Heist

Chapter 1
The first march

1.

"Its imperative we make no mistakes, there can't be a piece of jewellery or feather left behind. If its discovered that a Black Air Raider was involved, the repercussions will ripple across to all Black Air Raiders in the whole of Enduku. It will eventually come back to our special division.
'Warchief, Destiny Dew Day will personally cut our wings off and mount them upon her walls" Heather Dlomo said to her band of soldiers.
She'd never met the Warchief, the most powerful Black Air Raider and their queen. None of the others had too but the old woman had the most fearsome of reputations between the leaders of the four Black Air Raider monarchies.
Heather circled her group, her twin blankets of wings raised up reaching the length of her own body. Her own wings were both a clear white and jet black naturally divided to give the look of black flames on a white sky.  They twitched making the hundreds of feathers ripple creating an inferno of activity before they folded back against her back ticking her shoulders. "We sleep,” She ordered.
Heather turned to the two nearest Black Air Raiders, “Lindi, Qondile, first watch, second Nomonda, Sarah, third Shoki, Mags, I do the morning shift. We must be leaving soon, I want to reach the Rocky Road before those monkey firsts."

2.

Fury Windrake dipped her hands deep into the waters of Pinehurst Falls. Her large ape like hands pulled up a wide pool of water, she gazed at her reflection eyeing the condition of her wide grey side burns and the arrow of grey hair that pointed past her forehead to the bridge of her nose. Disappointment marked itself on her reflection spoiling the straight flow of her light caramel skin. She drank slowly, taking in the sweet taste of the Pinehurst waters.
She hadn't crossed these lands since she was sixteen. Nothing had changed, the land looked as untouched as it had since her 'legal' soldier days. Two others walked up behind her, making her back stiffen and the hairs on the back of her neck rise.
Calming herself she threw the what was left of the water in her hands over her face with her mouth open before spitting the water out.

"Light a fire, cook the remaining meat we have. We need to store the fruit we have as this will be the last fire for a few days." Fury said looking into the night sky. There was no moon out tonight, marking the first night of the twenty second Moon*. The moon's end would make it the third year since she'd seen her family. The fifth year since her group had represented their tribes and kings within the Ibala territory. A thought which always weighed heavily on their heads, though not nearly as much as exhaustion.
Fury looked back at her group, there were nine of them behind her. Seven of them were woman in their twenties like her with her being the oldest at twenty five. The two men were the odd ones in the group with them being slightly over two meters tall and quite literally twice as thick Winter, who was the smallest and youngest in the group at eighteen.
The group stood in a semi circle around Fury, waiting. She filled her hands once again and drank slowly, savouring the sweet taste of the water on her tongue as she swirled it around from cheek to cheek before swallowing mouthful after mouthful. She was looking for something, any objects, any tastes that should not have been there, but that was something she couldn't find. She opened her hands letting the pool drop back into the water with a splash.
She barked giving a harsh and sharp grunt, more animal then anything else. The group surged forward and entered the water with Winter throwing herself into the waters. Blade, their biggest, male grunted angrily at Winter flashing twelve centimetre long fangs. Winter stared back at Blade and flashed back her own fangs which were only a fifth of Blade's own.

*There are 22 months in a year, each alternating between 68 days and 70 days, with the exception of 9th moon(66 days) and the  final moon of the year the 22nd moon(73 days)

