Hunter and Prey

Chapter 8: Dark Secrets

The sun was slowly moving down towards the western mountains as the day was now coming to an end. Rose hurried back from the village with a satchel full to the brim with fruit, packaged food, some dried meat, and a few other helpful things for a long and most likely, dangerous trek. She hurried down the path to her tree, careful to make sure no one had suspected anything when she left the village and making sure nobody had followed her back. As she came up to the base of the tree she was just starting to climb up when she was grabbed by the ankle and yanked down. She yelped in surprise as she fell, even more surprised when she landed in a soft embrace, opening her eyes and looking up at the white wolfs beautiful blue gaze. "Sorry 'bout that mi'lady... I already cleared out the hollow, I've got everything packed." He smiled charmingly and steadied her as she got to her feet. "What about my-" Rose was cut off by Kimata as he smiled and spoke in a reassuring tone, seeming to have read her mind before she finished speaking, "Yes, I packed your family's trinkets too. They're in here..." He held up a soft leather satchel that looked full and she peaked inside, seeing every object carefully wrapped in paper or cloth and tucked away inside neatly so nothing was damaged during the journey. Her eyes widened in surprise and smiled softly. "Thank you..." He nodded in acceptance of her thanks and handed her the satchel for her to carry and she seemed relieved that he did. She took it gratefully and wrapped the strap over her shoulder, watching him in question. "So, we're leaving now?" She was watching the falling sunset as she spoke and he nodded again, glancing at her and at the dimming sky as well. "Yes, the village should be settling in their homes now that it's dark... There's many creatures of the night around these woods that would enjoy a villager as a snack and they know it." He turned towards the sunset, facing the mountains ahead with a valley down the center. He began walking at a steady pace towards the mountains, ahead of her just by a meter or so as she followed him close behind. This was the only direction that wasn't interrupted by a small town or village for countless miles. Rose had heard tales from the villagers about that territory and the horrors that had occurred in the century of the villages founding, an era and age of discovery... A territory of the country no one dared travel to after what happened... Since that region was so dangerous, many people now avoided developing there. Many named it 'No mans land' or 'The Beyond' meaning beyond civilization and into barbarous territory. Many who had set out to travel in the western lands never came back. It was because of this the common people were afraid, and that adventurers were both consumed by fear and curiosity, some traveling into 'No mans land' to discover wether the travelers really died or were so happy where they went they never left. Soon after that though, even adventurers lost their hopes because a group of many famous Adventurers declared they'd travel into the unknown and come back to tell everyone of it's greatness if that was truly the case... Scouts had wandered in only a mile into the forbidden territory and returned with the bones of the group of travelers who set out in this mission. The way they described that the bones were mounded as a small hill made people think and wonder of what really lurks in that land... The terrifying thought of such a creature with a trait of pure savagery... But a more horrifying thought occurred to Rose as she thought of the hill of bones. Apparently the leader of the mission's head was perched on top. What if it was another intelligent culture or civilization?... An intelligent and barbarous one to leave that pile of bones on the outskirts of their territory. Perhaps as a 'keep out' warning. Rose remembered the one man who was ever known to come back from that land. His name was Harold, and he was a journalist who wanted to know the truth after the pile of bones was discovered. He was the last person to ever try... A day after he left, a scout found him wandering aimlessly and chanting the same words over and over again... "Sergleh Corres'ona, Beware the Beyond..." The scout brought him to a health and mental hospital to have him checked for a fever or virus of sorts but his diagnosis was shock and a state of pure trauma. He only answered with the same line over and over. No one could ever understand or figure out what the first half of the line was... "Sergleh Corres'ona..." It just sounded like gibberish or an alien language. And no one has been able to decipher it or get him to say what it means. It all remains a mystery of what he saw or what happened to him for his mind to be pushed to those kind of limits. It's been two years since that incident and he's locked up in the mental hospital now. No one else has dared try to travel there anymore.
