Fuyuko desperately flung herself to the side as she threw her daggers at the beast that had charged through the air at her. When they reappeared in her hands a moment later, only one of them had a trace of blood. She cursed as the beast spun to land against a tree and snarl at her, preparing to launch itself at her again.
Her only warning before it had swooped down had been a wrenching, awful feeling when it had tried to mimic her shadow and claim her as its target. She’d never felt it before, but she knew her stories, and the monstrous hybrid before her could be nothing but a peryton.
Its wolf-like head howled before it leapt, lowering its head to aim stag-like horns at her. Fuyuko dove to avoid the flying charge, slashing at its front, deer-like legs, only to have an arm clipped by its taloned back feet. As it swooped around for another attack, she threw both of her daggers again from her position on the ground, then rolled to her feet before the daggers reappeared in her hands. There was a mark on one of its wings, but the moonlight wasn't strong enough for her to tell if she’d done more than damage some feathers.
This wasn’t a good trade of blows. She’d hit it twice, but the one hit it had landed on her arm had probably hurt her more. The enchantments on her leather armor had managed to keep that indirect blow from penetrating, but that bruising hit had been enough that she was trying to ignore the slight numb feeling in her right hand from the impact. She didn’t think any of her bones were broken, but she was pretty certain that her right forearm was not as sturdy as it had been.
There just weren’t a lot of choices. It had chosen to attack when she was out in the open, and Fuyuko didn’t dare turn her back on it to run for the trees. But one set of trees was nearer, and she’d managed to put her back toward them, so she slowly started backing up, keeping an eye on the monstrous predator. “I’ll not be letting you have my heart so easily.” She growled at it, and its tongue rolled to the side, looking like it was laughing at her. There was a cruel gleam in its eyes, and she was fairly certain it understood her.
It also seemed to understand her plan, and it flew in a wide arc to place itself between her and the trees. When it charged her this time, Fuyuko threw one dagger before she dodged left, trusting herself to the more shadowed ground, and only slashing with the second dagger after she’d managed to avoid its antlers by a hair's breadth. The ground dipped in that shadow, and the slight drop and lurch had been just enough to bring her face out of harm's way, though close enough to fling her hood back.
Her first dagger had been knocked aside, but the second one scored a long gash along the peryton’s flank, and the first returned to her hand a moment later. Mentally she praised whoever had given them this particular enchantment.
But Fuyuko hadn’t stopped moving and had taken the opportunity to sprint forward while the creature circled, then spun into a crouch with her daggers up in a crossed guard a few seconds later, turning to face the creature before it could charge at her back.
Its head cocked to the side as it stared at her, flapping wings keeping it in place. Light gleamed off of three small horns on Fuyuko's forehead, and her wolf-like ears flicked nervously as she became self-conscious about them being exposed. Ever since her home had been burned down, Fuyuko had made a great effort to keep her head covered. “Yeah, my horns ain’t as big as yours, what about it?”
The creature tilted its head the other way and then spoke in a low, gravelly, almost sultry voice. “Oni kin. But so small, barely taller than a human. You are young, yes? Oh, such soft, succulent flesh you must have. But such hearty creatures, how much of you can I eat while you scream, before I devour your still beating heart?”
Hearing the monster speak made Fuyuko's stomach roil. She’d been hoping those parts of the tales had been exaggerations. She did not, however, let the exchange of words keep her from cautiously backing up toward the trees that she was so much closer to now. “I’ll tear your throat out with my own teeth before I let that happen.” It was mostly bravado, she wasn’t even sure if she could call on her lycan blood to partially shift. But if it came down to it, she’d certainly try.
It was following her, its curiosity and amusement temporarily holding it from attacking. “Your teeth are hardly suitable to such… ah, the ears. That clan. But you barely smell of wolf, I don’t think you can do that. Not that it would matter.” The monster charged again, done with talking.
Fuyuko’s mind had been racing, trying to figure out how to win this fight. She wasn’t strong enough to scare it off, but if she was desperate enough, she might be able to kill it. If luck was with her.
Its charge was sudden enough that she couldn’t dodge in time. Instead, she kept her left arm raised across her face, dagger held in reverse grip, and dropped her right hand down at the last minute to thrust forward toward the base of its neck.
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The impact of the charge flung her backward, the beast's momentum carrying them both. She felt her right dagger make contact with flesh, digging into thick hide, but it didn’t feel deep enough. Her left arm was able to deflect the horns from gouging into her chest, but now it was tangled in those sharp tines as her back slammed against a tree, and a hoof caught her in the stomach.
She screamed in agony, but the pain helped fuel her fury too. One of the horns had barely missed her eye and torn a slash along the side of her head, and now it was twisting to try and bite at her throat. Fuyuko strained against the horns her arm was tangled in, ignoring the fresh pain as she managed to impale her own arm during her struggles.
