Jumps over Echidna

Noelle, however, didn’t seem like she was going to wait until I’d gotten all of them.

She rushed me, and I met her in kind, rushing towards her across the open ground. The moment I got close, I leapt up and over her head, coming close enough that our eyes met for a single instant. Before my feet even touched the gravel again, she was spinning around, grotesque limbs lashing out and trying to capture me, to draw me into her.

But I leapt out of the way, towards the side, then up again and over her head. She growled, shouted at me to stand still, but Aífe was too nimble, too fast. I was always gone, always moving again before any of her monstrous parts could grab hold of me.

And each time I landed, I dropped down to one knee and dragged my fingers through the gravel.

It took no less than eighteen such jumps, adding to my pattern with every single one, to finish the design I needed. I taunted her each time, subtly, making sure to be just barely out of reach, to keep her from retreating or moving on.