Zagaroth

  Fuyuko desperately flung herself to the side as she threw her daggers at the beast that had charged through the air at her. When they reappeared in her hands a moment ter, only one of them had a trace of blood. She cursed as the beast spun to nd against a tree and snarl at her, preparing to unch itself at her again.

  Her only warning before it had swooped down had been a wreng, awful feeling when it had tried to mimic her shadow and cim her as its target. She’d never felt it before, but she knew her stories, and the monstrous hybrid before her could be nothing but a peryton.

  Its wolf-like head howled before it leapt, l its head to aim stag-like horns at her. Fuyuko dove to avoid the flying charge, sshing at its front, deer-like legs, only to have an arm clipped by its taloned back feet. As it swooped around for atack, she threw both of her daggers again from her position on the ground, then rolled to her feet before the daggers reappeared in her hands. There was a mark on one of its wings, but the moonlight wasn't strong enough for her to tell if she’d done more than damage some feathers.

  This wasn’t a good trade of blows. She’d hit it twice, but the o it had nded on her arm had probably hurt her more. The entments on her leather armor had mao keep that i blow from peing, but that bruising hit had been enough that she was trying to ighe slight numb feeling in her right hand from the impact. She didn’t think any of her bones were broken, but she retty certain that her right forearm was not as sturdy as it had been.

  There just weren’t a lot of choices. It had chosen to attack when she was out in the open, and Fuyuko didn’t dare turn her ba it to run for the trees. But o of trees was nearer, and she’d mao put her back toward them, so she slowly started bag up, keeping an eye on the monstrous predator. “I’ll not be letting you have my heart so easily.” She growled at it, and its tongue rolled to the side, looking like it was ughing at her. There was a cruel gleam in its eyes, and she was fairly certain it uood her.

  It also seemed to uand her pn, and it flew in a wide arc to pce itself between her and the trees. When it charged her this time, Fuyuko threw one dagger before she dodged left, trusting herself to the more shadowed ground, and only sshing with the sed dagger after she’d mao avoid its antlers by a hair's breadth. The ground dipped in that shadow, and the slight drop and lurch had been just enough t her face out of harm's way, though close enough to fling her hood back.

  Her first dagger had been knocked aside, but the sed one scored a long gash along the peryton’s fnk, and the first returo her hand a moment ter. Mentally she praised whoever had givehis particur entment.

  But Fuyuko hadn’t stopped moving and had taken the opportunity to sprint forward while the creature circled, then spun into a crouch with her daggers up in a crossed guard a few seds ter, turning to face the creature before it could charge at her back.

  Its head cocked to the side as it stared at her, fpping wings keeping it in pce. Light gleamed off of three small horns on Fuyuko's forehead, and her wolf-like ears flicked nervously as she became self-scious about them being exposed. Ever since her home had been burned down, Fuyuko had made a great effort to keep her head covered. “Yeah, my horns ain’t as big as yours, what about it?”

  The creature tilted its head the other way and then spoke in a low, gravelly, almost sultry voice. “Oni kin. But so small, barely taller than a human. You are young, yes? Oh, such soft, suct flesh you must have. But such hearty creatures, how much of you I eat while you scream, before I devour your still beati?”

  Hearing the monster speak made Fuyuko's stomach roil. She’d been hoping those parts of the tales had been exaggerations. She did not, however, let the exge of words keep her from cautiously bag up toward the trees that she was so much closer to now. “I’ll tear your throat out with my owh before I let that happen.” It was mostly bravado, she wasn’t even sure if she could call on her ly blood to partially shift. But if it came down to it, she’d certainly try.

  It was following her, its curiosity and amusement temporarily holding it from attag. “Your teeth are hardly suitable to such… ah, the ears. That . But you barely smell of wolf, I don’t think you do that. Not that it would matter.” The monster charged again, doh talking.

  Fuyuko’s mind had been rag, trying to figure out how to win this fight. She wasn’t strong enough to scare it off, but if she was desperate enough, she might be able to kill it. If luck was with her.

  Its charge was sudden enough that she couldn’t dodge in time. Instead, she kept her left arm raised across her face, dagger held in reverse grip, and dropped her right hand down at the st mio thrust forward toward the base of its neck.

  The impact of the charge flung her backward, the beast's momentum carrying them both. She felt her right dagger make tact with flesh, digging into thick hide, but it didn’t feel deep enough. Her left arm was able to deflect the horns from gouging into her chest, but now it was tangled in those sharp tines as her back smmed against a tree, and a hoof caught her iomach.

  She screamed in agony, but the pain helped fuel her fury too. One of the horns had barely missed her eye and torn a ssh along the side of her head, and now it was twisting to try and bite at her throat. Fuyuko strained against the horns her arm was tangled in, ign the fresh pain as she mao impale her own arm duriruggles.

