.
Whatever was moving through the dense forest was big.
    “Garet!”
    “I see it, too,” a voice answered behind her.
    “Can you tell what it is?”
    “Not yet, but I see it’s headed straight for us.”
    The brush moved again, as if the creature was
hesitating between steps. Atty sniffed the air, but the animal wasn’t close
enough for her to catch its scent. She lifted the bow and sighted down the
arrow’s shaft.
    It lumbered into view like grayish-brown smoke. The
wide head was lowered as it sniffed the ground. When it reached the clearing,
it raised its big black nose and stared directly at Atty. Arrow ready, she
waited to see what the animal would do.
    Without warning, it snarled and launched itself
into the clearing. Atty fired immediately into one of the black eyes. The arrow
buried itself so far into the pupil, it completely disappeared.
    The animal convulsed and shrieked. But instead of
running away, it lowered its head and charged, aiming for Atty’s tree.
    “Hold your ground!” she shouted to the two men.
    She vaguely heard Renken yell, “It’s a coon!”
before the immense creature slammed its shoulder against the trunk. The tree
shook violently, but Atty managed to hold on.
    The coon screamed again. Blood poured from its eye
in a watery red mixture as it   combined
with the clear vitreous fluid from its eyeball. The solution shone like glass
across the black strip that looked like a mask across its face.
    The coon looked up at her and screeched. Enormous
tusks extended from its upper and lower jaws. It hit the tree again, trying to
dislodge her.
    “Hold on, Atty!’ Paxton yelled.
    Renken tore off a tree limb and threw it at the
animal. “Get away from her!”
    The limb didn’t distract it. The creature knew Atty
was responsible for the agony in its eye, and its sole focus was to exact
revenge on her.
    The coon reared up on its hind legs, and for the
first time Atty saw how big the animal was. The snout nosed almost directly
under her feet. Spotting her, its one remaining eye glittered with rage. It
opened its mouth to bare its teeth, and Atty let fly another arrow into the
coon’s throat.
    Enraged and wounded, the coon reached up to try and
knock her off the branch. Its foot-long claws dug into the wood, nearly
severing the limb when the coon jerked its paws away.
    Suddenly, it let out another scream of pain.
Roaring in anger, the coon turned on the person swinging his sword behind it.
Paxton twirled, sword aloft, and with both hands on the hilt, brought the
finely-honed edge down at the base of the thick tail. This second time, the
sword managed to slice all the way through the skin and bone.
    The coon fell onto its back and writhed. Blood
gushed from the base of its spine. Atty watched as Renken tried to approach the
animal from the side, but the wicked claws swiping the air in wide arcs
prevented him from approaching close enough to strike.
    Paxton raised his sword, blade pointing downward,
and launched himself at the beast, running toward its damaged rear. Without
warning, the coon snarled and whipped around to face the soldier. Atty screamed
a warning, but one enormous hand-like paw reached for the Second before he had
the chance to retreat. Instead, Paxton tried to duck. The paw swiped at him,
missing his head, but catching the man’s shoulder. Paxton hit the ground and
slid several feet through the muddy undergrowth.
    Atty looked down to see the animal’s