White Strings

Episode 13 - Costs

Walking in the dark was something Silk had gotten used to after she had replaced Amani with scouting for herbs. Some medicinal herbs were only visible during the night. Whether it was because they fled the sunlight or to attract the night bugs, they were always hard to find thanks to the night veil. Silk thought about those times once again now that she was crouching silently, remembering how serene yet solicitous a night can make her to be.

Skyr had to give her a ride on his personal mount after Silk confessed she didn't know how to ride anything. Thankfully, the ride was short, and the place Skyr took them to was still within the temple's area. He told her that despite the temple's protection, some areas were still producing weak terror beasts. The area he took her to was one of those.

Silk knew Skyr was a safe distance behind her, mostly in order to not intervene with her impromptu little mission she accepted upon herself. She felt around the bag that carried her new daggers, making sure she didn't drop them. She was most likely not going to use them this time, mostly because she still didn't get used to their feel in her palms.

She heard the rustling right as her hands let go of the satchel, letting it rest to her side. She remembered what Skyr had told her. If she made any movement that was immediately to be followed by a suspicious rustling, it would not be a coincidence. Something was onto her, spotted her, and she now became the prey instead of the hunter.

Terror beasts never made a sound, the only way to hear where they were, was to listen to their interaction with the surroundings. The hill was scattered with a few trees, but they were not close enough to create a leaf bed on the ground. The terrain was slightly curved, with rocks and high bushes, and Silk's eyesight was limited thanks to that.

Silk waited until she heard another faint rustling. It came from right behind her. The terror beast was supposed to be of the weaker type, acting more like a predator animal rather than a monstrous being. It was probably circling around her, waiting for Silk to show weakness.

Silk had fought small predators before, mostly those she knew she could easily take down. She had no idea what she was supposed to do, and for a moment she cursed her foolish hasty decision to try and take down an actual terror beast. She turned around slowly, her eyes seeking for anything that stood out of the monochrome darkness.

Her eyes halted on one distant bush, its soft branches played with by the gusts of a night's breeze. She didn't know how, but she knew it was there, and it was watching her. The more she focused on that bush, the more her eyes could tell apart the beast's silhouette.

It was not small, using the bush and the rocky hill to incorporate itself with the background. Silk could feel the rush of the menacing threat course through her whole being as she finally saw its head. It was difficult to understand the shape of the beast, but the head was almost flat, making Silk shiver with uneasiness. The head had a pair of holes, so dark it seemed as if it was sucking whatever light was left in the night into them. It was its eyes, and they looked right at Silk.

Skyr watched the unfortunate event from afar. Skyr helped Silk by masking her scent, but she probably didn't know how sharp the beasts' senses were. Any young hunter knew that the moment a beast had the upper hand, the battle was going to be rough. The main goal of a mission was always to spot a beast, study it from afar, surprise it by attacking its vital point and slowing its energy flow.

Skyr prepared himself for any scenario that was about to go down. The beast was about the size of a steed and seemed to be of the charging type. Those were a pain to kill unless you landed perfect blows, since they were heavy yet so annoyingly fast. He knew the moment Silk would move, he would have a very small window for error, because the beast would probably charge.