Secret of the woods

chapter 5

 Have you ever sat down and just watched an ant colony? Observed how they moved. Watched them from an outsider's perspective? Stopping to actually see how they lived, wondering if perhaps you were also being observed by some larger force you were unaware of?

That was a good way to describe how Angel felt today. The sun was barely above the horization. The sky painted in purple and orange hues as the world woke up. But he wasn't ready to return to reality just yet. His conversation with Cherri being a little too awakening and real for him. So instead, he sat atop the tree branch, and watched the creatures below him.

The creatures they lived with were never really dangerous. Not unless you didn't know how to handle them. In fact they didn't even eat the animals, the only use for the hunters were to gather food that isn't meat related, or hunt animals for the materials they had on them. Fur, antlers etc. It was another way of life for them. The animal he was observing right now appeared to be something similar to a buck. Angel himself didn't know what bucks or deers were, but to humans if they seen these creatures. It was the first thing they would compare it too.

The buck-like creature had the body of one, sure. But it was larger than any animal that would be found in the human realm. It was probably 6 feet tall, taller than Angel. It would likely be far taller if it stood on its hooves. It had a very light and fine coat of hair that resembled the leaves of the trees around them. Its coat was brown, and its undercoat where its chest and belly were, was a dark green. It had several spots of green on its back and tail too. Its antlers were brown, long and pointed at the ends. They looked like branches. And its eyes, they were pure black with a speck of blue in the middle. Honestly the eyes were what freaked Angel out the most.

He continued to watch the buck, It jutted its snout out towards the sky. Its black nose twitched and its ears did too. Angel's ears perked as he heard the flap of wings and his eyes darted over to a bird landing on a branch not too far from him. The bird was around the size of Angel's hand. Its feathers were blue and the undercoat was white. But as it settled on the branch and twitched, shaking its feathers. Angel watched, unimpressed as its feathers changed colors, from blue to brown. Its undercoat from white to a lighter shade of brown. Its slitted pupils narrowed on the buck. Its head tilted this way and that as it examined the buck.

It spread its wings out, as the deer leaned its head down to nibble on a patch of berries close to the ground. The bird's head twitched and Angel stayed quiet, barely breathing.

It happened in a flash.

In a blink the bird was off the branch and soaring towards the deer. It spread its beak revealing an array of sharp rows of teeth. Angel didn't react. Staying stoic, observing. The bird hit its mark fast, biting down on the deer's neck. The buck roared its call loud and monstrous. Something inhuman. It groaned as the bird flapped quickly trying to stay on the deer. Its sharp teeth sank into its neck, blood oozing down its green coat. The deer charged towards a tree, knocking itself against it. Hitting the bird off. It flapped flying up. The deer turned quickly towards its target and the bird let out its own cry. It sounded like...like a thousand different animals screaming all at once, including the deer. It was so loud Angel covered his ears in pain. The two creatures stared each other down, and the bird charged again. The deer lay its head low, and Angel watched with bated breath.

The deer waited...the bird got closer...closer..closer..

The deer swung its head up at the last second, skewing the bird on its antlers.

Just like that the battle was over.

Angel sighed, watching the buck trying to get the dead bird of its antlers, blood dripping down and onto its coat.