by Mitt Ray
Follow me,” she announced.
We came upon a dead taurus. A taurus is a big bull with maroon eyes and big horns on its head. This one was huge. It was a fresh kill. The marks on its body made by claws and sharp teeth suggested that it had been brought down by a werewolf.
Maria landed on the taurus and began to gulp down bits of meat from the bones. She invited me to join her, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to eat carrion that had just been fed upon by a werewolf. I wondered about hunting myself something else, but I was drained of energy. Besides, how bad could it be compared to all the ghastly leftovers the ogres fed me? So I made a fire. Then, using a knife, I sliced a huge chunk of meat from the taurus, roasted it on the fire and began to eat it. It was delicious. It was the freshest meat I had had in weeks.
After eating, Maria perched on a nearby tree. She told me to climb it. Using the last of my energy, I shinned up the tree and along one of the branches. Within seconds I was asleep.
I was woken at nightfall by the branch shaking. Maria was clinging to it with her talons and flapping her wings.
“Get up, we’ve got to move,” she cried.
I got up and climbed down the tree. I was well rested and I felt strong again. I was hungry though, so I asked her if we could have more of the taurus.
“No way. It’s getting dark and, most probably, the werewolf will return to its kill,” she warned.
“Oh, come on. I will be quick,” I pleaded.
“No,” she replied. “Let’s not take the risk.”
So we set off but after about five minutes she sighed and said, “Actually, I’m hungry, too. Let’s go and get some meat quickly.”
I nodded; relieved, and we made our way towards the taurus. I carved off another huge steak, while Maria tore off shreds of meat. Then we heard some rustling in the nearby bushes. We stood still, sure that it was the werewolf about to attack us for stealing its prey. But it was only a blackbird.
It had scared us, though, and we didn’t want the next thing in the bushes to be the werewolf. So we ran away with my steak. After going further into the forest, I lit a fire and cooked the meat for both of us. Then we put out the flames and made our way through the forest again.
Should I Run?
After travelling for a couple of hours, I realized that we had reached the deepest part of the forest known as the giant forest. Everything was bigger here. I could see the giant trees and giant bushes and giant insects.
As we walked, I got the feeling that we were being watched. I mentioned this to Maria, but she told me that I was only imagining it. But I could sense something was there. I could feel the bushes around me move. Over the years, the time I had spent in the forest had helped me work on my instinct and trust it.
But surely Maria the vulture could hear, smell, and see better from above? So I followed her. I convinced myself that I was imagining things.
It was getting dark. I could hardly see anything, apart from Maria. There was a full moon that night, but the clouds covered it. There was enough light to prevent me from running into trees, but I kept stepping on thorns and sharp stones. My feet were bleeding and my soles were covered with bruises, but I kept up with Maria.
We travelled for another hour and the visibility got better. We came upon a pool. I was thirsty, so I went over to it to quench my thirst. The pond looked breathtakingly beautiful. The clouds had cleared and we could clearly see the reflection of the moon and the stars in the water. The pond was surrounded by long greyish grass that glowed in the moonlight. Even the stones and pebbles around it glowed too. I wanted to go in and bathe, but Maria told me not to, since it was too risky to make any noise at this time of the night.
So I dipped my palms into the water and splashed a good deal of it on my face. Maria came and perched on a tree that was right beside me. I looked at her and smiled. She smiled back, but looked anxious. She was peering around and making sure there was nobody there. She was always vigilant and careful.
I sat back for a last look at this beautiful pool and noticed an object moving in the grass. I could clearly see a dark head in the white grass. It then disappeared. I looked at Maria and she looked at me. She had noticed the creature, too. Maybe it was stalking us? Maybe it was the beast my instincts had sensed earlier? Fear gripped both of us.
“Do you know what it is?” I hissed to Maria.
“I’m not sure, but I think it’s a rapidos,” she whispered.
Rapidos were big, cat-like creatures that prowled the forest. They were huge and they preyed on living beings. They had roundish heads with large yellow eyes and pointed ears. They had whiskers on their faces. The beast I had glimpsed definitely had yellow eyes and pointed ears, but I wasn’t sure that it had a round head. However, I was sure that it was something dangerous!
