Chương 47: Hunt

Carter was frustrated. The trail stopped here at this tree and none of them were professional trackers. Skilled fighters in their own ways, each has a unique way of fighting that made them teaming up a viable option. He knew it was unlikely the other two would come back with anything worth following and that just meant he had to run around aimlessly from here for a few days hoping to stumble on something.

He walked over to another tree, unsnapped the clasp holding his sword on his back, and plopped both it and himself down. Thinking on his next move he froze as he looked a few feet up and saw missing bark from the first thick branch above the damage on the trunk.

"Shit" he whispered to himself before following the line of damage up the tree into the canopy.

"No fucking way I'm going up there" he started to climb to his feet as he heard snapping branches and rolled away from whatever was falling from above. Coming to his feet in a squatting position he had to jump back immediately as a grey bear thing leapt at him.

"Fucking" he caught the clawed hand and pulled it into a roll as he threw the beast man into the rocky area near the river.

"Fuck" it was fast. Hispanic sword was behind him and the creature was in front of him already on its feet. For a second they stood and stared each other down. This was a really dangerous situation for either person. Blick had never faught a skilled fighter, but Carter had never faught someone with claws and teeth. Neither knew what the other was capable of and both knew better than to throw themselves into a wild melee.

"We just want the map." He tried to settle the tension. He hadn't asked around about Blick, so when it responded with a deep voice he wasn't ready and hesitated.

"So did the last guy." It said with a smirk.

"I won't be stolen from and I won't stand by while people try and kill me for my things." Carter had to think for a second.

"That's actually a reasonable position, but I must insist. You will be hunted even if it isn't my team doing the hunting." He knew this wasn't what the creature wanted to hear but he was held by duty and this beast man was listed as an enemy at this point.

"They can try." It said before lifting a rock in each hand and clearly using some reinforcement technique launched them one after another at him. Carter dodged the first easily with his own reinforcement, but the beast wasn't stupid. It had waited for his dodge before throwing themselves into second stone in his path. Carter pivoted just enough for the stone to smack his shoulder. He screamed out in pain as it hit him with enough force to spin him around before he hit the ground facing away from the river.

And when he rolled back over he could see the beast man crossing the river before it ran into the wood line on the other side as he climbed to his feet.

"Dax! Paris! Come back now!" He shouted with his whole chest. Then he turned and walked back to his sword on the ground. Within minutes the two came through the brush and recognized something happened as Carter was holding his shoulder and clearly focusing.

"It had a green roll on its back and a small satchel on its thigh. One has to hold the map." He pointed to the wood line across the river.

"It ran that way. But guys… I think we are the problem here." Dax blew air past his lips in exasperation "Psh fuck that. The thing just attacked you man." Carter shook his head.

"Yeah but only when I spotted it. And it fled as soon as I was injured. It understands the situation it's in I think. And we are hunting it down to steal its most valuable item." Paris cut in, "Regardless, we have to try and get the map. So we have to keep hunting it. Now we have a direction. How long for your shoulder?" Carter winced as he adjusted his arm.

"Maybe another half hour. That rock was huge and it definitely had some reinforcement behind it. Cant exactly gauge it but the creature has at least a few drops in its core. It wasn't stronger than me it just got a good jump on me and honestly I didn't expect it to throw fucking rocks the size of my head." The two nodded and sat down to wait.

Blick sprinted at full speed deep into the jungle before turning south to make a wide circle back to the river. New plan was to follow the river as far as it would go. There was a steady food source and he knew jungle fighting well enough. If they wanted him they would have to find him and survive him. Reaching the edge of the tree-line several hours later he slowed and looked for a moment to make sure there wasn't anyone out in the clearing.

With the all clear he jumped back into the water and swam along with the current for as long as he could stand it. They definitely couldn't follow that. And he chuckled to himself at them figuring out he had run them in a circle.

"Is that the river ahead? Did this motherfucker just make a huge circle?" Paris fumed just before bursting from the tree line.

"Dax check the other side."

"Not your puppet princess, you check it." He replied as he came up to the water's edge and examined the rocks.

"It left a print here in the loose gravel. It either crossed here again or went down stream." Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Carter looked both ways.

"If we were chasing you, which would you take Dax?"

"The obvious choice is down river boss. No trail for potentially miles. If it weren't for the arrow before I doubt we would have stopped to find that tree." Carter threw a rock into the water.

"Ok so we go downstream. This is going to be a pain in the ass." Dax turns to Paris.

"When we find him can you shoot him in the ass for me princess?" She turns and starts walking downstream with a small smile on her face. Carter stared downstream for a bit longer before jogging to catch up to the bickering duo.

