Hunted by Shadows

Easily, I slipped in and out of the shadows till it looked as if my skin was moving. The wind rushed past my ears and whipped my hair out in a bright flapping banner behind me. I stopped and quickly plaited it; scared lest it should snag and pull me back. Then I was off again, relishing the springy turf, the soft wetness of moss and the dangerous yet luxuriantly cool wetness of rocks in a churning roaring stream. My feet past swiftly over them barely leaving a trace of my going except for a trail of steam.

Far off I heard an unmistakable sound that thrilled down my spine. Then I stopped abruptly and for the first time that morning my feet would leave a definite mark upon the land and I watched in dismay as the flowers beneath them now, quickly wilted and bent away from my skin as if it was on fire.

There it was again! A horrible, horrible baying and howling. Hounds were on my trail; I was discovered. I could not be found here! Quickly I moved and my first few footfalls killed everything beneath them, but as I picked up speed death scarcely touched upon the greenery I passed over and I gave an inward sigh of relief.

Later when I exited that wonderfully cool and dark forest, I looked back hesitant, wanting to go back but once again I heard the hounds, closer this time than before and my heart wept but my eyes, as always, were clear and burnt with a fire of their own that nothing could quench.

~
“Stop here!” The order to halt rang out through the grove. “It’s left, whatever it was.”
Five dark green shapes detached themselves from the flora around them and only when they moved into the dappled sunshine could one make out that they moved, and hungry eyes stared out of lean thin faces to rove the ground around them. A few paces ahead, the forest started thinning until it eventually faded into the grasslands: not their territory; they would have to let their Hunt cease.

Amber eyes narrowed as one knelt to the ground and fingered the scorched patch of ground, five handbreadths in diameter. The fingers were drawn back with a hiss of pain; the earth was hot to the touch.

“Another patch,” hissed the forest protector and his tail flicked in anger. “It will take years to heal.”

His companions agreed and their five canine trackers lay down panting at their feet. Their owners watched them for any signs of unease but the beasts were merely exhausted; it had been a hard chase. This Scorcher, as they dubbed it, had no malicious intents towards the forest then. It had merely been passing through. They conversed on the identity of it, but none of them could even guess what tribe it belonged to.

There was a ominous crackle in the undergrowth and they all sprang in defensive positions, whilst the canines growled viciously.

A dark shape materialised like a thick poisonous vapour in front of their narrowed suspicious eyes. It took the form of a tall, powerfully built human man, with obsidian dracon hide covering his chest, and a pair of loose pants that glinted and caught the light like thick black oil. His skin was bronzed and weather beaten, and his hair shone red in the dappled sunshine. The Hunters drew back snarling like their hounds. The man’s eyes were stitched closed in the traditional method favoured by sorcerers.

“Human!” one sneered.

“Sorcerer,” growled another deeply and their canines took up protective positions in front of their masters snapping at the dark intruder, their hackles raised and their gums pulled taut over terrifying teeth. The stranger held up his hands in a show of surrender but his appearance and smell belied his obvious wish for peace.

“I only wish to pass through your wonderful forest and then I will be on my way,” his voice was husky, smooth and deep but it somehow managed to convey disgust all the same on the word wonderful.

One of the forest dwellers took a menacing step forward and demanded, “Why should we permit one of your kind to pass through here, demon? Just your presence here has frightened away all of the wildlife and I can smell the blood of our sisters and brothers on you.”

The intruder’s face was impassive but he lifted one hand to his face and said somewhat surprised, “So there is. I merely needed food Old Ones.”

“I have heard humans eat animal meat, not the flesh of sapient beings that think and talk,” one of the hunters half cried but he had to control himself although his anger threatened to burst from his chest like a wild predator. The other Hunters itched put an end to his nefarious deeds with a well aimed knife but their rules forced them to listen to his side of the story first. They felt they had heard enough.

Their naked blades glinted in the light and they began to encircle the slaughterer who made no move to defend or flee.

Can he even see us? was the general thought that ran through the group.
The Slaughterer smiled for the first time. ‘Indeed I can’, echoed his harsh voice through their minds.

~
I stopped, heart thudding, if that was what one called the volatile burning ember in my chest. I had heard sounds that penetrated my soul and extinguished the flames of my resolve.
I shivered for the first time in my life and looked back at the way I had come. I stood on a sand bank and could thus not kill any life. What had been that awful cold blooded sound of terror? It sounded as if the soul had been ripped from someone’s chest.

There it was again! How many more times must those words haunt me? I shivered once more and sank down to my knees. What horror had I brought upon those noble Hunters? I stood up and with a last desperate cry for help I ran away from the sounds that assaulted me and resounded like dark nightmares in my mind.