Chapter 6

I awoke with no memory of what might have appeared in my dreams, and I was thankful for that. The mixture of the journal contents, as well as somehow reliving Brant’s dreams, was starting to weigh on me. I knew I had to find out what each was leading me to, but I worried what I would be like when I reached the end. I stretched my sore muscles - I would need to get more padding for my bed roll.

For now, I would go check my snares for any animals they might have caught, and then collect the meat I had left to cure. I collected my satchel, bow and quiver and made my way out of the camp. I looked along the ground outside, to check for any unexpected foot traffic, but was relieved to see none. Thankfully, the area the rocks were in did not leave tracks, you could only see them at the perimeter where the forest began. This helped me hide the location of my camp, as there were no tracks to lead anyone to it. I glanced up at the sky and saw that I had slept later than I had intended as it was already past midday.

I made my way into the forest and began checking my traps. Still nothing, but that was fine, I had other plans to deal with that. I changed the bait and returned to camp to return my satchel and collect a few things.

I got rope, as well as two of my leather covers ... they would come in handy. I made sure I had my knife, as well as twine, a bit of bread and my water flask. Once I was sure I had everything I would need, I made my way out and headed west from the rocks this time.

I figured the more my tracks went everywhere, it would seem like I was passing through the area, rather than staying there. I did not think anyone was looking for me, nor would they assume the tracks were mine, but I wanted to lessen the chance of my camp being discovered. The idea could be a foolish thing on my part, but I figured it could not hurt anything by trying it.

Once I got a few meters away, I readied my bow and nocked an arrow in preparation. I then closed my eyes to listen to the forest, hoping to pick up sounds of something moving through the woods. The sounds that I could hear were faint, but I was able to get a bearing for where I should go next. I started jogging in the direction I had heard the sounds, trying to stay light on my feet and ensure that I was limiting how much noise I was making. It would not do well to spook possible prey before I got near, but I could not just waste my time, either. I could hear the noise more clearly and it seemed my instincts had been right as I was starting to hear the calls and sounds of elk. I slowed my pace, now being more careful of where I was stepping, as I continued deeper into the forest. As I continued my approach, I was able to focus my hearing a bit more and was able to tell that there was a small group, at least three to five of the animals. The various calls and sounds told me that there was an adolescent in the group and that brought me to a stop. I quickly began to survey the direction of the wind, as the direction could be both good and bad for my approach.

I adjusted my direction of approach to ensure that I was staying upwind of the animals, as I slowly drew my bow. I slowly crept up on the group, carefully stepping until I could see them through the dense brush. There were at least three females, two fawns and three bucks, but there could be more out of sight. I looked through the group to see the best target, as the fawns and females were out of the question. I soon had my target picked, a buck a few meters away, feeding by itself. I took some deep breaths and brought up my bow, lining my arrow up with the creature’s heart. With one final deep breath I exhaled and released the arrow.

At that moment, there was a loud noise that came from the forest to my left, a few meters away. The group was startled, and the buck leaped before the arrow connected, causing it to hit and get stuck in the tree that had been behind my target. I cursed my luck and nocked another arrow, ready for whatever had spooked the elk, but I did not hear anything or see any movement. I looked at the tracks and tried to get a bearing, then listened in to the sounds of the forest to see if I could hear their hooves or calls.

It took a minute, but I locked on to where I had heard them and started off after them, as they were the only big game I could hear now.

As I closed in on the group, I would now need to be fast, not stealthy, if I was to succeed in my hunt. I could hear the group leaping ahead and readied myself for the quick shot I was going to have to take. As I neared them, I took a deep breath and began to set up my shot when I noticed that things were moving a slight bit slower than they should be. As I cleared a set of bushes and tree limbs, the group came into sight and looked to be moving at a slow trot, then bounding away from a predator. I continued to ready my shot and found that my hands were moving close to normal speed and I was able to anticipate the shot I needed to take. I aimed for where the buck I was targeting would be next and let my shot loose. Things slowly sped back up to what I was used to, and I watched as the shot pierced the buck’s heart, and it crumpled to the ground.

I was confused as to what had happened but was glad that it had helped me get my dinner.

I walked towards my kill and knelt to pull out the arrow. Once free, I took my water flask and a rag to quickly wash off the blood and tissue on the shaft and arrowhead. I then reached down and tested the weight of the buck, surprised to find it heavy, but manageable, given my newfound strength.

As I slowly made my way back towards camp, I pondered what had happened when I had gone to take my shot. I had done it no differently than I had always done, save for the fact that I was attempting to chase them down while taking the shot. Perhaps it was due to the fact I was chasing after them, using the speed I now possessed, that had caused things to seem to slow down. It was not a significant decrease of speed, but more like my reflexes and awareness were moving faster. It was interesting but also a bit unsettling as I pondered what other changes were left to happen. Fears of becoming one of the Voguel popped into my head and I felt myself shiver in fear and disgust. I shook the thoughts from my head and noticed I was about fifteen meters from the camp.

This would be an ideal spot to field dress the elk and remove the meat for curing. I looked around for a suitable tree and strung up the buck to it. I took my time removing the hide, taking nearly two hours as I removed the hide after I had finished removing the organs and dumping them a few meters away. I then pulled out one of the leather covers from my satchel, and wrapped the hide in it, tying it with twine. I took out the other leather satchel and worked on removing the meat from the animal. Once done, I wrapped the meat and tied it with twine and washed my hands as best I could. I would clean them after I was done disposing of the carcass, but I did not want to get lots of blood on the leather covers.

