135 Found Her!

Jareth searched some more but couldn't find any trace of Astrid and the little White Tiger-Phoenix beast. It quickly came down and assisted White-Fire in the fight.

"We need to leave this place, they could be in danger," Jareth suggested.

"How do you propose we do that with this much beasts unattended to?" White-Fire asked him through the mind communication.

"Cause a distraction and flee."

"We would need something big for that to happen and right now, we do not have enough breathing space, let alone time to create a diversion."

"That's right, a diversion. I can do something." He charged forward, dodging to his left and right as he escaped the attacks of the animals and attacked in turn.

BOOM!

All of a sudden, they could feel and hear a deafening sound as two forces collided together and the stronger force overpowered the other and won, followed by a streak of lightning shooting up into the sky.

Jareth took several steps back after he successfully injured the Manticore he faced. Thanks to Astrid's twin sword, he could land a hit at the dangerous beast.

His head turned in the direction of the sound. Even from where they were, he could feel the force behind that collision.

"FOUND HER!" Jareth muttered. 

Almost at the same time, White-Fire spoke to him too. "There she is, that is definitely Astrid!"

He did a back flip when a Dendrigma threw its paw at him and rolled to his side, avoiding the poisonous darts of the Manticore.

"Whatever your plan for the diversion is, do it now. We need to get to them quick."

"For that, I would need your help."

"State it."

"Please I would need your flames to set a demarcation between ourselves and them. Let's head over to the tree at my far right and you can use your flames."

"Got it."

Fighting and dodging, they soon found themselves at the appointed place. White-Fire wasted no time and sprayed the ground with its flames, preventing other animals from approaching them as the flames dance high over six feet.

During the distraction, Jareth raised his hands and soon two figures, a male and a winged beast that looked just like himself and White-Fire appeared from the ground.

He had successfully used energy construct and animated the dolls to act and fight in their place.

"Again!" 

Before the fire went down, he urged White–Fire to continue pouring the flames. The more the flames hit the ground, the more dust and distraction it caused. 

By the time the flames and dust all went down, the beasts only saw the animated dolls, that came alive and fought in their stead.

Jareth and White-Fire didn't wait to find out what would happen and hurried away towards the power collision immediately.  

*****

BOOM!!

They stopped in their tracks after hearing the colliding sound. It was up ahead, towards the direction the beasts where at.

"We must hurry, lest we miss her."

"Yes, Princess."

Avery felt as though it was coming from the direction where the beasts fought, her only worry was that they could face off and stall the hybrid until she arrived.

It took them a while, but the moment they arrived at the scene, to say the least, she was more shocked at the sight in front of her.

Countless number of beasts laid on the ground in a mess, most injured, others groaning in pain. Whatever happened and whoever did it knew the structure and weak points of the animals and used it to their advantage.

There was no sign of the hybrid anywhere or her team, save for an animated look alike of a man and a beast.

"She's nowhere in sight!"

"Princess Avery," Lieutenant Callum called out.

"What in heaven's name happened? She should be here, no… They all should be here fighting, where could they be at this point in time?"

"They clearly escaped; the animals are still fighting those animations," as Lieutenant Callum spoke, he pointed at the animated objects, bringing her attention back to another problem and possibly a clue.

She looked closely from where they stood, watching the fight happening in front of her.

"Something's not right," she blurted out after close inspection.

"What is, Princess?" One of the soldiers asked.

"Why are there only two animated objects and not four?"Lieutenant Callum asked.

"The question is, where is the hybrid and the cub?" Avery said, asking no one in particular.

She moved closer and redirected the sun light at the objects and animals fighting, no sooner had she done that, than the objects scattered with a wave of her hands.

The animals shielded their eyes from the light and looked away, some of them where still growling and obviously enraged when they couldn't find their target anymore.

All eyes turned to the intruders, as they got ready to attack the next available victim.

Snarl!

Ahh!

Growl!!

"Princess Avery!"

"I'm right on it."

They unsheathed their swords, ready to fight the beasts stalking towards them. Avery brought out her flute and started playing her sweet melody to calm the animals down.

*****

Astrid got up after some time, the way she fell to the ground made her feel so dizzy and light headed when she successfully opened her eyes. Her legs wobbled as she tried to walk, making her stagger in the process.

She looked around, not so sure of where she was or how she got there. Managing to walk to the nearest tree in sight, her head pounded with each step she took towards her destination. 

Her mind screamed at her to fall and plop on the ground to rest rather than dragging her feet on the dirty forest floor.

After much attempt and almost collapsing, she successfully made it to the oak tree and rested her back on it.

"Now, what happened?" She asked no one as she recollected what had earlier occurred. "I fought with that Lady and the force from our powers threw me off and I wounded up here. Wait, Little White-Fire, where is it?"

Her eyes searched around her but she couldn't find the little beast. Finding an unknown strength arise in her, she rushed forward in search of the cub.

"Come on, come on… Little White-Fire!" she called out hoping it would hear her voice and come running back.

"Ahh!" She held her head with her hand, as the headache came again. "I have to keep searching; we need to get back to Jareth and White-Fire soon."