"Winter, your in charge of the fire I said needed to be built."
Winter smiled, fixing her tunic which clung tightly to her caramel skin. "Its already been lit," she said beaming, her voice light and soft in comparison with Fury's.
"The meat out?" Fury asked.
"I already took it out, I made a stew from the bones of the goat we caught, the meat is around it." Winter chirped, she beamed at her own initiative. 
Fury stared at Winter with suspicion. "Winter?" she began slowly. "I want to know, what water did you use?"
Winter's bright and young Mahogany eyes seamed to cloud for a moment before realisation dawned on her and her eyes fell."I-I-”
"Used our remaining water before I tested the river's water. Winter, have you ever been to this territory?"
"No"
"If this water had been poisoned what would your solution have been?" Fury asked. Winter looked to the waters, and remained silent. "That's precisely what I thought"
Blade dug his hands deep into the river waters and pushed litres of water up into the air splashing Winter with so much water it made her choke and splutter. "You lose your privileges until we reach the next river for putting us at risk they way you did. Fill our water bottles, then check the goat's fur is still in good condition. I want to sell it before we reach our meeting point."
Winter looked completely shattered, only her appearance of shattered out weighed the appearance of shattered any other woman could achieve. Her big baby eyes which made her look far younger than she was fell, her young, and taut features  slackened dramatically. Even her arrow hair dropped slightly with her frown, going so far as turning ever so slightly if one caught it.
It broke Fury's heart whenever Winter pulled such a face. Fury growled softly and turned to Sabre, the taller one in their group of girls.
"Sabre, watch the food, I'm going to sleep," she pointed to Blade "Blade come. Sabre, look after things and" Fury hesitated at this moment. "and you, Winter can get to stay in the water until we all eat but someone must keep an eye on you. No eyes, no water. Blade I'm waiting."
Fury sat up with her legs together, Blade stood and walked up to her. He lifted her up in his arms and turned away from the rest of the group. Fury put an arm around his neck and stroked his head with gentle hands.
Chapter 2
Preparations and duties

1.


Morning light rained down on the heart of Emadlageni, running through Emadlageni's heart was the Farmers Walkway, a dirt road used by goat farmers and traders which ran on continuously through six territories.
Exactly in the centre of the road at a quick trotting pace moved a large blue carriage. The carriage had gold trimmings creating a dark feel despite the bright shine of gold against the morning light. On it moved with a score of men running next to it, everyone of them were layered in bright mail before being topped with steel plating and helmets, there were at least thirty of them guarding the carriage. There were ten marching on each side and two pairs running behind. The rest sat on top of the carriage, their weapons out and suspicion. Etched upon their harsh stares. Their pace was fast and strong. Determination filled each step, duty kept their speeds constant. Their weapons gleamed against their holsters, their eyes were focused, eyeing the road ahead.
They were seventeen days away from their goal and only fourteen days away from the last day of their lives.

2.

In the lands far across, Heather woke up from the trance her sword sharpening routine put her in. Nomonda was standing in front of her and she hadn't noticed. Which took her by surprise, she chided herself and stared at Nomonda.
"What is it?"Heather asked.
"I made more dye from coal I found." She said.
Heather nodded. She looked over her shoulder to Lindi who was massaging Heather's wings which were pointed backward surrounding Lindi like twin curtains. Between Lindi's legs sat a helmet filled with a black liquid which she poured over Heather's wings, individually soaking each feather, turning her wings to a pure black.
"Who still needs their wings dyed?" Heather asked.
"Only you and Shoki have yet to dye their wings." Lindi said.
"Heads?" Heather asked turning to Nomonda.
