In but a few seconds, Earth had unleashed her power to considerable effect. To her, it was rapture. The feeling was like nothing else. Here and now, she had many beings' lives quite literally in her hands. The power which accompanied that feeling was a rush like no other. Determined to make them pay, she sought out her next victim.
At exactly the same time, Earth's partner in crime had been dealing with Two, who'd been thrown off the path by the force of the explosion, straight into his onrushing enemy. All Two really needed was a split second to get his thoughts together, but his opponent had other ideas. A swift kick to his right knee sent the Crimson Guard flying to the ground, a substantial CRACK the reward for such a well executed attack. Pushing the pain away, the guard tried to focus, but the dark shadow of Earth's husband was on him in an instant. First, a swift, sharp blow to the nose with the side of his hand. Thick red blood spurted everywhere as the guard started to choke. Reaching behind him to the side pocket of the backpack he wore, Earth's husband whipped out a deadly blade that had been secreted there, and plunged it with all his might into his opponent's heart.
With two of the group dead in only a matter of a few seconds, the odds on the survival of the rest had shortened considerably, despite their leader being back on his feet and ready to join the melee. Four and Five were now both back in the game, with Four looking in desperate need of hospital treatment. Blood flowed freely from a hole in his left thigh, while a massive gash over his right eye left a huge, bloodied sheet of skin flapping about in the frozen wind. Nevertheless, he remained upright, determined to play his part.
The three Crimson Guards approached the two rogue dragons head on in the darkness, on the narrow sandy path. With a vicious snarl on her face and the pent up anger and frustration of having been on the run for years, Earth forced her magic to produce a humungous ball of electricity which she carried in both hands. Blue and purple lightning coursed from the inside to the outer shell, making it look like a child's giant plasma ball. But this one was deadly and her opponents realised it, all simultaneously taking a step back. Bringing her hands round to one side, she thrust the ball in the direction of the three stunned dragons, who immediately all dived for cover, each missing the fatal ball by the merest fraction. With the ball having disappeared over the edge of the rise, One and Five jumped to their feet to once again confront their attackers. Four remained motionless, face down in the long grass. Without a moment to lose, One released an onslaught of bright green filaments in the direction of the husband and wife team. Earth cartwheeled off to the right, but her husband wasn't so lucky, being caught by two of the writhing green tentacles, one piercing his upper right arm, the other holing his stomach. Earth screamed in rage as her husband doubled over in agony. Five, in the meantime, had snuck off to the right, into the grass and, under cover of darkness, launched a blistering attack of poisoned bees at the still raging Earth, assuming that her all consuming anger had given him the distraction and opening that he needed. But as soon as the toxic bees got to within striking range, they sizzled and burnt, crumbled and fried from the invisible shield that the deranged woman in front of them had managed to erect around herself. Still trying to figure out how the hell she'd got a shield up so quickly, Five didn't see the movement in the grass behind him until it was much too late. From out of nowhere the two headed serpent with a body the thickness of the largest human thigh, slithered in behind the distracted dragon, biting both his legs in quick succession before starting to wrap itself around his lower left leg. Five howled in agony as the shiny dark serpent twisted up his torso.
One kept up his onslaught on the male protagonist, determined to even the odds in his favour. With no time to contact the other groups, he knew they must have realised something was wrong by now and be on their way here. All he had to do was buy himself enough time and the odds would become overwhelmingly in his favour. And there would be hell to pay.
Both the inland groups had contacted each other as soon as it became apparent that their leader couldn't be reached. A hasty decision was made to reach their leader's group with all speed. So ten dark shapes now rushed as fast as they could towards the last known position of their colleagues, all thoughts of stealth forgotten. Speed, each of them knew, was the key.
Earth couldn't bear to hear her husband in so much pain. It turned her blood to fire, stoking her rage even more, if that were at all possible. With her serpent peppering the stricken dragon in the long grass with ever more poison, she darted left towards her husband, taking a flying leap, landing directly in front of him. Diverting all her magic towards her shield, she extended it out, cutting off the flying tendrils of bright green, dangerous magic. Exhausted, her husband slumped to the ground. Knowing that time was of the essence, she turned to face a very confident dragon, one she assumed must be their leader.
'Not for much longer,' she thought to herself.
"You will desist and come..." he said, before his voice trailed off.
Desperately, he clutched at his throat, scrabbling at it with his gloved black hands, but the invisible force around it could not be wrestled away.
"I'd give you a message for your precious dragon council," screamed Earth, "but on reflection, I think your broken bodies might do the trick just as well. What do you think? Cat got your tongue?"
One fought with everything he had, drew on every last resource of magic within him, trying to launch a counterattack, but the oxygen had been forced out of him and his vision was fading fast. In his mind he tried to lash out and unleash a deadly telepathic assault, but he just didn't have the strength.
Turning to her husband, while still choking the life from the dragon force's leader, she urged him to get to his feet and run.
"But I can't leave you here to face such numbers," he babbled.
"GO!" she ordered. "I'll be right behind you, after I've cooked up a little surprise for them."
Seeing little use in arguing, hunched over, he trotted past the upright, blue in the face body of One and headed north, not towards the beach, but the cliff side path. It would be harder work for him but there was more cover, and it would be more difficult for anyone to track him, especially compared with the sandy beach.
One's limp body fell to the ground with a THUMP. Earth revelled in the sick satisfaction of knowing just how much he'd suffered in his last moments. In her mind, she'd planned to conjure up some bombs and booby trap the dragon bodies, knowing full well the other groups would want to recover them. But she'd underestimated them. They were here, almost upon her, and she didn't have nearly enough time to execute her terrible plan. Glancing over her shoulder, she just managed to make out her husband staggering up the rise of the cliff top path, hundreds of yards in the distance. Spinning round, she took in her attackers, sprinting across the undergrowth, any hint of subtlety long gone. Fuelled by rage, she called forth everything she had, lighting up the scenery around her like a bonfire night celebration. Hoping to draw all ten of them to her, giving her husband half a chance to escape, the Crimson Guard were more disciplined than that. Six of them headed her way, while four sprinted off after him. Silently she cursed, but there was little she could do to help him at the moment; she just hoped he could hold on until she could reach him.