Matthew’s POV:
As hard as it was to fight for control with the deer sometimes, Matthew had to admit that it was fast. Right now, he couldn't be more thankful for it as they barreled through the trees and brush. He was doing his best to guide the deer through the best paths, able to make faster decisions than the deer, but the animal was unpredictable, sometimes launching them in the complete opposite direction than what Matthew had suggested. The irregularity of their movements kept them from running in a straight line, which Matthew supposed was better in the long end.
An arrow zipped past their left side, falling into the bushes in front of them, and the deer took a sharp right, ducking its antlers to avoid them getting caught in the treetops above. Another just barely missed their neck.
Matthew caught sight of one and saw a flash of light that trailed the fletching of the arrow. That wasn't a good sign. If those arrows were magic, they really didn't want to be hit by one.
He had no way to judge how strong it was, and so he wasn't quite sure what they were going up against. How high of a level did you have to be to have enchanted arrows?
The third arrow made contact with their upper side. The impact was a lot stronger than Matthew had expected, and he winced as the arrow shifted as they moved. Black and red blood seeped from the wound, staining the white underbelly of the deer.
VIT: 84
Despite this, the deer kept running without faltering. Even though each dash meant a fresh new stab of pain, they were bolting as fast as they could through the forest. Matthew had a small bit of hope that they might even be able to outrun their pursuers if they were capable of keeping up the pace.
Speaking of their pursuers, Matthew hadn't really gotten a good look at them, and it wasn't as if he and the deer could slow down for a better look. Channelling some of his energy, Matthew tried to summon one of his sparrows.
The ball of light stayed in front of them despite the fact that they were running erratically. Slower than Matthew would have liked, the sparrow formed and quickly took off into the sky. Another arrow, aimed for them, just barely missed the small bird. Matthew sighed, relieved when it managed to make it above the treetops. He did not know how much damage a sparrow could handle, or if damage to the sparrow could affect him as well, and now was not the ideal time for him to figure any of that out.
He ordered the sparrow to get eyes on their pursuers, and almost caused the deer to stop in its tracks when he saw them.
They were all humans, and had they not been clad in fantasy clothes and armour and in a different world, Matthew would have seen them as completely normal people.
Their forms were highlighted so Matthew could see them and their stats better. His heart sank as he read them.
The one closest on their heels was clad in greens and browns. His hair was tied up and away from his face, keeping his eyes clear as he ran. He was covered in leather armour, and a forest-green cloak waved behind him. He held a bow, carved with some kind of runes that lit up when he aimed to take a shot. The arrow tips glowed with green magic whenever he drew them. Aron: Level 33
The second was close behind, the ground seeming to lift to meet her steps. Her hair was tied in a braid, and a deep red cloak was flying behind her as she ran. It was fastened with a deep red stone that glowed with what Matthew assumed was some kind of magical energy. She wasn't as heavily armoured as her companions, but the magical stone and the staff strapped around her back meant she could protect herself. Aria: LVL 29
A second archer followed behind. He was stockier than the first, and his bow was a heavier one too. The wood was thick, with green stones—also magical, Matthew assumed—inlaid. Matthew didn't want to think about how hard it would be to draw that bow, or the force an arrow shot by it would have. Already, his level was worrying. Tom: LVL 38
Next to Tom was a heavily armoured man, with some metal armour replacing the leathers his companions had. His sword was drawn, it was a large silver blade, and a shield was strapped to his back. Matthew assumed at least one of those had magical properties. Jack: LVL 36
The sparrow flew a little closer to get a better look at the four humans, maybe to even distract them, but it was thrown off balance as a different bird collided with it. The two birds began to fall, trying to stay upright and recover in the sky.
He felt the sparrow blip out of his consciousness as they ran out of range.
Well, Matthew had wondered how high of a level you could get, and now here they were, being pursued by four humans at level 29 or higher. What was worse was that, even though Matthew was terrified of them, they didn't seem to be at the peak of power. You could get a lot higher, a lot stronger, and Matthew was certain that levelling would reflect that. Even if Matthew and the deer managed to get out of this, until they levelled up high enough, the outside world would be far too dangerous for them to venture through. They were weak, probably almost like a fly for these hunters.
