The Girl with an Owl

Chapter 60

Unfortunately for Ajana, Bob was ready for her attack, especially having in mind that she hesitated to use all of the combined strength that Wallace and her possessed. After all, she was a healer, and it caused pain to a healer to try to hurt anyone, no matter how bad their actions were.

Bob managed to disperse Ajana's magic with one stroke of his hand as if he was swatting away a fly. The attack itself only seemed to make him more infuriated.

"I will not be defeated by a small girl, no matter who is standing by her side!" Bob exclaimed.

As he said that, he sent a slower, pressing force towards Ajana and Wallace, which met Ajana's shield pressing heavily on it. As the strength kept increasing, she found it more and more difficult to keep the power of dark energy produced by anger at bay.

Suddenly she could feel Bluebells by her side, and the need to protect him overrode anything doubts that she might have had about her strength. She started pushing off the oppressing darkness with renewed strength.

It was as if the need to protect more than one person was fueling her power, making her much stronger than she ever thought she could be. There was no place for fear, for doubt. All she knew was that she had to protect Wallace and Bluebells.

A huge ball of pain started growing in her forehead as she pushed the swirling darkness away from them. Although she was experiencing a headache stronger than any she had had before, she knew she could do it.

With all her might she pushed off, and all the depression, pain, and anger swirling in Bob's magic hit him back as if being reflected by a mirror.

However, having lived with those emotions for years, Bob wasn't hurt by their return. He stumbled back slightly only to recover moments later.

Ajana wasn't sure how much longer she could defend them and wondered why Wallace hadn't taken charge of the situation. She did feel him sharing his magic, his strength, with her, but to her young mind, it felt as if she was fighting the battle alone.

As if sensing her thoughts, Wallace shifted on her shoulder to be able to look her in the eyes.

"You can do this. You need to do this. I believe in you." He said in her mind.

Before she could answer anything, she saw Rex flutter down on Bluebell's back, and she was overwhelmed with protectiveness unrivaled by any she had felt before. It probably had something to do with his innocence and loyalty or the fact that he reminded her of her deceased dog. Whatever the case, she knew one thing for sure, no one would hurt him.

The rest of them had been through enough to lose some of that childlike innocence, but Rex was still the purest being Ajana knew, and even if she had to use the last ounce of her strength, she was determined to prevent any of Bob's darkness from touching him.

That was the reason she was more than ready for Bob's next attack. Not only did it bounce off the huge shield she had her friends under, but she also managed to take control of it, to change it.

Instead of the dark pool of emotions and frustrations that were sent their way, she shaped it into a figure of light. Soon enough, the figure started becoming more distinguishable to everyone's surprise.

Finally, what stood before Bob was the figure of his beloved wife.

Ajana had no idea how she made that happen. She had never even seen his wife.

The only possibility that came to her mind was that she somehow managed to see it through Bob's eyes, to pull the image out of the dark pool of his frustration. After all, his wife was the reason for everything, and when all the darkness fell away, she was all that was left.

"My love," Bob said as he fell to his knees.

Ajana let out a sigh of relief as Wallace flew off her shoulder, to take care of sobbing Bob. It was a relief to know that it was finally over, that she didn't even have to hurt anyone for it to be over.

Bluebells and Rex went to help Wallace while Ajana stood there, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself. The very idea of fighting with someone was too much for her, let alone having to do it.

Focused as she was on her inner turmoil, she didn't even notice the bloody figure staggering towards her until it was too late, until there was nothing she could do to stop him. She was like a deer in the headlights, just standing there waiting for her end to come with her eyes firmly shut.

When nothing happened for a few terrifying moments, she slowly opened her eyes only to see the bloody figure lying by her feet with her teacher Ruby standing over it.

"I told you that you are great at protecting others, but as I suspected terrible at protecting yourself," Ruby said.

"Ajana, are you okay?" Wallace rushed over.

"I took my mind off of you only for a second and then..." He said, sounding terrified.

It was the first she had heard him sound so scared so she hurried to reassure him.

"I am fine. Thanks to Ruby." Ajana said.

"I am in your debt," Wallace said, bowing his head to Ruby.

"Not at all, I had a feeling she might need my help, a witch's intuition, I guess. What is she even doing here, Wallace? Battlefield is no place for a young girl." Ruby said.

"It was the only way of ensuring we defeated Bob without anyone else getting hurt, including him." He said.

"Honestly, I heard what happened, and I wouldn't mind hurting him," Ruby said.

"It's not his fault Ruby, he was in so much pain, and we failed him. We failed to see that he needed our help. It's our fault as a community, for losing touch with each other, for not being closer with our fellow beings." Wallace said.

"I guess you might be right," Ruby said.

"So, you let me fight him alone to protect him?" Ajana asked.

"Yes. I am sorry. I know I should have helped." Wallace said.

"No, no, that's okay. I want to thank you. I don't think I would be able to forgive myself if he was hurt when I could have helped." Ajana said.

Wallace nodded his head as if he was hoping that would be her answer.

"I guess I better go take care of Bob. Rex and Bluebells have the task of guarding him, but I have a feeling they would much rather be here with you," Wallace said as he flew back to the trio under the tree.

"Ajana, you are okay!" Bluebells said, running towards her.

"Ajana. Okay. Rex. Happy." Rex said, flying into her.

They both crushed into her, and once again they turned into a crazy mess of hooves, wings, pages, legs, and arms. However, Ajana couldn't be happier.

She had her friends by her side, and they were all okay.

It was all she ever wished for and more since she was pretty sure that she could hear the sounds of battle fading away in the distance.

"Is it over?" She barely managed to ask from the heap on the ground.

"Yes, the Dark Elf who almost attacked you is the last one. The others are either asleep or captured." Ruby said.

"Well, that's a relief," Ajana said.

Then she joined Bluebells' giggling and tickled Rex's pages so that they were all just one big bundle of joy.