Ves’ra followed the elder lynx for an hour until they arrived at its lair. As it approached the ordinary looking tree she didn't think much of it, focusing only when it didn't emerge back from the thick canopy. She stopped immediately, making sure all her carmouflage spells were still up. They were, so she had time for both scouting the place and waiting for Arvog to come.

She felt her familiar would take a few more minutes - more than enough time for scouting. Ves'ra concentrated on her energy, spreading it around her into any water she could find, and sent that cloud of water vapor into the lynx's lair.

She was surprised - the lynx had rudimentary nature magic and managed to turn the treetop into a cave-like dwelling. There was not enough space for much more than one lynx though, so she'd have to draw it out into the open and fight it on the ground - both close quarters and treetops would serve as a disadvantage for her.

Ves'ra retreated a few dozen meters into an area which was more sparse than the lynx's lair. That done she waited for Arvog, creating a rabbit out of ice in the meantime. Once he joined her she had him bite and inject the magically warmed ice sculpture with as much of his venom as possible. She created hollow spikes of ice and injected them with his venom. After another half of an hour of preparation she was as ready as she'd ever be.

She told her familiar to return into the air and only intervene if he saw a good opportunity. After safely storing the spikes on her body she removed any energy from them and formed a large ball of ice. She shot the ball at her prey's lair with an effort of will. She watched her attack break through the lynx's lair in glee, already salivating thinking about the feast she was about to get.

The huge cat sprang out its lair with an enraged roar. Now, without spells hiding her Ves'ra was easily detected by her adversary, which let out another roar when spotting her. It didn't seem to appreciate her damaging its lair. It left the trees and stalked towards her, just like she planned.

It seemed to be wary, something she could understand - she obviously waited for it, so it waited for the trap to spring.

As time went on and nothing happened Ves'ra could see its patience wearing thin, so she spread her magic out in front of herself, waiting for the inevitable attack.

As the lynx stalked closer she had to gulp - its shoulders stood two heads above herself, there would be no coming back, even from one hit.

It was too late anyways, so she stopped her thoughts and focused on the enemy. It was steadily getting closer, and would soon be able to pounce on her.

Suddenly the ground all around the lynx shot upwards, tiny spikes of ice accelerating towards its face and belly. Most hit the belly, but were nothing but scratches. Those hitting its head were more important - it was already injured so they were able to penetrate the soft flesh underneath its fur.

The lynx jumped back with a pained roar, hateful eyes glaring at her. She didn't mind, slowly levitating two of the spikes on her back.

Suddenly the lynx disregarded all caution, accelerating towards her at a speed she had trouble seeing. She couldn't suppress a flinch as several hundred pounds of muscle pounced, Ves'ra directly in front of it.

The lynx stopped a few centimeters from her face with a sickening splat, causing the tree behind her to crack loudly. She was really glad to have set up that shield - she'd be dead otherwise.

Ves'ra shot both of the spikes under her control at the lynx before it had a chance to recover, injecting its blood with Arvog's venom. She knew she'd hit when it flinched backwards, only to jump forwards again, repeatedly slamming into her shield.

Ves'ra could feel the energy draining with each attack, all she could do was feed the enchantment anchored in the tree as much energy as possible. She grabbed the two remaining spikes on her back, still draining all possible energy into the tree.

She grabbed one of the spike hard enough to see cracks forming in the ice and then threw it at the lynx, where the ice shatter all over its nose, giving her a few moments of respite. She didn't stop - the shield's energy already lost nearly half of its total energy.

She threw the next spike, but the beast was able to learn and thus dodged her slow attack.

Seeing that she didn't have any more surprises the lynx resumed its attacks, draining the shield faster than Ves'ra could charge it.

After it attacked another time she gave up, and instead started to attack back, defending would only lead to death.

She used all her energy to create a new shield around the monster, concentrating on removing as much breathable air as possible. At the same time she removed as much heat from it as possible, hoping to slow it down enough for Arvog's venom to take effect.

With the airshield in effect she recalled the ice behind it, forming it into a long blade and cutting at its stomach with all the might her magic had to offer.

She managed to cut deep, and thick red blood started streaming out of the monsters belly. Arvog fell out of the sky with a cry, sinking his teeth in its neck too. The monster was now visibly slowing, its attacks draining less and less of her shield.

Ves'ra wasn't off much better - draining so much of her energy so fast had tired both body and mind, she wouldn't last much longer.

The lynx collapsed moments later, still bleeding out of its wounds, so Ves'ra picked up her spear, took aim and rammed it into the lynx's brain, ending its suffering. After that she created rolls of ice and transported the monster in her shield, altering the shield to block out all smell and turning it opaque by adding water.

As she started cutting the being apart - concentrating on preserving as much of the fur as possible - she started thinking about what she could've done better in the fight. Once she removed the fur they dug in, gorging themselves on the best meal they ever ate.

And it was the best, even better than Arvog’s parents had been. The both of them only managed to eat a quarter of the meat before they were full, but Ves'ra didn't plan to leave until the meat went bad or there was none left.

She went to sleep moments later, a satisfied smile on her face. Just before she nodded off she could feel Arvog snuggling himself into her, trusting her magic to protect them both.

The sun was high in the sky and the inside of her shield stunk to heaven as she woke up on the next day. Arvog was somewhere in the sky, enjoying the sun so she wasn't worried about him.

After another breakfast of lynx Ves'ra set to prepare the fur as specified in the quest. It would need another two days to be ready for transport - aided by her magic. She'd use the lynx's lair as a base, nothing went there and it would take time for its smell to wane.