Instead, its teeth bit deep into her left shoulder. A distant part of her mind wondered if she’d ever stop screaming again as she wildly hacked at its neck with her right hand. She was far taller than it when it was on all fours, but the monster was powerful and on its back feet. The peryton shook its head about to tear at her shoulder, and Fuyuko was certain that without the armor, it would have managed to tear her arm off completely.
She didn’t dare let it back off, it was within her reach and its deadly, sharp horns were on either side of her head instead of able to impale her. She stabbed her right dagger in as deep into the peryton as she could before letting go, then opened her left hand to drop that dagger and grab at its horns to make sure it couldn’t get away.
The dropped dagger’s magic activated when it hit the ground, and appeared in her open right hand, the first dagger still stuck in the beast’s hide. She snarled as she stabbed again, and again, and again. It shook her more frantically now, and in a distant haze she felt and heard bones snapping, but she didn’t stop until a violent convulsion threw her away from it. She limply skidded across the soft ground, then weakly did her best to face the beast. She only managed to roll herself over enough to see it staggering, blood pumping from the slash she’d managed finally cut deeply enough. It slowly fell to its front knees, then collapsed onto its side.
Fuyuko managed a small, grim smile, then turned her eyes toward the sky. The Mother was high overhead, and both The Son and The Traveler were above the horizon. Her eyes focused on the tiny moon, invisible to most, and whispered a prayer for him to guide her soul. She’d trusted the shadows and luck as best as she could, and she’d at least brought the monster down with her. Maybe that would at least keep some other child safe. Then she closed her eyes and all awareness fled.
So she was quite surprised to find herself waking up again, still alive. She knew she was alive because everything hurt. A whimper escaped her at the sudden pain, and a fire-lit figure nearby looked over at her, before turning back toward the fire. “Ah, good, you awaken. That was a close thing. I had to use a dangerous leaf to keep your heart from stopping while I patched you up.” The man’s voice was deep and warm, but Fuyuko was not in the state of mind to trust so easily, and she started taking stock of her situation.
She was lying on a bedroll under a blanket, and her armor and gear were all neatly placed on the ground nearby. In a slight panic, she checked under the blanket to find her underclothes in place, but her chest bindings were blood-soaked on the left side. Which wasn’t a surprise, given the number of other bandages holding her left arm in place, she’d only been able to move her right arm.
“I apologize for the breach of your privacy, but I had little choice. It did quite the number on you. Your arm was dislocated and half the tendons and muscles were torn. And it is broken in three places as well. You also have two cracked ribs, and it landed several hard kicks to your belly and legs. I think the healing potions fixed any internal bleeding and the worst of your other wounds, but I only had so many and had to do much of the work physically. Hopefully, my stitch work will not leave scars that a proper healer can’t fix.” He paused, then said, “My name is Gil.”
With her initial panic subsiding, Fuyuko was able to continue making sense of what was around her, using her right arm to raise herself up a little. The man was tending a large pot at one end of a fire trench, where it was stoked to full flames. The rest of the trench had ash and coals, producing smoke and a low amount of heat. Over that part of the trench lay a makeshift set of racks constructed from branches, which held several strips of meat, and at the far end, a hide was stretched over a similar framework to dry. The peryton’s hide. Its antlers sat on a rock nearby.
She looked up to see that only The Wanderer remained in the sky. It was nearly dawn. Fuyuko smiled at the tiny, dark moon and whispered a prayer of thanks. With that done, she looked back to the man who had found her and taken care of her. “I am Fuyuko. Thank you.” She was still feeling cautious, but given the situation, how was a girl not supposed to be at least a little concerned?
Gil nodded as he put a lid on the stew pot. “A pleasure to meet you. It’s been a long time since I have seen one of the luponi, but you are far from the tribes. Why is a child like you all alone?” He moved on to inspect the strips of meat, turning some of them over to help the drying process.
Fuyuko frowned. “I’m fourteen.”
He shrugged. “Not as young as I thought, I would have guessed eleven. But still, more girl than woman. Too young to be traveling alone at night through the wilderness. But, better than the day perhaps? You are an interesting puzzle. You do not seem like someone rich, but you have such fine enchanted gear. Your armor felt like it was almost cooperating with me as I worked to mend it, and the clasps that hold it together are almost invisible when it is together. But then I see the wolf's head with three horns engraved on it, and I know it must be made for you. So I think you have an interesting story to tell, if you like.”
She huddled under her blanket silently moment as she thought. She couldn’t even remember everything but remembered scraps, vague images, and some thoughts. And if Gil meant her ill… well, she wasn’t going to be able to do anything about it anyway. Though she felt vaguely insulted that he’d thought she was eleven. So instead, Fuyuko sighed. “I think they are a bribe. But I’m not sure which god is responsible, or why, or what I am really supposed to be doing.”