Butch and his Demi-god family

The path squeezes down to a knife-edge ledge, cliff on one side, empty drop on the other. Butch leads in front, with Sable and Brin single-file behind him, when a slide of loose stone bursts from above.

Gray chunks hammer the trail, and mountain predators spring from the dust, lean and hungry, claws scraping for purchase. The first one snaps at Brin’s flank as the child brings up a rigid parry, just as Butch once warned against.

The block meets air instead of teeth. Brin’s guard opens by a heartbeat, and the predator’s shoulder ударs them sideways toward the ledge.

Sable lunges to catch them, but the cliff edge is right there, and the second predator prowls in through the falling stone, ready to press the opening.

Butch surges toward the spill of bodies and stone, filling the narrow path with his bulk as the skirmish tightens around the child’s bad timing.

Butch’s roar rolls down the ledge like thunder, and his sweeping arm carves a wall of space out of the chaos. Stone dust bursts away from his side, forcing the predators to check their footing.

Brin catches the opening. They twist instead of freezing, knees bending with the shove of danger, and Sable snatches their shoulder and drags them back from the lip.

The First Mountain Predator snaps at empty air and skitters wide, while the Second hesitates at the fresh gap Butch has forced into the line.

For one strained breath, the party has room again, but both predators remain on the stones, circling for the next strike.