the long and short of it

Tale of Tails

Once there were two hunters. Over the years, one spent his time hidden away from the eyes of beasts. He had killed more than his fair share, and his skill was surely matched by none. Now, the hunts-man and his three friends waited once more, and before long the hunter spied his folly.

Far in the distance the second hunter moved amongst the dense autumn trees. A fleck of its copper fur glinted in the sun light. The grotesquely large beast, picked its way effortlessly through the thick undergrowth, Its long tail flailed through the air as it moved. the beast paused, its head leered towards the hunters hide, as though they had now become the hunted.

'But that's impossible,' the hunter thought, 'he could not spot us from this distance,' he nestled the rifle butt in to his shoulder. His sights were now honed firmly in on the monstrous feline, time slowed to a pause as he took aim, the hunter stared at the critters mouth. A grimace of sharp white teeth, its glowing red eyes stared deep in to his.
The shot erupted breaking the silence, the blast reverberated through the woods, instantly it alerted the savage creature to the impending danger. In a flash, its heckles were raised and with an unnatural agility the creature bolted. But Its speed was not a match for the hurtling bullet, that tore through the he base of it's tail. Ripping it clean off, the monster released an almighty screech before disappearing in to the murk. Leaving only its dismembered tail behind.

The witch of the woods knew something had happened the moment her pet skulked through the opening to her lair. The ancient tree trunk she resided in shook as her anger grew at the sight of her maimed pet. Rushing to its aid she packed the wound firmly with moss and mud to stem the bleeding, and when that was done, she began to mutter incantations. All the time stroking the beast between its large tufted ears attempting to sooth its whimpers of pain. Before long the bleeding had stopped and the wound was closed, the incantations had done there job and the pain was no more.

"Who ever did this must pay," the witch whispered in to the beasts soft ears. "Do you agree," the beast nodded and buried its head in to the lap of the witch.

Meanwhile the hunter mulled over what he had witnessed. He had never seen anything like it before, let alone anything that moved as quickly as it had. he retrieved the tail that had swung through the air proudly moments ago. Now, it just lay motionless on the ground. The copper fur, strained with scarlet, the hunter raised it above his head, triumphant in his trophy, of the one that got away. the witch and her familiar watched this scene from a far, her blood boiled with anger and her head filled with thoughts of revenge as she witnessed the sacrilegious scene.
The rest of the day passed quickly and with the onset of dusk the friends returned to their cabin. They found comfort by the fire, they feasted, drank and enjoy the laughter of friends. They threw banter and jokes between themselves, long in to the night until there wiriness got the better of them, and they retired to there bunks. It was the sound of clawing that awoke the men from their sleep, but the rapid clawing then stopped as quickly as it had started.

The four friends ventured in to the darkness, to investigate the source of the noise. Stood before them was a beautiful woman her thin white dress blew in the cold breeze. They shouted and pleaded with her to come in to he warm, before she froze to death. But she just turned and faded in to the tree line.
The hunter covered the others through his scope as they disappeared in to the black of night in search of the woman. He waited, and watched. The calm of the night was only broken by a blood curdling scream that echoed through the wilderness. An eerie peace followed until the sound of rapid foot steps. The hunters heart sank, when he realised only two of his friends had returned from the gloom and once they had caught their breath. They explained everything they had seen. All about the red eyes that stalked them through the dark as they searched for the mysterious woman, and how they had lost track of their companion so easily in it.
The remaining men returned to the safety of the cabin to discuss what to do. The hunter and one of the friends wanted to hunt down the devil in revenge. The other friend wanted to stay in the safety of the cabin, and as their fear and grief rose, so did their anger and frustration and before long the discussion turned heated and then turned to an argument.

The action of storming out was the second friends last, this brash decision was marked by the sound of a brief scuffle and a second blood curdling scream, that rang out through the woods. The two men rushed out of the cabin to find that all that remained of their friend, was a trail of blood, which lead in to the trees.
The hunter knew what had to be done, he convinced his friend to be bait and they went out in to the night so he could pick off the beast. The plan was ill conceived and hasty and before the hunter could raise the rifle above his hip the trailing red eyes streamed across the clearing taking the third man with them.
Then it was just him, the hunter had become the hunted. His rifle shook in his hand. He waited anxiously studying the door, the the inaudible whisper of a woman awoke him from an uneasy slumber and was then followed by the scrapping of claws against the door, he aimed his rifle, and the scraping changed to thudding. it didn't take long for the door to begin to buckle under the weight of the beast. The hunter fired, the bullet tore through the door, but the banging continued. eventually the door burst apart, the wood splintering, spraying through the cabin. The beast lept through the gap and stood there snarling. behind him the beautiful woman changed in to an old hag. The hunters blind aim had been to high, and now the red eyed beast stood before him.
"go" the old woman commanded and the beast lunged at the hunter knocking him back on to the floor, the rifle flew away sliding far out of reach.
The beast bared down on the floored hunter, its razor sharp claws dug deep in to his arms, its crimson stained teeth were bared in a malevolent smile. The monster growled and gnarled its breath stank of raw meat. the hunter cowered and pleaded with the beast as it opened its mouth wide the hunter braced him self for a pain that never came instead the witch spoke.
"Wait, where is his tail" the old hag rasped maliciously.stroking her long claw like nails across his cheek.
The hunter stuttered and spurted unable to get any words out. finally he found the composure to utter something "i don't have it" his voice trembling as he spoke.
"where is it" the witch screamed now dragging her finger nail hard across his cheek drawing blood
"On the walk back, i, i dropped it in the river, and, and it floated away," the hunter confessed .
The beast growled and the witch grew angry,"so be it" she said calmly making her way to one of the beds, she perched herself on the edge before speaking to the beast "do what yo must my pet" and with out a moments hesitation he flew in to a rage flailing at the hunter chunks of skin and blood sprayed the walls of the cabin before the creature buried a single claw deep in to the hunters gut. slowly slicing him across, the hunters continuos screams of pain rang through the cabin th old woman smiled to hear them.

The hunter laid there in a pool of his own blood now as the old woman rummaged through his entrails, removing a section of his intestines and tying it to the stump where the tail once was, she leaned in to the now dying man the woman whispered "now he has his tail" before disappearing in to the night.