As Oliver raced towards the growl, he could hear the thumping and thudding that he was earlier trying so hard to hear. They were thumping and thudding now all right. But they were thumping and thudding towards him! Far be it for him to care, it was what he wanted. It was what he came here for. He could feel every nerve of his body strung as tightly as the arrow against his bow, and he knew from years of hunting that this was the moment.
But from out of nowhere, he felt a small nagging at the back of his head telling him to push back a bit. It confused him for a while, but it was gone in a split second. The instinct to fire at the oncoming beast was stronger than any nagging thought that was plaguing him right now. He pushed it down and out of his mind. He needed to be focused one hundred percent.
Nearer and nearer it came, and Oliver quickly found himself a tree that he could easily hide from. Judging from the sound, it was obviously not as small as a beetle. It may not be as big as a dragon either, but he could tell it was huge just the same.
Wanting to get a better vantage point, Oliver deftly climbed up a strong and low-lying branch, and poised himself there. He could see quick streaks and glimpses of the beast from where he was, and he knew it was going to emerge from the group of trees right before him. Crouched low, bow and arrow at the ready, Oliver waited as patiently as any seasoned hunter would. In his mind, he pictured the animal from his readings. Huge lizard-like creatures. Deadly teeth. Hard slithery body. Wings or scales growing from its sides. It’ll take more than one arrow to kill that beast. And so Oliver prepared a few in hand, with arrowheads of the sharpest iron that could easily tear through the thickest skin.
Any minute now, Oliver told himself. He pulled back the arrow on the bow, and poised it against his cheek, aiming at the group of trees before him. Then just as soon as he saw movement from the nearest bushes and the leaves, he skillfully released the arrow, and it flew straight to his intended target between the trees. He knew his arrow would meet the beast as it appears through the gap.
But the thudding and thumping hadn't stopped, in fact, it's rhythm hadn't changed at all. Oliver's brows furrowed in confusion, and he dropped from the tree. Tensed, he quickly drew another arrow, three to be exact, and strung them all on his bow. He wasted no time and ran towards the clump of trees only to stumble back to the ground as he came face to face with the menacing jaws of the cockatrice itself.
Then out of nowhere, a dozen or so arrows rained upon them, and the cockatrice was momentarily distracted giving Oliver just enough time to release his own arrows and lodge them on the throat of the beast. As the cockatrice faced the other oncoming arrows, Oliver crawled away from it and loaded his bow again ready to fire.
* * *
Something must have startled the beast behind Yassia, for it suddenly seemed to pick up speed. She could hear the heavy thumping of four feet drumming against the leavy soil and then there was another growl that suddenly raised its pitch into a nasty screech that made Yassia’s blood curdle. Was this some sort of battle cry, had it seen her?! Automatically Yassia quickened her pace so that she now was flat out running, her teeth chomping down on her lower lip to keep a moan at bay as her feet now seemed on fire, flaming up with every branch or root she stumbled over. Curse her stubbornness to the edges of the earth! Why, why WHY could she never listen to advice?? The chances now were very slim she could outrun the beast, even with possible help so close by.Like it is when panic takes over the mind, you feel everything a thousand times magnified and add your own imagination to it. It was no surprise Yassia almost imagined to already feel the stinking breath of the beast on her neck, even though it must still be a little away. A thought crossed her mind but was quickly dismissed. Should she climb a tree maybe? In her childhood years she had been fairly good at it, but the trees of Ailantha were in no way comparable to the towering trunks she found here in this forest, where the lowest branch was more than the height of two men away from her searching grasp. It would take too long and before she had halfway found her way up the beast would simple snatch her off the wood and thank her for making it so easy.
No, it was running or nothing. And so run she did. But suddenly, she caught a movement in front of her, something ducking and then it was like a blurring stick came flying towards her at top speed. Yassia’s mind momentarily froze and the world slowed down to slow motion. With eyes open wide she saw the shaft of the arrow speeding towards her, but her muscles were rigid and in full swing of running. Her mind wasn’t fast enough to order them to dodge and dive instead. And then the impact came. It felt like some iron fist had knocked her smack into the left shoulder, letting her walk into the figurative brickwall. The momentum of the arrow hitting home sent her left side pivoting backwards while her right side was still in a forward movement, thus slightly lifting her off her feet and causing her do to a half-turn in midair before she crashed down on the leavy ground.
Her mouth that had been open wide in shock now escaped a scream full of anguish as just a second after her collision with the ground the pain flamed up. Pain so excrutiating and unexpected it seemed to stab through her body like a white hot blade. It was not like Yassia was unused to pain, she had had her fair share of it during her travels due to some very unfortunate encounters. But this was something new. And she rather would have liked to not witness it at all. But her ordeal seemed not over yet, because just like on cue suddenly a beast entered her blurred visual field. A beast that could be nothing else than a cockatrice, now having been provided with an easy prey indeed. It was too much. Yassia couldn’t bear it any longer and gave in to the blackness that was looming just at the edge of her mind.