The deer was starting to tire, but Matthew wasn't going to let it give up, not when the humans were still hot on their tail and they wouldn't be able to survive coming into range with them. Aron was still shooting arrows at them, but the shots as lessened as the ranger focused more on keeping up than taking a second to pause and aim. They were slowly gaining distance, they just had to keep it up for longer than the humans could.
The arrow ached like hell in their side. Matthew wasn't sure how they'd be able to get it out, as it wasn't like they had hands or anything to break the shaft and remove it.
He also was vaguely aware that the open wound meant that they were trailing blood. Even if they managed to flee the hunters, if they were good trackers, they could be found again. That meant they had to get as far away as possible.
Matthew kept encouraging the chaos of the deer, even as it was tempted to run in a straighter line to reserve stamina. The more jagged their trail, the harder it would be for the hunters to follow their trail.
They passed a small spring, barely half a metre in length. The deer jumped over it, and they headed into the forest ahead.
The trees seemed to get denser, and they were surrounded by brush. The deer's antlers kept snagging on branches and vines, but Matthew hoped the terrain would slow down the humans more than it slowed down the deer. They broke free from the low-hanging branches and, after no shots were fired for over a minute, booked it as fast as they could through the woods.
When the deer slowed from a sprint to a run, Matthew noticed the silence. He couldn't hear the people behind them crashing through the woods. He relayed the information to the deer and summoned a second sparrow, sending it behind to see if the humans were still in pursuit. The bird reached the end of its range, seeing nothing, before returning to Matthew.
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They had escaped.
Waves of adrenaline rushed through Matthew and the deer, and the animal was able to stop, sides heaving. Cautiously, they looked around.
Matthew wasn't sure if the humans would still be looking around, but now that they knew there were hunters in these woods, they would have to find a secluded place to rest. A place with cover.
There was a thick patch of brush, possibly a group of berry bushes. Matthew coaxed the deer into it, trying to avoid the thickest parts of it. Despite that, the branches still scraped at the deer's legs and sides, and the arrow that stuck out of their sides got stuck against a particularly thick part of a bush they passed.
The deer almost made a noise at the sharp burst of pain, but Matthew managed to calm it down and they shifted until the arrow was no longer trapped.
They found a small part of the brush that they could lay down in, and Matthew encouraged the deer to lay low and rest. He resolved to remove the arrow in the morning, but right now, they needed to catch their breath from the chase.
The deer wasn't going to sleep anytime soon, but it did manage to get its breathing to slow. The bird they had nestled in the branches, getting a good look of the forest around them as it perched. Matthew ensured it was hidden enough to not give away their location.
They'd have to try and find the river again in the morning. Or a different water source. At least now Matthew knew that heading toward civilization was a bad idea. He had no way of communicating with people, and to humans, they appeared as a weird, mutant deer with a magical shard in its chest.
Not to mention, they were a low level beast in comparison to the people that must live there.
Something moved in the forest around them, and the deer tensed again. Matthew ordered it to wait, and the animal hesitated but eventually remained still. Slowly, voices came into earshot.
Through the sparrow's eyes, Matthew was able to watch the four humans stumble through the forest. They seemed exhausted, chests heaving and sweat dripping from their foreheads. The one that Matthew knew to be Tom, leaned back against the tree and slid to the ground, setting his bow down by his feet and letting out a groan. His companions joined him, each taking a seat or leaning against a tree to rest.
Adventurer’s POV:
"Damnit, we've lost it," Aron groaned. He threw his bow to the ground, wincing at the force of it afterwards as the weapon bounced.
"How could we lose it?" Aria turned to him and Tom, who was just making his way to the two of them. "Did neither one of you manage to get a hit off of him?!"
"We did, but it wasn't enough to slow it down," Aron said.
Tom fumed. "And it wasn't like you couldn't have helped us, Aria. You have ranged spells. Couldn't you have just hurled a fireball at it?"
"And risk turning it to ash? I'm sorry, I could have sworn we were looking for dinner, not charcoal."
Jack joined them. "Any luck with your bird?" he asked.
Aron shook his head. "I've got nothing on the scout. It's gone."