"My own, Mags and Sarah" Nomonda said touching her short curly blonde hair.
Heather sighed. "We have appearances to make and little time to make it, get a helmet and I'll work with you but spread the die so Shoki, Mags and Sarah have enough. Make sure Qondile helps them." Heather ordered.
Nomonda nodded and disappeared.
Heather stabbed her blade, a wide C shaped blade most commonly associated with Black Air Raiders, into the ground and started the sharpening process again. Sparks flew with each run she made as she slide her rock down. "Lindi" heather began.
"Yes Maam" Lindi replied.
"How long have you been away from the needle point?"
"Its my second year maam." Lindi said quickly.
Heather chuckled, mostly to herself. "The second year is hardest for those who survive the first away from home. You know its called the determination" She paused there and faded slowly.
"The determination maam?" Lindi asked, waking Heather up.
"The determination to do great, You'll do your worst here until, maybe the second half of your second year, you'll get better again, for you maybe the eighteenth moon, but only because I'm giving you such a hard start.
"That's still a long time away for my ability to be cut down to nothing as you say it will." Lindi said quickly.
"Don't worry your abilities have most likely already started to wane, but because your a part of the special Division it will show much slower. You know about the frog and the boiling water?"
At that moment Nomonda returned holding a copper helmet. The weapon was copper but had none of the bright shine of reflected sunlight instead it took sunlight in. Nomonda rested her head between heather's legs and Heather started pouring the black liquid and washing her head. "What's The frog and boiling water?" Lindi asked.
Heather laughed when she heard Nomonda groan.
"Ah I see I've let this story run on for a little too long haven't I? Nomonda, you enlighten Lindi."
"Yes maam, I would like nothing more," She lied.
"Except for a way out of this story," Heather said grinning.
"Would never pass on the opportunity, Lindi do you know what a frog is?" Nomonda asked
"No I can't say I do" Lindi said shrugging.
"That's okay they live on the ground, I'm not surprised you do not know, they are wet, slimy green things which live on the edge of rivers and lakes like algae. Except its an animal not a plant."
Heather could feel Lindi nodding her understanding from behind her back, only they were all facing forwards, yet again that morning Heather found herself wondering exactly how special division soldiers were chosen.
"Well these creatures, if you drop them into boiling water, they jump,"
"You cook them?" Lindi asked, she sounded stunned and disgusted, Heather bit her lip to keep from letting out a chortle.
"Yes but no, I mean you can cook them, every Black Air Raider who's heard the story from Heather has tried it, but they do not taste very good, they need their own weight in seasoning before they start tasting like proper meat, but that is besides the point. As a rational creature would, it jumps out of the boiling water but, if you place the frog in cold water and slowly boiling the water, it'll just keep sitting until it dies."
"Its a metaphor, in this particular case for your skills, their the frog, this windless plane forsaken by our gods is the pot. If I shoved the tip of the blade threw your hand and you shot an arrow, your shooting would be uncomfortable, weak, distracted and ultimately inaccurate. This would cause you to seek solutions, bounds, magicians, herbalists, extra training, rehabilitation. But as your skills fade over months and months and months you don't notice until its too late and you wont understand what happened or how it happened and you do nothing to fix yourself, after all you don't know how or what went wrong. You start thinking simple shots that you could do in your sleep that you can't take now were shots you never could take." Heather said, with no hint of humour at all.
The way Lindi was dying her wings changed, her hand was starting to shake. Heather grinned, glad she couldn't be seen by Lindi or Nomonda.
Many Black Air Raiders didn't fear death, all Black Air Raiders feared weakness.

