Chapter 20 – For Your Own Good

“This is ridiculous,” Rogar said after Syl repeated what she told Dena. “I thought you’d be the first one out there to help her!”

“And I would be,” Syl said, trying to keep her cool. “If it wasn’t going to get us all killed.”

Edar, the one who most wanted out of the cave, was the first one to really stop and consider it. “Why would you think it’s a trap?” he asked Syl.

“We shouldn’t be talking about this,” Rogar interrupted before Syl could answer. “Every second we waste talking about it is another second that woman suffers. That we risk the Anihazi finding her.”

Everybody in the room turned their heads when Rogar didn’t use ‘Lake-Wolf’.

“That’s what you’re all calling it,” he muttered quickly. “But that’s not the point right now. We need to get out there and help her.”

“Syl is between you and the door,” Kule pointed out. “You can go first.”

Rogar looked Syl in the eye. “Are you really going to stop me?” he asked.

“For your own good,” she said, and there was no mistaking it in her voice. She would stop anybody who tried to pass. All of them if she had to.

“Bah!” Rogar said, but took a step back. “Fine, answer Edar’s question. But, Syl, if I really don’t like the answer, I am going out there to help her.”

“It’s a trap,” Syl repeated what she said earlier. “The Anihazi is out there waiting for us to go help the woman. She’s bait.”

“How could it be smart enough to use bait?” Rogar asked.

“Because it’s not a Lake-Wolf like we thought when we first came out. It’s not just some beast out here killing for food. It’s something from our legends, a creature, or a spirit, that we don’t understand.

“It makes no sound when it moves. It doesn’t leave tracks. It can dodge our arrows. And above all else, it hates us to the point it would do anything to see us dead.”

“That doesn’t explain why you think it’s a trap,” Rogar pointed out, but he seemed less eager to go out.

“Like when it took Reylo,” Syl said. “It could have killed him there on the road. But it didn’t. It dragged him into the woods.”

“And we followed,” Leeze whispered. “Without even thinking about it. We followed.” Her hand shook as she took hold of the pendant, but it seemed to calm her just a little.

“Then it snuck around behind us,” Syl went on. “It’s doing it again. We’d go to help the woman, and it‘d strike from somewhere else. Maybe it’d wait until we got to the woman, or maybe it would attack on the way. But either way, it’s waiting for us.”

“So what do you suggest we do?” Rogar asked. “Hide in this cave for the rest of our lives?”

Syl sighed. She didn’t have a good answer for that. She couldn’t tell them about being able to sense it. Not until she understood why.

At least it’s probably not just my imagination.

“Wait until morning, at least. The Anihazi has been more active at night.”

“Maybe it sees better in the dark?” Reylo suggested. “Edar?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “The Anihazi in the lore is… formless. I have no idea what a real one can do.”

“Wait. Your grandmother said its wings blotted out the sun,” Dena said. “Maybe that’s why it’s more active at night? Because we’d see it flying above the trees during the day.”

“That might be it,” Syl lied. She’d always felt it running through the trees, not over them. But she couldn’t say that. “Either way, we stand a better chance of seeing it during the day. It’s already got so many advantages; let’s not give it another one by going out there in the dark.”

“If it was your father out there calling, you’d be out there in a heartbeat,” Rogar offered one last argument.

“I would,” Syl admitted. “And then I’d be dead.”

“I hate this,” Rogar said, but sat down.

The others relaxed as the confrontation diffused, and Syl sighed in relief.

“How long till the sun rises?” Reylo asked.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Couple of hours,” Rogar said through gritted teeth. “That’s how long we get to sit here listening to that poor woman yell for help. Unless the Anihazi realizes we aren’t taking the bait and just kills her sooner,” he added, leaning his head back against the wall, and closed his eyes.

“Rogar,” Syl started.

“I know,” he said. “I do. I get it. You’re right. Doesn’t make it any easier. We’ll wait until morning.”

Syl nodded, despite him not being able to see it with his eyes closed.

It would attack them if they went out there. But Rogar was right. It didn’t make listening to the woman suffering any easier. None of them would get any more sleep that night.

“What’s special about this cave?” Leeze asked. “If it knows we’re nearby, why doesn’t it just come in here after us?”

“Maybe the bait isn’t for us?” Dena suggested. “There might be others somewhere out there.”

“That almost makes me feel better,” Leeze forced a chuckle. “I was beginning to wonder why it was so stuck on killing us specifically. I thought that maybe it followed us all the way from the village. Guess it’s just bad luck we keep running into it?”

“Really bad luck,” Reylo agreed, and held up his injured arm.

“But if it’s out here with us, that means it’s not killing people back in the village,” Dena said.

“That’s something,” Edar agreed. “Strange though.”

“What is?” Kule asked.