I tossed each of them over my shoulder, the hide going second as it was lighter, and made my way back into camp. I tossed the leather covers into the second cave and made my way back out to the carcass. I untied the remains and collected my rope, tying the now-looped bundle to my belt. I then seized the legs of the buck and began to drag it farther away from the camp.

I had made it about a meter when I started to hear movement coming from south of my position. I continued east but stopped again when I noticed the movement was coming towards me, and it was getting louder. Given the sound of it tearing through the forest, it was no wolf or elk. This was something large, meaning one of three very terrifying possibilities. It was either a bear, a dire bear, or a Tora and each one was even more terrifying than the last. Given the sounds I assumed the worst, that it was a Tora barreling towards me, no doubt smelling the fresh meat. I had been upwind when I began cutting the meat, and, given the breeze, it could have picked up the scent of the meat a kilometer or two away.

I was surprised at the speed this thing was moving, as I had just enough time to let go and jump as far as I could away from the carcass before the beast landed where I had just been standing. I tried to keep still, hoping it would focus on the remains and not me and I was prepared to wait make sure it happened.

As I had hoped, after the Tora came bounding out of the bush, its nose led it to the elk remains. Soon I could hear the crunching of bone, as it tore into its new meal. I was hoping that I could use the noise it made from eating, to mask my escape as I slowly pushed myself up from my prone position.

Once I was able to get into a low crouch, I quickly looked around to see how I could get back to the cavern without being spotted by this monstrous thing. From my current position, it was difficult to see much of anything, so I attempted to move away, while crouched.

I got two steps before I accidentally broke a twig. I looked at the Tora to find it had stopped and began sniffing around. So far, the wind was on my side, but that could change in an instant. I was not sure if I should make a run for it or not. The beast made the choice for me as it turned to where I was and bellowed a deep, rumbling roar.

I got up and started running for camp, hoping the beast was not able to keep up. When I looked back, I found I was quite mistaken, as the beast was keeping up with my much faster movements. Unlike bears, their digitigrade legs gave them much more power to move quickly, like a wolf chasing down its prey. I felt panic, as it could follow me and keep me trapped in my camp, which would be disastrous. I turned south and the big lumbering mass followed suit. I did not know how long it could maintain this pace, but my gut was telling me I would slow down before it did.

I started looking around for a way to get away from this thing, but I was not finding many options. It had my scent and did not look to be backing down from its pursuit any time soon. I noticed a low-hanging branch and thought to take a chance. I jumped up and grabbed the branch, using it to propel myself forward, landing on a nearby branch. Then, using what I learned while attempting to save Liza, I began to move from branch to branch as fast as I could. I could hear it coming and was happy to hear it begin to growl and bellow in frustration. No doubt it was smelling that I was still this direction but could not see where I had gone. I turned east, hoping that maybe not seeing me, mixed with a kind breeze would get the beast off my trail.

I was not so lucky, as the beast followed where I turned, and, looking down, I could see that it had seen me in the trees. The Tora then surprised me by increasing speed, until it was directly beneath me, and then less than a meter ahead. Then it surprised me again, by slamming into the tree in front of me, causing it to shake from the force. The tree was huge, and I was surprised as the Tora stood up and began to push against the tree, slowly causing it to uproot, and begin to topple towards me and the tree I was in. I tried to jump to an adjacent tree, but I missed and collided instead, the branch slamming into my chest and knocking the wind out of me.

I was able to grab onto the branch, as I attempted to regain my breath. The Tora, however, had different plans as it began to push over the tree I was hanging from. I scrambled to try and get up on the branch, before the lumbering hulk of muscle was successful. I was running out of time fast.

Instead of climbing up, I saw a lower branch I could swing to. I began to rock on the branch, hoping I build enough momentum to close the distance. Taking a deep breath, I let go as I swung forward, and just barely landed on the branch and dropped to the ground. I did not waste time congratulating myself and started running, just as the tree came tumbling down. The Tora roared in anger and once again came bounding after me. I kept moving as fast as I could, trying to stay ahead of the beast, but it was still gaining ground.

I started using direction changes to slow the beast down, as something that big would need some time to turn and then move in another direction. Small direction changes had no real effect, as the beast was able to adjust its direction mid-stride easily. Whichever god decided to mix the size and power of a bear, with the speed and maneuverability of a wolf, needed to burn forever in the nine hells.

I then started to make much more drastic direction changes. Heading south for a few meters, then turning to head northeast for a few meters, then southeast. I kept the pattern up and slowly the beast was losing ground. The sharp turns were causing it to have to come to nearly a complete stop before bounding after me. As soon as it was up to full speed, I would change direction again.

I did not know how long I could keep this up and cursed not having my sword with me. Seeing a Tora this far south was rare, but not unheard of, still, there was no mention of one living in the area. Even if I had my sword, there would only be so much I could do, and the extra weight would have made it much harder to escape the beast.

Finally, I had given myself enough of a lead that it could no longer see me, nor I it, but I could tell where it was from listening.

As I continued to try and increase the distance between us, I came across an open area in the forest that limited my options on where to go next. The wind had changed direction which made me downwind from the beast - if I could keep still enough it might pass by. I held my breath and attempted to keep perfectly still. I could hear the beast bounding towards me, and I felt my heart racing. I could hear it coming closer, and I was feeling nervous and exhilarated at the same time. Still, I made sure to keep perfectly still and slowly exhaled, hoping there would be little noise as I did so.

It came to a stop nearby and I could hear the beast sniffing around trying to locate me. I hoped to the gods that it did not also have the sense of smell of a wolf, as being downwind would not help me. I heard the Tora bellowing in what I could only assume as frustration, as it searched for a sign of me. After nearly fifteen minutes of searching the beast bellowed and started moving off, heading northeast, possibly back to the carcass it had begun eating.