[Silence unsettles his nerves. Seconds tick by. Moments feel like minutes; interrupted by a whistle of wind that slams into shale and shatters stone. The arrow - Jasper recognising the sound for what it is - clatters against the rocky ground. Hairs spring up along his neck. His spine jolts at the impact of the stray arrow embedding in bark. Nerves long forgotten as a monster doing work at last.
His eyes dart through the undergrowth; hawkish in spotting every abnormal detail. Unnatural shapes breaking the outline of a tree. Faces staring with human intelligence and greed. Faces because he indeed spots that second man amongst an adjacent tree. Humans showing animalistic instincts to frighten and kill without possessing the nobility of any beasts but rats. His heart pounds within his chest, pumping blood and provoking nerves.
The sight leaves no time to think. Fingers stretch and release the drawstring; thoughts disperse in alarm and he vanishes from sight. The arrow shoots through dark flames that dissipate quickly, clattering against the cliff face.
His shape reappears amongst the trees one second later. Fingers unclench and spread while he draws back his right hand and releases an electrostatic discharge of ball lightning that strikes the first man in the back and knocks him clear out the tree.
Onto his face? A broken nose? He cannot see through the shrubbery but he hardly cares. That's one man less to target Stephen, at any rate.]
no subject
His eyes dart through the undergrowth; hawkish in spotting every abnormal detail. Unnatural shapes breaking the outline of a tree. Faces staring with human intelligence and greed. Faces because he indeed spots that second man amongst an adjacent tree. Humans showing animalistic instincts to frighten and kill without possessing the nobility of any beasts but rats. His heart pounds within his chest, pumping blood and provoking nerves.
The sight leaves no time to think. Fingers stretch and release the drawstring; thoughts disperse in alarm and he vanishes from sight. The arrow shoots through dark flames that dissipate quickly, clattering against the cliff face.
His shape reappears amongst the trees one second later. Fingers unclench and spread while he draws back his right hand and releases an electrostatic discharge of ball lightning that strikes the first man in the back and knocks him clear out the tree.
Onto his face? A broken nose? He cannot see through the shrubbery but he hardly cares. That's one man less to target Stephen, at any rate.]