The Blood God

Chapter 1

 Leo proudly hung his catch of rabbit and squirrel over his shoulder. After a day’s hard work hunting food for his family, darkness loomed. Only the occasional hoot from an owl broke the silence of the shadowed wood.

The full moon cast its pale blue light through the treetops, illuminating just enough of the forest to allow the young woodsman to see his way. He whistled a cheerful tune to occupy his thoughts when a loud crack in the darkness interrupted his song. Concerned, he peered through the darkness. Through the trees, the woods seemed empty but for the lanky evergreens and the occasional overgrown bush, no wind even stirred the shadows. When all remained quiet for another minute, Leo resumed his whistling and picked up a more attentive pacetoward home. In another ten or fifteen minutes, he would be back in Gerasim, his hometown.

            A sudden breeze buffeted his side, and Leo thought he saw something large and swift run past him. He turned and froze, listening intently. For a moment, the lanky trees stood still with their secrets before another deep, resounding creak echoed through the shadowed woods. A tree groaned as something weighed down its branches. His surroundings were too dark to see clearly. But something corporeal, more solid and blacker than the night, seemed positioned on a thick branch in the direction he’d come from. He squinted but the figure was still too difficult to make out, so he waited. Surely, it would move if it was something, anything. It didn’t.

Not realizing he’d been holding his breath, he exhaled. His ma, pa, and sisters would make fun of him if they knew of his cowardice. He’d already seen twelve winters, they’d say, it was time to act like a man. Leo tried to quiet his frantic thoughts. Mustering up some courage, he removed his hunting bow from his back and nocked an arrow.

“Peeew!” he said, as he fired at the black mass, mimicking the sound the arrow made as it took flight.

A miss by a few inches, the arrow disappeared into the woods. He frowned and fired again. This arrow flew straight, hitting its mark. Through the dim light of the moon, he could see the shaft of his arrow. It poked outward from the solid shadow then shifted slightly as it moved with the shadow, followed by a snap. He followed the descent of his arrow as it fell in two pieces to the base of the tree.  

            “Impossible,” he whispered as the hairs on his arms rose. He backed up a few steps. When did a target ever break an arrow in half? Darkness covered thesurrounding woods like a fog and Leo knew the shadows were capable of hiding dangerous things. He’d heard stories, but he’d never believed them until two tiny, glowing orbs appeared on what seemed to be the head of the black human-like shape. Leo’s heart thudded once hard in his chest as he broke into a sprint. He hurdled bushes and tried to avoid the thick, knotty tree roots. The fallen pine needles made his feet slip, but he held his balance. When he spied the edge of the wood, he let his spirits lift for the briefest of moments. Gerasim, his home, lay just beyond those trees. He glanced over his shoulder.

The dark shape moved behind him, leaping swiftly from tree to tree. Leo ran even faster, the dense trees thinning as he entered the grassy fields surrounding Gerasim. The town was too far to make out the familiar shapes of people’s homes, but he could see the light from the festival bonfires. The flames roared brightly as music flowed faintly across the meadow. Somewhere down there, people laughed and sang. The late summer celebration had only started tonight, but not being one for festivities, he had decided not to go.

      The rustling behind him grew louder and Leo glanced over his shoulder. Only a few feet behind him, a human-shaped figure loomed, cloaked in black. Its face hidden beneath a cowl, only its hands were visible, human hands that ended in claw-like fingernails that reached for him.

“Get away from me!” he yelled just before the creature scraped long, deep cuts into his back. His skin burned as the warm wetness of his blood streamed down his back while he ran.