[quote=Clavic]The full force of his weight was thrown forward, causing him to roll forward rapidly and hopefully out of the way of the creature. As he rolled, many of the bones that weren't tucked into the tighter parts of his furry clothing began to fling themselves off of his person and backwards into the maw of the beast with a few flying askew and stabbing into the ground.[/quote]

[quote=Lila]Exactly what everyone was doing was not important. Immobilizing them all with a bite wouldn't be possible, but several were already crippled in one way or another. The motion of Clavic caught her attention and Lila dropped down from the treetops to cut off his escape.[/quote]

[quote=Aloe]He reached down to pick up a gun. For a moment, he stared at the weapon until the noise grew even louder than before. He grabbed onto the fur that Clavic wore and pulled the being up; the gun he held shook unsteadily as his aim kept switching between Lila and the stone beast.

“Creature of bones, there’s a staircase along with a girl hidden behind those bushes. Take her and go down!” Without waiting for the poor creature to recover, the young man pushed it toward the shrubs, ignoring whatever bones that may fall out of it. He turned his gaze over to Leon. “Young hunter, come!”[/quote]

Bones flung into the stone beast's face and mouth; it skidded in the dirt and shook its head vigorously, snarling, giving Clavic and Aloe a precious few seconds. The glowing ruby flashed on its stony tongue.

But those seconds were short-lived, for Lila was even faster than the beast. Perhaps she would think twice when faced with the barrel of Aloe's stolen pistol. But the voice hissed steadily in her head, and Aloe surged red in her eyes: [i]Kill.[/i]

[i]"RrrrrRRRWWWWAAAAAAA!"[/i]

The terrible bellow did not come from the stone beast, but sounded like the roar of a dragon.

Grom galloped to Aloe's aid, the saddle bags shifting and bouncing on his back. The cameldragon stumbled to a halt, curled his tail around Aloe protectively and stood his ground, baring sharp teeth he'd never revealed before, like a dog defending its owner.

The red in Lila's eyes dimmed, and so did the voice. Bloodlust faded. Similarly, the stone beast opposite her stood wavering, still hateful but no longer inclined to attack. The red of both rubies faded, and they no longer glowed.

The facts were these: Grom and Kettle both had sigil tattoos on their backs. These tattoos ensured the stone guardians would not attack them -- and also gave them the ability to command the stone guardians to attack or to stand down. Kettle's desire to kill Leon had caused the awakened beast to attack, but now she was unconscious, her head bleeding from an unintentional flick of the stone beast's tail.

Grom himself was confused and wary of the situation, not quite intelligent enough to understand. He remained by Aloe's side, glancing between the stone beast and Lila, growling deep in his throat.