Renounce

Chapter 3: Hunter & Prey

☀️ Ashton

Ashton stumbled behind an elderly tree as the yells of hunters resonated back in his direction.

They were being suspiciously noisy for a hunt. And aware of The Council's superstitious records of previous disheartening shenanigans, Ashton was wary to interrupt whatever this actually was.

Being able to recognise the voice of his father within the mob, Ashton decided the best option was to hide and just wait for them to pass by.

Having been angrily sent to his room by his mother earlier, he had then snuck out; intending to briefly visit his favourite forest spot again to calm his own mood. He was not too keen on an impending confrontation with either parent should he get caught.

The roots of the tree he tiptoed behind were as exposed and twisted as its haggard branches. It was a tangled mess trying to manoeuvre over them in the dark, and in addition to this, the ground felt soft and unstable. But as the voices got even louder Ashton did not have time to seek another place to hide.

He was carefully attempting to squat down when the weight of a large solid mass covered in white fur slammed directly into him.

All at once, the ground gave way, there was a surprised and defensive snarl, and a searing pain in Ashton's shoulder.

The beast and Ashton landed at the bottom of the ditch with a thud. The combination of the weight atop him and the exertion of the fall forced a sharp breath out of him.

Great raggedly battered wings folded tightly down over the two bodies, acting to shield them from further chunks of falling debris.

Squashed into the claustrophobic setting, Ashton could feel the rapid panicked pounds of his fuzzy ditch buddy's heart clearly against his own rib cage. He could feel the horned creature above inkling to flinch backward. Urging to break from its inverted vice of bared teeth in his flesh, which had easily pierced through the fabric of his jacket, and then flee.

Ashton was quick to cease its movement, grabbing it back into him and holding it with all the strength he had. To silence his hiss of pain as the curious beast's jaws smothered back into his oozing wound, he pressed his face into the damp fur of its neck.

The creature froze and ceased resisting Ashton's grip as the sound of men's footsteps above ebbed close. Its ears twitched and honed in towards said direction. The crunching of leaves and snapping twigs under their boots got louder with every passing second.

The tense jaw relaxed against Ashton's angrily raw shoulder. But the pain was still excruciating. He buried his face deeper into fur to muffle the sounds of his pained pants.

As the two awkwardly grasped each other, eventually the footsteps and mumble of voices began to soften and continued off, furthering away. The maw of the wolfish creature slowly left Ashton's sore shoulder as its hold released.

From his restricted position, Ashton could see an array of cuts about its body. Its structure was boney-thin hidden beneath the sleek fur. A curious silver cuff ebbed with small blue stones glistened on one of its legs.

What should have been elegantly white wings as prestige as a great eagle were full of crusty sores at the roots. Blood was dripping steadily from its nose and mouth and in turn; now against the front of Ashton's hooded jumper and his open wound.

Its ears were still precisely pointed, listening toward the direction of the hunting party. But its eyes darted over Ashton, who dared not move and continued to crumple his face to stop himself from audibly expressing his pain.

The clear yellow orbs were not that of a classic fenrin, a werewolf if you will, gradually losing its marbles. Instead they stared back into Ashton's eyes, searching with suspicion and curiosity, then briefly flicked down to the bite it had caused.

The forest remained silent from the recent disturbance for a short while, but eventually began to hum once more with the sound of nightlife. Chirping insects, creatures moving amongst the trees, and owls calling in the distance.

The beast cautiously lifted itself up to peek out the top of the naturally formed hole.
Ashton couldn't help a sigh of relief escaping as the weight also lifted from him.

His relief quickly dispersed, and he was instead cringing as frosty dirt showered down onto his face from the creature clambering its long legs at the edges to haul itself up and out of the miserable dank cave-in.

Its canine-like face peered down to give Ashton a final wary glance, him giving it a sarcastic wave back, and then its footfalls took off in the opposite direction of the obnoxious Whittle family mob.

Ashton was left alone, damp forest grit heaped generously on his face, staring up silently at the moon glowing against the dark sky. It peeked out between the high-hugging tree branches and depleting leaves.

He raised a hand to the bleeding bite mark on his shoulder. The pain accelerated the moment he touched it.

Ashton let out a sigh of dread. The heat of his breath showed again the cold of the season.

"Shit..."

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