Part Nine
Week Four: Hunted
The light of dawn tickled Neil's eye lids. They opened and squinted to block the unusually harsh greeting from the morning. He didn't realize how high they had climbed. The canopy is quite thin up here.
Neil held a hand up to shield his vision. The sun actually wasn't that strong. The horizon still turned with gentle reds and yellows. But, he spent long enough in the gloom below that his eyes were sensitive to light.
Artemis was still asleep curled on his chest. She was whimpering. The hunter gently shook her awake.
Artemis snorted and stared right into his eyes, then scanned the surrounding treetops.
Neil rose to sit as she scooted off to take a seat by him on the branch. "Bad dream?"
Artemis shook her head in disbelief. "It was a squirrel cult! They were everywhere, more than you had arrows, surrounding us." She frowned. "They worshiped carnivores, and wanted to become predators to better protect their trees. So, they were going to eat us and transform into Savage Squirrels." Artemis shuttered. "Can you imagine? That's nuts!"
"Well," Neil replied dryly, "You are what you eat."
"Huh." Artemis tilted her head. "I've never thought of it like that before." She giggled. "That's funny too."
Neil leaned over the branch to look down to the forest floor. Nothing big and ugly, hopefully no timberwolves are camping below.
"It looks as safe as it can from up here." Artemis sighed. "We won't know until we go down."
"Let's bite the bullet, then." Neil started his descent.
"What's a bullet, and why would you bite it?" Artemis climbed down with dad carefully. "Are they tasty?"
Neil had a little giggle over that. "I suppose, like if you lose in the Stock Market."
"Stock Market? What's that?"
"It's a place were people invest in businesses to make money."
"Oooh. What's money?"
"Money is something of an agreed value that is used in exchange for something you want from someone else."
Artemis hopped onto a branch below, and cocked her head up at him. "And people invest to make money?"
"Yes."
"What's a business for then?"
"To make money."
Artemis thought on this as they finished their descent.
They were close to the ground, and the ambient light died to its usual gloom and glow, which was darker now that Neil's eyes had to readjust.
"So," Artemis finally said, "People have a business to make money, and they invest in business to make money while they make money? Wow, people make a lot of money."
Neil laughed as he placed a foot down to the ground at last. "Some really do." Man, this really was like having a kid. It's too bad Neil didn't know how timberwolves age relative to human years, otherwise he'd know Artemis's true age. He'd have to figure that out later. Retraining his focus on the surrounding forest, Neil looked for danger. "Smell anything?"
Artemis sniffed the air. "No."
Neil strung his bow, readied his spear, and made certain the other weapons were accounted for before they moved on.
Their plan was to rely on the infighting between Patches and Scar so the two could escape into familiar territory. There, they could fight on more even terms. Neil had some ideas that would insure this war would end in his favor. All he had to do was make it back home.
The first obstacle was navigating this unknown portion of the forest and find the direction home. It couldn't be but a few hours from here, maybe a five hour walk at worst.
Neil looked to Artemis. "Any ideas where home might be?"
She sniffed the ground and walked around the place. She pointed her snout in a direction. "I smell you over there; I think we came from that way."
"We retrace our steps then." Neil motioned for her to go ahead. "Lead the way, kiddo."
"Stay close, dad." Serious as she could, Artemis lead the way, cautiously smelling and hearing for any sign of the enemy.
The gloom of the wild was broken in places by glowing xeno fauna, and the hanging mists clung to the still air like a blanket. Calls of insects and animals strange and familiar added to the eerie and worrisome ambiance. Neil knew Scar and Patches weren't the only things thirsting for blood here. Other strange and deadly things stalk this place; one could even kill with but a glance, or so the legend went. As for any other things that live here, well, only time would reveal their terrible natures. Hopefully, today would only reveal a clear path home.
Lord knows the survivors could use the break.
Artemis stopped and smelled the ground again. She turned sharp to the right, which put them on a thin dirt path that parted some tall bushes in the distance. "This way."
They followed that natural road into a maze like hedge of berry bushes.
Neil picked and sampled one. With no tingling or numbness a minute later, they didn't seem poisonous. He ate one, finding it tart with a sweet grape finish. They were good. He'd have to return here for more later, if he had no reaction. It amazed him how extensively these hedges stretched into the forest, like a natural barrier. He didn't like it. There were too many places to ambush from. Actually, he had no memory of cutting through any hedge of bushes last night. Why would his scent lead them here?
Artemis shared those sentiments. She too wondered why she smelled dad here. This made her nervous.
Neil unlatched his weapons as a pit grew in his gut. He whispered, "Do you remember coming here?"
"No." Artemis' eyes darted to the sides. She swore something was moving in the misty brush.
"Let's go back-" Neil looked to where they just came from, but found to his confusion and terror the path which lead them in, the one that should lead them back out, had vanished. Thick bushes stood firmly rooted over where they just walked in, like they had been there the whole time. Impossible. Try as he might, the hunter spied no logical path they could've entered from behind. All the exits were gone, swallowed up by the hedge.
What is this?
"Dad...." Artemis backed away and into Neil's leg, her eyes fixed on the scary things she was seeing around them.
Even Neil saw what had her so spooked. The hedge was slowly closing in on them, like they had sprung an ancient trap in some tomb. His instincts screaming, Neil bolted with Artemis to find a way out of this place. Shoving by bushes and wedging themselves through shrinking passages in the maze, something caught on Neil's garments and pulled him back.
Neil looked to what had a firm hold on him and felt sharp stings along his shoulder. A thorn covered vine outstretched from one of the large berry hedges gripped his shoulder and gently, but firmly, pulled him closer to the hedge. Then, to his added horror, more vines sluggishly slithered from the bush.
The hedges are hostile!
He drew the maquahuitl and cut the vile vine, then swatted the others away as they snapped at him in a pain reflex. He turned to run, but a vine slinking along the ground grabbed his ankle by surprise. He face planted in the dirt. Searing pain raced up his leg as the thorns pierced the hide chaps and into the flesh underneath.
