The Cattle Part 3

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Children were quick to grow up and that was the hardest part about raising a child, knowing that your child would grow up and not need you soon. It made it difficult for the parent to easily let go and trust that the child would be all right on their own in the world. Hence why parents often made their children check up on them to ensure that they were all right and nothing bad had happened. Parents were so fearful that once their child was old enough to be on there own that everything evil in the world would be after them. Their child didn't come home at the specified time that they were meant to? They better call the police and report a missing person's file. When, in fact, the child had to stay late at practice because of the other children on their team and wasn't able to contact their parents about it. That was the extent of how parents are with children who were growing up far too fast than they had wanted them to.

"There's nothing wrong with not having very much in your name," Kanix responded to Frey when she pointed out that she didn't own much. "When I was your age, I lived in various houses and apartments, all places that were owned by my masters. They had everything there that I could ever want, but I could only use them under certain circumstances that were put up by them. Eventually, when I ran away from that cruel life, I set out into the world with only the torn and tattered clothes on my back. I didn't own anything more than that, but owning things is just a luxury, it isn't a necessity to have things in your name." Her gaze wandered down to the young child and she gave a brief smile, only to let her gaze shift back up to the ocean. "It's a beautiful world out there, far more beautiful than you know, little one, and I can't wait for you to experience it."

When Rune called for her, Kanix glanced back down at the child, squeezing her hand tightly in hers as she spoke. "Your words mean the most to me," she replied to the child, giving her a bright smile and squeezing her hand again. "You are right in that the dead never leave us; in fact, the dead are all around us, unseen, unheard, but just a thought away. They guide our footsteps onto the right paths, and I trust that Heero will guide my feet along the right path in leading Fairy Tail. I look to him in times of need, even when he may not be here and seen by the naked eye for those who mean more to him than me. I like to believe that he knows I will come to him when I feel there is no hope left and that I need the courage to continue on. He is someone who I trust more than anyone else in the world when it comes to Fairy Tail and it he who guides my actions."

Kanix clicked her tongue when Silver burst through the two of them and forced Frey onto his back once again. She let go of the child's hand despite her wanting to hold on, as Silver made it rather difficult for them to hang on. In the end, Kanix looked to the sky in order to see if her bird had been following the ship the entire time they were out at sea. A whistle into the air and a shadow swooped down over the ship, until the bird was hovering next to the vessel. Moving toward the edge of the ship, Kanix climbed onto the ledge and leapt off it, landing perfectly onto the back of her pet. Turning toward Silver and Frey, she would beckon for the duo to join her, and once they did, they would set off deeper into the island. "The cattle will likely be deeper into the forest, I figure, at least closer to the mountains than we happen to be," she stated.

notes

Pellentesque sed dolor tellus. Quisque pharetra erat sit amet lacus accumsan mollis a eu justo. Sed eget nisl at neque dapibus faucibus vel non nibh. Nullam pulvinar, eros sed rutrum aliquet, elit arcu fringilla eros, nec viverra est est in turpis.

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“

Glancing toward Frey, the woman nodded her head slightly in acknowledgement of how the young girl deduced the cattle would be farther into the island. Pressing her heels into the sides of Ancalagon’s body, the woman urged the young thunderbird to start walking into the forest. The giant beast ruffled the feathers on his neck and wings, then started to walk solemnly into the depths of the darkened, gloomy woods. Hoping that Frey and Silver were following her, the magus let Ancalagon take the lead and bring them deeper into the forest’s depths. Once they entered, a shadowy gloom would befall the two magi as they traversed the thicket in search of the missing cattle. Supposedly, an old cyclops lived on the island, located somewhere in the sea of mountains that lie just beyond the forestry. As soon as they were able to get to the correct mountain, Kanix and Frey would have to find a sneaky way to get the cattle back.

Letting her gaze wander over the landscape in front of them, Kanix homed in her senses to the surrounding forest and listened intently. She knew, that despite how peaceful this island may be, predators always roamed somewhere on the land of the island. It was expected by her that they would eventually run into a creature that would prove to be rather difficult in getting past. However, the longer they walked this woods, the more relaxed Kanix became, as no evil sound prevailed over the chirping of birds and insects. To her, it was safe to relax for a little while, let her guard down while Ancalagon led them through the forest and to the mountain range. So, Kanix leaned forward and pressed her body into the neck of her pet, wrapping her arms onto both sides of the sizely appendage. Quietly, the woman nuzzled her face into the soft feathers of the bird and closed her eyes, hoping to get a little nap in the meantime.