"There's a way to keep safe from it. Heather said biting her lip to keep from laughing, between her legs Nomonda was frowning down her own laugh.
"What is it?" Lindi asked, the blatant desperation nearly put Heather over the edge, Heather had to put her legs against Nomonda's head and pressed hard to keep Nomonda from laughing.
"Why do you want it?" Nomonda asked. "Losing some of your skill is not that important, it will eventually come back."
"Because I need to be my best at all times, maam"
"Don't refer to me as maam, that's the name for the team leader," Nomonda said quickly.
"I'm sorry Nomonda,"
"You're forgiven," Heather said quickly. "Now, what's your reason for being 'the best'?”
"Because the special division is a part of my family work, from the earliest members of my family's generation, we've been a part of the Black Air Raider special division, mainly the demolition groups."
"But when I pulled you, you were in the assassination division." Heather said forgetting the joke for a moment.
"I'm too small for the Demolition team, I mean imagine me lifting weight my own size up past the tiny carpet of clouds into army ranks." she said with a laugh.
Silence washed through the entire group, only the sounds of rustling leaves surrounded them, somewhere a creature roared. It was far away in the distance yet audible amongst them. Lindi looked around and found that all heads had turned to her. She gaped.
"Do you think less of the demolition Special division?" Heather asked, there was a feral tone in her voice.
"No maam, of course not." Lindi said quickly, her own tone heightening. 
"Do you really think yourself too weak for the demolition squad but strong enough for any of the others? Especially the assignation division?" Wild game would have run away from the viscous intent in her tone at this point.
"No maam, please," Lindi cried out.
"Calm down.” Heather sighed, calming down quickly herself, “Nomonda, you're done, lets get our bags ready,"
"Swords out?" Nomonda asked hopefully.
"No absolutely not, we clean and hide everything, armour in its place, swords in its place within immediate pulling range, bows should have already been in place. Once everything is done I'll do an inspection, I'll get the outfits ready so long. The town of Lumber House is a day away at least and collected wisdom dictates there's a festival welcoming the beginning of the new year. We haven't met anyone yet but there should be people coming in from all roads soon, we need our names set up. What's the name of our travelling troop?" Heather asked pointing to Nomonda.
"The Sky Ram Merry Makers" Nomonda barked out before going back to brushing out the black muck from out her helmet. Heather dug her hand into her hair, her once soft dreadlocks were rock hard, rigid and by the feel of it pointing in all directions. She was grateful for the lack of still water or mirrors in the area. The rest of the group didn't look much better, but at least all their hair looked the part. Everyone's hair was pitch black very much like the hair of the Black Air Raider group, the true Merry Makers.
Heather, who had actually met the Merry Makers knew the group looked nothing like the originals. But the smaller details didn't matter, if a person were questioned on their appearances, what would stick out would remain on the mind, all women group, yes, All black wings, yes, all black hair, yes, no weapons, maybe, faces? Not likely at all, especially over time.
Unfortunately, the only good plan is the plan that's already succeeded. Heather's eyes turned to Qondile who's hair looked as though it was stuck in a wind storm and frozen in time.
"Qondile, what's my name, what's Lindi's name?" Heather asked.
Qondile looked up and dropped her helmet from between her knees to salute, which meant standing up straight and raising the back half of her wings up and pointing the second half past the joint to the ground. "Maam you are Night, Nomonda is Dawn, so Lindi is Evening."
"I never asked for Nomoda's name." Heather/Night snapped.
"Apologies maam," Qondile said relaxing again.
"Sarah, what's Twilight's instrument, point Twilight  out."
Sarah who'd been organising her weapons by laying them out on the floor at the perfect gaps from each other before she handed out her armour, she had the typical light Black Air Raider shield, which was thin and circular with a leather interior. She had wing mail made from spider silk, the most expensive wing armour there was, body plating including leggings, a breast plate, a collar and a helmet. Sarah broke away from her routine and saluted, she pointed to Shoki, "Shoki or Twilight, doesn't play an instrument, only Day, Dawn.” Heather nodded, she looked to Mags.
Mags, who'd already tied up her bag, rolling the metal items so they never jingled once inside. She gave a salute, her hair was nothing more than fuzz so it looked better than the others.
"Maam I am morning! I am the second lead dancer behind Lindi for two of the seven routines we created! Your position is head for two routines while being last and third lead for all the others. Maam!" Mags/Morning
"Lindi, give the names of those unmentioned so far, who is our lead speaker and second lead?"
"Qondile is Day maam, You are the lead speaker and I am the second." Lindi said loudly.
"Good, for now, Mags you look ready, everyone else line up for inspection, I give you exactly ten seconds."
Heather counted down quickly and sharply till she reached zero Sarah barely made it in time. Heather pretended not to notice, there was little time to be fooling around.
Heather looked to her own bag first, the bag was large and heavy and rolled into three buns, which had been tied together in tight knots. She tested her bag and it held, she felt under the bottom of the bag and found the hilt of her sword. Satisfied, she moved to Nomonda, she looked around each bag searching their bags, pulling and hitting them to see if any weapons or armour jingled or showed, she made a point case of hitting the bags hard to see if any of the girls toppled, to her relief none of them did.
Satisfied, she patted Lindi, the last in line, on the shoulder and looked to the sky, it was seven hours till noon, leaving a good gap before they would reach Lumber House, which was at least a full day away. A good flying distance, but which was out of the question, they needed to keep their cover.
Even if she did permit flying, her wings felt as though they were made of lead, it felt unimaginable to consider moving them, let alone using them to fly in this dry heat, in this part of the world a wind to fill her wings was an event bigger than the beginning of the new year. The lands were so devoid of strong currents of winds, it was impossible not to find a Black Air Raider who wasn't naturally depressed.
"Everything off, we're on our last phase," She said
They threw off their bags and started pulling off their tunics and robes while Heather pulled out a large clay jar  filled with tiny jars of paint.

