Circe was on her feet as soon as the first hound lunged and shook the carriage, quickly being taken out by the smaller girl, her magic appearing to be ice-based, and surprisingly powerful. The brunette herself grinned, suddenly buzzing with adrenaline. This was an actual life or death situation, like in a real adventure. Duke was now growling at her side, his eyes and her eyes both scanning the trees, waiting for another one of those beasts to come from the shadows. Almost as if she'd summoned it herself, another one had jumped onto the cart, attacking the bookish fellow from before-- Duke barked, but before either could move to help, the boy produced a glow orb that seemed to kill the beast. Almost immediately after, she watched with bemusement as he began to cast another spell, and suddenly an orb of green glowing light had enveloped nearly half the carriage; they had a shield now, she noted happily and moved to cover the other end of the carriage, where the shield did not reach, Duke on her heels. 

[color=00aeef]"I've got this end, so just worry about keeping that shield up."[/color] she smiled at the other boy, pulling a long, folded knife from her boot. The wagon seemed to jolt then, and again, one of the creatures had hopped over the edge, eyes wild. Circe moved quick, the opposite of Duke, and the two rounded on the beast, the dog barking and catching the things attention, and the girl quickly slashing through its neck. Dark, inky looking blood spurted from the wound and onto the cart floor, producing a sickly noise from the creature before it heaved over, assumed dead.

[color=00aeef]"Well, thats just gross."[/color] she said under her breath, staring at the limp form and sticking out her tongue. Duke didn't stray near it, as even he could feel how poisonous the thing seemed to be. It practically bleed into the air. [color=00aeef]"No one touch it. I think someone out there said its blood or whatever was acidic.."[/color] she mentioned, and then turned back to stand guard over the edge of the wagon. She and duke both stayed quiet while they focused on listening. Circe could hear the harsh breath and quick breathe of more of what she guessed were those dog creatures, and she frowned. [color=00aeef]"There are more comin'"[/color] she warned.