Despite Nifa's words, he kept his shirt on as he joined the others down there.
He gave a last minute advice.
" He said we can shoot at will, right? " asked Demelza, unsure whether to knock another arrow or not.
Eli and I were in a similar situation.
It was much easier to take Zephyr's cues, but hitting my very first few arrows did gave me some perhaps unearned confidence.
" Steady now, girls. " I took an arrow out of my quiver. A black feather one this time. " Just try distracting him for a while so the others can continue bleeding him. "
Demelza and Eli nodded and took aim as well.
At this point, thanks to Zephyr constantly taking and dogging Hori's attacks, allowing the captains to inflict some serious damage.
Hori's once grey skin now was almost unrecognizable and mostly purple from its shed blood.
I saw my husband keeping the entire battle under his control. He stepped in multiple times now to pull his brother's out of harms way. Mostly against Hori's husks, which were hard to doge close range.
Just as the beast seemed confused about where to attack next, I gave out my first attack order.
" Knock .. Release! "
I fully understood that our arrows won't penetrate this time, and as it bounced off against his thick hide, we reloaded and released another volley this time without a word.
Hori kept checking towards our location, trying to figure it out where exactly those pesky arrows came from .. but he didn't have a lot of time to ponder.
Carlos took position and created an extremely large body of water while the others kept stabbing and running around him.
Once, the ball in front of him looked big enough to fit the beast in .. he pushed it forward.
It was slow moving ..
Zephyr had time to prepare and lead Hori straight into it.
Once inside and enclosed, Carlos lifted the ball with the beast in it and showed serious signs of struggle.
We were holding our next red arrow in hand but had to wait for what would happen. Firing it now would only waste them.
Carlos held the ball as long as he could, but when dropped, we knew that wasn't nearly enough time to drown the divine beast.
In fact .. it made him very angry.
Instead of thinking of further strategy, he decided to run as fast as he could in a straight line towards my husband.
I wasn't afraid.
I think we all knew what would happen before it actually did.
Zephyr didn't move for a while.. then he disappeared and reappeared on top of Hori.
I saw it as if slow motion he touched his back with both hands while looking straight up ..
( BOOM )
The pair disappeared, and a distinct sound where the air filled their absence was loud enough to hear it, probably for miles.
We all kept looking up in the hopes of spotting them, but ..
Nothing.
I got spooked a little when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I knew it wasn't my Zephyr since his arrival was accompanied by the wind.
My face must've shown the disappointment I felt, but Nifa kept her smile on.
" Don't worry .. he probably just keeps him flying for a while. It's very much needed. " she pointed down towards the battlefield.
I saw our brave captains all on the ground doing their best to use the time Zephyr gave them.
I never saw anyone this exhausted as those people were down there, who, by the way, I knew for a fact trained harder than most men on the continent of Insatel.
" The battle will be long from the looks of this.. but the good news? " she picked up a piece of paper.
Eli tried to stop her while keeping her nose towards the sky.
" Maybe not right now, Nifa ..
Her painting showed Zephyr sitting on top of Hori looking up towards the ever blue sky as the beast was frozen mid roar .. he was half naked, but otherwise, the painting itself was the perfect description of what had just happened.
" That's .. umm ..
" Art! " she beamed.
" Art, it is my love. " Cintia stepped behind her. " But let her gather herself some more before we ..
( BOOM!!! )
The very ground underneath us shook, making us jump a little. Nifa even dropped her drawing, which unfortunately ended up facing down in the mud.
We immediately looked down .. but the boys were fine. Alarmed but perfectly fine.
In fact, Carlos started running towards the treeline.
I took off as well since I knew who exactly he saw landing over there. I ran past Manata as he probably came to get us.
The others were already waiting by the time I arrived.
I saw my husband sitting on top of a .. very dead looking divine beast. A beast formerly called Hori.
The Elephant King of the East was dead.
Its blood soaked the ground underneath colouring it a deep purple, its eyes turned white, and he was missing a husk on the left.
That husk was held by Zephyr.
" WOO HOO!!! "
Alex was the first who started celebrating, followed by the others once their brain was able to process that image.
I heard not so distant happy screaming as the girls neared us. I felt arms around my neck getting hugged from all sides.
Zephyr slid off the dead beast landing on his feet.
It was at this point when I knew we were finished here and allowed myself to appreciate the moment of our victory.
I turned around and hugged the girls back as we celebrated our very first hunt.
" Big brother .. " Lucian was lost for words as his knees gave out under him.
Eli was quick to jump on him despite his obvious fatigue.
Manata was the last to return, and once he understood what had happened, he plopped down as well, allowing himself some nervous laughter, which soon turned louder and louder.
Carlos, however, summarised the situation quickly enough.
" Zeph, this was .. much needed .. and much appreciated ..hey Zeph? Zeph!? "
I whipped my head around, hearing the fear in his voice.
Zephyr looked fine. He already walked closer with a small smile on his face ..
Except he didn't hold Hori's husk in hand like I previously thought .. Hori's husk was stuck in his arm. Once pulled out, a small stream of blood followed.
He let it fall on the ground and looked up apologetically.
" Oops .. "