The screaming from up in the mountains had him on alert, but even with the best lookout he could keep while walking at the same time with snow and ice around he still didn't see the monsters until a pair landed in front of the wagon. One was tackled down, but the other was screeching and moving towards the group. With a command to Topaz, the two set off ahead of the wagon to distract the monster. They were too small compared to it for Aspen to have any hopes of survival if it came to strength, but perhaps he could dance around it and keep it away from the cart long enough for them to keep moving or someone else to come help. The loud noise of the snow beast's roar was still ringing in his ears, but he yelled out a taunting, 'nyah, nyah!' and waved his arms around. Then he ran towards the monster, in what might have appeared a suicidal way. However, as the monster prepared to swipe at him he dove forward and rolled between its legs, and at the same time Topaz jumped off his shoulder and slammed a knee into the monster's face as it bent down. It gave a short howl of rage and pain, but before Aspen could follow up with an attack from behind or something of the sort, he spotted Eli and the guy with the sling leaving the cart. With a startled look, he cried out to them, "Hey! Get back on the cart, we have to keep moving!" He pointed up on the mountain where more creatures were moving. But his arm went flying, along with the rest of his body, as the monster he was fighting swung around and slammed him into the air with its big arms. Topaz let out a concerned squeak, and Aspen was so stunned by the blow that he barely had time to recover his senses and cushion his fall with a bit of wind. It still hurt, though, and the monster was advancing again. With a groan that was a combination of pain and resignation, Apsen pushed himself up. However, he had landed on an icy patch and one hand slipped, twisting in a way it was not supposed to. 'Great,' he thought, 'now I'm fighting a big scary monster with unknown powers without a whip and with a sprained wrist. Just peachy.' He tried again to get up, this time without slipping, but the monster was already up to him. He had to duck under a swipe and use wind magic to boost himself upwards, where he kicked back off the monster's chest to unbalance it and also provide himself some extra air time. He flipped backwards, landed semi-steadily on some loose rocks, and while the monster was still looking confused by the stunt he had just pulled he darted back towards the caravan. He knew he was going to need backup to defeat it, but hopefully they wouldn't have to and could keep moving. If Eli and Yozu had run off, though, (he couldn't tell, he had been busy with a monster) things just got a lot more complicated.