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"Surrounded" (still heading towards Radat…) They were closing in on all sides. Hannah stiffened, bringing her sword blade out in front of her. Through the long blades of grass she could see movement. A shadow had begun forming on the right and it wouldn't be long now… Motioning for the two children to stay behind her, she gritted her teeth and stopped. The sounds of scurrying feet along the ground started to close in and she could make out sharp growls from the front. A sleek, black tail lifted up over the grass and there was an ear-splitting battle cry coming from what seemed to be the group's leader. In a split-second, the creature leaped into the air, teeth flashing as it bore down on an attempt to grab the larger of its prey (who was, because she brandished a weapon, clearly the most dangerous one). The woman sidestepped easily and got out of the way, sending her sword slicing upward into the air. A jet of blood greeted her upper arm as the blade made contact with the creature's midsection. Giving out an almost puppy-like yelp, it jumped backward a bit. Running a red tongue over the cut once, it looked up at Hannah, black eyes flashing in anger. Its ebony fur stood up as it gave a low-throated growl in her direction. Hannah said nothing; instead she calmly brought her sword back into her attack position. This was one of the first times she had managed to get a good look at the monster since it had started following them and she took a few moments to admire it. The beast looked similar to a dog, but was much larger than a wolf. It was covered in sleek, almost silky, black fur, which matched its dark eyes quite nicely…the perfect predator for night stalking. As it bared its fangs at her, she saw how sharp. They were capable of cutting through tendons and bone easily…the deer had never stood a chance against such a thing. On its feet were incredibly large (and sharp) black claws. They were so large that it almost looked as if they were supporting the creature's structure…that's to say for certain that the monster's feet were even touching the ground? It gave out another growl, saliva dripping from its mouth. As if on cue, more growls came from the brush around them. 'The rest of the pack…' she thought, bringing up her sword as the leader once again charged her. The creature grabbed onto the end of Hannah's sword blade before she could use it, blood trickling down its mouth as the edge of the sword started to dig into its flesh. Hannah grunted, pushing the blade forward even more. Eventually, the pain of having its jaw cut open caused the wolf-thing to let go and she sent the sword into its midsection with a quick jab. As their leader fell onto the grass in a lifeless heap, the entire pack (who had only been watching the fight from their hiding spots so far) emerged, converging on the small group. Sudda gasped as one of the creatures looked at her with its dark eyes and she swallowed quickly, pulling her brother behind her. Sniffing the dead one's body, another of the monsters let out a quick growl of anger. It charged at Hannah, along with one from the right of her. Spinning quickly to deflect both attacks, the woman sent her sword through the air again. This time around it hit the sniffing one's paw and nearly sliced open the other creature's neck. A sharp pain suddenly laced through her free arm and Hannah turned as the monster's bloody claws hit the ground. She didn't take too much time to notice the cut, as the thing pounced at her again. With one swift movement, she sent her sword down onto the creature's skull. There was a sickening crack from its neck and then it fell, blood pooling on the ground underneath its body. One of the remaining pack members tried biting into the back of Hannah's boot and she kicked violently upward, the wolf-thing landed on the ground on its back. The three other monsters left hurried to their ally's side and, as one, the group turned back towards the humans, growling and readying themselves to attack again. "Richi, no!" Sudda's voice cut through the tense moment and Hannah turned her head sideways questioningly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the girl slap her brother's hand, in which he held a small branch. He gave a surprised cry and dropped it. There was the sound of a small fire crackling and a small explosion of flame appeared for a second in front of the remaining pack members. They yelped out in panic and darted back into the safety of the tall grass. The nine-year-old boy whistled in admiration, "Did you see that?" he asked, looking up at his sister. She nodded weakly, "Yeah…" she mumbled, her grip on her brother's shoulder tightening unconsciously. "Ouch! Hey, Sudda…that hurts!" "Sorry." She released his shoulder and smiled down at the boy, but he caught the glance she was giving him. It was one of nervousness and fear. 