The pair of eyes stared back at us unblinkingly. No, actually it seemed to be staring at me. Did it label me as the leader? The eyes just stayed staring at us unblinkingly. I could feel the tension in the two next to me. What do I do? Was it waiting to pounce? No. It seemed to be cautious and just observing us. Maybe it had never seen humans before. I stared at it, and it stared back. We entered a stare down. Hmm, maybe it was waiting to see our reaction? Maybe it was waiting for its pack? I decided to throw all my doubt out the window and drew the bow up, pulling the string all the way back. As if recognising my aggressive action, it… disappeared into the trees.
“Hahh…”
“Don’t loosen up too much. Let’s move.”…Did it really back off, or did it just disappear out of sight, waiting for the right moment to strike? And WHAT was that monster? I wracked my brain, but nothing like that previously existed. Yellow glowing eyes, yellow glowing eyes. Although my knowledge wouldn’t be the be all and end all, and although I was less informed on the exact details of night monsters, none of them had possessed yellow eyes. That was definitely not normal. I could feel a suspicion forming.
THERE! Wait, that’s just the knob of a tree root, calm down, calm down. I was starting to see the faces of monsters everywhere. Breathe in…and out…. Focus.
“Vixen...-“
“I’m fine. Just focus on where you’re walking.” I shrugged off Sarra’s concern. It would just make me feel bad and doubt myself more. We just needed to persevere a bit longer and then we could sleep for as long as we wanted. Well, probably till the sun came up.
“Ok this-“ and there the eyes popped up again. I whipped up my bow and launched the arrow. The string was still vibrating, when the snatched arrow landed with a thump at the bottom of the fern where the eyes were previously. Of course, the animal or monster had disappeared the moment I launched the arrow, hiding in the night.
“Should we-“
“Let’s just go, forget the arrow.” I was starting to feel really unsettled. Just how persistent was this mysterious monster? The last flash of light had been a while ago, so the fight was likely over, which meant a monster feast was likely to occur soon. And on a much larger scale than the one I had thought about attempting at the river. Blood would run like rivers.
UROOARH!!
I had barely taken a score of steps before a loud roar echoed from behind. The roar was so loud even though we had gone quite the distance…or maybe we haven’t gone that far in the dark.
“AH?!”
“What was that?!”
“Keep it quiet and just. Keep. Walking.” We really needed to get out of here. Maybe we should just pick a tree here. The fight had stopped and there was no big fire. The monster feast shouldn’t go too out of control with a guardian around as long as the guardian doesn’t kick the bucket. I grabbed around my quiver, finally finding another arrow. There were only six left, including the one on my bow. I would need to use them sparingly. I had been a bit trigger happy originally because I thought that I wasn’t a good shot anymore, but I had actually been pretty accurate so far. Maybe the pressure and responsibility was making me perform beyond expectations or maybe I had somehow improved my skill after not touching a bow for seven years…. Stop. Now was not the time to be deliberating about that. Exhaustion must be influencing my thinking-the others as well. We really needed to look for a tree to sleep in. Now.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I scanned the upper branches of nearby trees. It was hard to see in the dark, and they all looked similar. A few purple-black leaves scattered from a tree slightly further ahead, slowly floating down. That tree wouldn’t do. It was a Purple-Paralyser, a tree that had toxins in it’s leaf, that would be injected through small barbs on the surface of the leaves into anything that pressed against them, quickly making it’s way into the blood stream and turning the victim’s blood into a thin murkish purple, paralysing muscles before eventually reaching and paralysing the heart. I remember Dad use to smear our arrows with an extract of it. If only I still had some Satinummi leaves; we wouldn’t be on a timer to get out of this jungle. 1*
THERE! While thinking about the botany, I finally spotted a suitable tree. There were enough vines, broken bark and branches to climb our way up, and there didn’t seem to be any potential hazards near it. It was tall enough that all the prowling predators wouldn’t be able to reach us even with a jump, and there were several branches that looked thick enough to support our weight. There were also a decent amount of leaves that would hopefully camouflage us in our sleep. We wouldn’t be able to do much against monsters with strong magic, but as humans weren’t a normal source of food, we should be fine. Hopefully. We just needed to blend in and be inconspicuous.
“Hey, let’s climb up that tree. Shiara, you climb up it first, and then together we’ll help out Sarra. I’ll climb it last.”
I turned around to watch the surrounding area as Shiara started her ascent. Truthfully, Sarra didn’t really need too much help. I just used that as an excuse so that Sarra would be in a slightly safer position. If there were any small monsters lurking at the top of the tree, Shiara stood a better chance, and I had to stay at the bottom to ensure no one would get attacked as they were climbing or as they descend tomorrow. Suddenly, I spotted the luminescent eyes again. WOAH! Hmmm… Whatever animal it was, the yellow-eyed creature had been following us. I had noticed it’s shiny eyes several times at the edge of my peripheral vision, but every time I turned to focus on it, it would disappear so quickly that I wouldn’t be sure if it even existed. But this time, I caught a blur of movement, so it was surely there. I pulled back my bow to full strength, feeling the slight strain on my shoulders and the old wound re-opening again. Hiss. Something didn’t feel right. I glanced backwards quickly; Sarra was nearly up.
RYAOOOU! 2*
Huh? WHAT WAS THAT?! I turned towards the direction of the sound. To my knowledge, nothing in this jungle should have made a sound like that; a rough bark that ended in a high pitch squeal. Huh…are my eyes tired, why is that bit blurry…oh NO! I let loose an arrow at empty space a dozen meters away in the middle of the path. As I went to grab another one, the bowstring still thrumming, a giant spurt of crimson blood gushed out from the blur of thin air as the arrow disappeared. The blood after raining down revealed the shape of a quadrupedal animal.
GRRHHHH!
A Chameleon-Tiger. It’s fur changed from a black grey stripe into a yellow red stripe as it charged towards me. I let loose another arrow, but unlike the first which had lodged itself into the monster’s shoulder, the tiger sprang to the side avoiding it. I quickly grabbed my bow and climbed up the tree. Climb, climb, CLIMB!!! I scaled up the tree, not caring about scraping my hands or legs.
BOOOOM! SCRRRRR!
The dull impact barely half a meter below vibrated me as I quickly tightened my loosened grip. I could hear the claws scraping against the bark, as the tiger slowly fell down the tree.
“Vixen, grab my hand!”
“You okay?”
I grabbed the outstretch hand, pulling myself up with it. I was glad they hadn’t screamed when they first saw it; that would have just attracted more monsters.
“I’m fine, but we might not be soon.” I unslung my bow, knocking an arrow to it.
“Wait why?! Aren’t we safe up here?”
“We are only relatively safer up here then on the ground. Tigers can climb.” *3
“WHAT?!”
“Shhhh. Although they aren’t great climbers, they can climb nonetheless. They’re light enough and strong enough.”
As if proving my point, the monster after having fallen back to the ground, leapt again and attempted to claw its way up. I only had four arrows left. I needed to wait for the right moment. If I don’t manage to kill it or scare it off with these four arrows, we would all be dead.