The Gift of Beauty | ONC2020

Chapter 9

Brandon felt a shock go through his arm as the panther crashed into his shield once more. He could feel its enormous claws scratch against the wood. He didn't think it would hold out for much longer.

"Rose, do something!" he shouted.

Rose cursed. "What do you want me to do, pull its tail?"

The panther growled, and struck the shield again. The wood creaked as the first gaps started appearing in the wood. It wouldn't be long now until the creature's nails would penetrate it. "Your ropes! Use your ropes!"

"I can't! You're too close, they would just bring that thing closer to you!" Rose said. "Wait, I might have an idea!"

The panther struck again and Brandon saw the tips of its nails poking through the shield. For now they hadn't struck near his arm, but he didn't think he'd be as lucky next time. Behind him the screams of the bird had gone on endlessly. Its cries were like that of a desperate child, and Brandon wanted nothing more than to hold it, and ensure it that everything would be okay.

But he couldn't. The moment he was to let go, the panther would take him down. He didn't stand a chance to fight him up close, not if he couldn't hold hide behind his shield. Rose was the only one that could save them, both of them. "Hurry!" he grunted.

Suddenly he heard a soft thud, and the panther's pressure on his shield lessened. With all the power he could still summon, he pushed his shield forward. The panther fell off to the side.

From the corner of his eyes, Brandon saw something fly. With another thud it hit the panther, who cried out in pain. One more thud, and the creature just... Disappeared.

Disappeared as if it was never there. There was a small cloud of smoke in its place, but it was quickly vanishing.

Brandon didn't have time to think about what he'd just seen. The bird! He quickly turned around. It was still on the ground where it had last seen it. It was no longer screaming. In fact, it wasn't doing much of anything. It had fallen asleep. Brandon couldn't blame the creature; the panther had tired him out as well.

Carefully he placed his hands around it and lifted it from the ground. The creature just kept sleeping, it probably didn't even notice it was now picked up. It was a stark difference from how scared it had been the first time Brandon had approached it. Apparently, he had won its trust.

"This is why you nearly let us get killed by a... Whatever that thing was?" Rose said. "It's just a bird."

Brandon shook his head. It wasn't just a bird. Those sounds it could make... There was nothing animal about those. "It was in danger, so I protected it. That's what nobles are meant to do; protect the weak."

Rose scoffed, but didn't answer. She didn't need to, Brandon knew exactly how most people felt about nobles. They had good reason for it too; many nobles didn't exactly act... noble. But Brandon took his standing seriously, both for creatures and for people.

"How did you end up scaring it away, anyway? I think I saw something fly towards it. Did you hit it with a fireball, or something?"

"You've read too many stories. Fireballs are actually very hard and time consuming to conjure," Rose said. She had a big grin on her face. "No, I threw a rock at it. A few rocks, actually."

Brandon started to laugh as well. "I guess that works too. I guess I just expected you to come up with something magical, like you did with the dragon. Magic isn't always the best solution, I suppose."

"Brandon," Rose said. The smile had completely disappeared from her face.

"What is it?" Brandon responded. But as he was talking, he saw what she meant. They had company.