DAY 23

We awoke at dawn. The beast's trail was six days old here, so unless it went back into the river we might be able to catch it by nightfall. With a bit of eagerness we set off quickly. The trail lead to a bear den that had multiple trails leading to and from it. The beast had come back here three days in a row, though it seemed to have killed and partially eaten the two bears that lived here. According to Jordan two of the trails lead towards the houses of the last two victims, so we discounted those trails for the moment.

Following the most recent trail, we veered sharply east, away from the town and the houses. According to the map we actually weren't all that far away from Jordan's house, just separated by a loop in the river and maybe three hours walk. It kind of freaked me out that it had been so nearby for so long.

I had my nose down to the trail which was only a day or two old when Jordan hissed quietly and tapped me on the shoulder as he crouched down. We both nocked arrows and I followed his eyes to the north. Through a clearing in the trees a group of men were a few hundred meters away. It looked to be two guards and two farmers, and they appeared to be wounded and in the process of bandaging themselves. They weren't upwind so I couldn't smell anything of them from here.

"Want to go talk to them?"

Jordan shook his head "No. They don't seem to be in immediate danger, so there's nothing we can do for them except catch the beast."

We checked the map again, and it seemed the men were nearby one of the houses. They could have encountered the beast near there on the second last trail. Onwards we went, deeper into the forest. I couldn't smell any blood, so I don't think they even managed to hurt the beast.

Over the course of the next two hours the land got…strange.

It wasn't visible, the trees all looked the same, but it was a twisty ball of discomfort in my stomach and a faint ringing in my ears. The occasional bird calls seemed more piercing. The creaks and groans of the trees swaying in the wind seemed more ominous.

"Do you feel that?" I whispered, looking around.

"No. What do you feel?"

"I think we're close."

Cautiously we proceeded. When we stopped hearing birds I knew I had been right. The beast must have looped back on its trail again. A sudden spike of fear chilled my blood. What if it hadn't been looping back at random, and it had been a strategy to catch pursuers. I couldn't smell it, but it could be lurking downwind of us. Had it been looping around to stay downwind of its own trail? Was it watching us right now? I couldn't stop a faint growl from rising in my throat.

We stopped and crouched, back to back. For a long and tense while we stayed still, watching. A scent drifting on the wind caught my attention, I might not have otherwise noticed it but there was a strong pine scent and mild fear sweat drifting in. I whirled, locking eyes with a boy in a hunters outfit coming up the trail behind us. He stopped in shock, and then saw Jordan and continued approaching. Thankfully he had the good sense to not call out to us. I tried to gesture at him to stop, but he ignored it. Jordan's bow creaked slightly as he drew the arrow back. I glanced up trying to see where he was looking.

Downwind of where the boy was, in a shaded patch of bushes, yellow eyes reflected the light. The boy saw Jordan taking aim, stopped to turn and look, and the beast pounced. In a brown and grey blur it raced at him from the side. Jordan's arrow hit the dirt as the beast dashed sideways, I hadn't even drawn my arrow yet. The boy had barely turned to look, and his half-drawn arrow barely poked the beast as it landed on him. He screamed as the teeth bit into his shoulder and bow. The boy's bowstring snapped with a sharp whipcrack as Jordan quickly drew and loosed another arrow. The steel broadhead sank into the beast's side, between the ribs. My arrow stuck into a tree beside it.

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The beast hauled the boy up and backed away, using the body as a shield. Any more arrows would risk hitting the boy instead. The roar froze me, but Jordan was dropping his bow and charging in with his spear.

