Descent of the Moon

Chapter 5: Aura

Anikka's golden gaze glared hostilely across the flickering flames. Her feline pupils were narrow, and focused on the scruffy-looking human crouching in the dirt. Ivo was doing his best to ignore her, busy gutting some fish they had caught in a stream earlier with a rusted iron dagger.

After Tamrii had been accosted, Tokur had followed her instructions and shepherded Anikka and Ivo deep into the forest where they would be safe from even the bravest of villagers or soldiers. There they had made a small campfire and Ivo had gone to find them some food whilst Anikka tended the flames. None had spoken a word since they had entered the shadowed trees. Even Anikka, who witnessed her own mother being killed, her home be burned down, and her sister captured by humans, had not uttered a single sound of grief or pain.

The atmosphere was tense, and only Tokur seemed at ease as he grazed silently just beyond the light of the fire. Anikka's endless staring eventually drove Ivo to speak the first words heard all night.

"Must you look at me like that?" he snapped after he had skewered the fish fillets and positioned them above the flames. Anikka snarled, exposing her sharp, pointed teeth.

"What are you on about human?" she said.

"You've been glaring at me since sunset. Honestly, if looks could kill I would have been dead a thousand times by now," he said.

Without responding she snatched a piece of fish away from the flames and wolfed it down raw.

"That's just disgusting," he said bluntly. She simply rolled her eyes and turned her venomous gaze elsewhere.

It eventually fell on Tokur, who was peering at them from the trees. He had finished grazing some time ago, after their little exchange.

"Why don't you come closer elk?" called Ivo. Tokur blinked slowly and stepped into the warm light of the fire, then settled himself on the soft sand of the small clearing. Anikka watched him with now curious eyes.

"What's so special about you then? Tamrii called you her friend," she murmured. She pushed a length of black hair out of her face as she leaned forward and then stroked the elk's velvety nose.

"I suppose I should be glad she didn't let us eat you; you led us through the forest almost as if you knew we were being chased."

Tokur flicked his ear nonchalantly.

"He probably does know," muttered Ivo, picking stray bones out of the now cooked fish, and then devouring the rather bland meat.

"Don't be ridiculous; he's only a deer no matter how much my sister prizes him," she scoffed. The elk snorted quietly and turned his head away from her.

"Look, you've gone and offended him," said Ivo with a hint of a smile. "Now he'll never help us find Tamrii," he said, pulling a face of mock horror. She rolled her eyes again.

"You're honestly the most absurd human I have ever met. And since when were we searching for Tamrii anyway?"

"You don't want to try and rescue her?" he asked seriously.

"Of course I want to, she's my sister, but we have no idea where she's being taken, nor how long she'll be alive for, if she even still is," she sighed.

"Well isn't that the point of looking for her? If we do nothing she'll definitely be dead soon," said Ivo icily.

"Don't speak to me like I don't care about her; you barely even know her! Why do you even want to risk your life for someone you only just met?!" she snapped.

"Silence! Stop bickering like children; it's pointless and irksome!" boomed Tokur's irritated voice in both their minds. They both stared at the visibly aggravated elk.