This was a random piece I started working on in June 2018, and of course promptly abandoned. But hey, it ain't half bad so putting this up too. Should be more proud of my stuff for sure. I wrote three "parts", two as intros for the main characters (the elf and the mage, a doi) and the third turned out to be the ending of the the first, I assume would have been, arc. Maybe I'll flesh this out someday.
Part 1
The forest was
unnaturally quiet.
The leaves barely
rustled as Tulin rushed past the trees, bow drawn, eyes piercing through the
gloom. Moving silent and unseen, the wood-elf tracked his quarry, following
clumps of matted fur caught on scratching brambles and snapped branches left in
the beast’s wake.
A shimmer caught his
eye: blood glistening on stone. A cursory prod of Tulin’s finger confirmed its
sticky freshness.
Lips twisted with
disgust, he quickened his pace, feet weaving swiftly through the precarious
forest floor. The beast was close.
He smelled it before he
saw its hulking form crouched over in a glade. Dark drool dripping from bloody
maw, rotting meat stuck in glistening fangs, cruel claws rending flesh from the
torn carcass of its latest victim the werewolf savagely feasted on the missing
hunter from the village.
Brimming with bile and
hate, Tulin silently nocked a barbed arrow, coated with hornviper venom. The
bow creaked softly as he locked it in place.
He held his breath. The
forest barely stirred.
TWANG!
The arrow buried itself
deep in the beast’s shoulder. The wolf bellowed, sending birds shrieking into
the sky from nearby trees. In a snap it turned and barreled towards Tulin. Its
claws left furrows in the dirt as it closed the distance with terrifying speed.
Tulin had another arrow
drawn as the hurtling black mass of the wolf filled his vision. Instinct taking
over, he leapt out of the wolf’s reach as its claws swiped where his head had
been a moment before.
He barely recovered and
the wolf was upon him again. Unfazed by the poison coursing from its wound, the
wolf’s attack found its mark. The blow gashed through Tulin’s bow and caught
him in his side, sending him flying in a shower of blood and splinters.
Tulin landed hard, and
struggled to stay conscious. One hand gripped his side, attempting to staunch
the blood flow. With his other he drew a long silver knife from its sheath, as
he unsteadily tried to find his footing.
The wolf paused,
standing primed on its hindquarters. Its eyes clouded over as the hornviper
venom began to blind the wolf.
The reprieve was for but
a moment.
The wolf caught the
scent of Tulin’s fresh blood and sprang towards its quarry, roaring with rage
and bloodlust.
He gritted his teeth
from the pain, and uttering a guttural scream, slashed at the beast as it
surged on top of him.
The wolf pinned him down,
its stench overwhelming. Tulin writhed under its crushing weight, the wolf’s
jaws snapping inches away from his face.
Slashing and stabbing
wildly, he finally plunged his blade into the wolf’s thick black hide. Dark
putrid blood gushed out, drenching him underneath. The wolf gargled, blood
filling its lungs and throat, Tulin’s desperate aggression and the poison
taking its toll.
He held on to the hilt,
as the beast choked on its final breath and collapsed on top of him. He pulled
himself out, his breath ragged, soaked in both his own and the wolf’s gore.
Pain and relief flooding
him, he hobbled to the unrecognizable corpse of his kin. Slumping onto his
knees, Tulin muttered a prayer. Sorrow gave way to anger as he sat in ruminated
the dark machinations that had gripped his forest home of late.
The werewolf wasn’t the
first unnatural horror to attack the Silverglade, his home. Tulin knew that it
would not be the last.
No comments:
Post a Comment