Neil rolled on his back and saw the hedge open up to let even more vines out. Inside the carnivorous plant, the desiccated corpse of some mammal hung on the inner brush. Dust off its dried form wafted as the plant shifted, and powdered bone sprinkled to the roots. The image of his bones fertilizing the Strangle Hedge filled Neil's fear drunk mind.
His irises dilated from the horror of it. Mother of god.
Artemis jumped onto the vine and chewed through it. The thorns didn't bother her and the other vines closing in ignored the wolf. She kept them off Neil then joined him in finding a way out after he recovered.
Deeper into the Strangle Hedges they ran. They saw an escape rout, another opening in the distance! They went for it, only to watch the hedges swallow it closed.
"Damn it!" Neil spied a rocky hilltop where the hedges didn't grow so thick. They ran as the Strangle Hedges closed in faster, obviously trying to cut them off from the one place they couldn't grow.
"Go for it!" Artemis urged as she picked up speed.
Neil ran as fast as his legs could carry him, just enough to squeeze by the hostile hedges before they trapped him in; but, after the bushes closed, with their vines extending and forcing Neil to back away, he noticed he was separated from Artemis. She's still on the other side. Oh no.
Scared he lost her, Neil screamed into the Strangle Hedges, "Artemis!"
"I'm okay, Dad! " Artemis' head popped out of the hedges. Unharmed she walked right up to him. The hostile bushes completely ignored her!
Thank god. He bent down and hugged her.
She patted his back. "It's okay. These things don't like me." She giggled. "I must taste funny."
Neil finished the embrace and scaled to the safety of the hill's crest.
"Dad, there's something weird here I can't put my nose on."
Neil wondered what could possibly be weirder than being surrounded by carnivorous hedges.
"Your smell is everywhere here, like if you rolled all over the place!"
"How is that possible?" Neil got his answer at the hilltop. Standing there, to his and Artemis' unpleasant surprise, was Scar and his warband slathered in mud.
To Neil's amazement, he saw Scar holding one of his hide shoes in his mouth. Scar let it fall to the ground. How'd he get that? All this was a trap the whole time!
Now Artemis understood how dad's smell lead them to this deadly place. Scar and her ilk snuffed their scent with mud, then used the shoe to confuse her and lure dad here! She snarled at Scar. They manipulated her to get to dad!
Scar's cold gaze settled on Artemis. "Clever."
"For making it this far? That was easy." The hate burned in Artemis' green glowing eyes. "Too bad those bushes were your only chance." She dug her claws into the ground in anger.
That's my girl. Neil didn't understand whatever Scar said, but Artemis had a fire under her and it had him pumped up.
The only hate in Scar's eyes was for the human. The two legs stood by the young wolf poised to strike. Scar had her warband surround them. With the Strangle Hedges guarding the flanks, the manticore can't interfere. That's all Scar needed. End of the line, two legs.
Neil held no illusions. This was going to be one savage fight. Thirteen near immortal timberwolves versus one human and his young nigh immortal timberwolf, the human needed to come up with something to survive this. "Artemis. Do not hold back. Give them nothing, but take everything. Understand?"
"Right. I'll let 'em have it!" She imagined smacking Scar's head off, then burying it. That'll teach her.
Come on, Neil, think. He racked his head for ideas to give him an edge in this one-sided fight. What would ancient man do? It hit him. "Fire." He gritted his teeth. They can't regenerate if they're ashes. Can they? Only one way to find out.
He planned how to build a torch with what little he had. Seeing his enemy maintaining their distance, he quickly wrapped the end of his spear with a fatty cloth used for bow care in the field, then wrapped sages beard around that for tinder. He snapped the handle in half over his knee. It should burn well. He finished the torch and made certain his flints were accounted for. Good, they're here.
Scar had enough of waiting, and decided to make the first move if the biped wouldn't. She howled and all the other timberwolves converged on the two legs like a closing fist.
Neil knew if he let them all cover him like a wave on a rock it would be the end. So, he counterattacked their circle, going to the rockiest portion of the hill. The jutting boulders there would frustrate their teamwork.
One sped a little faster than the others on that side to catch Neil first. He reacted quickly and skewered that wolf with the half spear then let the weapon go. The creature fell and flailed around. As long as the spear stayed, the beast was incapacitated. One wolf down. The others were another story. He drew his stone club and the maquahuitl as three attacked. One tried to rip the club from Neil's hand.
Artemis hit that one in the face with all her might just like dad showed her. Her enemy's ancestors felt that strike. The dazed wolf let go of Neil's club and rolled down the hill.
Neil clubbed the second that bit for his ankle and split the head of the other. Clearing a path, he took Artemis to better ground at the boulders with the rest of the warband hot on their heels. With a narrower space to fight, the enemy's numbers advantage would mean less.
That freak is faster than before. Scar realized this enemy is evolving and the danger it posed grew by the day. He howled for the others to surround the boulders and converge. Trap the two legs and squeeze until it's over.
There were three passages into the center of the large split boulder formation. Neil stood more determined then ever and so did Artemis. "You get that one, while I hold these?" Neil asked her.
"Yeah!"
"They're going to come at you like a cannon ball on fire, be ready!"
Artemis stood poised, and made a mental note to ask dad what a cannon ball was later.
Neil held the two entrances and hoped his idea would work. It's still too early to light the torch. The wolves needed to be thinned out a little, and he had a theory for that as well.
They poured in from all three sides.
The hunter hit one in the head with his club and cut its head off with the maquahuitl. He kept two more at a distance with the club while sticking the severed head with the obsidian blades of the other weapon. He punted the head as far as he could, sending it soaring far over the rocks and down the hill. Two down.
The other wolves looked at each other like they were asking if that really just happened.
"Oh yeah." Neil reassured them.
While dad guarded his side, Artemis held her ground against at least three in line, the largest number she's fought yet. Artemis had a weapon in her arsenal they didn't. Dad taught her how to best fight with her paws, so she didn't have to rely on her bite. He called it boxing. The goal was to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. So, he had practiced with her for an hour a day for the last three weeks. Now, she could truly test herself.
The much older wolves approached their young opponent with an air of amusement. In their minds, they had the two legs surrounded and as good as dead; but, this brainwashed pup on the other paw would be taken back to where she belonged afterwords. No need to rough her up too much before. Right?