It wasn’t long after she had closed her eyes that a sound deeper within the thicket of the forest managed to grab her attention. Kanix sat bolt upright in her place on Ancalagon’s back and let her cornflower-blue gaze sweep over the greenery beyond their position. The rustle of bushes alerted the guild master to a potential issue, one that she was certain she would end up having to take care of. Perching herself a little closer to the neck of her pet, the woman leaned as far forward as she could to keep a watch on the forest beyond. Seconds later, a young wolf would pop out of the bushes and rush past the giant bird and its company, running in the direction they were going. Clicking her tongue, Kanix dug her heels into the side of Ancalagon’s torso, causing him to pick up pace and give chase to the beast. Minutes later from when the first young wolf had appeared, more wolves started to appear in pairs until a large pack of 10 were gathered.

Seeing this, Kanix became aware that they were near to the herd of cattle, or else wolves wouldn’t have appeared so soon in their travel. Crawling to her feet, Kanix nimbly walked up the length of Ancalagon’s neck while he ran toward the wolves, outstretching his appendage. His beak snapped precariously close to one of the wolves tail, snagging a bit of fur and ripping it off, causing the wolf to howl out in pain. “Frey, these are bad wolves! Do not let them go any farther than this forest or we may risk losing one of the cattle we need to bring back,” she ordered to the young girl. Reaching the top of Ancalagon’s head, the magus reached for the deerskin pouch at her side and drew out a stream of water. Her hand wove the stream of water away from the entrance of the container and formed it into a long whip that could easily reach 15 meters. With this newly designed weapon of liquid, Kanix lashed it out at one of the wolves, managing to grab hold of the wolf around its waist and yank it away.

The wolf went flying into one of the many trees that they passed, cracking its spine against the trunk of a rather tall and burly tree. It let out a pained yelp and slid to the ground, not getting up from where it had fallen while Kanix used the whip once more to grab another wolf. Ancalagon, on the other hand, busied himself with trying to get a meal, stretching his maw out to snap it around the torso of a wolf. He managed to easily grab hold of one and swallow it whole, instantly going for another wolf as he wasn’t quite satisfied with his meal. Kanix’s whip snagged around another of the wolves and brought it high up into the air, letting the wip unravel and drop the wolf. Terrified, the beast flailed its legs and hit the ground with a heavy thud, managing to break two of its limbs and causing it to be unable to get back up. As Kanix passed the injured beast, she formed an arrowhead of ice out of the whip of water and flung it straight at the wolf’s head.

With the wolf downed, Kanix focused her attention back on the remaining seven beasts, raking her gaze over them to see which was closest. Ancalagon managed to get another into the sharp teeth of his beak, snapping it in half with the strength of his jaw and swallow the two halves. Kanix smirked a little and bent down to pat the large head of the thunderbird before standing back up and drawing another arrowhead. Flicking her wrist, the woman sent the arrowhead flying straight at the back of a wolf’s head, watching as it implanted itself quickly. Two more were down, all that remained were five, but she would at least let Frey try and kill one or two herself until she had to step in. Summoning a third arrowhead, Kanix flicked her wrist again and sent it flying at another of the wolves, which happened to be one Ancalagon was aiming for. Just as his jaws snapped around the wolf, the arrowhead slammed into the side of the wolf’s head, causing the wolf to go limp.

notes

Pellentesque sed dolor tellus. Quisque pharetra erat sit amet lacus accumsan mollis a eu justo. Sed eget nisl at neque dapibus faucibus vel non nibh. Nullam pulvinar, eros sed rutrum aliquet, elit arcu fringilla eros, nec viverra est est in turpis.

1,037 words

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“

Ancalagon snapped his jaws at the last remaining wolf, eyes watching both Silver and Frey as they were mixed among the remaining wolves. He backed away as the smaller creature finished off his brethren, leaving nothing but the few corpses of wolves on the ground. The little battle that had ensued between the two magi, their pets, and the wolves had quickly come to an end and brought peace once more. While the animals had been killed, it was something that could not have been avoided unless they wanted to end up with less cattle. Besides, the battle had ended up bringing them closer to the edge of the forest and to the mountain that would be the home of Orthus and Geryon. Kanix could already smell the fresh scent of eaten grass by grazing mammals and the stench of a dog mixed among it. Sliding down the length of Ancalagon’s neck, the woman plopped herself back down into her place on the saddle that he wore.