We saw it again. The head kept popping out and then disappearing. This animal was stalking us. My heart was pounding and I wanted to run away as quickly as I could, but my feet wouldn’t move. They were frozen to the ground.
Suddenly the animal rose up on its hind legs. It was looking straight at us. It was a well-built, dark-chocolate coloured beast. It had the ears and eyes of a rapidos, but its head was pointy with a large snout. It was a werewolf, probably the one that had killed the taurus. It was watching me and I was sure it was about to attack me.
Maria whispered, “What are you still doing here? Run for your life!”
I got up to flee. The werewolf let out a great roar and started to charge at me. I felt the ground tremble and shake behind me as it chased me. I ran and ran, but it was much faster than me, and was getting close. I knew it was only moments before it was going to catch me. I kept running. Now I could feel the werewolf’s breath on my neck. It was about to get me. But nothing happened. I glance back and saw Maria attacking the werewolf. She had come to my rescue and was trying to blind it. I turned back to help her.
“Keep running!” she screamed.
So I ran and soon I started to feel the ground shaking once more. The werewolf was chasing me again. I hoped Maria was all right. Then I remembered one of the lessons Karen had taught me. Running zigzag through the forest was the easiest and quickest way of getting away from an attacking predator. So this is what I did. It seemed to work at first. Now that the cloud cover had faded, the full moon allowed me to see well. I did my best to squeeze past huge boulders and trees. This made it tougher for the werewolf, as it couldn’t fit through the tiny spaces. It had to uproot trees and break rocks. I was finally starting to lose it.
But then the werewolf sped up again. It was determined to catch me. It started getting closer. I did my best to lose it. I zigzagged even more but this time I couldn’t get away. The beast kept getting closer and closer.
Finally it got me. It grabbed my shirt with its teeth and lifted me in the air. I knew this was it. I lost all hope of living. I was sure I couldn’t escape. Then suddenly the werewolf released me and I fell to the floor. I looked back to see what was going on. A large hellhound had got a good grip of the werewolf’s neck with his teeth.
I knew this hellhound. It was Bruno! I had found him as an orphaned pup. I’d fed him, protected him, and raised him on my own. I’d even taught him to hunt his own food and to fight with his claws and teeth. The only thing I had not been able to teach him was how to breathe out fire like hellhounds normally do. His mother would have been able to teach him, but I couldn’t.
Bruno had kept me company for about a year. Once he had grown up, he left me. I only saw him occasionally in the forest.
I was glad to see him now. He held tightly onto the werewolf. But the werewolf was at least four times Bruno’s size. Normally, a hellhound would avoid attacking such a massive, murderous and uncontrollably powerful beast like a werewolf. But Bruno loved me; I was like his mother and he wanted to protect me. And I didn’t want him to get killed by the werewolf, since I loved him too. So while the two creatures wrestled, I took out my bow and arrow and pulled the string back and carefully took aim. When
I was sure of my target, I pulled the string. I had aimed for the werewolf’s head, but I hit its leg. It let out a painful growl and knocked Bruno away. Then it came for me. I pulled out another arrow but I was running out of time. The werewolf was right in front of me.
It was about to sink its teeth into me. Then Maria swooped into view and attacked the werewolf’s eyes again. Bruno buried his teeth into the werewolf’s right ear. I took aim with my arrow, but Maria shouted, “Run for your life!”
I ran helter skelter through the forest until I came to a really huge tree. I climbed to its highest branch and I lay there. In the distance I could hear screams, growls and screeches. I recognized some of them. I wondered if I was a coward to have left my friends or if I had made the right decision. As I was struggling with this conflict, my tiredness took its toll and I slipped off into deep sleep.
The Next Day
I was woken up by the bright, rising sun the next morning. I tried to go back to sleep, but its rays were right in my face. I was there on the tree, trying to see clearly, as I hadn’t fully woken up, and then I remembered Bruno and Maria, which shook me awake. I listened, but I couldn’t hear any screams.
I climbed down the tree and made my way to the place where we had all been fighting the previous night. I found my bow,