Wrong. Artemis stood on her hind legs in a fashion that disturbed the wolf walking up to knock her away and let the others through. She blocked his paw with hers and knocked his block off with a right slap. She watched her enemy stumble like a drunk and fall into his shocked comrades.
How could something half their size hit that hard? They attacked properly this time.
Artemis fought in a way the wolves had never seen before, taking them completely by surprise. They had no answer for it. She alternated between standing on two legs and running on four, dodging and blocking with grace, then hitting like her paws were made of rock; but, she didn't use her mouth to attack. It was against everything the timberwolves knew about combat.
"Come on!" One shouted in anger, "It's just one pup!"
"That pup is stomping our tails!" The other answered in irritation.
Artemis was having a blast. It was just like dad said, biting is a weak attack, as it leaves the head exposed. She laughed when one tried to imitate her. Aww, that's cute. She hit that one square in the nose, sending her reeling and rolling around in the dirt holding it.
Another tried to bite and hold down on her arm. She gouged an eye out for his trouble. But, a second snuck a hit in from the side, knocking her hard onto her back. Dizzy from it, she reared her hind legs to kick just as he tried to get on top of her. "Dad!"
Artemis launched her legs out and wrapped them around her opponent, then held him away with her paws on his chest. Suddenly, his snapping head flew off after Neil cut it with his weapon.
Neil tossed the head over the rocks, adding one more to the other two he deactivated. Five down.
"Thanks!" Artemis recovered and kept fighting.
"You're doing great, kiddo."
Standing on top of a boulder, Scar looked down in disgust at how the battle was going slowly in the two leg's favor, yet again! She sighed. If you want something done right....
Still holding her own, Artemis suddenly felt a massive force swat her in the side of the head from behind, sending her to the ground numb from the impact. What was that? Her groggy eyes took in Scar's fuzzy form rushing Neil from his blind side. "Scar!" she yelped in warning.
Neil saw Scar. Finally, he left his hidey hole, and the human's blood boiled. Now, it's time to light the torch.
The warband stood by and watched their alpha wreak just vengeance. They dared not interfere without an order to.
Scar held nothing back and launched himself to Neil's left hand of all things. Neil wondered why as he attacked with the maquahuitl while guarding with the club.
Scar bit on the club and pushed his body out, swinging himself on the club's handle like a trapeze performer!
What the- Neil was caught completely off guard as Scar's hind legs plowed into his side with the full force of the swing. He felt the ribs in his side flex painfully and his footing faltered.
Scar gripped on his left arm with his claws, digging deeply into it, using the fleshy appendage for leverage to attack at an undodgeable distance. Scar cut into Neil's face with a kick from his hind claws to blind him.
Time slowed down as Neil reopened his eyes wide, and watched Scar's blood chilling gaze burn into his, its jaws opening to rip the human's throat. Neil threw his arm into the beast's path and Scar bit his forearm instead, knocking the human down to his knee. I'm not dying like this. Neil gritted his teeth, sweat beading down his face, heart pounding in his ears like drums.
Everything turned red. You won't beat me! His determination to live sparked a surge of primal force from deep within and a second wind of adrenaline coursed through him; the pain vanished, leaving the boy feeling only rage and strength. Only one thing mattered, destroying this timberwolf. Scar still hanging on his bleeding arm, Neil head locked the freak to bury his steel knife into Scar's face until it ceased to be a face.
Scar let go and pushed out of Neil's hold, timing it so Neil missed and cut himself instead. The beast sized his moment and jumped into the final blow. Die, two legs.
Howling savagely, Neil put everything behind his fist and drove it into Scar's face, not even feeling the fractured fingers as it slammed into the symbiont's wooden form like a wrecking ball of stressed tissue and shaken bone.
Scar hadn't expected such a savage blow from the two legs in his weakened state. Like a sledge hammer of flesh the punch sent Scar hurling several feet away. Black dots speckled the alpha wolf's vision as he struggled to stand. Where did this power come from?
Artemis jumped onto Scar's back and dug her claws into her sides. "Do it, Dad!"
Scar cursed the interloping wolf and tried to shake Artemis off, but Neil's attack took a toll and left her weaker.
Neil wasted no time and struck the flints over the torch, lighting the sage's beard wrapping which lit the fatty cloth under it. The bloodied hunter held the lapping torch up to the terror of the wolves around him. Burn!
Artemis lept off Scar as dad swung the torch at Scar and her pack. They retreated from its heat. As she moved to stand by her father, dad turned and glared at her, red sap draining down his face in ribbons, and his eyes were stained with it. She didn't see dad in those enraged eyes, but a stranger. Something savage had swallowed him, and it was staring at her like she was next. It frightened her, and her evergreen ears pent back. "Dad?"
Neil only saw all the things trying to kill him, and how to make them dead first. Burn them all! Then, something smaller than Scar approached. What he saw in its pleading glowing eyes pulled him out of the red haze and back into focus. Neil winced at the blood burning his sight. Wiping them clean with his hide sleeves, he swung the torch again to keep Scar's warband back. "Artemis?"
"I'm here!" He's back and she was so relieved to see it.
Scar and her pack stood in awe of this. How did the two legs summon fire?! Fire is one thing Scar wasn't prepared for. The alpha had to ensure the pack was safe from the flame, even if it meant the two legs won this battle.
Artemis saw the fear in their hateful glowing eyes and tugged on Neil's hide chaps. "Come on, we gotta go!"
Feeling the tightness in his cracked ribs, the hunter pushed himself to move with Artemis. He finally found something Scar was afraid of: fire. So, to ensure the wolves didn't follow, Neil set fire to the Strangle Hedges. The hostile bushes squirmed and moved about in slow frenzied waves of burning chaos as the whole hedge was engulfed in raging flames.
The fires reached the boulder, and the wolves retreated to a new position.
Scar remained, standing on one of the split boulder pieces, surrounded by the blaze. She narrowed her illuminated bruised features at the vanishing silhouette of the two legs in the distance. Then, she saw one of her kin had finally regenerated and reattached his head below. But, to Scar's terror, the fires had since surrounded the wolf. It was too late, and the flames consumed him.
