Moon Chasers: Into the storm [Finished]

Chapter Eleven: The chase

Eventually Eleon caught up with his companions, he kept the bags as long as they needed. In front of them in the dim light they could see the cloaked fighter trying to escape, they were really nimble but obviously their long cloak put them at a disadvantage in the jungle. They jumped from the ground to tree banches and from branches to the ground and so on making it difficult to guess were they were escaping to as they were doing this in a seemingly random order.

After a while the noise their cape was making disappeared and they believed they had lost them. Jory tried to catch his breath with Qa, Eleon simply scanned the area with his piercing eyes and ears, trying to detect if they really had managed to outrun them. The halfling drank a bit of water and tried to dry his forehead a bit but in such a damp environnement the skin was never dry. He gave up and passed the bottle to Qa, the swordsman furrowed his brows.

"How did they managed to escape?" he muttered to himself "With Eleon on our side we should have been able to prevent them from doing that."

Something caught the elf attention, somewhere above their head something was moving, he caught a glimpse of black and then it vanished again. Eleon caught Qa's attention with a hand mouvement. Qa answered and looked up, they could see from time to time the black cloak moving in the branches above.

"Take your bow" Qa signed

"Keep your eyes up" the elf answered while slowly putting an arrow in the ready position

Jory looked at them unsure of what was happening but followed their gaze after a while he could see it too, it looked like the fighter was unsure on how to proceed now, it was very likely that the branch on which they stood offered no further chance of escaping and they were now trying to decide whether to stay here and wait or try to leave.

"Ready" signed the elf with his remaining hand

"Your call"

The jungle was a place that did not believe in silence, even now it was incredibly noisy, birds and animals were making a lot of noise and so were the swaying foliage. It was maybe the reason why the fighter did not hear the bow tense up and the arrow being released. With a short scream someone fell from the trees, someone wearing a black cloak. there was a rather loud thud when their body hit the ground. The three adventurers rushed to the scene but when they arrived they only found the arrow.

"Damn it" 

The leaves in front of them were ruffled and Jory looked up just in time to see the end of the cloak vanishing through it. "This way" he said before going in himself

The two other hurried to follow, once on the other side of the bush Eleon took the leadership of the chase party and they ran after the quick figure. This time the chased adopted a more agressive way of escaping, cutting vines and branches to cause them to violently sway around when their chasers would come through, they also caused stones to roll and rotting wood to block the easy path. They led them back to the waterfalls of the river they followed earlier. That's where they showed their true talent. They scaled it as if it was nothing but even if they were fast they were in a zone which offered no covering.

The adventurers struggled to keep up, fortunately they had become a bit better at climbing those treacherous rock so the gap was still within reasonable length. When crossing the pool directly the elusive figure would lift their cloak in their arms as to allow more freedom in the water, that action revealed their armor to the other, it was a strange shiny blue thing. Eleon recognized it at chitine from a cave dwelling insect, a giant insect mind you, it was called a Choranyptere. The elf had heard of it's chitine being used to make armor but never of it being used to that extent.

They continued all day but as the sun started to set it became increasingly more difficult to see their target, they continued for as long as they could but it became evident that it was reckless and also useless now that the night was dark and moonless. They settled for the night and tried to order their ideas, obviously there was something going on right next to them and they had only been able to scrapes it surface. They fell asleep much displeased that they had failed to catch the culprit completely unaware that close to where they were the runaway was resting in a tree.

They were exhausted after that chase, brought the cape closer to them and tried to rest, before they could realize it they were peacefully sleeping on the thick branch. They stayed there until late in the morning the next day when they were awoken by the sound of the three people under them getting ready to set off. They were speaking of continuing in the direction they last saw them go. The cloaked figure left silently, they still had to go to their camp and review their founding with what they already guessed on these people.

Unfortunately that elf of them is such a good listener, once the feet set on the jungle floor they heard him signals their mouvement to the two other. Damn it they should have stayed put, perhaps this time they wouldn't receive an arrow! They started to run, to hell caution, now they need to put as much distance between them as possible, surelly they can't keep on running forever can they?

"Are they some kind of magical creature to be able to always run like that?" asked Jory annoyed

"Could be an elf that's all" answered Eleon before jumping above a fallen tree

They ran and they ran, until finally they arrived in a part of the forest that was different, the vines and bright green leaves disappeared to give space for much more creepy dead bushes and giant cobwebs, they slowed down and looked around. "How big does a spider has to be to make webs like these?" whispered Jory, Eleon lifted his finger to his lips and turned to Qa 

"Danger, caution" he signed Qa nodded and drew his sword

Damn it the target had brought them to the lair of a monster, or maybe many monsters. They started to back away, slowly making their escape. Unfortunately fate was not on their side this time. From behind them came an otherworldly sound, he webs started to vibrate as the sound continued. Jory swallowed with difficulty as the realisation dawned upon him.

"Uh oh"