Risk and Reward

Chapter Twenty-Two~Deal or No Deal

Cassian told me the first night is the hardest.

You're paranoid, in a new place, alone, surrounded by people you may or may not know, and everyone or everything is trying to kill you. I don't risk making a fire and instead make my home in a notch between two pine branches. It'll be colder up here, but I can manage with my jacket and being high up makes me safer. At least from the things lurking on the ground.

I managed to find a branch good enough to make a bow with and that's been my focus as the sun sets behind the towering pines with Ramiel glittering in the fading light. The buckle of the male's belt I dispatched has been serving as my shaper to strip the bark and to make the bow the proper thickness. If I keep at it, I can probably finish it tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll find water then too because I know I'll need it.

My eyes are nearly shut when a twig snaps below me and I go rigid. Focusing my hearing, I can barely hear the sound of paws on the bed of pine needles below and carefully shift to the side to look down. Below me, sniffing where I began my climb up the tree, stands a beast I have no name for. Its skin looks thick and shines softly with iridescence like the scales of a snake. Strong muscles shift as one of its four legs paws through the needles for a moment and I estimate it's at least six foot tall at the shoulder. I swallow and its head jerks up, freezing me with eyes that glow a bright yellow like a gold coin. Its maw is snaggle-toothed and the lighter scales around its mouth seem to be stained dark red with something, or someone's, blood.

The snout turns up to smell me before its maw widens into a macabre grin. "You are a strange little bird." He comments, the voice deep and cloying with a rough edge. I remain silent and still as we take each other in. "Why don't you come down to talk, little bird?" He offers and I raise a critical brow.

"I doubt we would be doing much talking if I came down." Just like that, I break Cassian's rule of talking with the creatures in the forest.

His eyes widen before it releases a staggering cough that I take is a laugh. The sound sends chills down my spine. "A smart bird then. Interesting." He muses before laying down beneath me with gold eyes glinting in the rising moon. "I would almost be tempted to keep you as a pet if you also didn't look like a tasty snack. You will have to come down eventually." It shifts slightly in its spot to get comfortable while my hands tighten on the half-made bow in my hands.

"A snack won't tide you over for long," I comment and his head cocks like one of my hounds when I ask them a question. "What if I could guarantee you a full meal?"

It chuckles and lifts it's head a bit higher to look me over more closely. "I'm listening, little bird."

"You know what season it is. Your mountains have been flooded by Illyrian males at least twice my size. If I start a fire, then they'll come from all around to investigate the smoke." I lay out a plan while staring into those yellow eyes. "By morning, you'd have at least two Illyrian's to satisfy your hunger. But in order for me to start said fire, you would have to resist eating me." A black tongue flicks out to slide over sharp teeth as it considers my offer.

"Alright, little bird—"

"You agree to my bargain?" I specify and the creature sits up at the change of phrase.

"It's a dangerous business to make bargains with creatures."

"You are not the first dark creature I've met and you are not the most frightening." Bryaxis comes to mind along with the image of my reflection in the Ouroboros. No, even I am scarier than this creature when I have all my abilities. For now though, it's best to play it smart.

Dark claws dig into the soft earth beneath my tree before that macabre grin makes another appearance. "I agree to your bargain, then. I will not harm you or try to eat you until the morning. At that point, I hope there will be others for me to feast upon, little bird. Or else." And so I break Cassian's second rule of never making a deal with any of the dark creatures in the forest. Only when I feel that strange, familiar scribbling across my hip do I move to climb down the tree.