Scar howled in rage over her lost pack member, and the rest of the pack joined in after hearing the news. A pack mate then urged they had to escape the fire, and Scar lead them into the cool darkness far away from the growing blaze. Your luck will run out, sooner or later, two legs. And the pack will be there when it does. There can be no recompense, only vengeance, they all swore as one
Neil and Artemis moved until the fires were no longer in sight. The pain was too much, and breathing grew too difficult. The boy had to stop. He leaned on a tree, then slid down to his seat on the cold earth.
Artemis took a good look at him, and whimpered. "Dad, I need to heal you." She licked his face clean, ignoring how sad the taste made her. Sadness tastes like iron.
Neil cut over his fractured bones and held his hand out. "I know how gross that is; spare yourself and drool into my hand."
Artemis did so and watched him medicate himself. She stared into his eyes, seeing how gentle, yet strong they where. It was the complete opposite of what she saw in the last battle, those strange savage eyes, a monster's eyes. Artemis snuggled close to Neil as he rested.
Artemis knew, somewhere inside dad lived a monster. Maybe that's what it takes to survive being hunted by monsters? You have to have one living inside, asleep until needed, like a sheathed weapon. Father had been pushed so hard he needed to draw his.
Maybe she had one too? Would she forget dad if her monster is unsheathed?
Artemis scowled at space. She hated the idea, and hated seeing dad like that. She never wanted him to resort to losing himself again. In her mind, it meant he couldn't rely on her enough and he had to push himself too hard. This made her more determined than ever to do better, to be stronger. Dad will never use his monster again.
She loves him just the way he is.
Dad was fast asleep. She had to cover him in mud, then blanket him in branches for camouflage. She made certain their scent was snuffed out. Finally slathered in mud herself, she sat beside her father as he lied under the evergreen covering. Artemis kissed his cheek goodnight, whispering, "You can count on me, dad, promise."
They passed the night unmolested. Once again, Neil didn't dream. Reality had too hard a grip on his mind.
Day Two
Neil woke rested and feeling strong again. To his side sat Artemis alert and watching the forest with the focus of a T-800.
She turned and saw him awake. "Sleep well?"
He stretched. "Did you?"
"No."
Damn, yesterday got her riled up. "Well, I did. With you on watch, who couldn't?"
She smiled. "Can you move?"
He rose to stand, and felt little pain. "I'm stiff, but ready to go."
"When have you last eaten?"
"The last time you drank."
Artemis tried to ignore how dry she felt. It wasn't easy.
Neil's stomach growled. "Well, let's eat first, then get out of here."
"Let's."
Neil dug into his handmade utility bag and broke out a leather wrap containing the emergency rations: four bittergrain hardtack biscuits, eight strips of herb deer jerky, crushed roasted roots for a coffee substitute, a tied leather packet of dried bone broth, and a tough water skin holding three cups of potable water.
Not wanting the smell of a fire to betray his position, cold root coffee and broth will be the morning's treats. Neil dug a small hole and placed a leather cover into it. He poured some water in the makeshift bowl. "There you go."
Artemis stuck a paw into the leather bowl and drank with a sigh.
Neil set the hardtack to soften in the root coffee after it steeped in his lunchbox pot. He took his breakfast quickly. Time was the enemy.
Artemis finished drinking before Neil finished his meal.
Neil held the water skin to pour more into the leather bowl, but Artemis said no.
"You have it. I don't need much water." She lied, but hoped dad couldn't tell.
Neil's seen her drink far more just from a trip to lake Terpsichore. Now, suddenly, she's a camel? He nodded anyway. "If you say so." If she wanted to go on strict rations, then so will he.
Neil only ate one hardtack and two deer strips. He downed the coffee and packed up. "Ready?"
"Yes."
But, before they left to find a way home, Neil noticed what looked like a small ravine to the left beyond the tall grass. A funny feeling sparked an image into his head of that ravine filled with spikes. His gut told him to build it. "Hold on, follow me."
Artemis followed to the ravine and watched him start cutting branches and young trees. "What are you doing, dad?"
"I'm going to turn this ravine into a trap by filling it with spikes."
"Why?"
He paused, trying to explain the intense feeling that told him this was important, despite having no empirical reason to. "Instinct."
Artemis understood exactly what he felt. "Need help?"
"Wanna dig a bunch of holes?"
Her ears perked up and she hopped a little in excitement. "Ooooh, I love to dig! How and where?"
She's still a puppy inside. He marked two spots a distance away from the other. "Dot the ravine with holes between these two points. Make them deep."
"It'll look like a squirrel couldn't find its nuts when I'm done!"
Neil laughed. "Perfect!"
After Neil finished making sixteen spikes, he found Artemis digging the last hole. It indeed looked like some frenzied tree rodent forgot where its stash was.
She beheld her masterpiece. "I've never dug so many holes so fast before."
Neil dropped down into the soon to be spike pit, then placed a spike in a hole and packed dirt around it. "Now, we fill them quickly."
Artemis nabbed a spike and placed it into a hole, then filled it in. She saw dad tamp the dirt with his foot. "What's that do?"
"It locks it in place. See?" He tried to wiggle the spike but it didn't budge.
She jumped onto the loose dirt, tamping it all firmly, then tried to move her spike. It too held in place like it belonged there. "Hey, I did it!"
"Fourteen more to go, kiddo."
When the pit was spiked, they draped over it a loose bark rope net covered with leaves. It looked enough like solid ground to work. After Neil marked where the trap was by stripping a chunk of bark off a nearby tree, they stood on the other side, basking in the majesty of their finished father and daughter project.
Neil held his fist down to her. "Nice job."
Artemis fist bumped dad, and they both made explosion noises while flaring out their fingers.
"Now, let's get the hell out of here." Neil turned and moved down what he hoped was the path home. Artemis would let him know when she smelled anything familiar; this time, however, they were far more cautious about following smells. So, they walked on through the dark wood, eyes sharp, and ears listening.
Neil made note of the way back to the trap along the way. All was quiet. Too quiet. Then he smelled something on the wind, a unique, powerful, and repulsive stink that clung to his nose like a foul hug. It smelled like death, a scent that Neil learned was a warning. It sent his instincts into full panic mode.
