A/N: I’m SO sorry I just let this story sit here. I’ve have issues with updating recently… and reviewing. I plan to make it all up as soon as I can. I’m so sorry. I’d especially like to apologize to Amarys. Dear, I love your story, and I plan to get caught up. I didn’t mean to fall this far behind. I swear I’ll review. You have my permission to pester me until I do. Also, to all my fellow sheroes who reviewed, thank you so much. I’ll try to update this more often.

Right, I’ve babbled enough. On to the story…

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Smoke stirred, the muffled sounds of shouting reached his sleeping mind, tugging him to wakefulness. The fire had been reduced to a pile of ashes. The bedrolls lay helter-skelter around the camp, and no one was about. Wherever they had gone, they had gone in a hurry. The youth got to his feet, his silver eyes scanning the tall grasses for any sign of his captors. He found none.

A sudden breeze swept another wave of shouting over the plain, bringing with it the scent of blood. Something was not right here. Smoke’s first impulse was to flee, to run back to Dragon while he had the chance. He had seen enough blood spilt, and he did not want to see more. Something stayed him, though. A still, small voice, “I can only hope you make the right decision,” it said in earnest. Smoke gnawed his lower lip.

“I can only hope I know what I’m doing,” he grumbled, and bolted off.

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Panther wielded her staff with expertise, brining it down over her attacker’s head with a sickening crack. She still was not sure what she was fighting. She had no real name for the gangling creatures mottled with coarse gold-brown fur, and slimy green skin. They were a horrid combination of cat and toad, and single-minded: kill.

Luckily, their single-mindedness made them easy opponents. Unluckily, they had sheer numbers on their side.

Without even giving their dead comrade a glance, four of the creatures rushed Panther. Three of them grappled for her staff, lashing out with their cat-like claws, and the last went dangerously unchallenged. It crouched on its haunches, muscles tensing, ready to spring.

Panther was helpless.

Suddenly, Smoke came charging up and full on tackled the slimy cat-creature, sending it flying. The grabbed one of the three others that were latched onto Panther’s staff and violently tore it away. The beast turned on him, slicing with its claws. It opened a deep gash in the youth’s cheek. Blood trickled over an unhappy Smoke’s chin. He seized either side of the creature’s head, and, in one swift movement, broke it’s neck.

In the meantime, Panther beat off her remaining two attackers. She turned to face her rescuer, and couldn’t help but stare when she saw it was Smoke.

He flushed under Panther’s onyx gaze, and put a hand over his bleeding cheek. “What are this things?” he blurted in a swift attempt at a subject change.

By way of response, Panther shrugged. “Coads?” she ventured, making up a name for them that reflected their anatomy.

Suddenly, a roar erupted over the din of Coad-speak and clashing weapons, and the biggest bear Smoke had ever seen reared onto its hind paws. The Coads leapt at it, but the beast knocked them away easily, tearing into them with tooth and claw.

A solitary Coad leapt onto Smoke’s back, clawing at him fiercely. Panther knocked it away. “This would be a lot easier if I had my Gift back,” Smoke said, trying to glance over his shoulder at the damage on his back.

Panther looked skyward. A white eagle screamed from the sky at a Coad, promptly depriving it of its eyes. “Eagle!” she shouted. Eagle jerked her head at Panther, who in turn jerked her head at Smoke. The bird took to the sky with a cry that carried more than simply sound. “You’re good to go,” Panther told him.

“It’s a good thing,” Smoke replied. At that moment, two Coads rushed at him from either side. The youth disappeared in a cloud of black smoke, and the two creatures collided in the spot where he should have been. He shifted human right next to them. “Ugly and stupid!”

Someone collided into him and Smoke reeled around, coming face to face with Wolf. “Oh,” Smoke sighed. “I thought you were a Coad.”

Wolf arched a brow. “A what?” The question that was next on his lips was ‘What are you doing here?’ but he never got the chance to ask it.

“Look out!” Smoke cried as a Coad tore him away from Wolf’s side. Another Coad that was easily the same size as Bear in animal form was coming their way. It dove over its fellow Coads, heading straight for Wolf. It was all happening so fast, all he could do was throw his hands up to protect his face from the flashing claws.

Smoke finally bested his attacker and whirled around in time to see sapphire blue light tear through the air and strike the gigantic Coad. The creature erupted into flame and was reduced to ashes in seconds.

For a split second, everyone went still. No one even dared to breathe. Suddenly, as though the whole of what had just happened sunk in, the Coads erupted into an awful din that was somewhere between that of a screeching cat and a croaking toad and fled the scene.

Wolf just stood there and stared at his hands.

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A/N: Sorry about the short chapter, but I liked the cliffhanger ending. Right, I have like fifty-bazillion reviews to catch up on, so I’m outa here. Until chapter 8!