"Shit. We really needed that," Jack set down, taking his shield off of his back to set it down next to him. He pulled out a canteen of water and began to drink.
"Yeah," Tom said.
"Maybe it's for the best," Aron said. "It looked sick or something, did you see that? Its blood was black."
Aria leaned up against a tree. She rolled her eyes. "You were seeing things, Aron. It was dark. Blood looks black in the dark."
"No, I'm being serious," he said. "Something was wrong with it. Its antlers looked wrong too."
"Meat's meat," Tom said.
Aron grabbed a stick and began raking up the dirt next to him with it. This was bad, really bad. To lose a kill like this, after all of their tracking and travelling?
"I don't understand why everything's become so scarce," Aron said. "The forest is healthy, for the most part. We aren't taking resources from it, not any more than usual. But everything's just...gone. All we've got are a couple of squirrels and bird eggs."
"And empty stomachs," Tom added.
Jack frowned. "Have you been trying to figure out why all the animals have left with your connection to nature? That could tell us more."
Aron shook his head. "That's what I've been doing. Nothing. We could try talking to something, but then we risk losing another meal. And squirrels aren't really all that reliable."
The group collectively flinched, remembering how that had first gone when Aron had first learned the spell.
"Lycus is going to be pissed at us for coming back empty handed," Tom said. "This is the second time this month that we've found nothing."
"No one else is finding anything," Aria said. "It's not just us."
"What's going to happen to Burh-Tun? We're not exactly known for our livestock," Jack said.
Burh-Tun was fairly prosperous when it came to food. The large, open wheat fields outside of the town's walls and the other outside farms were to thank for that. They also did a lot of fishing in the river their town had settled near to. But a majority of their meat came from hunting and trade. The forest was a distinct part of their lives, with timber coming from the forest to build their homes and fortify their walls, and hides from woodland creatures making their clothing and being a large part of their trade with other towns.
If something was happening to the forest, the entire town could suffer. And Aria was right, everyone who was leaving to go on hunting trips were coming back empty handed, or with a couple of squirrels in their fist. And sure, squirrel fur did wonders lining hats, but it wasn't enough.
And all four of them needed the money. Aria, Tom and Aron for their studies, and Jack for his family. If they weren't able to bring anything back from missions, then this month was going to become a whole lot bleaker for them.
Tom drank from his canteen, fiddling with the lid in between sips. "If there was one deer, there has to be more, right? They don't usually travel alone."
Aron shrugged. "Maybe, but there might not be any other deer to travel with. That, and, like I said, it was weird. It might've been kicked out of the herd or something."
"Do you think something's in the woods? Something that is killing off all the deer and boars?" Aria asked.
Jack snapped a twig and threw it. "Burh-Tun has walls and watch towers for a reason. Things have lived in these woods before."
"No one's seen anything yet," Aron said. "But I don't know. If we find a rabbit or something, I'll ask it."
The four continued to catch their breaths. They drank and conversed, trying to forget about losing the deer they had been hoping to find for so long. Around them, the forest shifted with small life. An owl flew silently above them. The crickets sang.
It was just loud enough to cover up the breathing from the bushes behind them.
Matthew’s POV:
The wound in their side began trickling blood once more, and soon, flies began buzzing around them, landing to drink the liquid. A couple of them were the biting kind, and Matthew winced as they bit into the deer's thigh. He willed the deer to not move a muscle, even as the wound ached and the flies grew in number.
Eventually there was no use holding back. A particularly large fly bit the deer on its thigh and its leg involuntarily kicked, rustling the bushes. The humans outside quickly startled up, their weapons at the ready.
The deer stood up quickly, despite the bramble and stumbled out of the thick netting of branches. As soon as its feet got on steady ground, it was bolting, looking to escape once more.
Matthew saw the archer, Tom, draw an arrow and a silver light encompassed the tip. He released the arrow and Matthew could barely register the pain.
The arrow hit them with such force that the deer's back legs instantly crippled. Their chin hit the ground and its body slid. The deer tried to crawl up back to its feet, but all the strength had left its body. Matthew didn't need to look at their vitality to know that it was bad.
Their ears rang, but through the pounding of the deer's heart, Matthew heard footsteps thudding behind them.