Artemis smelled that all too familiar and horrible stench.
The hairs on Neil's neck raised and his body pushed back against him like it hit some wall. All he could think about was running back as fast as he could. He listened and retreated in full sprint.
Artemis ran with him the moment he turned.
Branches, leaves, and evergreen needles fell in one splintered heap as Patches dived from the canopy above to run them down. Impressive senses, two legs. Patches liked pray that made the chase more interesting.
Neil fled down the path, scanning for the mark over the trap with wide darting eyes. He knew it was somewhere to the right coming up.
"Watch out!" Artemis screamed.
A large log flew over the hunter and landed in front. Patches tossed it to block the path!
Neil had to jump over the thing, but the suddenness of it slowed him down enough that Patches sliced the human's back with a wide swipe of his bladed paw. It was a glancing blow by all accounts, but it still cut deeply, and knocked him off balance.
Damn it. Neil fell flat to the earth and desperately tried to stand.
Patches grunted with satisfaction and reared his stinger to end the hunt; when suddenly, the puny timberwolf jumped onto his face and he missed his finishing blow. Damned pesky insect!
Artemis held on and chomped the manticore's ugly nose, drawing blood. The beast threw her off and up into the air, but she landed on top of his head. She narrowly avoided his stinger attacking from behind.
Patches roared, swearing in full volume that after he pulverized her into sap jelly, he was going to tear the two legs apart slowly for her insolence.
That's it! Artemis tore at the chimera's ear. With all her might she chewed and ripped at its tough hide and cartilage.
Patches violently retched his head and flung her off, taking a piece of his ear with her. The sheer amount of murder beaming from the monster's eyes was something words could do no justice.
Neil recovered and fled with Artemis, leading the psychotic manticore to his doom, hopefully. He saw the mark; there's the trap! He crossed over the small unassuming log bridge on the side, then stumbled on purpose to fill the beast with overconfidence. Neil's injury ensured he was dead anyway if the trap failed. It's now or never!
Patches, enraged, and bloodthirsty, took the bait wholesale. He fell into the pit full sprint and was skewered. Patches the ugly pin cushion struggled to free himself as he screamed oaths of grotesque vengeance only Artemis had the ears to understand.
She spat at the foul creature, hoping the spikes would take care of him. That's what you get for hurting dad, monster. Let that pit be your grave.
Neil urged her onward and they made good on their escape. He didn't have time to bleed, and ran until he was safe enough to care. Artemis helped him medicate and he dressed the wounds with tight sage's beard dressings. He was really getting sick of the monotony of this routine. For once, he'd actually like to go a day without being injured.
There still was no time to rest. The blood trail would surely lead Patches to them if he survived. Neil had an idea. He threw his ruined hide coat into a nearby river. Its smell should fool that nightmare on legs into thinking they went down stream, hopefully.
As they left, Artemis affirmed the smell of blood was moving farther away. Good.
All in all, it's a damn good thing Neil listened to his intuition. Never before had it been so clear and strong. Maybe, relying on instinct for survival had unlocked something deep and primal? Something that modern man had forgotten after trading the cruel harshness of nature for the softness of civilization? What was it, this inner voice? Was this the fabled sixth sense?
Whatever it was, it saved his life.
The pack of two fled their hunters up stream until they came to a small cave under the roots of a truly mighty tree. It must be thousands of years old. Here would be a good place to make camp for the night. Dad left to gather firewood, and told Artemis to stay put and guard the camp, despite how much she wanted to help.
She obeyed and remained at camp, alone with her thoughts. Although they made it out of the ambush alive, Artemis took it hard that dad was harmed under her watch again. When will she be strong enough to keep dad safe? If dad wasn't far, far stronger than her, he'd be dead by now. What's wrong with her?
If she could face and smack herself she would. Actually.... She walked up to the river, found her reflection in it, and swatted it hard with a loud clap of water, then sighed with a depressed slump. It wasn't just her she was pissed at, but the monsters that were hunting them.
She's been thinking it over since that first fight with Scar weeks ago. Why would anyone want to kill dad? None of this made sense. It only made her angrier with every passing day this madness continued. How did dad deserve all those horrible things Patches swore he would do to him? Why would her own kind want him destroyed so badly they would amass a pack to see it done?
"Why can't they leave us alone?" She asked to the silent river. Its silence remained unbroken, like her gnawing fears within.
First, Artemis lost mom to the mort moss. She tried to save mom, but it was too late. Then, the stuff stuck to her and she truly believed that was the end. But, dad saved her, took her in, and became her family. Now, these freaks were trying to take him away, to steal the only family she has left. Artemis snarled at space. Not over her dead body!
"What, Artemis?" Neil stood by the brush line with the fire wood in his arms, ready to drop it and run.
She saw the question in his eyes, asking if there was danger. Artemis perked up and shook her head. "Nope, just a squirrel, taunting in the distance." She glanced to over the river in mock annoyance.
Neil didn't mention he had been standing there for a good minute. "You okay, kiddo?"
"As okay as I can be, considering."
"Right." He continued in silence. Whatever that was, she obviously wanted to think it through on her own. If she wants to talk about it, she'll ask him eventually.
They finally had a fire going inside the cave, and Neil had the full experience from his rations with a hot cup of bone broth. It warmed him and dulled the aches and pains. He had enough food to last until tomorrow.
He would have to hunt after. But, hunting while being hunted isn't a very comforting prospect. No. They needed to gain significant distance from Patches and Scar to hunt safely.
Nightfall came, and Neil snuggled up with Artemis in the dark of the cave after snuffing out the fire. They were fast asleep within minutes.
Day Three
In the dim moist cave, Neil roused himself from the stone floor, recovered from his injuries. Well, at least he had that to look forward to in his messed up routine.
He noticed that Artemis was gone.
He couldn't have breakfast without her, so he left the cave to find her. In a hushed rasp the hunter called her name and searched close by in vein. After minutes of searching without success, pangs of worry began gnawing at his guts. What if she was snatched under his sleeping nose? He saw paw prints in the soft sandy soil by the river and tracked them down stream.