These thoughts swam around in Rose's mind and gave her a headache of sheer worry. If people knew of her crimes and were after her, and if they somehow found out that she was being protected by her assigned bounty hunter... 'The beyond' was the least of her worries and surely the only safe place to travel through for her now. It was too dangerous to try and head between the villages. The distance is just too great. Of course... No one knows what it's really like in 'No mans land'. The territory is surrounded by a ragged mountain range in all directions, it's even blocked off from the ocean coast... There's valleys and gaps to travel through, but not a mile after the rocky mountains the territory quickly fades into swamp or dense forest... Even jungle further west. Rose shut her mind off from the foreboding thoughts and shook herself to reassure her mind that she was with a skilled hunter. Surely the adventurers hadn't been trained to fight or knew the skills he did. And besides... They would only travel just inside the mountain ring for safety from anyone after them. Once they made it as far as they could to the other side of the country inside the mountain range and dangerous region, they could exit there and love peacefully in an area that does not know of their past crimes... Hopefully anyways. But... What would Kimata do once they reached safety? Would he leave her in search of his own home to settle?... Or... Would he stay with her?... Rose was staring off into the abyss of her thoughts. Feeling herself physically walking forward but not realizing she was actually moving until she walked into the trunk of a small tree, snapping back to reality from the bark filled face-plant. "OW!" Rose yelped softly in pain as she fell backwards onto the ground, rubbing her nose and looking around where she was. She was in a dark forested area probably not far from her old tree home. Maybe they had travelled a mile while she was in deep thought. She looked around at her surroundings, noticing it had gotten dark. The forest around her was unknown territory to her now, so she knew she was at least a mile or so from her old home. The sky was dark but the moon shone brightly in the cloudless sky. Stars shined brilliantly in the dark blue night like shattered pieces of the moon. Rose stared at it's almost full and pure white shape for a while, captured by it's luminescent glow. She smiled and then looked around, feeling puzzled like she was forgetting something... She shuddered at the deathly silence of the woods around her as a sudden realization hit her like a falling apple from a tree. Her traveling companion Kimata was nowhere in sight... She was alone. She looked around wildly, listening for any sound of footfall or his voice. Nothing returned the call of her keen senses. Not even the sound of an owl hooting or scuffling of mice in the underbrush. Panic started to well up in her chest like a bird flapping around, trapped in a small cage as she stood up. Ears going down as she searched the moonlit landscape around her. Shadows weaved in around any and every object in every direction, the clash of moonlight and darkness driving Rose mad with fear as she searched for the shape of her protector, unable to see anything resembling him in any direction. Her voice was trapped in her throat like her breath, seeming held under the spell of the deathly silence reining over the forest around her. She started to breathe heavily as if to smash out the walls of quiet with her own noise, trying to fill her lungs enough to make out the words that played on her lips. "K-... Kim-..... Kimata?...." She finally breathed out, still looking in every direction frantically. She felt comforted just by the sound of her own voice, feeling like the spell of silence over her was starting to break. "Kimata!..." She called out loudly, starting to run in the direction she had come. Maybe they got separated and she'd walked ahead or fallen behind while she wasn't paying attention. She skidded to a halt as something that sounded like a large branch snapped not 20 feet ahead. Her pupils shrunk to slits as she fell still, staring towards the direction of the noise. "K-Kimata?..." Her voice shook with fear as she asked out loud, begging to hear his returning voice of reassurance. What responded to her make the core of her soul quake. A loud, low, deep growl vibrated through the air around her, coming from the direction of the snapped branch. Big, brightly glowing blue eyes shone through the bushes 15 feet ahead of her, no less than 5 feet off the ground. Rose stepped back and covered her mouth as she gasped in horror at the fear that consumed her from what might happen to her. The growling got louder and more threatening as she stepped back and before she knew it she was running like mad in the opposite direction, making her legs go as fast as they'd carry her. Her heart thudded in her chest and she nearly tripped as an ear splitting howl surged through the night air. The sound pushed into her ears and she flattened them as she tried to shut out the noise and focus on running. The ground shook as she ran, making her stumble multiple times and she dared to look back. Her eyes widened as she saw a massive, male, white furred wolf charging towards her on all fours, near 5 times the size of a normal wolf. It's fur gleamed in the moonlight as it roared in anger as she ran. It's piercing, glowing gaze make her shake and she tripped as it's sheer speed made her lose her balance out of shock. She fell forward and turned in the air, landing hard on her side and rolling several times before she was stopped by the force of a tree trunk, once again hitting her head on the hard bark. She shuddered and grabbed her head, groaning in pain and head spinning as she opened her eyes, facing the direction she had run. The white wolf had slowed and was 10 feet away, walking towards her now, it's ears perked and eyes trained on her curiously. A pounding headache took hold of Roses head and her eyes started to close as blood started to rush to her head, making her vision blur lightly. The wolf stopped directly in front of her, watching her with a look of deep intelligence, the growling having stopped. Her ears rung and she closed her eyes, the last thing her having seen, being the wolf towering 5 feet over her and watching her curiously from a few feet away as she lay curled up against the trunk of the tree. Rose shuddered as she felt the warm breath of the wolf beast wash over her in spaced waves. Her mind started to fog, feeling herself start to slip into unconsciousness. She'd be defenseless to the creature standing next to her. It's warm breath continued to wash over her lightly. 'This is it.....' She thought sadly, feeling her mind start to dull from fatigue and the effects of the force to her head. Her last thoughts of consciousness echoing in her mind as it went blank. 'I'm going to die..... Alone.....'