Prey For Me

Content warning: Gal with a tool.

The burning in Kaska’s lungs got worse with each leap she took, even though the air around her was colder than anything she had experienced before as a hunter. It was like the whole world was turning against her, and after what she had just witnessed, it certainly felt like that way. Just a few hours before, she had enjoyed a warm fire with even warmer booze with her fellow trappers, planning their next step on capturing the dreaded Beast of the Arkady Grove. It had terrorized the area for many years now, getting bolder and bolder with each passing year so much so that almost no one dared to enter the forest which had served as an important trade route for many years before it began to dwell there and that had been the reason why the Tsar had put a great bounty on the beast’s head, which many had gladly accepted.

Yet, all who had tried to slay it had been butchered instead, and Kaska’s group had met the same fate that night, leaving Kaska the only surviving member of her fallen lot. Kaska could still see in her eyes how they had laughed by the fire pit, “We are 30 strong, it doesn’t stand a chance,” one of the older men had said, a veteran trapper who had seen it all, apparently. How could one beast slay 30 able men and women? Kaska dreaded in her mind as she kept running, hoping that the beast would be distracted by her fallen mates. She had worked as a huntress for a few years now, and even though she had seen a lot, she had never seen anything like the werewolf they were hunting. The Beast was far larger than any other werewolf ever accounted for before; however, the Wolf’s enormous size did not slow it down, and like a bull in rage, it had quickly slaughtered every single trapper hiding near the bait, Kaska. Despite how quickly everything had happened, she had watched it leap from the thicket on the first man and slit his throat with ease. It had an almost pitch-black fur, eerily glowing pale blue eyes, and so many scars on its body that it was a miracle it was still alive. With half of its right ear missing, there was a crossbow bolt near the cut ear, split to a much shorter size than the original bolt over the years it had carried with it. What had happened to the person who shot that bolt, Kaska did not know, but she could easily imagine it.

Kaska had been bait before during a hunt, and even though it was very dangerous, it usually yielded a much larger portion of the bounty, and as such, she was willing to take the risk. She was fast and nimble, so getting away usually proved to be an easy task for her, and even though she had managed to gather some fat on her hips of late, under it all, there was pure muscle, and it remembered how to react fast. What few thoughts she could spare to what had happened, she thought that being bait might have been the reason why she was still alive. The Beast was certainly a clever one; it had avoided trappers for years, and it felt like it had planned its attack, which seemed very odd for such a creature. Werewolves were not known for their smarts; they were beasts, attacking anyone and anything without intent, but this one was different, and that thought scared Kaska even more than the ferocity it had used to attack them.

Even with a little of the old magic running through her veins, it was hard to see in the darkness of the forest, the canopy let in only a little bit of the moon’s pale light, and it was not much to go with. Kaska slammed into trees and branches, scratching her dark skin with twigs and thorny vines hanging from the canopy abov,e while her black curly hair jumped wildly, collecting sticks of its own which were always a pain in the ass to untangle. No matter how well put together she had looked at the campsite, it was all gone now after running for so long, and her lungs begged her to stop with acid building up inside her, burning in her stomach unjustifiably.

To Kaska’s horror, her panting and stomping were joined by another, far more oppressive sound. She could see the branches snapping into two behind her when she quickly glanced back and heard the loud stomping sounds as something heavy hit the soft forest floor. The Beast had not been distracted by the fallen trappers; it was right behind her. The sudden rush of fear in her veins allowed Kaska to flee faster, and even though the forest was the Wolf’s home, it was far too large to navigate it as nimbly as she did. Kaska reached for a flashflask hanging on her belt and threw it behind her, and for a moment the whole area was flooded with white light. The Beast let out a terrifying howl and stopped its advance while Kaska slid through the muddy leaves and hid beneath a large dead tree, hoping the dead roots would give her enough cover from the creature. Running away had not been the optimal choice for her, but staying would certainly have been an even worse one. Kaska covered her mouth with one hand and tried to calm her breathing as quickly as she could. The flask had given her some time, but she knew she had no chance of outrunning the Beas,t and she was already at the edge of her stamina.

