“The first fold is for ninnies and cowards. Oh, and those persistent little hunters.”
- Klauv Aetherulf
“Do you have any idea where we’re even going?” My question wasn’t answered by the tall tiefling for several heartbeats. Instead, he casually jumped, swung off of a branch few would call low-hanging, and then rolled on the other side. He did this to avoid a bright green patch of grass that swayed despite the lack of wind in the vicinity. We all followed suit save for Gwyn, who merely chopped her way around the edge of the dancing greenery.
“We’re going deeper,” Azuris eventually replied.
“I gathered that, thank you. But why? Wouldn’t it be easier to just skirt around the edge and then reenter the first fold? Why risk this?” Despite my tone and distrust of the guy, I had a suspicion as to why we went this way. I needed to be sure, though. Azuris halted in his gait and turned on me, his face a mask of quiet frustration.
“James and his lackeys are after us. From what we saw, my guess is that he has a bounty on our heads. I don’t know about you, but I don’t need that sort of attention…Not right now.” Azuris was clearly leaving some major details out of his reasoning, and so I pressed him.
“I’m not an idiot. I know he wants our heads. But why not find a safer route? Why risk encountering an epic way out here?” My friends waited for his response. So far, his knowledge was useful. But none of truly trusted the outsider. His secrets had secrets.
“Do you want my help or not?” He retorted, and I sighed.
“Nice deflection. Fine. Keep your cards close. But if you actually want help with this Hunt. You’re going to have to open up.” I strode past him and was careful to avoid the small smirk I felt tease my lips at his wearied sigh.
He would tell us. Eventually.
Or we would die; those were our only options.
Azuris guided us ever deeper into the second fold’s territory. Without warning, he lifted his hand and gestured for us to get lower. We all knew by now that we needed to obey immediately if we wanted to live. Sure enough, a monster the size of my parent’s home strode past. It had seven horns, a rocky hide, and beady eyes. Beneath its maw, a single tooth protruded with a nasty serrated edge along its length. The terrifying creature scanned its surroundings and then bleated in annoyance before it moved on. I nearly stood up when it disappeared behind a gigantic tree, but Azuris’ calloused hand yanked me down. Three more of those beasts strode past, each significantly smaller than the first.
Children. The monster had children.
The idea was not novel, but it was sobering to recognize that the same beasts we were here to hunt had cubs. Runts. Kids.
“Clear. Those creatures are the worst. They savage their nesting grounds, knocking down trees and generally gouging anything with a pulse. My people call them Grievetooths. That large one was one of their matriarchs.” Azuris rose to his feet with practiced silence, his dark cowl hanging dormantly around his thick shoulders.
“Should we take them?” Elio asked.
“Not if you want to stand there, paralyzed, while its kids feast on you. No. We should aim for something more isolated. Gwyn. I promised you the first kill. Is there a particular type you prefer?” The tieflings question caught me offguard, and I mentally chided myself for not considering it sooner.
What kind of monster should I aim to kill? Better, what type of enchantment do I need?
The answer came to me instantly. I needed an item that drastically enhanced my mobility and armor. With the exception of my arms, I was virtually unprotected against magically enhanced attacks. A ward like Gavin and James sported would be even better, but those were exorbitantly expensive, as they required multiple rares and above to construct. From what I read, they took years to craft properly.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Gwyn considered her answer for several moments, and Azuris motioned for us to continue forward while she did. Above us, several large creatures briefly blotted out the sun as their shadows covered us. The scents of pine and fresh soil saturated my nose.
“I need a creature that offers telekinesis for bound objects,” Gwyn said eventually. Elio nodded sagely, but Lysandra turned to her dwarven ally.
“Why? Those sort of enchantments only work in limited directions. And like you said, they only bind a couple of objects to the anchor,” Lysandra replied with furrowed brows. An errant branch slapped her in the face and she cursed before she ducked under it properly and awaited her friend’s answer. I laughed a bit at the exchange and earned myself a glare from the elf.
