Lunch couldn’t come soon enough. It was a welcome respite—a quick affair of stale bread and oranges. They barely stopped for a half hour before picking back up, but it was enough for Vir to recover his energy. Not long enough for Vir to go hypothermic from all the cooling sweat, thankfully.
He felt safer the deeper they got, though Maiya’s fright only continued to mount. She scanned their surroundings every few seconds. No doubt looking for the Ghost of the Godshollow, Vir smirked.
“Did you hear that?” Maiya whispered, halting.
Vir strained his ears, but all he heard were the eerie voices, same as usual. He started walking, then noticed Rudvik hadn’t budged. The man’s gaze was fixed on a certain spot, behind them and to the left.
“Uncle Rudvik?”
“Somethin’s out there,” Rudvik said.
Vir’s blood went cold. He forced himself to calm down. This was a forest, after all. A lush, vibrant forest. There were all manner of animals around. He couldn’t just assume it was a knight.
“Who?” Maiya asked. “Or, what?”
Vir could hear them now. Multiple sounds in the distance. Moving slowly. Cautiously. Prana beasts? Or something worse?
“Bandies,” Rudvik declared. “Several o’ ’em.”
“But I’ve never heard of bandies in this forest!” Maiya whispered.
“S’cuz there ain’t, Crimson. We’re bein’ followed.”
How? Vir couldn’t understand how someone could’ve found them so quickly. With Apramor leading the knights astray, they should’ve had days, not hours! They’d come across no signs of the knights this entire time, either. Both Rudvik and Vir were pretty good at finding footprints and signs of trampled foliage. They’d seen none. It was almost as if… as if they’d been here all along.
The lumberjack glanced at Vir, then at Maiya. “Come close, ya two. Ready yer knives.”
Vir already had his out. It wasn’t much—just simple iron—but it was his trusty companion of many years. The rust only gave it more character.
Maiya removed her much nicer knife from its sheath, but Vir was afraid she’d drop it with how much her hands trembled. Then again, it wasn’t like he’d ever used his knife on a live animal before, either. He doubted he’d fare much better.
“I reckon there’s about six of ’em. Sound right ta yer ears, Vir?”
“An entire pack,” Vir affirmed. They were close now. Rudvik had been right not to flee. Neither Vir nor Maiya were cut out for sprinting through the forest. The only question now was just who they were up against. A knight? Perhaps some other party that just happened to be in the woods with their bandies?
“The Ghost of Godshollow,” Maiya whispered. Vir was now genuinely worried about her knife.
“You’re going to hurt yourself. Get a hold of yourself!” he warned.
Maiya took a deep breath and calmed her jitters, but she was clearly spooked. So was he…Vir scanned the great trunks of the Godhollows, soaring hundreds of paces in the air. Their enormous boughs offered the promise of safety, but only for him.
What about Neel? What about Maiya and Rudvik? They couldn’t climb like he could, and he doubted even his bandy could scale such enormous heights. He refused to abandon everyone to save himself.
Neel started barking incessantly. The voices of the forest went silent.
“Here they come!” Rudvik roared, swinging his ax. Several forms blurred out of the forest, barking and yipping.
Rudvik’s ax smashed into the leading bandy’s stomach, throwing the animal against a nearby tree where it fell, limp.
Vir lobbed rocks one after another. His encounter with Camas’ bandies the other day had honed his throwing skills against moving targets. Or rather, the voices in his head had guided him. Just as they guided him now.
One of his projectiles hit a bandy right in the eye, forcing it to abort its attack. But these animals behaved differently from the ones in the village. They were tougher, more organized. Even when hit on their snouts, they barely noticed, pressing relentlessly on.
The animals were close now—many of his strikes missed, forcing him to dive away as two bandies beset him and Maiya. All thoughts of throwing any more pebbles disappeared the moment their lithe forms leaped through the air, a mere pace away.
Flight instinct took over, and both he and Maiya dodged the bandies’ vicious paws by a hair. Maiya hit the dirt hard while Vir broke his fall with a roll. He’d already begun heaving from the exertion.
Barely even fifteen seconds had passed.
Neel was embroiled in a fierce grapple with another bandy, and both of them bled from claw slashes.
Rudvik roared again, attracting the beasts’ attention, giving Vir a moment to look around.
Maiya had fended off a bandy all on her own, inflicting a wound on the animal’s leg.
Three more circled several paces away, calmly looking for opportunities to engage. Their discipline and coordination proved these weren’t mere hunting bandies… These were highly trained attack animals. Specially bred for hunting people. And there was only one organization who bred bandies for war.
The military.
Vir leaped and narrowly avoided another attack. His desperation continued to mount… At this rate, it was only a matter of time before someone got injured. Rudvik apparently felt the same.
“You two! We’re running.”
It was a poor option, but it was clear to Vir that staying here was worse.
Rudvik sent another bandy flying with a great swing of his ax, then the three of them took off.
“Neel!” Vir yelled as he started running. The bandy didn’t hear him. “Neel!” he yelled again. This time, it noticed. Neel barked once and threw off his opponent. Vir wasn’t worried. He had every faith that his bandy would catch up. It was himself he was more concerned about.
Cough!
Vir could barely breathe. If he was going to make it, he’d have to do something differently. He focused on his breathing, taking deep breaths to calm his heart. He chose every step he took with care, trying to minimize the amount of effort he expended.
It worked, for a while. Vir’s breaths grew less ragged, but only by a hair. As he ran, even with his optimizations, his body simply couldn’t keep up. His heart threatened to burst, and he fell behind the others. Neel barked, concerned.
I know! He looked back to see five bandies in hot pursuit, all intending to sink their fangs into him.
“Badrak’s Balls, grak it! Maiya, Vir! To me!” the lumberjack ordered. With his trunk of a left arm, he scooped up the fleeing Maiya, eliciting a shriek from the girl.
When Vir registered what was happening, he was already in the lumberjack’s arms, being carried like a barrel. The lumberjack barreled through the Godshollow far faster than before.
Vir could scarcely believe what was happening. Rudvik’s carrying us both?
He didn’t know how much strength it took to carry two young adults, but he could scarcely lift Maiya himself… And she wasn’t a big girl, not even close.
“You really can do anything, can’t you?” Vir muttered. It’d be handy to be that strong.
But as strong as Rudvik was, he couldn’t keep this up forever. He would eventually tire. Bandies could run all day long. It was clear who would win.
“They’re catching up!” Maiya warned. She had her knife extended, her face set with determination. But rather than look gallant, she just came across as ridiculous, being carried by Rudvik.
“You can’t keep this up, Father! Put us down!”
“What… kinda… father…” Rudvik gasped between breaths, “can’t… defend… his own… children?”
A frantic minute later, they broke out into a small grove where the trees were less dense. The sun broke through the canopy high above, painting the forest floor with gorgeous shafts of light.