Things you never thought you'd say...

<snip>
“Jaxx?” she called, her voice an intrusion in the night
For a moment, there was no reply until the waters suddenly erupted in a frenzy of black tentacles, several of which streaked out to coil wetly around her legs; hauling her off her feet and onto her back to begin dragging her, screaming, into the water.
</snip>

Jamie let go of the vine, stopping his swing and landing on a thick branch. His bow was strapped to his back, a makeshift quiver with a few arrows in it, and a reasonably large knife in a sheath around his belt. A trickle of blood ran down the side of his face, drying now, which was a good sign. What he couldn't tell though, was if it was his, or someone elses.

He changed direction, and swung on a new vine, staying off the ground. He knew he was getting close to the source of the call, but he swore it was Cass' voice, and calling for Jaxx... Something wasn't right here.

Naturally, he had bolted when Jay called for everyone to get out of there. His bow was no match for a battle-mech, and he would have tried hard to be the first to admit that... though anyone would have said the same.

"Bows and arrows against the lightning..." He said to himself, quoting an ancient book. The only chance he'd had to take one of the mechs out wasn't entirely his doing. He'd seen Jay on the bike, spraying up mud from one of his low level manoeuvres. It had coated the front of a smaller mech, and the obviously inexperienced pilot opened up to see what he was shooting.

That's where a bow can take out a battle mech.

Then, he stopped and looked down, to find the source of the scream.

He unstrapped his bow, knocked an arrow and pulled back, just as Cass was about to hit the water level. She was scrabbling at the rocks that littered the edge of the pond, pulling them out and unable to make any firm purchase. This was its favoured hunting ground.

He loosed it.

"Get free, now. You don't have long!" He called down, watching as Cass scrabbled away, now able to make headway up and away from the water without the black, shiny tentacles pulling her back.

As soon as she was safely far enough away from the pool, he slid down the tree to join her.

"Are you ok?" he asked, putting his bow down

She looked up at him, and noted the blood stain on his face.

"You're not going feral again are you?"

"No. That's a defense mechanism. I can't do it when I'm not in immediate danger." Jamie replied. This place was his element.

"What was that thing?" Cass asked.

"I never came up with my own name for it. The Ssala call it *unintelligible garble* but I never saw enough of them to make my own name."

"Ok. *unintelligible garble* it is." Cass said, showing off that she'd learned the basic sounds of the language the last time she was here.

"So. You were calling for Jaxx?..."

<tag. :) >