“These,” Gwyn answered, and she affectionately patted her tomahawks. Understanding bloomed in my mind and I let out a long ‘oh.’
“What? What am I missing here?” Lizzy demanded of our group.
“She means to make returning axes, elf,” Azuris replied for the lot of us. She knitted her brow further until it looked physically painful, but then her eyes widened dramatically.
“I get it! They’ll come back to you once you throw them! Brilliant, Gwyn!” She exclaimed. We all groaned.
The rest of the afternoon was a mixture of squatting behind objects to let giant packs pass us, and stumbling through the evershifting terrain of the second fold. Trees lumbered past. Vines whipped at our faces, eager to let their core organism slowly digest us. Insects the size of my torso buzzed for our attention…and our blood. Still, despite the few monsters we saw stroll past, none tried to attack us. It was disorienting.
Where’s their savagery. Their blind ferocity?
None of the other’s brought it up, so I kept my mouth shut. Instead, I kept my attention on our surroundings. Small details started to accrue in the back of my mind. A branch on the forest floor that fell from far above. Thick claw marks in the ground, though they appeared to be old from the way the bushes and grass weren’t pressed down very much anymore. Then the wind shifted and an odor that didn’t belong swept across my senses. It watered my eyes and I stopped to better ascertain where it came from. The orange ribbon in my hair teased my ear as the wind picked up again.
There.
“Guys?” I said, interrupting the contented silence of the others. “I think there’s a—”
I got no further as a gust strong enough to knock us off our feet barreled through the nearby trees. We fell over and I conjured my gauntlets just in time to use their added strength to catch Lizzy before she flew away into the trunk of a tree. My other hand clawed into the dirt, searching for purchase. My right hand eventually hit a thick root and I clung for dear life. The wind disappeared.
“Everyone alright?” I yelled loudly. I could barely hear myself over the ringing in my ears. Ahead of me, Elio kicked off of a tree where he anchored his slight form. He nodded once, but I knew from hard experience that his body was now ready for battle. His shoulders relaxed and his breath slowed. I tried to emulate his behavior, but it was hard.
“Th—thank you, Thea,” Lizzy muttered softly. Startled, I let her collar go and helped her up.
“What was that?!” I asked no one in particular. Azuris was the last to recover, and I watched with mild amusement as he extricated his horns from a dense bush covered in bright yellow beads. At least, they looked like beads, but were probably some fruit that would kill me if I ate it. Most things here did. When Azuris turned to us, though, I saw an expression I had never thought I would see on his face:
Fear.
“We need to go.”
A roar crushed the silence like thunder in a clear sky. It came from somewhere nearby, though I couldn’t gauge the exact distance due to the sheer volume. My guantlets rushed to my ears, but they didn’t aid me in the slightest as the roar continued on for several seconds. I fell to a knee. Pain and dizziness swept through my mind as I struggled to stay upright. My friends weren’t better off. Elio gritted his teeth and Gwyn’s eyes were nearly ready to pop out of her skull if this went on for much longer.
A second roar, this one far deeper, challenged the first. The two noises cut out abruptly as the sound of heavy sacks of meat colliding replaced the atrocious noise. I gasped, grateful that the grating noise was gone. I started to back up as the sound of a fight neared us. My feet were like lead weights as they shuffled, but I forced them to move even as the world around me spun. I shoved Lysandra back, and she too finally began to retreat with me. Her eyes remained fixed on something behind us, but I didn’t waste my energy in investigating whatever it was that she saw. Azuris was right. We needed to go now.
The sound of something ginormous ripping cut through the air near us. Where once there was naught but wind and empty space, a giant figure now stood, its four legs spread wide as its long snout growled. The lupine creature had midnight blue fur that had white spots of energy crackling along it. It was easily two stories tall. Its opponent was not.
It was significantly larger.
“WYVERN!”