Fight or flight {open}

[Jenna]

Jenna cursed as she jerked backwards as something flew at her, and planted itself hilt deep into a tree. She turned only briefly to look at the sharp dagger before swinging around, long black hair flying, to find who had thrown it. "Who's there?" She snarled as she searched the small copse of woods that was near the feeding grounds with her power. The Selector of the Wing was horribly outnumbered, she realized, as she sensed at least ten men, slowly closing in around her. Jenna knew she couldn't take down ten men by herself, her powers just weren't that strong. She knew she could take down two, maybe knock a third unconscious all at the same time, but ten men throwing daggers all at once? She was screwed and she knew it.

Jenna raised her hand, watching as small molecules of water rose up around her. She cursed, it wasn't enough! The grounds outside the Castle were too dry to allow her to get much water from them.

Jenna felt the men hesitate at her sudden show of Elemental power, and she took her chance just as Kanna flung herself, all 600lbs of fur and muscle, into one man, tearing his throat out before flying back into the forest, hiding from the would-be assassins of her rider.

Jenna used Kanna's distraction and flung her awareness out at a man, using the powers she gained from bonding with Kanna to make him crumple to the ground with a scream from nothing more than a thought on her end. Or what looked like a thought to the men. Using her power always wore Jenna out, and she knew she would have to use it to kill most of these men. What a shitty day, She thought bitterly as she flung her awareness out at another man, watching as he crumpled. She heard footsteps running towards them, and her heart raised with hope. It sounded like it was coming from the castle, but she couldn't be sure. Had someone heard her, and come to help?

"Jenna!" Kanna roared as the felid flung herself out of the forest. Jenna screamed with pain as a dagger lanced through her side, missing any major organs but leaving a nasty gash as it embedded itself into a tree behind her, leaving her staggering. Kanna leapt at the man that dared to attack her rider and all but ripped his head off. Jenna fell to her knees, panting as she pressed a trembling hand over her bleeding side.

"Damn," She cursed. She had heard the footsteps and stopped paying attention, and now she was dead unless whoever it was running towards them really hurried it up.

[Aerlus]

Aerlus stood next to Arcueid gripping a handful of her coat in his hand. He held on fast as he tried to keep his balance while dumping twigs, leaves, pebbles, and small amounts of water out of his boots. In a mishap spell he was still getting accustomed to, he literally blew the boots off of his feet. Arcueid, of course, was no help in the after-party search for the missing shoes. She was too busy rolling on the ground howling with laughter. Aerlus had never seen her laugh so hard. She seemed to be taking a fancy to his newly-found re-learned skills in magic. Lots of mishaps meant lots of laughter, seeing as Aerlus seemed to have the most ridiculous of things happen to him.

He sat down next to the Athale River, re-lacing his shoes. Arcueid lifted her nose and inhaled, taking in all the familiar and changed scents, along with the new ones. I've missed this place. The large silvery candid moved to the waters edge. Much has changed, but still more has remained the same. Aerlus finished lacing his boots and stood up and stretched. He looked around. Everything looked in order since when he'd left a year ago. This much had remained un-changed, that much was true.

It wasn't until Arcueid's ears shot up and her head snapped in one direction did Aerlus notice that something was wrong. What is it?

Blood... Jenna's. It took a moment for the candid to get the name of the blood's owner. It had been a while since they had seen Jenna, and hardly ever had Arc smelled her blood. Aerlus instantly remembered the Selector's name, being the only person he knew who had the power of Selection besides himself and the Dragon Council Member of the Order he had been told had also. Hop right into the action shall we? Aerlus asked his bond as he leapt with litheful grace onto her back.

Always, she replied. The Wing was basically the only family Aerlus had before he remembered his real one. And he still loved them all... better than his actual family to be truthful. Any chance to help he took. Arc took a running start, headed straight for a tree in the shade of it's branches before melding with the shadow and dissolving into it. A moment later, they appeared in the Feeding Grounds, a couple yards from a surrounded Kanna and wounded-looking Jenna.

Aerlus immediately grabbed for his chakram. Once they were closer to the group he saw four dead men on the ground. A little closer, he launched his chakram at the sixth man, taking his head clean off, and jumped off Arcueid's back mid-stride just as she leapt at a man, teeth bared, and ripped a large portion of his shoulder and neck out. Aerlus quickly grabbed his double-bladed daggers and sought after the fourth man cutting the man to ribbons. Arcueid at this time had pranced over to Jenna and used her and Aerlus' shared power over shadows to clot the wounds by turning the shadows tangible. "Staying here would be preferred, but you can get up and fight again if you wish. It's wonderful to see you again Jenna. Aerlus says the same," Arcueid said, relaying the thoughts of her bond.

[Jenna]

Jenna bit back a yelp of surprise when the shock of pain her jerk backwards caused when she saw the head of one man roll lifelessly to the ground. She panted as she tried to struggle to her feet, but couldn't quite make it. Was it someone from the Castle? She looked around, and spotted a candid she had thought she would never see again. She almost felt her heart stop, and was relieved to feel the blood on her side slow to a trickle, then stop completely. "A- Arcueid," Jenna said as she reached out, placing her hand on the massive candid's shoulder and managed a weak smile. She couldn't help the shaky little laugh that fell from her throat. "I couldn't stand or fight even if I wanted to," She told the candid as Kanna leapt behind her and killed another man just as he was about to go after Aerlus.

Jenna turned to see Aerlus, and the weak smile grew a bit stronger. She had missed him, considering him a friend when he was still at the Castle. She looked behind her and saw three men still standing, looking unsure as Kanna snarled at them. One of them started to back up, holding a blade out as if it would scare the felid back. It didn't, but he tried anyway. Kanna took slow steps forward as her growl turned into a loud snarling, her teeth bared as she charged. The men ran screaming, but Kanna had managed to catch one, knocking him out on a tree after Jenna yelled mentally to not kill him. The felid dragged the man back by a leg, looking proud of herself, and furious that one of them had hurt her mistress.

"Jenna," Kanna purred as she moved to her rider and nuzzled her cheek softly. She turned her glowing eyes to Arcueid and nodded a greeting. "It has been too long, Arcueid," the felid purred, tail swishing.

"Kanna help me up," Jenna said, still clutching her side as pain shot through her when she tried to move. Kanna knelt low and Jenna managed to pull herself into a sitting position on the felid's back, unable to do much else. "Arcueid, Aerlus," She said, looking at the two. "You two weren't hurt were you?"