I narrowed my eyes at the creature. “You again.”

  The boar tossed its head and snorted. Apparently, the feeling was mutual. I could only assume the creature remembered my scent as much as I remembered the look in its eyes. The thing pawed at the ground with one of its razor-sharp hooves and released a horrible squeal before it charged me again.

  I rolled across the ground and ended up close to the campfire. My arm struck one of the ends of the burning sticks that stuck out of the flames. I snatched it and climbed to my feet as the boar spun around and charged again. I grasped the stick in both hands and waited. Waited. Now!

  I swung hard and fast. The burning end of the stick struck the beast in the side of the head, dashing its flesh with flame and ash. The boar yelped and tumbled across the ground a few times before landing on its side. It shook its head and rubbed it against the ground.

  I kept one eye on the thrashing creature as I backed up and knelt beside Arian. She hadn’t moved since the attack. I grabbed her shoulder and gave it a hard shake. “Arian! Wake up!” A faint murmur came from her but her eyes didn’t open.

  A heavy snort returned my focus to my foe. The boar stood twenty feet away with its terrible eyes on me. Just on me.

  I tightened my grip on Arian. If that’s the game it wanted to play then so be it. I had more than one trick up my sleeve.

  I slowly rose and faced off against my ugly enemy. The stick burned hot in my hand and the flames slowly inched up to my gripping spot. The clock was ticking.

  I darted toward the woods where the rough ground meant the boar couldn’t continue charging at me. The creature followed, its heavy breathing puffing away at my heels. I swung the flaming stick haphazardly behind me, keeping the thing at bay with the flying embers and flickering flames.

  Those same flames finally neared my hand enough that my skin began to prickle at the heat. I clenched my teeth against the pain and looked for an out to my dire situation. A low tree branch proved to be that and I turned sharply left. My hand holding the stick struck a bush and my weapon was knocked out of my grasp.

  I still had some luck with me as the stick clattered to the ground in the path of the boar. The creature skittered back away from the flames and that gave me time to climb onto the branch. The boar skirted the fire and leaped at me with its head swing to and fro. The sharp curves of its tusks sliced through the air and nearly hooked on my cloak. I yanked the cloth up just in time to avoid being caught and plopped my butt on the branch.

  The boar stood below me snorting and pawing at the ground. I swung my feet three feet above its head and grinned. “Those hooves aren’t so good for climbing, are they?” I teased.

  The animal seemed to know what I was saying because it flung its head back and loosed a terrible squeal. The boar marched backward on those clapping hooves and lowered its head. I watched with curiosity mixed with apprehension as the pig snorted before it charged.

  Its aim was the trunk of the tree in which I sat and it squarely slammed its hard head and tusks into the wood. The bark was sliced open and the tree gave a terrible shudder. I grasped the branch with both hands and teetered to and fro.

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  The boar backed up and performed the maneuver again. And again. And again. The creature was rewarded each time by cracks in the wood and flaked-off bark. I felt a tremor in the whole of the tree at the fourth slam and my branch began to lean to one side.

  It was time to evacuate this sinking ship.

  I wrapped my cloak tight against me and my lower part vanished. The hood did the same to my head just as the boar performed another slam against the trunk. A horrible splintering noise ran through the whole of the tree and the plant teetered as its trunk gave up the ghost. I leaped off my branch and hit the ground running. The other branches rained down on both the boar and myself, and I ducked into a bush as the tree collapsed on top of me.

  I covered my head with my hands and was pelted with branches, twigs, and leaves. The debris covered me in a thick layer of dust and pollen, and I lay still in shock for a moment.

  That moment ended when I heard a deep snort. I slowly lowered my hands and turned my head. The boar stood only a foot from where I lay. Its sharp eyes scanned the area to no avail as my cloak performed its magic. The beast’s snout, however, was working overtime as it wiggled about at the end of its face.

  I pressed my lips together and held my breath. The boar used its snout to rummage around in the debris that surrounded me. I could only assume all the dirt and foliage masked my scent.

  Until I felt a tingle in my nose. Not now! I shouted at myself as I wrinkled and twitched my appendage. Not-

  The sneeze burst out and leaves flew all over the place, including into the face of my pursuer. The boar stumbled back and its own nose erupted in a fit of sneezes. I crawled out of my hiding spot and scurried past the animal. It squealed and rushed after me, its sharp tusks aching to be impaled in my calves.

  The animal may have been able to smell my location but it couldn’t see where my arms were located. I spun around and grabbed a tusk which I pulled off course. The boar kept going right into a tree slightly larger and hardier than the one it had crashed. The animal was knocked senseless for a few seconds and I took this chance to run through the woods in a direction parallel to the road. The boar shook off its headache and rushed after me. I could hear its hooves pound closer and closer. There were no low branches ahead of me this time. I felt the animal’s breath on the back of my legs and prepared for some bad pain.

  Which is when a hulking shadow crashed out of the woods to our right and slammed its body into the boar. The hog went tumbling into another tree and slumped against the wood. I slid to a stop and spun around in time to watch a huge black bear stand on her haunches.

  “Arian?” I asked it.

  The bear turned its beautiful golden eyes on me and nodded. Relief drained away my icy fear and a faint smile slipped onto my lips. Noise from the boar wiped that away, especially when the animal climbed to its hooves and shook off its shock. The boar whipped its head toward us and squealed.

  Arian loosed a roar that made the very air vibrate. I clapped my hands over my ears to stop the pulsing ache. The boar’s eyes widened and it bowed its head. My formidable foe lowered its head and slunk backward before doing a full retreat into the woods.

  I clapped a hand over my heart and let out a deep, shaky breath. “Am I glad to see you.” Arian dropped onto all four paws and lumbered over to me. She sniffed me with her warm wet nose and I laughed before pushing her away. “It’s okay. I’m just a little banged up, that’s all.” I leaned back and studied her head. “What about you? That was a nasty fall.”

  Arian shook her head before she nodded in the direction of camp.

  I clapped a hand on her furry shoulder and smiled. “Lead the way, my guardian angel.”