The Moon's Fangs | 1

27 | a sacred place

We veered off the trail leading up the mountain, treading through an uncharted grove, hip-high in overgrowth.

Nox healed little nicks and scrapes accumulating against my legs nearly the same moment thorns and sharp blades inflicted their mark on my skin. The initial sting from the cuts quickly vanished upon Nox's aid, giving me a strange sense of... invulnerability. This must be how superhero complexes are born. If I kept the Guide, I could say goodbye to Band-Aids.

I looked ahead, not yet seeing an exact destination point. Wherever Reks led us, it must be abandoned for quite some time now. Was there a chance it still existed? I hoped it did. I didn't want Reks to fall onto another dead end from his past.

Every few seconds I peered over my shoulder to check whether or not Nolan and the other soldiers gained on us. But visibility through the thick trees worsened the deeper we went, and midnight's shadows played tricks on my eyes.

"If I'm not worried, neither should you." Reks ducked under a large root bowed up out of the ground.

I blinked, barely stopping in time before headbutting the thing. "It's not that I don't believe you..." I pressed a hand on the knotted tree root and ducked under it. "...it's the shadows. I swear, it looks like they're moving behind us."

"Oh, is that all it is?" he turned, draping an arm over the arch as he scanned the shadows. Then he pointed. "There's our little eavesdropper. Right there."

I followed his gaze, seeing nothing for a moment until a pair of reflective eyes blinked within a tangle of brush. Reks whistled, drawing the low tweet out like a flute, causing the creature to pounce from its hiding spot and frolic around a nearby tree.

I gasped, eyes glued to an animal that resembled a fox in figure, but with a thick tail longer than its own body and feathery, dark brown fur narrowly dipped in a blaze of orange, like vibrant new leaves in the fall. A pair of antlers crowned the creature's head, pulling back like branches behind its downy ears. Traces of orange hinted around the edges of its soft cedar face.

"Oh my gosh... it has Thumper ears." My voice crooned from the adorable overload. My fingers brushed my lips in awe. "It's so beautiful. What is it?"

Its youthful eyes studied us with cool interest behind the trunk of the tree. Its long tail curled around the bark as it craned its neck to sniff the air.

"She's a kinya," he said, speaking softly as to not scare her away. "Orleizen legends mark them as guardians of the Ourea Mountains. This one looks to still be in her first few years of life. You can tell by the size of her antlers."

"A kinya..." I echoed. "Is she keeping an eye on us to make sure we don't harm the forest then?"

"With her youth, it's more likely curiosity. Their sense of duty is strong, and they take pride in keeping balance to the orleizen forests among the Ourea Mountains. Before The Fall though, their numbers did expand into a wider range beyond these mountains and were known to always be stretching their territory. Now with the desert and barrier severing their means for growth, it's safe to assume the matured kinyas may act aggressively toward strangers, out of an intense desire to protect life on these mountains. It's best we don't approach her."

He looked at me as if he knew I wanted to go over and pet the kinya until she fell in love with me. Her feathery fur looked soft enough to snuggle into, making my fingers tingle in anticipation.

I tore away from his all-knowing look with the irritating ability to see right through me. It wouldn't surprise me if he could read minds. My lips pursed. "Well, you never know... back home, animals love me. I'm practically an animal whisperer." That pertained mostly to docile animals like dogs and cats... but he didn't need that little detail.