Tomorrow's Light
Written by Drew Clements
Conceptualized by Drew Clements and Bryan Hester
(Part Seven - II)

Take her." Bella's mind-voice ordered her minions.
Immediately, Augustus, Tomorrow, and Khron were swarmed by Intulo. Augustus swung both fists, in two different directions, connecting and knocking the dark green, slimey snouts of the beast-men crunching into their owners' skulls. It was a brutal tactic, but the elder knew it was the only way. They were out for his blood, so he had to make sure he drew theirs first.
Khron, whose fighting style was vastly different than his mentor's all-out powerful attacks, landed multiple blows at blinding speed on each of his opponents, stunning them before finishing them off with a kick from his strong hind legs. His method of attack allowed him to take on up to four attackers at a time, which was an immense help when fighting a mob of opponents such as these.
Tomorrow, whose only fight had been with her cousin when she was six years old, had considerably much more trouble. She punched, blindly, finding her increased strength a plus, but knowing that since she didn't know how to truly take advantage of it, she wouldn't be quite as effective as her rescuers. With this in mind, she snuggled herself between her two protectors, landing blows where she could, which, she found, was a pretty good tactic.
Fortunately for all of them, the Intulo, while aggressive, were not the most experienced opponents. In their natural habitat, Khron knew, in Africa, they rarely ventured outside their villages, instead they lead a private, usually peaceful existence, so fighting others wasn't their strong point. In this instance they were relying much more on sheer numbers than anything else.
This puzzled Khron; knowing full well these creatures rarely ventured outside their villages, let alone their continent, he wondered what could possibly have brought them out. Surely it wasn't money; that had zero value to them. His experience with them, outside of brief encounters while in his home country, was via his short time with The Council. This had taught him they only wanted to be left alone and out of any form of governing body. It just didn't interest them. So what was it now? Were these rogues?
The thought left his mind as one of the creatures latched onto Augustus’ back. Survival was much more important at this point in time, as well as defending his mentor and their new companion.

Tomorrow had missed the Intulo that had jumped onto Augustus' back and she regretted it, horribly. These--people--were risking their lives against a group of giant lizards and some faceless freak to save her and she wasn't holding up her end of the unspoken bargain. That had to change.
She wrapped her strong, leather-bottomed, fur-topped hands around the lizard-man's thick tail and pulled, violently. Her target screamed and Tomorrow smiled as she realized just how strong she was; this revelation brought about a sort of confidence that helped her increase her efforts to put these creatures down. With another pull, she whipped the creature into the air and let go, sending it flying overhead and out of the way.
"Awesome!" She shouted.
Her exclamation was a bit premature, though, as one of the Intulo grabbed her by the right arm and pulled her to the ground. The pavement was rough against her boney knees, but that was the last thing on her mind as she struggled against being pulled face-to-not-face with Bella Shame.
Behind her, Augustus shouted something, but she didn't care what it was. She was looking into beauty--love overcame her.

"That's no good!" Khron shouted over the roar of the Intulo.
"You have a knack for the understatement, my friend." Augustus stretched the jaws of an Intulo to their limit, showcasing his best King Kong impression, “We need to do something!”
"I'll get her," Khron sidestepped one attacker, leapt over another, and crushed one's face with a foot as he made his way toward Tomorrow and Bella. He was determined to get the girl; this was his mission and he would not fail. He would never fail! Not again!
Seconds later, he had snatched Tomorrow up into his arms and carried her, nearing his top speed, through the opening of Exeter Oaks and to the church parking lot across the road. It had happened so fast that it surprised even him.
"Augustus!" Khron nearly slapped himself. In his haste he had left his mentor in the middle of the Intulo.
He put Tomorrow on the ground; she was unconscious; no, she was in some sort of haze. Nevertheless, he had to get back to his teacher. Could he leave her here? Would she be alright?
With a sigh, he turned and moved quickly back across the street. Once back inside Exeter Oaks he found multiple dead Intulo, no sign of Bella, and a very satisfied Augustus.
"Ah, Khron, my friend, I was wondering if you were going to return or if you were going to run back to The Council all the way!" Augustus laughed.
Khron sighed and inside he smiled, but he would not allow his mentor to see his emotion on the outside; it was disrespectful. He knew that Augustus didn't think so, but he hadn't been raised in the same way as his mentor. Nonetheless it was good to see the elder warrior in good spirits. But now was the time to tend to Tomorrow.

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