Chapter 3
The River Bank

1.

Mogale Central's borders lay before Fury in the form of a river, too large and too wide to cross with any kind of ease. At the two banks of the river, there was something which put her off. That something being nothing. There was only grass and Sandhills held together by the grass's roots, there wasn't much of a bank as far as she could see.
"We should move on until we find a bridge." Fury said, turning down the path.
"Why, the trees on both sides are close enough for us to jump from." Brook asked.
Fury looked up into the sky, the trees of Mogale Central were large but not particularly large. The trees were a meter or more thick. The lower hanging branches didn't look to have much strength to them, they would have to cross one at a time and even then, there was nothing but air between the one tree and the others on the opposite side of the river.
Though, on the other side the trees were in far better climbing condition, they were the right type of tree. Similar to the type she had grown up with, the smallest tree had to have a diameter of three to four meters. The rest were considered by the people of the Black Thorn as Forever Trees, they were the type with ring lines the thickness of a fist, a human fist anyway, more numerous than people could count. Cutting them had a knack of costing more, in tools, than it would in wood.
Without a doubt a safe landing waited for them them on the other side. She looked back at her comrades, to her disappointment they looked game for the opportunity to risk their lives, as if their very lively hoods weren't dangerous enough as it was, if there was one thing daredevils, soldiers and mercenaries did not do was take risks, not when there were other choices. It was bad enough the two males in their group weren't in charge, especially considering how large and over bearing both Blade and Ferry were. The two of them were particularly game. Fury smiled, it brightened the mood, though not hers. She faked as much of a brightened mood as she could.
"Good idea Brook, jump first, followed by Winter, then Ferry will follow, then Sabre, Ashley, Sheila, Hydra, myself, Hawk and finally Blade will go last.
The group was not happy with it, she could tell by the awkward stares and shuffling. "What?" she asked caving.
"Fury, why must I go second? shouldn't I go first?" Winter asked.
"Why?" Fury asked, crossing her arms, which considering the size of them took a level of manoeuvring.
"Because I'm the lightest. Shouldn't I go first?"
"That's a reason for you to go last, not first, do not question my logic, Brook is my most talented tree jumper, if not tree climber. If she can not jump none of us can, also you, Winter, go second because you are the lightest and easiest to pull out of the water if the branch work fails, also" She added, feeling momentum gaining as all eyes fell intently on her. "If that branch losses its strength and breaks when Ferry climbs, I want Brook to have aid on the other side Nyandeni is IiHagu territory. The IiHagu eat our kind."
“What's Winter going to do if there's trouble?" Ferry said with a snort. Fury ignored him, too much time had passed for Fury's liking. Midday had passed two hours ago, it didn't leave much time to them walking their way threw Nyandeni before stopping to rest.
"Brook, take some of Ferry's armour, Winter take his other bags we'll be watching."
They worked quickly with Winter working faster as if spurned on by Ferry's words. Curious thoughts swirled around in Fury's head and were given dimension and colour by her imagination. She looked to the waters with suspicion. The rivers reminded her of crocodile dens, only proper crocodile dens, or kill zones as she preferred to call them, were generally teaming with life, deer, Bushbuck, buffalo, cows and even the real big game, the elephants the three horns and bigger. They knew the danger of drinking from a crocodile kill zone but didn't stop because, although drinking from those water holes would get some animal killed, thirst would get every animal killed.
Yet not here, the day was a hot one, something should have been enjoying the waters,  even with the speed of the current. Why was there nothing?