The beast let go of the boy and reared up. Long claws swiped at Jordan and he fended them off to the side with his spear. I drew another arrow and hit the beast in its chest this time. The boy was crawling away, sobbing and trailing blood. A quick sidestep and jab from Jordan drew a line of blood on the side of the beast's neck, but it dropped down in a disturbingly human way and scooped both of Jordan's legs and slamming him onto the ground. My arrow caught it in the side, and the beast thrashed. My next arrow went high but as they rolled I saw Jordan's knife sticking out of the beast's ribs. He was covering his head with his arms and kicking at it. My next arrow caught it in the lung, and it jerked just enough that Jordan was able to roll away. He quickly grabbed the spear and caught the thing right in the eye as it lunged again. He was knocked back again, but this time the beast fell to the ground and lay still. He ground the spear deeper into its head and then kicked it. Blood was pouring out of several long cuts along his arms, and his jacket was shredded.

I ran over as Jordan dropped his pack and said something to the boy.

"Holy shit are you okay?" I stopped, panting.

"Fine." Jordan pulled several bandage rolls out of his pack, and then grabbed a dark glass bottle with a cork stopper, holding them out to me. "Pour this on the boy's wounds, and then bandage him."

The boy was staring at me wide eyed, and I probably was doing the same.

"Hey, kid. You're going to be okay. My name's Karl. Let me help you."

"You saved me."

"Yeah. Hold still for me, okay?"

Whatever was in the bottle seemed to work instantly, the boy's breathing eased and he relaxed. I awkwardly applied the bandaged. I didn't really know what I was doing, but just doing the motions seemed to work, and pretty quick the wound was covered.

Jordan had taken off his jacket and was doing the same to himself. I sniffed the bottle, smelling several unfamiliar things. Almost immediately my nose went numb and I sneezed. It was still half full so I corked it.

"What is this stuff?"

"It stops pain and disease." He crouched down in front of the kid. "What are you doing out here alone, Lou?"

"I thought I could hunt it." He looked at me. "You're a goblin! Why is a goblin here, Mister Boureche?"

"He's with me. Don't worry about that. Can you walk? We should get you home."

"Okay."

"What should we do about that?" I looked at the beast. It did look sort of like a bear-man hybrid. Something about it made me think it was young. Jordan walked over and pulled his spear out of it. I started yanking the arrows out. Most would probably still be re-usable.

"I'll take the head back to town. It's a Barghest for sure."

The arrow stuck in the tree took much longer to retrieve, and by the time I had Jordan was tying the head onto his pack. I couldn't stop myself from glancing at the body.

"Let's go. Lou's parents are going to be worried." I stuffed the arrows in my quiver and wiped my mouth. I was drooling. It was almost like the first few days in the cave.

"I'll be right behind you."

I wasn't sure if Jordan knew what I was going to do, he just grunted something as he put his pack back on.

Slowly, carefully, I took off my pack and dropped it on the ground. Then I pulled off the tunic.

I was shaking by the time they had walked out of sight, and then I snarled and fell onto the corpse. My claws weren't able to get through the skin easily, but there was already a convenient opening at the neck. I bit in and tore out a mouthful of spine and fur.. Quickly I worked my way down its back one bite at a time. I made a hole in the ribs wide enough for my head and then dived in, the Core inside smelled amazing. It crunched and made my mouth feel like sparkles. Warmth flooded me and I felt alive, whole. I forced myself back, severing an arm which popped off pretty easy now that there wasn't much torso left.

I fell backwards from the unexpected lack of resistance, seeing blue starbursts as I hit my head. Hurrying after them, I found out my mouth was wide enough to fit around the end of the arm. This was the best tasting thing I had ever eaten.

I caught up to them in the clearing we had seen the wounded men in. Others had joined them and they had a proper camp set up. I had mostly cleaned the blood off myself. Several of the men shouted an alarm before Jordan waved them off.

"Karl! I told you, I couldn't have killed it without him. He's not a bad goblin, you know." The men had been passing a bottle around, and he had clearly gotten a few turns. He had the Barghest head mounted on a stick beside the fire, and went back to retelling his story of the epic hunt. The boy, Lou, was either starstuck or drunk already, staring at him wide eyed.

I hesitantly sat near the group and paid no attention to how the bottle somehow skipped me every time. My foot twitched uncontrollably, jittery from the buzz of energy still rushing through my core.