'If Papa had been here, then I'd be in big trouble…' Hannah looked out over the field for a few seconds. There was no sounds coming from anywhere nearby, which meant that the sudden explosion had scared the creatures off completely. They weren't hiding anywhere nearby, for the moment, at least. "Are you two all right?" she asked them, sheathing her sword. Sudda turned to look at her, a bright smile now on her face, "Yes, Miss Hannah, we're fine…thank you so much!" She grunted in response, her brown eyes turning upward. Dusk was starting to set in and a battle with those night predators in the sheer dark would be a tough fight… The two children raced up to her, Richi jumping up and down excitedly. The woman watched him for a few moments and almost smiled, she remembered how hard it was to get adrenaline out of your system when you were that young… "That was really awesome!" he shouted, "I hope we get into more monster fights so I can help out too!" and then, as soon as he had spoken, he began turning around and moving his arm about as if he was holding a sword. Hannah raised an eyebrow at this and Sudda had a look of shock on her face, "Richi! Don't say stuff like that!" she admonished. He stopped jabbing the air with his imaginary sword and looked down at the ground, hurt, "Sorry…"
Sighing, the woman started walking again, "Let's hurry, we're almost at Radat." "Umm…Miss Hannah?" Sudda asked as the two children tried catching up to her fast-legged pace, sounding as if she was concerned about something. She turned and gave the girl a glance, "What is it?" "Will your…will your arm be all right?" "Hmm?" stopping in her tracks, Hannah looked down at her arm. For the first time since she'd actually received the cuts she started to feel it sting. Blood was slowly dripping down her elbow, a few drops falling on the ground. Fortunately, the thing's claws hadn't managed to get too deep into her skin, so they were pretty shallow cuts… She gave the girl a soft smile and traced her fingers over the cuts. They started to sting in response to her touch, but it wasn't anything that she needed to worry about immediately, "I'll be fine. As soon as we get to Radat, I'll but some Medicine on it…nothing too serious." "Oh, all right." Sudda smiled, relief showing brightly in her dark eyes. They continued the walk in silence as the sky started to get darker. Due to the day's events, however, all three of the travelers were somewhat exhausted by the time they ended up reaching Radat. The town was incredibly quiet at night. She stood by the window of their inn room for a few moments, brown eyes surveying the darkened outlines of homes and other establishments. Even from this distance, the sound of the running water from the river could be heard, a soothing lullaby that carried the townspeople off into their dreams. Briefly, Hannah wondered if this kind of tranquility was what the people woke up to every morning as well or if it was replaced by the sounds of humans going about their daily activities as everyone in Radat came out of their sleep. She suppressed a yawn and absentmindedly ran a hand through her matted, curly brown hair. Dismissing that thought, she sat down on the edge of her bed, sparing a glance at the one next to hers. Both Sudda and Richi had practically fallen asleep the moment they had laid down on the mattress. Not that she could blame them really, after all, they had been through a lot these past few days…that monster attack had probably drained the last of their energy. Medicine had worked well on the cuts. Stretching her arm out, the woman only felt a slight numbness in response. Within any luck, that would be gone by tomorrow as well. 'Never mind that now, get to sleep. You still have a long ways to go until you get to Tinto City.' Her mind informed her as she let out another yawn. Sliding off her makeshift boots, Hannah briefly looked over the part of her back leg that one monster had bitten into. The boot had little tears in it from when she kicked the damned thing, but there was only a few small bruises forming in that spot. The animal's hide that she had used to make that armor was extremely tough. Placing her sword sheath next to the bed, the woman laid down. Her muscles had been aching with exhaustion for a while, so a rest would do her body some good, at the least… Glancing over again at her two sleeping companions, she smiled somewhat. Even though, for the most part, she could barely tolerate children for very long, it was amazing to her how much they could go through in one day without totally losing it. Most adults had a hard time accepting even the slightest change without difficulty. 'It'll be a while before I actually get them all the way to Tinto…' Hannah thought, as sleep finally overtook her and she closed her eyes.
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