When Elayra mounted the red shadowmire, the black one moved as if to help its ilk, but Ghent drew its attention. It’s glowing red eyes, the most prominent feature about it in the dimness of the alleyway, narrowed as it growled and hissed at Ghent. It slunk to the side, keeping an eye on him, its too-many fangs bore and strung with saliva. The creature watched him for a short moment, stalking to the side, its body hunched like a predator circling its prey. Its gaze flicked away only once to look to the red one as it made its final buck. 
	[b]“… You’re not scared, are you?”[/b]
	The black cat gave another, angered hiss as Ghent’s focus shifted from it to the red one.
	Elayra tried to turn her body midair to land on her feet as she had seen Drust do before, but she did not move fast enough. She opted for keeping her head from smacking into the concrete as she skidded over it. The rough stone scraped at her arms through the thinner fabric of the sleeves before she stopped with a groan just inside the ring of light near the sidewalk.
	With a gurgling hiss, the red cat turned to face her, its movements jerky, pain and anger making the glow of its eyes intensify.
	The delay between her frantic thought to get up and her reluctant body obeying made Elayra’s heart beat faster. Her sword had not provided a quick kill; she could hear the cat shuffling almost drunkenly closer behind her.
	The red cat paused for only a moment when Ghent called out to it, one of its pointed ears twitching toward him, but otherwise paid him no mind.
	But Ghent had his own shadowmire to deal with. The black cat’s form still scrunched to hide the scaly  segments, it took advantage of the boy’s distraction as Elayra managed to flip onto her back and prop herself up to face the beast and battle taking place.
	“Ghent! Watch out!” she shouted as the black cat hopped toward him in a zigzag motion, closing the majority of the distance between them before its body sprung forward, stretching out and claws extended toward Ghent.
	She did not have time to watch the outcome before the now sluggish red cat stretched its own claws toward her with a ferocious snarl.