He didn’t step through the opening in the circle either.
Instead, using his paw, he struck at the snow. Snow and the dirt and grass from the ground below were cast atop one of the branches I’d left by the opening. Branches with holly still on them, that I could maybe throw across the opening once he’d passed inside.
The other branch wouldn’t cover the whole opening, either.
He wasn’t stupid.
The Other’s toothy grin widened, showing teeth. It would have seemed cartoonish if… well, if he wasn’t fucking terrifying.
“Stay close, Evan,” I said, as I circled the incomplete ring of holly. My voice shook a little as I said it.
“I don’t want to be eaten,” he said, and his voice shook a lot more. A replay of something he’d said to himself, once.
“Neither do I,” I said, without taking my eyes off the Other.
He was faster than Evan and I. Covered more ground. I tried to keep the ring of holly between him and us, but it was futile. If he really wanted, he might have lunged, changed direction and lunged again. I wasn’t sure I would have been able to move fast enough.
But he didn’t. One ear twitched every time Evan made a sound.
I reached the point where I’d left the other holly branch. Not enough to close the circle, if I wanted to hide within. Which I didn’t. I bent down to pick it up, not taking my eyes or the shotgun off the goblin.
I didn’t want to let go of the shotgun, or take my finger off the trigger, so I hooked my good fingers into the crooks of the branches and bit. Tore.
Giving me a mess of holly leaves in my mouth.
“Run!” I screamed, around the leaves in my mouth.
I bolted.
The Hyena chased. Silent, but I could feel the impact as his great paws hit solid ground.
I cast the branch down between him and myself. There was blood on it from my wounded hand. I hoped that counted for something.
It did. The Hyena dodged, leaped off to one side, then corrected course, closing in on me.
No. On Evan. On the ghost of the child that had eluded him. The ghost who had eluded him.
For one second I couldn’t afford to spare, I took in the scene, tore the holly from my mouth.
“Evan! Come!”
I screamed the words, as if volume could impart some measure of power, commanding the ghost.
Evan came.
Not fast enough. Not far enough to get away.
I jammed the bloody holly into the end of the shotgun, aimed, and fired, haphazard.
A distraction, repelling the Hyena for one precious moment.
Evan ran past me, flickered, and disappeared.
The Hyena shook its head, looked at me, and lunged.
Into the chain-clothesline I’d rigged.
The branches holding it taut broke like they were nothing.
There was only slack.
I fired a second time, without holly this time.
The Hyena pounced.
A tiny something snapped.
It was like time stood still, as I lost my balance, and landed on my ass in the snow. The Hyena loomed over me, forelimbs outstretched, claws ready to tear into me.
Back legs on the ground.
I panted for breath, saw the Hyena there, its legs struggling, futile, in an attempt to touch ground. It did a short tip-toe dance on the ground, rear limbs only.
The tree swayed, where I’d tied the chain up higher.
As nooses went, it wasn’t a conventional knot. A simple loop, prevented from drawing closed by a twig jammed in the intersection. The twig broke when enough force was exerted on it, force the Hyena was definitely capable of bringing to bear. Simple forward momentum pulled the loop closed around the Hyena’s neck.
A choke-collar of metal charged with glamour, with blood, and power.
He snarled, lunging again. The tree shook, and snow drifted down on us.
“Fuck you too,” I said.
Still sitting in the snow, I pulled my legs around into a cross-legged position. “Now, I think, we can have a chat.”
He retreated until he could have all four legs on the ground and growled, a long, low sound.
“This is the point where you’re supposed to call all the spirits and ghosts you have at your command, isn’t it?” I asked. “When you realize you can’t win on your own, you call them, and you cower like the miserable little fuck you are, hiding until your prey is worn down or dead. So why don’t you call them? Do that howl thing again.”
He growled, quieter this time.
“No?” I asked. “You’re not going to call them, huh? Could it be that you’re scared? Are you worried that they might want to take back what you took from them?”
He didn’t make a sound, this time.
“Yeah, fuck you,” I said. “Look, it’s not even sunset. How many do you think I could call here before the sun’s down? How are they going to take it back? Do they just carve pieces out of you, eye for an eye style? Or would they actually try to recover what you have in your stomach? Cut you open like the woodcutter did for little red riding hood? Sew you back up with stones inside you, and toss you into a river?”
No reply.
“I’ll be right back,” I said. “Which one do you think I’ll find first?”
Still no reply. Only a malevolent glare.
I left him behind, watching out for Evan.
Hoping he wasn’t gone forever.
He’d been a help. I felt like I owed him.
I did owe him. I wasn’t sure I’d fulfilled that oath I’d made, back there.
I probably had, but-
I heard a crunch.
Realized what it was.
I ran back the way I’d come. Back towards the Hyena.
I saw him biting the trunk of the tree, splintering the wood.
Fuck, fuck, fuuuuuck.
I dashed past him.
He let go of the trunk, lunged for me instead.
I rolled, he kept going. I heard a choking sound.
But my focus was only on the branch I’d thrown to the ground.
No sooner did I have it than I was heading back for the Hyena.
When I’d left his reach, he’d turned back to the tree. Biting again.
I threw the branch, and he recoiled.
As with the circle of holly, I kept the branch between us, drawing closer to it.
I tore off bits of holly and distributed them in a wide circle around the trunk.
Cast off more bits and the remaining berries in his direction, until I was sure he wasn’t about to approach the tree again.
“Fucker,” I said. “Fuck you, you fucker.”
I was learning all sorts of useful lessons. Like not leaving a haphazardly-bound Other unattended.
“Now, what do you say?” I asked. “Should I go find your pets? Tell them that you’re not in good shape? Or should I find some holly? Surround you until you have nowhere to go? Until you have to sit still while they take you to pieces?”
He growled, very different from before. Head as low as he could get it.
“Or do I use a bit of power? I can see the connections radiating from you. Wouldn’t take much.”
I drew out a line in the snow. “There’s one.”
I drew out another line. “There’s another. There’s a lot of blood on my hands. I don’t imagine it takes much to bring them running. They’re probably pissed.”
Another growl, head low.
“The alternative,” I said. “Is that you agree to be bound. Which is probably loads better than you deserve.”
He didn’t move or make a sound.
“If I don’t get an agreement of some sort, I’m going to bring the others. I’ll protect myself and watch. I’d tell you how that kid you just tried to get? He was actually pretty awesome. He in no way deserved this… but you don’t care, do you? It’s not what you are.”