Ahead of the group, something stirred and Stone called a halt. Crenshaw drew his bow as soon as the paw was up and he was searching around, eyes looking for a threat.

Freya sent a command for Chicken Freya to slow and then brought her own bow out, notching an arrow. She tried to remember anything that she’d learned about archery in her years of practice, but her paws for once were unsteady. They were… slick was the word she used. That was a new and unwelcome sensation.

She felt like she might be a liability in combat because of it, and was glad to see Stone draw not one, but two swords. Her grandpaw still held one paw as the rest of the party spread out.

Crenshaw took up a position away from Stone.

Freya was on eggshells as tense seconds passed. She kinda just wished that whatever was about to happen would happen, safe in the feeling that she was protected.

That veil of protection faded when the creature burst through the brush with a snarl.

It towered over them.

"That must be dozens of mice tall," she whispered.

Nothing in her life had prepared her for this. All of her problems from back home dropped to the wayside as she focused on it.

Her chicken shivered.

The beast, for something so large must be a beast, was covered in matted fur. A large black nose lay over a mouth of sharp teeth. It moved slowly on four chicken sized paws at the end of long legs.

Her paw gripped the bowstring as if to let it go, she would be cast into an abyss.

Would her arrows even work? They seemed too small to have any effect and she hadn’t even fired any.

It would probably be a waste to use one.

It was about that time that the beast roared.

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And Freya learned true fear.

Everything she’d learned was gone, and she was a little mouse running from a predator.

Behind her, the thumps of the beast's claws fell onto the ground. Chunks of bark and dirt flew in her direction, and she ducked, narrowly missing being hit by a twig.

Then she ran behind a massive tree, with her heart threatening to burst.

THE CHICKENS!

She felt them scattering, the four weak bonds barely registering. Her strongest bond, she felt a bemused resignation in.

Chicken Freya had run away from one of these before. It was clear in how her demeanor went that she knew what to do

Freya radiated trust across the bond.

Shouts and yells from the other side of the tree came and went. Freya curled up under an old exposed root, hoping that the sound would stop.

The beast's paw struck the tree she was under with a gong.

Freya pulled at her quiver with her southpaw.

The arrows had fallen out.

"Raven!" She cursed.

In her haste she'd lost her primary ammunition. She saw the paw of the beast coming around the tree, sniffing.

The chickens were running away or circling around and she was alone.

She threw her bow onto her back and drew her boot knife. Da Seung would be getting a letter of appreciation.

"Think, Freya, think! What would River do?"

She had two knives. She could…stop the beast that was bigger than her house?

River hadn't trained her to fight beasts, only to bond them.

How close would she have to go to bond this beast? She didn't know but she was about to try.

Freya concentrated, drawing on the red mist inside of her.

She stepped forward and molded a whip of bond, it was ugly but if it worked.

Above her a raven harassed the bear causing it to stand to a massive height. It attempted a swat, and Freya saw her chance.

The molding turned into weaving and before she knew it, the whip extended to the beast.

Having no idea where the beast's core was, she just aimed to hit it and then- she was the king of the forest and she was hungry. A small chicken was keeping her from eating other chickens. The flying black chicken was a nuisance and she slobbered, hungrier than ever.

These tiny morsels wouldn't sate her hunger but she would still hunt them down. And then, perhaps a blueberry? It remained to be seen.

Freya couldn't feel her mouth but she had to scream. She looked down upon herself and the visage made her hungry.

Hungry and afraid.