Jigano thought for a moment, then reached for the scintillating strings of his creation magic, now inextricably interwoven with earth and fire. The melody was silent to all but himself, but after a moment's concentration while Freina distracted the gourds he managed to create what she had asked for, handing it over with a smile for her willingness to throw a knee in all the right places, even as he hid his own instinctive wince at the imagery. "Given that they don't have hands or groins, it does seem a bit difficult to work with," he agreed, a twinkle of humor in his eye.
A second javelin flew to impale a third gourd, even as the first continued to wriggle and whimper its slow death upon the stake. It bought Freina enough time to play with her shoes, at least, for the oncoming gourds had not stopped, and the trio that had been knocked askew by their acorn brethren were back on the warpath, more militant than ever. Two of them were larger pumpkins, meaning business, and Jigano stepped forward to meet them with teeth bared as he reached out and yanked on the ground beneath them, jerking two sharp, twisting spires of earth up to puncture them from below. Quanil might have recognized the move as the far more lethal version of what he had used to help them train their footwork with.
"Don't take your eyes off the enemy," he warned her. "Remember what they did to you earlier. We're better prepared now, but they can still break an ankle with enough momentum, and the larger ones can take a nasty bite out of your leg." A polite way of saying: worry about your shoes once the last three marauders have been vanquished, for one yet remained and it was gunning for the squash-tosser.
A second javelin flew to impale a third gourd, even as the first continued to wriggle and whimper its slow death upon the stake. It bought Freina enough time to play with her shoes, at least, for the oncoming gourds had not stopped, and the trio that had been knocked askew by their acorn brethren were back on the warpath, more militant than ever. Two of them were larger pumpkins, meaning business, and Jigano stepped forward to meet them with teeth bared as he reached out and yanked on the ground beneath them, jerking two sharp, twisting spires of earth up to puncture them from below. Quanil might have recognized the move as the far more lethal version of what he had used to help them train their footwork with.
"Don't take your eyes off the enemy," he warned her. "Remember what they did to you earlier. We're better prepared now, but they can still break an ankle with enough momentum, and the larger ones can take a nasty bite out of your leg." A polite way of saying: worry about your shoes once the last three marauders have been vanquished, for one yet remained and it was gunning for the squash-tosser.