She urged him onward, pushing past the shrubbery and entering the field that contained the cattle that had been stolen from their client. They were large beasts grazing through the grass, minding their own business, never once thinking they had been stolen from their owner. In a way, Kanix was appeased by the scenery and thought for a fleeting moment that they should simply let the beasts be. However, she knew that was not a possible option unless they wanted to fail the mission, and she would never take Frey on a mission she knew they could not complete. Breathing in deeply, this is when Kanix noticed at the scent of dog was becoming stronger the deeper they trekked the field. Soon, she caused the dragon-sized thunderbird to stop in his tracks so that she could listen to their surroundings for a moment. When she listened to the scenery long enough, the magus slid down off her pet and hit the ground with a thud on her feet.

Kanix beckoned for Frey to stop beside her with Silver, keeping a hand up as a signal for them to not get any closer than they were. A low growl emitted from the depths of the field somewhere past the cows, low and long like it was trying to sound threatening. Narrowing her eyes, the woman let her blue gaze rake over the grazing beasts until she thought she spotted something beyond them. Her stance lowered and she crouched to the ground slightly, drawing up the remaining water from her deerskin pouch and splitting it into several different arrowheads. With her other hand, she silently ordered Ancalagon to take to the sky and the bird did as he was told, flapping his wings once before taking off. She ordered him to go overhead of the beast and release a few thunderbolts, which caused her to fling the arrowheads in the direction of the dog. The first of the lightning bolts struck down on Orthus, causing the dog to let out a yelp of surprise and charge from the crowd of bulls and cows.

The second of the thunderbolts was aimed straight at the dog’s rump, slamming into the tail and causing a spark to roll over its body. This strike forced the dog to tumble to the ground, all 9 meters of its body being tossed down the hill and rolling straight for Kanix and her adoptive daughter. Instinctively, Kanix reached out her arms and forced the ice arrowheads to return to their liquid form and envelop the dog into a bubble. Her quick action allowed for the dog to be stopped in its track down the hill, where she then solidified the bubble and tossed it aside. It came crashing to the ground in an instant, causing Orthus to tumble again to the ground in a heap of pain and misery. Quietly, the beast weakly rose to its paws and turned to charge Kanix, it would open its mouth and fire off a series of earthen bullets. Seeing this beforehand, Kanix managed to narrowly dodge the flying bullets, only being skinned by a single one of them.

After this, the woman dashed forward and pulled moisture from the air in order to create another whip of water to use. However, as she flung this whip in the dog’s direction, half of the whip would freeze the second that it made contact with the skin. The iced part of the whip cracked against the dog’s fur and a burst of blood flowed out from a wound created on its leg. Taking the same whip, Kanix spun around on her heels, causing the whip to be sent in a different direction and stopping the dog from charging. Angered as it was, the beast would launch another attack at its opponent, sending a blast of poisonous air at Kanix’s face. Her staff, knowing that she would not be able to protect herself from the sudden poisonous attack, threw up a barrier around her. This allowed for the poisonous air to crash against the iced circle that enveloped Kanix, though it had received a small hole in itself.

Relaxing a bit from seeing that her staff wasn’t so much an issue with protecting her, Kanix drew up every ounce of moisture that she could from the air and the grass. With this, she was able to create an ice ramp that carried her around Orthus as she launched arrowhead after arrowhead at the beast. A wave of her hand was signal to Ancalagon for him to attack the unsuspecting dog, launching a blast of lightning at the canine. As soon as the bolt had come close enough, Kanix forced the arrowheads into a liquid state, allowing for the water to be a conductor. The lightning bounced over the dog’s pelt, first along the fur before it had managed to touch the water that covered the animal. Once it had done this, it coursed over the animal’s body, causing it to become paralyzed and to quickly drop to the ground. “Let’s get these cattle out of the field and back to the client,” Kanix called to Frey and silver, signaling to Ancalagon to do the same.

notes

Pellentesque sed dolor tellus. Quisque pharetra erat sit amet lacus accumsan mollis a eu justo. Sed eget nisl at neque dapibus faucibus vel non nibh. Nullam pulvinar, eros sed rutrum aliquet, elit arcu fringilla eros, nec viverra est est in turpis.