The entity, confronted

The two knights stood back on the hill to assess their surroundings, they had just finished evacuating the nearby town in Goldfair but the entity was drawing closer. The plucky Pouflon looked across at the mass of knights and mages scattered across the field in front of them, either charging at the entity directly or healing those who were unfortunate enough to get too close without already being cleansed previously. Monroe looked beside him to Julius, both sharing a moment of apprehension, before adjusting his helmet and starting to walk together down the grassy slope.
“Stay close to me“ he said to the polo Lon, no trace of his usual cheerful attitude apart from the slight nudge of the other lon’s shoulder. Jonah nodded and looked nervously over towards the tree line where the entity was backing towards to get away from the attacking forces. He could see in the distance a large orange Lon brandishing a sword and at his side were two Pouflon, the pink one was Jonah’s sister Addison, wheras the larger pastel Pouflon was a local Goldfair Lon Rosita. Both lons were standing in defence over a cluster of pippets, casting shielding spells and healing their plucky protector Vale.

Jonah pulled an arrow out of the quiver over his shoulder and hooked it into his bow in preparation to launch it at the opposing entity. Monroe took his hint and pulled the sword out from the hilt in his cloak, taking the lead as they galloped towards the group of knights and mages on the attack.
“Took you long enough” panted a red furred plucky pouflon, Klondike, as she fell back to fill them in on the current plan. “Perth said to steer it towards the trees, it’s too tall to enter the forest so we can surround it on three sides“ she explained before picking up her sword again. The boys both nodded and Monroe gave Jonah a pointed look to stay back before he turned to follow Klon. Jonah nodded reluctantly, but knew he would be the same if the roles were reversed. Monroe was physically stronger and skilled with a sword, whereas Jonah was fast and his aim with a bow was almost unmatched within their knight rank. 

No matter how much they attempted to push the entity back against the tree line, Jonah could see it resisting and trying to steer them back and away. It only took him a split second to loose his focus as he looked at their surroundings and realised the monster was getting closer to where his sister was stationed. Young Addison had stopped casting spells when one of the pippets she was protecting froze in fear and refused to back away with the group, and the entity saw its chance to break away. He saw the scene pan out and brandished his bow at record speed that the arrow almost didn’t touch the carved wood before it was flying through the air and directly against the nose of the beast.
The entity whipped its head around to face him with a howl and started in the direction of Monroe’s group and Jonah further up the hill behind them. Monroe glanced back and began to run in the direction of his partner, but his plucky form wasn’t fast enough to dodge the paw that swung in his direction. Both lons were flown against the ground against the hill, both starting to blur around the edges as the ground around them turned red and static. 

Addison watched in horror from across the field and cried out as their usually brown and dusty fur turned red. Next to her, Vale watched too with a solemn expression “Both of you, I can hold it off the pippets for now, go before it causes any damage to the knights” he instructed, pushing both Addison and Rosie away so he could take their place to bat away the beast’s tail with his sword. Both girls puffed out their wings and Rosie lead them into the air in a wide circle around the still battling knights. 

Monroe and Jonah were both hunched over on the corrupted ground where they had landed, it was a wonder they hadn’t broken anything on the impact or even injured themselves on their weapons. Rosie was already muttering spells under her breath before they both landed, placing barriers to stop the corruption from leaking further down the grass. Addison was agitated, but knew she had to stay focused for her brother’s sake.
“I’ll take Jonah” she said, trying to even out her voice as she started reciting the healing spell the other mages had taught her when she joined the Pippet Patrol on the front line. Rosie nodded and she started casting too, using her wings to flick up dust around the pair of knights to help dampen the corruption.  It didn’t take long for the spells to take effect, the ground was bare of grass but the red static in the air was gone, leaving two brown furred lons in a pile in the dirt. 

Monroe lifted his head slowly, shaking the dust out his hair before standing slowly and nudging Jonah next to him. When the polo Lon was back on his feet with his bow safety stored away back in its quiver, Monroe leant his head against Jonah’s neck. “What were you thinking dear, we don’t know what damage the corruption does to us and I don’t know what I would have done if you had been seriously hurt” he said softly into the other pouflon’s fur.
Rosie cleared her throat slightly to get their attention and gave them  a sheepish smile, “let’s get you both along to the mages stations, you two will need to be monitored so you gain your strength back before you can rejoin the fight” she said responsibly, turning to lead them back towards the mages stationed away from the fight to take care of cleansed and injured fighters and their pippet companions.