"Lord! We have torches in the cabin. If we can light them, then we could get a better view of our surroundings," Resven called out, his eyes still looking around vigilantly.

"It draws their gaze, though. A torch is a beacon," Telarin replied, nodding.

"Aye, better light than dark. Good call—move!" Bramm nodded, leading the group to the cabin.

’Telarin may be able to keep the beast at bay with his shield and his armor, but me and Resven are more vulnerable. Resven has his armor, but he wields a warhammer, im... not even wearing armor and my axe isn’t exactly the best protection, now is it...’

Resven knew where to look, and not long after, he returned. Two torches are lit up.

"Put them on the wall casings, take the porch! Telarin takes the front side, Resven, you and I take his flanks."

Hurriedly completing the task, the three men took their positions on the porch. Weapons blazed, ready for battle.

"The beasts have bone spur tails for their main weapon, they don’t like head on confrontation and would rather surround us and use their tails to nip at us until we are exhausted. At least now we can cover our backside." Bramm hurriedly relayed the information he knew about the beast to the two men.

’This isn’t the best of space for a two-handed axe... but my hatchet is down at the firecamp. This will have to do. Gazing around Bramm’s eyes settled on Resven, ’He should probably be alright, the lynxes don’t have a good hide for protection, it’s just... he won’t have too much space to swing large enough.’

A couple of hissing sounds echoed in the surroundings, interrupting Bramm’s thoughts, and he turned to face the impending darkness. "Here they come! Stand firm and hold them back. Mestin and Keren will return shortly."

With most of his hope placed on the remaining two, Bramm dodged one of the lynxes’ sweeping tails. The beast moved so swiftly that Bramm didn’t even have a chance to swing his weapon down on its tail before it disappeared from the light and into the dark of the night.

The continuing hissing did not stop and even grew louder and louder as time passed. Every now and then, a lynx would erupt from the darkness and attack one of the three men, but no serious attempts were made by the beasts.

All three remained taunt and tense, but without any injuries.

"I don’t like this! It’s like these bastards are mocking us! Abyssals! It sounds like they’re laughing!" Telarin’s voice resounded, and Bramm could hear the frustration in his voice.

The beast kept attacking only occasionally, keeping them on their toes.

"Don’t move any further! Keep your head, Telarin, the beasts are taunting us, but as soon as one of us moves and breaks the circle, we’ll be dead," Bramm shouted from atop his lungs, trying to shout over the ever-increasing hissing noise of the beasts.

"They just keep lurking in the bloody dark! I can’t see anything past two feet!"

"Aye, they are waiting for us-" Resven’s voice was cut off by a painful sear in his body.

"Aggh!"

Bramm hurriedly glanced back, only to see Resven clutching his leg; one of the beasts had nicked his upper leg, tearing a whole piece of flesh off.

"Abyssals! Resven! Telarin, keep your guard up. With the first blood struck, they will attack in force soon! Bramm shouted across to Tealrin, who seemed to hear his voice. Telarin took a step back and raised his weapon and shield even higher.

No sooner had he spoken when a lynx rushed towards him, its movements were direct, but just before reaching Bramm, the beast took a sharp left turn, and its tail came sweeping past.

’Shit!’ Hurriedly raising his leg to avoid the tail, he could only say he narrowly missed it, but a sharp pain to his side made him rethink that decision.

"Hiss! These damn bastards!" wincing in pain, Bramm took a step back. He had almost reached Resven and Telarin.

Resven didn’t seem to be faring much better than him. Bramm could see a few more lines and puddles of blood on Resven with a quick glance. Telarin, on the other hand, fared better.

"Alright! New strategy, I’ll keep them away with my axe. Telarin, you will take the main point. Once they start attacking in mass, some will come for you with their teeth, if we can keep those occupied, Resven can take a swing on the bastards, we’ll chip away at them slowly if we have to."

With the addition of new commands, the three repositioned themselves, and without any hesitation, they released their aura; a light red hue overlapped and covered their bodies.

"Let’s kill some bloody cats!" Telarin roared into the night with fury and grim determination.

"They are only Light Red primals, we can take them! Stand firm and hold your ground!" Bramm called out. And then it happened...

The porch became a cramped arena of splinters and blood as the pack’s aggression surged. The two torches hissed in their brackets, their light failing to illuminate the lynxes as they attacked from the shadows. The beast’s silhouettes blurred into erratic streaks of crimson light against the dark earth floor.

Telarin stood his ground, but his breathing became heavy as time passed. He huffed in rhythmic labor as a Lynx’s bone-spur tail whipped across the air, the jagged tips rattling like dry husks as they sought a gap in his guard. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

He caught a lunging beast on the face of his shield, the chitinous hooks digging deep into the oak, and he had to wrench the heavy plank sideways to shake the creature off.

"They’re too fast... I can’t even see them!" Resven grunted, his voice tight with exertion as he swung his warhammer in a low, defensive sweep. A Lynx snagged the back of his thigh, the backward-facing hooks tearing through his leggings and leaving a burning trail of shredded skin. He stumbled, his shoulder hitting the cabin’s timber wall.