"Have we ever sent an exploration this far down river? It's technically on Crater lands. But I haven't heard of anything mapped south of here." Paris was the first to respond.

"No there was a mine town nearly a hundred years back that was abandoned when the crystals were removed. The kingdom hasn't invested in the area since." Carter responds with, "Fair enough."

Against the pale rocks on the bank there was a smear of red leading into the wood. Something large had died there recently. And it had not died in a normal way. Predators didn't usually drag off their kills. If it was too large to carry they tended to eat them where they lay. The mess made him slow and look around more cautiously. Blick had made sure to keep a fairly steady pace downstream so he wasn't in the most rested state.

He wasn't quit ready to stop but he was also worried about rushing into something he wasnt prepared for. Curiosity warred with the knowledge that he was being chased. Looking back up river he couldn't see any sign of his pursuers. Decision made he let his curiosity lead him into the wood near the track of blood. Deep into the wood he found the remains of a large brown bear. Its head was missing and its insides had been spread across the area in a wide arch. This was not normal predator behavior.

He wasn't aware of anything out here that hunted bears. They should be the apex predators out here. Blick climbed a tree nearby and as stealthy as he could he searched the area. After a while of finding nothing more definitive he was ready to leave and head back to the river when he froze at the three humans breaking through the bushes following the same trail he followed.

"What the fuck, did the beast man go psycho?"

"Shut up Dax!" The one holding a sword said while smacking the shorter blonde one on the shoulder.

"He's right tho Carter. This isn't normal. Where is the head?" The two looked around the clearing for the bears head while the one named Carter searched the canopy above. The moment Blick was spotted he knew it. Carter paused his scan for a split second before continuing to scan as if nothing had changed.

"Can one of you show me the map again? Where are we exactly." He called out. And when the others looked o over in confusion he said it again.

"The map please, we should look at it again I want to mark this spot." At that the three came together in a huddle with Carter still facing the direction Blick was hiding in. he could hear them whispering but not what was being said. What could he do tho. He was up a tree and these people were plenty strong and fast enough to catch him.

"Keep your voices down, it's in the trees above us." Carter whispered while digging through a bag pretending to look for a map they all knew nobody had.

"Well fucking hell, how do we get it down from there." Dax replied while adjusting his knife belt prepping for the inevitable fight.

"I don't know, but it didn't attack last time until I had clearly let my guard down and I was alone. It's not going to jump on us when we are all together so we can think of something while it sits up there watching. Any ideas?" He asked pausing to look at each of them. Then he froze staring into the trees with wide eyes.

"Guys don't move, something else is in the trees, prep your weapons and spread out." Carter looked back and forth at two spots. One high and one low. Then he decided the threat low was the main issue. In the bushes lying close to the ground was a slow moving cat like creature. Jet black fur but much bigger than the bear on the ground beside them.

"What the fuck is that?" Paris asked when she found it. That was apparently the starting words as it pounced out of the bushes and the fight was on.

Blick watched as they huddled up and whispered for just a little bit before Carter froze staring below his hiding spot. That was an odd move. Blick looked away from the group for the first time since they entered the bears grave site. Below him crouched ready to leap, was some kind of large panther. From the picture at the academy he had remembered large cats didn't get mush bigger than people. So Blick could understand their stress at this wagon sized animal clearly hunting them.

He saw them notice and move to prepare for the new threat. And he recognized Carter deciding that he wasn't the main threat anymore. Whatever this thing was it had them nervous. As the thing bunched up its back legs Blick focused. It punched fast enough that he nearly lost sight of it as it burst through the brush towards the three people spacing out in the small clearing. The redhead released arrow after arrow as she dashed to the side moving nearly as fast as the beast.

It landed steps away from the shorter blonde man and pivoted quickly swinging its front paw at him while knocking an arrow away with… blick tilted his head at the realization. It was highly unusual for a cat to have tentacles.

"Gah!" The blonde haired man shouted as he blocked the clawed paw with two daggers but was knocked back several feet and still somehow remained upright. The cat growled loudly as it flung blood from the paw that he had clearly cut while blocking. The deep purple liquid splashed across the already red splashed ground before the cat sprang forward after the man who had just cut its paw.

He ducked under as it dove for his face and before he came up from his roll, Carter met it with his sword cutting a clean line across its side releasing more purple into this world.

"Purple blood what the hell!" Dax yelled out as Paris yelled "last arrow" before sending her final one into the backside of the creature. Of the twenty she sent out only five had stuck but those five had stuck deep. There was an awkward pause in movement as the animal studied the three humans who were coming back together in front of it. Both sides assessing each other. After a few breather it yowled loudly. Then just stood there. All four humanoids understood this thing had just made a decision to call for help.

And if it was calling for help then there had to be more of them.