They lead to a deeper part of the river. Thankfully, to his relief, there stood Artemis at the water's edge, looking over her shoulder away from the river, like something caught her attention. Neil spied nothing but forest in that direction. Something else was odd: she didn't move, appeared stiff even. "Artemis?"
She didn't react to him. Strange. He got closer and saw that she was solid stone! Something turned Artemis into a statue!
"No." Neil touched her cold solid lifeless body and his heart broke. It's absolutely true that you don't know what you have until it's gone. Artemis was an alien, and their relationship was less than five weeks old; but, in that time she became the closest thing to family the hunter had in this horrible place. No, she was family.
She wasn't an animal, as some might've called her at first glance. Artemis was a person that happened to live on a world where they walk on four legs; and she considered him her father. By all rights, looking back, he was. The human adopted a smart, sweet, vibrant, fearless creature from another world. Now, she was a lifeless statue.
What did this to her? His world shattered, Neil fell to his knees and wept for the loss of his daughter, hugging her cold form like only a broken parent could.
Just then, Neil heard the cluck of a chicken. His red eyes darted to the noise, and he spotted a cockatrice slither down a tree where Artemis had looked! The monster rose on its reptilian tail and tried to meet eyes with Neil.
Neil found the killer; the legends were true. They can kill with a single stare, and it killed Artemis! His blood boiled and with murderous focus as the hunter singled out the beast. Neil rose to his feet and readied his bow, hissing through clinched teeth, "You'll pay for this."
The cockatrice stared into his eyes with its red glowing orbs of death.
Neil didn't avert his eyes. He didn't care if he was petrified. He will avenge Artemis, or perish trying. He only needed one good shot. He aimed. All feeling died in his lower half as his body began turning to stone. Neil let the arrow fly just before his arms were solid rock. He watched the arrow hit the cockatrice in the head. Ten points. Burn in hell, fucker.
Its lifeless corpse collapsed to the ground just as the warrior turned to stone. His final thoughts were of Artemis and what death would be like. Maybe she would be waiting for him if those legends were true? We had a good run, girl. See you soon.
Everything went dark and cold.
Slowly, a light at the end of a dark tunnel broke the void. Neil still couldn't move. What is this? His vision returned and he saw the dead cockatrice laying in the shadowy forest floor. The warmth of life returned to Neil's unpetrified body. He felt his body over with his hands. He was still alive?
"Daad!" Artemis tackled him to the ground and licked his face furiously.
"Artemis!" He hugged her deeply. "My girl, you're alive!" He looked over to the chimera's corpse. When it dies, its victims revert to normal! Petrification by cockatrice isn't death, but some form of curse! Amazing. He'll reason out that madness later.
"I smelled something in the bushes, then I saw its eyes and everything went dark." Artemis nuzzled into his neck. "But, I wasn't scared. I knew you would come. This is the bagillionth time you've saved me, dad."
"Are you kidding me?" Neil rose to sit with her sitting on his lap. "You've saved me since day one."
The wolf stared deep into dad's calm eyes, there was no fear, no doubt, just happiness that she was alright. She found the answer to her worries in those brown beautiful orbs. She didn't care anymore about the monsters. This wasn't about her weaknesses or strengths against an uncaring world plotting to tear them apart. This was simply their life. And no matter what they would win, as long as they stuck together. She smiled. "We take care of each other."
"Us verses the world, kiddo?" He raised an eye brow.
"It doesn't stand a chance."
They heard a familiar roar disturb the stillness in the distant wilds.
"We need to move." Neil stood and checked to make certain all his gear was accounted for. Everything was there. There's one last thing he needed to do. Neil quickly skinned the reptilian tail of the cockatrice and rolled it into a course rag for storage. Wasting such prized hide would be a sin.
"I smell them." Artemis said with her nose in the air, "Patches survived the trap and is upstream; Scar's not far either. One must've caught your coat and ran ahead to catch us."
"I don't think Scar and Patches would ally against us."
The wolf agreed. "I think one is following the other, hoping to steal the kill."
Neil saw the cunning in that strategy. "That sounds like Scar, if I were to guess. Patches would take such interference as a bonus."
Artemis nodded then pointed to the river. "We should follow the river downstream. I still smell blood that way. If they think the scent was a trick, then following it will throw them off."
Pride swelled within Neil. She's become quite the little tactician. "Lead on."
The plan worked. They moved down river until darkness fell, gaining a sizable distance from the two monsters vying for their destruction. Neil and Artemis slept in the safety of the trees using the tried and true mud masking technique.
Day Four
Two shadows lied in wait beyond sight, hearing, and smell, as the lumbering horror walked through the gloomy mists a spear throw away, crushing a glowing mushroom in its wake. In the farther shadows, a dozen shades darted from cover to cover in silence, hungry for their mark.
Patches wiped the glowing goo off his paw on a moss patch, then sniffed the humid air for any sign of the two legs. Nothing. The hunt continues. The patchwork manticore lumbered on, fully aware that twelve annoying bugs stalked him from behind. But, he had bigger pray to squash first. They were the dessert.
Still hidden in the trees above, mud covered Neil and Artemis watched their adversaries pass on unaware they had missed their mark. The distance the two survivors garnered in yesterday's maneuver allowed Neil to hunt this morning, bagging some squirrels, which Artemis took delight in helping, and two rabbits. Artemis drank from the river as he ate. Both gorged themselves, having been exhausted by these last few tumultuous days.
Their strength renewed, the enemy finally caught up with them by midday. These beasts don't waste time, and they were getting too close now.
This deadly game of cat and mouse can't go on forever. Eventually, as both Artemis and Neil knew, their luck would run out. The beasts were too smart to keep attacking each other, knowing it would let their pray slip away. Neil admitted it to himself and sighed deeply in frustration. There was no chance of returning home, not as long as these monsters were at large.
Fighting in unfamiliar terrain had proved to be everything Neil had gleaned from history on Earth. Just ask Colonel Harold Moore what he thought of the Viet Cong's home field advantage at landing zone xray, or General Custer of the Natives at Little Big Horn. Neil knew his history and that he was on the wrong side of it.
He needed an edge, their very survival depended on something that nullified this disadvantage. But what?
Neil descended with Artemis as he ironed out plans of attack, or defense. No matter what, in his mind he couldn't engage one beast without the other swooping in and finishing them off.
