In the morning, we ate pancakes that Emily’s mom had made us and set off for the park. We happened to run into Jason and Seth half way and at the same time watched a pole freeze in the middle of July.
You don’t get to see that every day, which usually meant there was a monster involved.
Jason, Seth and Emily saw it too because I was chasing after them as we all ran for the few trees ahead. In a few seconds I had a complete view of the culprit. And strange enough it was a frost beast.
Frost beasts are the cutest monsters you’ll ever see. They’re the size of medium dogs and their pelts are a light, icy blue. They may be cute but if you don’t watch out, they could easily be the most dangerous monsters around. Don’t let them breath on you, or you’ll freeze to death. Literally.
The frost beast whimpered at me, showing me the cutest eyes imaginable. I wanted to melt and hug him but I knew better not to fall victim to its trick. I drew a single arrow and aimed it at its throat. I didn’t want to kill it, but I knew if I didn’t, it would kill me without a second thought.
Frost beasts don’t appear until the end of fall and into winter. They love the cold and can’t stand the heat. That’s why I knew something was wrong right away, because it shouldn’t have been here. It was against its nature and when nature goes wrong, that’s a big sign. I pulled back on the string but Emily ran forward and shot fire. The beast simply opened its mouth and breathed. What was a shot of fire was now a single icicle that landed on the ground in front of it.
Instead Jason came forward and attacked with his knives. The beast froze the first few into harmless ice cubes but finally went down when one got past its defenses. Behind his body appeared seven Thrashers and many more Frost beasts.
It was like a monster reunion.
I’ve never seen so many in one place before. A Thrasher pack had at least six or seven but there must have been more than ten monsters total. It was scary. Right then, right at that very moment, I knew something was terribly wrong.
They all stopped in front of us, all those pairs of angry eyes staring at us. They made me confused, from the warm feeling the Frost Beasts gave me to the cold feeling the Thrashers inflicted.
They exchanged some sort of signal, including grunts and yips, and slowly advanced on us. The dogs stalked toward the four of us looking like a animals about to attack their prey. The cute look was gone and all that was left was hunger.
The dog nearest to me jumped at my chest and landed on my stomach. I managed to push it down before it breathed on me. My legs froze in place.
“Emily I need some defrost.” I called to her as the cold seeped through my pants and bit at my skin.
Emily turned her head and was about to reply when the dog caught her robe. She spun around, shooting fire and completely forgetting my cry for help. At the same time my dog attacker pushed me to the ground, freeing my legs for me.
“Get off me mutt.” I growled at his face.
He stared down at me, debating whether or not to freeze me right away. That was his mistake because while he was waiting, I had brought my hunting dagger down on him.
I stood up and shook the heavy body off. I didn’t even have time to breath before one of the Thrashers decided that they would like to have a taste of me. I decided that I didn’t want to be shredded like some old rug, so I moved out of his path.
That was the worst mistake I made, without even realizing it.
At the same time another Thrasher was heading in my direction, and by moving out of the way from the first one, I had placed myself in the path of the second one.
It slammed into my side at such a great force I tasted blood in my mouth, when I hit the ground. Then I felt pain, saw blood, and then nothing at all.
Chapter 4
Fall of Igneeria: The Half-ling Page 5