“There really aren’t that many people up this way. Teb’s farm, a few other houses. But barely a fraction of the people in the village. If it really wanted to do the most damage, it should have stayed down there.”

“I’m sorry guys,” Kule said seriously. “It’s my fault. I didn’t want to say anything… but…”

“What are you talking about?” Leeze asked him.

“It sees me as a threat,” Kule stated. “My arrow. I hit it last night, and it recognizes my prowess as a hunter. It knows I’ll be the one to kill it.”

Rogar opened one eye in disbelief.

“You’re an idiot,” Leeze said, shaking her head.

The others continued poking fun at Kule for his declaration, but Syl wasn’t listening. What if he was on to something? But what if it wasn’t Kule the Anihazi was after? What if it was after her?

Maybe it could sense her, just like she could sense it. But what was their connection? Why could they feel each other?

Her questions, and the vague sense of where the Anihazi was, bounced around Syl’s head until the sun rose several hours later, answers no closer.

Despite how little sleep everybody got, there was a nervous energy in the cave.

Syl stood at the entrance to the tunnel, watching as the morning light began to filter into the valley. But she wasn’t really looking at it. Her senses stretched wide for any trace of the Anihazi. It had grown anxious with the rising sun and eventually prowled off.

But how far did it go?

She couldn’t find it. Did that mean it had grown frustrated and left? Or was it sitting just outside her range? Waiting for them?

As always, when it came to the Anihazi, she had too many questions and not enough answers. And she couldn’t let it stop her from acting.

“Is everybody ready?” she turned her head to look at the others gathered behind her.

“We are,” Rogar spoke for the group. They all had bows ready, except for Reylo, who had a Sho-Val in his good hand.

“Stay on guard. The Anihazi could still be out there,” Syl instructed, but led them out of the cave.

“The shouting stopped,” Reylo observed.

Syl listened but didn’t slow. Reylo was right. No screaming. Did the Anihazi kill the woman? Did she escape?

“We’re still going to look for her,” Syl said. “I have a good idea where the shouting was coming from.” She didn’t mention it was because she’d been able to detect where the Anihazi was guarding.

She kept her senses sharp for any sign of the Anihazi as they moved. “Spread out, but not far,” she further instructed as they broke from the established path into the forest. “I don’t expect we’ll find any sign the Anihazi passed, but speak up if you see anything out of place.”

The sounds of the waking forest warbled around them as they silently stalked forward. Birds chirped above. A rabbit bolted, surprised at the sudden intrusion into its domain. A pair of squirrels watched them pass from a thick branch, indifferently nibbling on the bounty of their morning forage.

The forest looked, sounded, and smelled exactly like it should. There was no sign of the bloodthirsty killer prowling between its trees. Whatever the Anihazi really was, it didn’t disturb nature’s order.

Without the shouting, Syl wouldn’t be able to find exactly where the woman was, so she led them towards where she’d sensed the Anihazi. From there, they’d be able to find the bait easily enough.

Still no trace of the Anihazi in Syl’s mind.

“Was it foggy last night?” Edar asked suddenly.

“Shouldn’t have been,” Dena said. “We have, what, another day or two before the rains start? I lost count with all this going on.”

“Why, Edar?” Syl asked.

“The bushes over here, they’re wet,” he said. “Like they’ve been sitting in the fog all night.”

“Didn’t one of the hunters say something about wet leaves outside the village?” Reylo asked.

“Yeah, and Kule’s response almost got him killed by Vacksin,” Rogar said.

“Think it’s a coincidence?” Reylo asked.

Probably not. The bush Edar found was very close to where Syl sensed the lingering presence of the Anihazi. “I think it’s a clue,” she said out loud. “Keep your eyes peeled for anything else like that.”

“Hey,” Leeze called from opposite Edar. “I think I found our girl. There’s a small clearing over here.”

Syl still couldn’t feel any sign of the Anihazi, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t nearby. “Keep your eyes peeled. Let’s go,” she said, and the group hurried over to join Leeze.

Crouched within the bushes, nobody moved from within the cover of the foliage despite the woman slumped at the base of a tree in the centre of the clearing ahead. Instead, seven sets of eyes scanned every inch of the boundary for sign of their hunter.

“She looks dead,” Kule finally whispered.

“She does,” Dena agreed.

“We need to check,” Rogar said. “Are you going to try to stop me again, Syl?”

“No,” she said. “You’re right. We need to check. It looks safe, but that doesn’t mean it is.” With that, she led the way and cautiously approached the woman.

“Rogar, Kule, Leeze, keep watch,” Syl said, and put her bow away. The woman’s leg was at an odd angle, obviously broken, but that was the only apparent wound. What killed her? Cause of death could give them more information on the Anihazi. She had to know.

Burying her emotions beneath her clinical mind, Syl leaned forward to roll the woman onto her back.

At the touch, the woman sat bolt upright with a scream.