Kaska could see the stunned Beast clearly as the moon made its fur glow with a silver lining. It clawed at its snout and growled, almost as if it was cursing her before it opened its pale blue eyes and glanced around, sniffing the air as it slowly turned around to view the area. Before entering the forest, Kaska had slathered herself with a balm made with earthly scents. It was meant to mask her scent, but she was afraid some of her open scratches, combined with the sweating from the running, might be leaking through the protective balm. The night was eerily silent, and Kaska could hear her pounding heart. The werewolves had excellent hearing, but for some reason, the Beast hadn’t noticed her, at least not just yet. It circled the area, hunched like a predator on a prowl, and sniffed the air. If Kaska could just wait it out, maybe she had a chance to survive the night, the Beast would certainly lose its interest in her and leave, or that was what she hoped would happen. Kaska went through mentally what items she still had in store if she had anything to distract the Beast again or even scare it enough to make it leave, but she had dropped her bag while running, and there was no way to go back for it now. She still held on to her small dagger, but attacking the Beast would not be an option; it would take at least a few stabs to stop it, and by then it would be too late for her.

The Beast drew closer to the dead tree, and Kaska held her breath. The werewolf moved slowly, but its piercing gaze did not meet Kaska’s eyes. It looked like it didn’t know where she had disappeared, and Kaska would have let out a sigh of relief if she had dared. The Beast circled the tree, and when a pair of owls fled to the night sky, it began to run back to where the trappers had set their trap. As soon as it disappeared into the darkness, the forest became alive again, the night air was filled with the sound of critters, and with it also came Kaska’s soft sobbing. The Beast was gon,e and now she would only have to wait for the dawn to break, which was still hours away, to survive.

Kaska made herself a promise to never underestimate her prey ever again. Before this, she had always finished her contracts, but this one would have to stay unfinished; she was never going to come back to these woods again, and thought about even learning a new trade. Being a huntress paid extremely well, and the monsters dwelling in the night had become a far worse problem; even the Tsar could no longer deny it. Each year their numbers grew, and the Beast of the Arkady Grove was nothing but a symptom of a spreading plague no one knew the root of, but Kaska was not going to be the one to help solve it anymore.

As time passed, Kaska was able to calm herself down, even wondering if she should leave now, but too afraid to do so, the images of her fallen comrades flashed in her mind, their screaming heads ripped apart by the monster. She leaned on her arm and shut her eyes in an attempt to sleep for a little bit, but the coldness of the grove did not allow her to rest. Kaska shivered alone in the darkness. Surviving and slaying the monsters was only part of the job; surviving outdoors was sometimes far more dangerous than the creatures she had slayed. Even with the winter still a season away, the nights in this area were known to be cold, sometimes even falling below freezing. Kaska had survived a lot during her life, but she had only heard tales about men and women losing digits and even limbs during the coldest of nights, and with her sweating, she was bound to meet a terrible fate if she could not get to safety. Her shivering was not doing her any good either, as her joints and muscles ached from her run, demanding to be stretched in her crouched position.

Only a few hours, only a few hours, Kaska lied to herself, hoping she could convince her body to believe it too, but her shivering did not yield. The more she waited, the more unbearable it became for her to stay in her makeshift hiding place.

Weighing her options, Kaska saw no other option than to crawl out of her cold den and either try to find something to warm herself with or escape the woods. The werewolf had most likely already found something else to prey on or had returned to the failed ambush site to feast on the bodies there; either way, there was a chance, and Kaska had to take it or perish. She thought about what she knew about the herbs in this area. Were there any that would help her to warm up, like the ember root, which had saved many hunters even in the snowy mountains in the south, but none came to her mind as she began to crawl out of her little root den. Staying in the open, even with the thick canopy above her, made her feel more naked than when she had taken a bath in the middle of a small town after one very rigorous hunt. Her almost numb fingers circled nervously the cold glass of the final flashflask she still had on her belt. If it returns, I can still retreat back there, Kaska thought. Her desperate plan had worked once, and she prayed it would work a second time too if things came to it.

The rotting leaves rustled underneath her soles as she got up, glancing around in panic if her stalker had been there all along, but the forest was still alive with its nightly music, and it gave Kaska some comfort as she began to look around to deduce her chances of either staying or leaving the grove. Staying on her feet gave some relief for her aching muscles, and she thought she might even be able to run again, even if the full recovery would take days. Moving around also helped her feel calmer and warm, which helped her to think more clearly about her situation. Nothing on the ground nor near her seemed to be of any use unless she wanted to lit a fire or make a makeshift tent, neither of which was wise while the Beast prowled somewhere deeper in the forest. Kaska almost felt like she was in her element again, trying to solve a problem at hand was something she had always been very good at, and why she had made such a good hunter, but her calmness soon faded when she suddenly realised that the forest had gone quiet again.

The Wolf was roaming nearby.