Private to Summer

Belle's ice-cold eyes darted to the side and she twisted her body to narrowly escape the paw. The reflex set off her balance and she went into a small tumble after she lost her footing. Although this would typically scare someone, Belle had been training extensively for as long as she has been here and knew not to panic. She simply converted this stumble into a strategic roll, putting distance between herself and the hell hound which pursued her.

"Let's go," she breathed, fiercely. The massive beast plunged towards her once again, the huge paws making the ground vibrate beneath Belle. The girl's arm reached over her shoulder and quickly drew out an arrow. Her fingers nimbly set it upon the string before she had to dive out of the way again. She felt her shoulder hit the ground first this time as she tried to keep her arms up and ready to fire her bow. The hell hound slid to a halt after seeing it had missed its target.

Belle's weapon of choice was peculiar. Although many at camp used bows and arrows, Belle had a special set. Her bow was long and slick, and practically glowed a very pale blue, perhaps almost white. If one was able to get close enough to her arrows without first dying would observe the tip was a glassy substance. Ice. Belle's arrows were made of a never-melting ice. Not only did it efficiently pierce the skin but also stung rather painfully.

The hell hound turned to face Belle. It would not be lucky enough to observe her elegant weapon of choice. As soon as it began to charge towards the girl, she released the bowstring. The arrow made a noise as if piercing the wind itself before embedding in the head of the beast. Rather gruesome, yes. A gold light erupted as the dog began to dissolve into sand before Belle.

"Facile. Vachement," Belle rolled her eyes. She pushed herself to stand up and ran a hand through her hair. A couple of leaves floated out of her gold locks. She began to dust the dirt off of her pants and shoulders. She didn't fancy looking like dirt, even if she had been rolling around in it a bit.

Belle nodded towards Crystal as an acknowledgement for the compliment. She didn't like to speak very much. The gesture may have seemed rude to others. After all, she could have at least said thank you. But Belle's nod spoke for itself, and hopefully by now her siblings would be able to recognize that. Even if she did tend to isolate herself more often than not, she had been cabin leader for quite a while. If the members of her cabin didn't know how she tended to act, perhaps she was not doing the best job that she could.

In truth, Belle did not hang out individually with her siblings very often. She did not know Crystal very well at all, but she trusted her enough to have her back in these situations. The girl certainly knew her way with a sword, if the past hour had told her anything. Though, Belle didn't know if she had snow or ice manipulation. But it did not matter, since it was pretty hot out and the most a Khione camper could do in this weather would be to drop the temperature a bit.

When Crystal alerted that there may be another hell-hound, Belle's head snapped forward in attention. She strained her ears to listen for any signs of movement. She hear the rustling of leaves, but that was not a reliable sound since there was a small breeze in the air. Belle turned her head towards Crystal, whose face showed the same anticipation and caution. And then the action.

Crystal moved before Belle even realized what was happening. She watched her sibling whip around and stare behind her. When Belle followed her gaze, she couldn't see anything. Then, she remembered that it could make use of the shadows. Which, in the forest, were abundant. Belle was about to let out a breath to relieve her tension, but she jumped as the hell-hound appeared right in front of Crystal. Her eyes widened, for a split second thinking that the hell-hound would overtake Crystal. When she deflected the blow with her sword, Belle was relieved, but her muscles were still bunched up in tension.

Belle finally began to move. Her feet felt glued to the floor, but she somehow managed to take a couple steps backwards in order to get in a better range to use her weapon. She set an arrow on the string and pulled it back to her jaw. But Crystal was too close. Belle was a good shot, but there was no way that she would risk the health of her sibling if she could help it. She watched carefully, never once relaxing her muscles.

As soon as Crystal removed her sword from the beast's paw and backed up, Belle seized the opportunity. Her arrow flew through the air and sunk into the rump of the hell-hound, who was already mad that his paw was damaged. Feeling the stink in its backside, it let out a frenzied roar of fury. It was little damage to a beast so big, but it was a start.

One thing that Belle had not anticipated was that the hell-hound was now raging and pointed in her direction. Merde, she thought to herself. That may have been unfortunate planning on her part. She watched the hell-hound prepare itself, but, rather than pouncing at her, it pounced into the shadows. Its black coat seemed to dissolve bit by bit until the last paw of the hind leg had disappeared. She felt panic rising in her chest and quickly tried to navigate into a patch of sunlight.

Belle waited, frozen alongside Crystal as they awaited the inevitable reappearance of the angry hell-hound, now with a paw wound and an arrow in it's flank. After a couple seconds of tense silence and apprehension, Belle saw the shadows begin to quake at the edge of the clearing. Belle turned quickly towards the movement. However, to her surprise, Crystal didn't. But she didn't have time to worry about that just yet.

She quickly set an arrow on the string, pulled back and aimed, and then shot it. She knew that she could now waste no more time trying to find positioning. The hell-hound was mad, and Crystal seemed to have gone elsewhere. Certainly she had not retreated? The arrow flew at the snarling dog, but whizzed just below the beast's stomach.

Almost unnoticeable at first, the temperature of the clearing dropped, degree by degree. There was nothing intentional to what was happening, and the difference at first was so slight, that Belle simply continued what she was doing. She shot an arrow at the hell-hound. If it struck true, the beast would let out a yelp and a loud growl. If not, Belle would move as fast as she could to redirect the path of the beast, so that she was never less than fifteen yards or so. However, as time ticked on, there was a gentle breeze blowing through the clearing. Belle could now see why Crystal was occupied. Another monster had presented itself. And it was not one that Belle had any desire to concern herself with. The hell-hound stopped and... did it's fur ruffle in a small shiver?

Belle seized the moment as best she could. She set an arrow on her string, pulled back and loosed. It soared through the air. The hell-hound looked up from its momentary preoccupation just in time to have the arrow wedge in between its eyes. It's body gave a small quiver, it's jaw dropped open for a sound, but produced only a thud when it dropped to the ground. A shower of golden dust was produced as the body blinked out of existence.

Belle quickly flicked her eyes across the grass to her half-sister, Crystal. She saw her busy with the giant. Belle wasn't exactly sure how deadly these ants were, nor if Crystal was able to take one on alone. But, for the time being, Belle watched eagerly. She attempted to catch her breath for a moment, and upon exhalation, her breath seemed visible.