Both girls found themselves  a sturdy branch to hang on to, their shoes were off exposing leathery tanned feet which were not nearly as large as their hands. Their hands wrapped themselves on many smaller branches, holding them in bunches. Brook made her way forwards on the branch and she sunk lower with every step she took.
Brook was at the end of the branch when she finally stopped, she reached down with one hand and snapped the branch marking how far she felt she could go. They all watched her with dread and envy. She was low on the branch, so low she was only a meter above their heads before she turned back. She let out a roar and broke into a sprint, she was no longer holding any branches, instead she extended her arms and fingers gliding across the branches like a child holding a rail while sprinting down a stairway.
She jumped sinking low and blasting off across to the other side clearing the gap with a playful ease. She kicked out at the thick meaty branches which threatened to injure her as she passed them before she grabbed a younger branch which sank her lower before she grabbed a younger branch which sank her to ground level before shooting her back up higher, she let out barks of pleasure as she jumped from branch to branch using her hands and feet.
Winter didn't linger, Brook's feet had cleared a path of wood thick enough to hold both her feet with her toes just coming off the edge. Unlike Brook who had not sprinted so much as give a high speed hybrid between hopping and dancing, Winter gave a genuine headlong sprint. She jumped at the very end.
The river waters swirled and turned to mud, Fury caught sight of it and stared. Alarm hit at Fury's chest like a spear stopping her heart. The water sunk and swirled a little more before the current brought it back to its original flow. Winter, who'd clearly seen something the others hadn't screamed in a rather undignified ,human, manner before catching her a branch and swinging to the ground. There was a splash. Winter had dropped Ferry's bag and had dropped to the ground before jumping down and fishing it out.
Ferry roared a roar that would have surprised most lions.  To Fury's utter surprise the roar came from up the tree. Ferry was already manufacturing a path on the jumping branch, making the branch look small in comparison to him, he jumped early, throwing his whole body into the move, swinging his arm up for momentum.
Quite a few different things happened at the same time. Ferry let out a roar of surprise as the waters beneath him churned and exploded upwards.
The rest of the group screamed and Fury pulled back on the bow string of Reign, the name of her oldest weapon, a meter and a half longbow as wide a weapon would allow before it became nothing more than a log with string attached, it was thick enough to fill her hand. An arrow the size of a small harpoon was aimed at the massive black and grey lizard creature, it was big enough to swallow Ferry whole.
The creature's head was as large as the rest of its body and almost half as long, it had large flat legs the feet weren't webbed but somehow the legs looked webbed instead. It reminded her of a string ray which had swallowed a shark as wide in size and had taken it's jaws for itself.
Fury hesitated before shooting, Ferry was reacting. He'd dropped his fists down and managed to swing his body, he punched its upper lip and managed to grab enough skin to pull him self up its head. She lost sight of him,the last thing she saw of him before he disappeared was him vertical across it.
She took her shot.
The arrow whizzed through the air and sunk into where she only hope the head really was. There was a piercing screech and it sunk back below the waters. Its submergence appeared complete. Fury felt sick just thinking about exactly how deep the river waters were. The waters churned creating a whirlpool in the heart of the river. They watched the small whirlpool in the heart of the river. They watched the small whirlpool spin on and on, then it started moving toward her side of the river bank.
She wasn't the first person from her collection who started running, a good leader never ignored a good plan when it was presented. Actions spoke louder than words, so she marked her approval by making a dash for it too.
The whole group followed suit, even Ferry, Winter and Brook were running on the opposite bank too. The entire group ran as if they'd only read about running in books as they struggled to open their bags to arm themselves, close their bags then carry on running.
Blade was running ahead and had started leaving the the girls behind, on the other side Ferry was doing the same, Fury felt her eyes rolling in her mind.
The whirlpool had disappeared but had been replaced by a sunken dome, filling up half the river's waters. It kept pace with them so easily.
Up ahead Fury made out what looked like a bridge. The grove in the waters expanded and sped up. Fury recovered and threw her bag deep into the bushes. She sped and over took Blade, they all copied her. Fury stopped running and aimed. She fired into the waters and pulled another arrow. The waters calmed and everyone on their side of the bank slowed.
"Ferry! Get to the trees. Blade ran with the others cross the bridge"
Something about the situation made her feel that it wasn't over. She had only three arrows with her, the rest were in her bag. With an arrow ready she waited, taking it slow but heavy steps back, being sure to stomp her foot every time.
The waters churned once again, turning the waters murkier then they had been a moment ago, there was a suction action before her, the water level dropped on her side and rose on the other.
That changed very quickly as the waters on her side bulged and burst, water filled her view, casting a shadow over her. Fury lost her nerve and turned to run, it all happened so fast she didn't get much of a chance to turn, sandy waters blinded her left eye and soaked her left side, she reached for a tree branch while attempting to jump the move was awkward and awful, humans could have hopped higher.
By pure luck she caught a few branches and pulled with all her might. Half of them snapped but a few held and using her one arm she rocketed herself upwards, it wasn't enough, not enough to keep her from it touching her or for its mouth covering her but her bow was enough to block it for closing its mouth.
It crashed to the floor and slithered after her but she was in the trees now. She pulled herself up into the trees and swung herself in a circular arch, swinging herself up and let go, floating up into air, being constantly berated by twigs, branches and leaves.
The clothes on her body, the fur on her knuckles and skull cushioned the hits until a high branch threatened to bring her momentum to a sudden and excruciating halt, she tilted herself down and caught the branch only to swing herself in a loop before letting go, bringing herself down like a missile.
She'd unsheathed her sword, the Inquindi sword/spear, cleaver. The weapon's hilt was dense and the blade slightly curved. The blade was also dense and as long as the hilt, making it as long as a spear but at least twice as heavy. She held it tightly by the bottom and lifted the weapon high over her head, high enough that it touched her back.
Murder and Fury were evident in her eyes. She roared, the roared was deep and visceral, it rang between the river beast's sheer screams as the beast flailed from left to right, sinking back into the river with her still attached.