Even if Scar was out of the picture, Patches posed an island of problems by himself. It seemed like he was even more invincible than the timberwolves. In fact, Neil wasn't certain if either could be killed. All he knew was timberwolves hated and feared fire, maybe that was their only weakness? Patches, on the other hand, feared nothing, stopped for nothing, and hunted everything. The murder train truly has no breaks.
It was all enough to make Neil so very tired.
Artemis looked up to him with calm reassuring eyes. "We'll figure it out."
He smiled weakly to her, his little bundle of positivity.
They moved on before the enemy doubled back, trekking down a rocky path that wound with a serpent like suggestion through the forest. If Neil didn't know any better, he'd say this path was artificial, seeing it cut down hill by purposefully avoiding the boulders and ancient trees. They two followed this still plain road system in the old wilds, wondering exactly where it would lead them.
"Ooooh, this path is spoooooky." Artemis looked around wide eyed as the strangest glowing flower she'd ever seen took off into the air like a spinning bird when she got too close. "Did you see that?"
"Careful now. The next one might take a bite out of you."
"But, the Strangle Hedges didn't like me."
"The next hedge might."
"Yeah, I guess anything's possible here."
Tell me about it. Neil doubled checked his weapon placement again, just to be sure.
After an hour of walking down the unfamiliar road, they came to a complete clearing in the thick canopy. The waning sun above greeted the parties' light sensitive vision harshly. After their eyes adjusted, neither could believe what they saw beyond the treeline.
"Mother of God." Neil gawked in awe.
"Whoa!" Artemis stood amazed at the sheer size of it. "Dad, that's the biggest hut I've ever seen!"
"That, kiddo, is a castle." Neil beheld the crumbling heap of an ancient neglected ruin from some bygone era, long since overtaken by the Everfree forest. Its proportions were truly massive. It must be a dozen acres in scope from stem to stern.
To approach the castle, they had to cross an equally old and rather dubious looking bridge over a large and deep ravine. Crossing that made Neil nervous.
Artemis, excited as she was, pranced over the bridge with nary a pause. She stood on the other side and yelled over, "It's a little rickety, but not that bad!"
"Says the kid less than half my weight." Neil muttered. He took a breath, and carefully made the journey across. After a spongy board giving under his foot nearly made him piss himself, he made it to the other side safely. The relief of it was like a wave of bliss.
"Dad, are you afraid of heights?" Artemis asked concerned.
"No. I'm afraid of the sudden stop at the bottom."
"I see." She wondered how that was different as they approached the castle.
It was even bigger up close. A grand spire must have comprised its main entrance at some point, and a huge void was left behind were the roof once stood. Only broken walls reaching up remained of the spire. The massive wooden gate stood still solid, stoically awaiting to let enter whomever cared to.
Neil pushed the door, and it creaked on unloved hinges. They entered the castle proper. The layers of foliage clinging to the crumbling walls and growing across the weathered polished floors only hinted at how old this place must be, and what beauty remained underneath whispered of its original splendor.
However, the avenues of potential this place promised might just be the edge Neil had been waiting for.
"This place is amazing."
He nodded. "It sure is."
They ventured deeper into the ruin by going down a large stone corridor overtaken by vines. To the left, jutting up at an angle, were a set of warped wooden trap doors. Time had turned the lock originally holding it shut to a rusted clump on the wet floor, leaving the doors free to warp themselves open.
"Hey, lookit!" Artemis used her body to wedge open the slightly ajar trap door revealing a flight of stone steps going down. She peered in with her night eyes. "I see the bottom, but it goes down deep."
Neil made a torch and lit it, then they descended into the depths below. At the bottom, the darkness of the lower level made a mockery of the torchlight, greedily and rather ominously consuming it. Neil could only see but a few feet ahead in the wide passageway leading deeper into the ruin's ancient foundations. He hoped nothing lived down here.
Walking onward, Artemis being able to see just fine, she guided Neil in their exploration. Turning to the right after meeting an end that split two ways, Artemis saw a large set of doors at the end of the dark corridor.
Neil saw the edges of the aged iron door were lined with paper seals, bearing sigils of some kind. The strangest part about them was how perfectly preserved they were. While the structure around them had suffered the waste of age, these frail paper seals were utterly untouched.
Neil grabbed the iron latch holding the door locked tight, then twisted it. A squelch of steel reverberated down the black halls behind. He pulled the door open, breaking the paper seals. To his surprise, whether unpleasant or not he couldn't decide, the seals turned to dust, as if they finally caught up to their age in that instant.
"That's creepy." Artemis shivered.
Inside the room, Neil could still barely see save for a great mass of things gleaming in the dancing torchlight throughout the room.
"Uh, dad?" Artemis smiled. "This is definitely your room."
To his right, Neil saw a stone bowl in the wall filled with oil. Neil touched the torch to it and the oil lit immediately. Fire raced through the walls of the room, illuminating everything inside.
Neil's jaw dropped. It was an armory!
Artemis just followed by dad, thoroughly amused by his expression of childlike wonder at all these shiny tools.
He walked further in, eyeing the racks of pony shaped platemail suits with chainmail underneath. The armor suits had holes in the back. Maybe for wings? They were forged with curves and held engravings that made them look bat like. A crescent moon was etched into the flank plate of each suit. It looked like the mark on Luna's flank. Interesting.
Racks and racks of all manner of melee weaponry, spears, axes, swords, hammers, maces, even halberds, stood ready and waiting for combat. Bows lined the walls and barrels of strings and fine steel tipped arrows were stacked in the corner.
The most amazing thing about it all was its state of preservation. It was dusty, but not even a speck of rust or rot could be seen. Everything looked new and shiny.
In the far corner to the right, Neil saw a little forge, sporting a built in anvil, tool set, and bellow. Rods stood on top filled with metal rings of varying sizes and gauges. An iron panel with a slot cut into it was poised on the left of the contraption. On a black marble pedestal was a steel cylindrical case filled with violet glowing crystals.
"Ooooh, those are so pretty." Artemis' eyes went wide.