  Instead, its teeth bit deep into her left shoulder. A distant part of her mind wondered if she’d ever stop screaming again as she wildly hacked at its neck with her right hand. She was far taller than it when it was on all fours, but the monster owerful and on its back feet. The peryton shook its head about to tear at her shoulder, and Fuyuko was certain that without the armor, it would have mao tear her arm off pletely.

  She didn’t dare let it back off, it was within her read its deadly, sharp horns were oher side of her head instead of able to impale her. She stabbed her right dagger in as deep into the peryton as she could before letting go, then opened her left hand to drop that dagger and grab at its horns to make sure it couldn’t get away.

  The dropped dagger’s magic activated when it hit the ground, and appeared in her open right hand, the first dagger till stu the beast’s hide. She snarled as she stabbed again, and again, and again. It shook her more frantically now, and in a distant haze she felt and heard bones snapping, but she didn’t stop until a violent vulsion threw her away from it. She limply skidded across the soft ground, then weakly did her best to face the beast. She only mao roll herself over enough to see it staggering, blood pumping from the ssh she’d managed finally cut deeply enough. It slowly fell to its front khen colpsed onto its side.

  Fuyuko managed a small, grim smile, then turned her eyes toward the sky. The Mother was high overhead, and both The Son and The Traveler were above the horizon. Her eyes focused oiny moon, invisible to most, and whispered a prayer for him to guide her soul. She’d trusted the shadows and luck as best as she could, and she’d at least brought the monster down with her. Maybe that would at least keep some other child safe. Then she closed her eyes and all awareness fled.

  So she was quite surprised to find herself waking up again, still alive. She knew she was alive because everything hurt. A whimper escaped her at the sudden pain, and a fire-lit figure nearby looked over at her, before turning back toward the fire. “Ah, good, you awaken. That was a close thing. I had to use a dangerous leaf to keep your heart from stopping while I patched you up.” The man’s voice was deep and warm, but Fuyuko was not iate of mind to trust so easily, and she started taking stock of her situation.

  She was lying on a bedroll under a b, and her armor and gear were all ly pced on the ground nearby. In a slight panic, she checked uhe bo find her underclothes in pce, but her chest bindings were blood-soaked on the left side. Which wasn’t a surprise, given the number of other bandages holding her left arm in pce, she’d only been able to move her right arm.

  “I apologize for the breach of your privacy, but I had little choice. It did quite the number on you. Your arm was dislocated and half the tendons and muscles were torn. And it is broken in three pces as well. You also have two cracked ribs, and it nded several hard kicks to your belly and legs. I think the healing potions fixed any internal bleeding and the worst of your other wounds, but I only had so many and had to do much of the work physically. Hopefully, my stitch work will not leave scars that a proper healer ’t fix.” He paused, then said, “My name is Gil.”

  With her initial panic subsiding, Fuyuko was able to tinue making sense of what was around her, using her right arm to raise herself up a little. The man was tending a rge pot at one end of a fire trench, where it was stoked to full fmes. The rest of the trench had ash and coals, produg smoke and a low amount of heat. Over that part of the trench y a makeshift set of racks structed from branches, which held several strips of meat, and at the far end, a hide was stretched over a simir framework to dry. The peryton’s hide. Its antlers sat on a roearby.

  She looked up to see that only The Wanderer remained in the sky. It was nearly dawn. Fuyuko smiled at the tiny, dark moon and whispered a prayer of thanks. With that done, she looked back to the man who had found her and taken care of her. “I am Fuyuko. Thank you.” She was still feeling cautious, but giveuation, how was a girl not supposed to be at least a little ed?

  Gil nodded as he put a lid oew pot. “A pleasure to meet you. It’s been a long time since I have seen one of the luponi, but you are far from the tribes. Why is a child like you all alone?” He moved on to ihe strips of meat, turning some of them over to help the drying process.

  Fuyuko frowned. “I’m fourteen.”

  He shrugged. “Not as young as I thought, I would have guessed eleven. But still, mirl than woman. Too young to be traveling alo night through the wilderness. But, better than the day perhaps? You are an iing puzzle. You do not seem like someone rich, but you have such fine ented gear. Your armor felt like it was almost cooperating with me as I worked to mend it, and the csps that hold it together are almost invisible when it is together. But then I see the wolf's head with three horns engraved on it, and I know it must be made for you. So I think you have an iing story to tell, if you like.”

  She huddled under her b silently moment as she thought. She couldn’t even remember everything but remembered scraps, vague images, and some thoughts. And if Gil meant her ill… well, she wasn’t going to be able to do anything about it anyway. Though she felt vaguely insulted that he’d thought she was eleven. So instead, Fuyuko sighed. “I think they are a bribe. But I’m not sure which god is responsible, or why, or what I am really supposed to be doing.”

  Zagaroth