Neil took one and the hairs on his head and body stood up. The crystal hummed in his hand and inside swirled a sparkling violet energy. These gems were cut exactly like the slot on the forge. Huh. Curiously, Neil placed the crystal in the panel.
Immediately, the machine hummed to life! The forge stoked itself alive then burned brightly. The bellow pumped itself, and the crystal glowing brighter scanned Neil with a beam of violet light.
This worried Artemis. "Dad!"
Neil held his hand out, "No, stay back!"
A ringlet flew off the rod holding it, then landed square in the middle of Neil's chest. What? More and more rings flew off the rods, forming on Neil a complete long sleeved chailmail hauberk. The armor flew off and rushed to the forge and dived into the flames.
Neil and Artemis stood aghast at what they were seeing.
All the while, a beam from the crystal scanned around for something after it found one of its compartments empty. It settled on Neil again, and out of his utility bag the leather wrapping holding the cockatrice skin floated out. The light took the skin, the strongest of two materials, and the skin grew in size. Shears floated up to cut it into shape.
Moments later, the chainmail left the fires glowing hot and set itself on the anvil. A hammer and other tools Neil didn't recognize floated over and riveted the mail together with machine like speed and precision. The leather was riveted to it underneath. When the mail was finished, the crystal scanned the suit, as if to finalize it, then set the product on the anvil. With the violet energy consumed, the crystal crumbled to dust, and the machine went back to sleep.
Well, that just happened.
Artemis blurted out excitedly, "That was soo coool! What is it?"
Neil regained his wits and held the chainmail to inspect it. The alloy was lighter than steel. He hoped it hadn't sacrificed protection for weight. "This is armor; it protects you from harm."
Wait, that metal shirt will make dad even more awesome? "Quick, put it on!"
Neil did just that. It was a perfect fit. Huh. This machine must be some kind of auto smithy, and uses these glowing crystals like batteries.
Will the wonders ever cease?
Neil set all his stone age gear down on an empty stone table. He paused, running his fingers along them. Parting with these tools wasn't that easy. Primitive and simple as they were, they've saved his life countless times, and formed a connection with the hunter. Well, on the bright side, this was as good a resting place for his old gear as anywhere. And, if he ever needed them again, he'd know where to look.
The armored hunter took hold of a steel spear from the spear rack and marveled at its perfect balance. The black handle was made of some tough wood that felt more like a polymer than a hardwood. Neil buckled himself to a new belt with a sword scabbard and a ring for an axe. He took an arrow quiver and latched it to the back of the belt.
He took one of the dark composite bows and it was a beautiful piece. He drew an arrow and shot it into a target in the other side of the room. The draw weight was heavier than his old bow. It buried the shaft of the arrow almost to the fletching. Wow. This thing is a killer.
Standing in his full new battle dress, Neil asked Artemis, "How do I look?"
She replied with kid-like excitement. "Awesome!"
"Let's hope everything works as well as it looks." Neil motioned for the exit. "Come on. There's more to explore, I'm sure."
"Lead the way." Artemis watched dad take a torch from the wall, light it, then light a bowl on the wall in the hallway.
Now that Neil knew what to look for, he understood how he missed it the first time.
With the lower level illuminated, they ventured down the other passageway, and descended a second flight of stairs to a cellar. This place was lit by wall sconces. Some could even still hold a flame, amazingly enough.
The place was dank with the smell of stagnant water and old oil. Shelves lined the ancient cobblestone walls. Most were rotted away, and bottles were scattered about the place. Some still rested on the standing shelves with blankets of dust on them.
There were leaking barrels in the center of the room. It looked like a metal box crate once held them. Only a crumbling ring of orange iron remained of it. The sustenance within the barrels pooled under their rusted seat.
Artemis scowled at the barrels. "Ew, those things stink."
Neil held the torch closer to get a better view, and the smell of oil hit him the hardest over them. He recoiled and walked back, holding his pounding heart as his stomach knotted on itself. The barrels were filled with lamp oil! If that had caught fire... He breathed easy and took a few more steps back.
"What is it?" Artemis asked.
"If those barrels caught fire they would explode, turning us into a fine mist." He eyed them suspiciously. "Let's keep our distance."
Her ears pent back. "You don't have to tell me twice." You really can't trust anything that smells bad.
There was a drain in the back of the cellar with a bronze grate covering it. A river ran through the foundation. It seemed the castle was built over a natural spring, and a channel was placed here to let it flow. Where the drain went to daylight was anyone's guess.
Other than the winding empty halls, the twists and turns thereof, and several flights of stares, it seemed this and the armory was all the lower levels amounted to.
Neil nodded in satisfaction. "Let's head back topside."
"Okay." Artemis thought this was all so cool. If they ever could live here, that would be even better. She liked this creepy place.
Once more standing in the main hall, Neil took one last look around and made his decision. This is where they will make their stand. There's a full ancient armory below. A bunch of defensible corridors and hallways wound the lower levels, even topside was defensible with some help.
"So," Artemis asked at his side, "Have we found what we needed?"
Dad nodded. "Yes." This position was everything Neil could've asked for. No more running and hiding. Here, in this ruin, the final battle between the three monsters would end, for better or worse.
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It's about, to go down.
I am surprised Luna hasn't visited his dreams again.
I am wondering if Zecora has told Twilight of Neil.
Achievement Unlocked: From Stone to Iron.
10036534
Regarding that, why didn't Zecora tell Neil there is a pony settlement and a full civilization a few hours from his position? Didn't she consider he could prefer that to living in the Forest of Everything-Wants-To-Kill-You?
10036701
Here are some potential errors:
I think a ‘to’ should be removed.
its
beasts?
couldn't/could not?
its
‘‘(...) of each suit’’ or ‘‘(...) of each of the suits’’?
Unnecessary ‘to’?
‘‘on the back of it’’?
Was the ellipsis supposed to have 4 dots?
I am very uncertain about whether ‘unto’ is the right word or not.
Luna get beautiful moon goddess ass into his dreams now! We have a dues ex MACHINA on our hands!
Also, great story!
10037179
Sharp as always. Fixed.
minecraftskinstealer.com/achievement/22/Achievement+Get%21/Aquire+Hardware
10065889
This month. I'll update when it's ready.
things are about about, to go down