CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXMan Against Beast

  The fmetail leopard was a fight that pushed Bram, Bridget, and Chris to their utmost limit. By the end of it, all three of them were bloodied and bruised but they did survive the enter. The same couldn’t be said for the fme-tail leopard. The beast that had shown such savage fury dropped dead at Bram’s feet just before it could take one final swipe at him with its cws.

  You have sin a [Fmetail Leopard]!

  [You earned 50 EXP.]ALERT! [Administrator Lv. 1] prevents you from earning job EXP.Bram didn’t feel too bad about this. It was enough that Bridget and Chris had earhe same reward as the total amount of experience earned from the kill would have been divided among the three. Of course, the prince had something else to be gd about too.

  [GRATULATIONS! You’ve pushed yourself to new heights. Surviving multiple harrowing enters increased your stitution [+1].“Right,” he chuckled, coughed, and then chuckled some more. “Give me more…life-ah enters.”

  “Speak for yourself,” said Bridget who’d fallen on her butt from fatigue and now sat cross-legged on the forest floor. “I’ll stick to wers, thanks.”

  ‘Grrr…’

  Two pairs of eyes soward the shadows creeping beyond the light of Bram’s sunstone.

  “Y’all had to jinx it,” Chris sighed.

  The Texan raised his shield just as two more fmetail leopards stepped into the light. Both were slightly smaller than the beast the trio had just sin, but their gazes shared the same glint of huhat the first fmetail leopard did.

  As he pulled his longsword out of the dead fmetail leopard’s spine, Bram noticed an odd thing. “They all have the same eyes…”

  He didn’t mean it literally, only that the same glint of rabid hunger had bee in the wers' gazes too.

  “‘Tis a curse,” Rowan answered.

  She, Hajime, and the guide the Stargazers loaheir party crossed over to where Bram and his two squires formed a defensive line against the two fel beasts.

  Corre, a third fmetail leopard—one evehan the first dead beast—arrived to send shivers climbing up the party’s collective spines.

  “These beasts have been driven to hunger by an ill will.” Rowan go her left. “ you feel it as well, Vice Master?”

  “Yes…I sense a dark presen the forest,” answered Ravi Samal, who, besides pying the role of gatekeeper, tea server, and representative, was now the party’s guide ihe Red Forest. “It’s like a fel voi the air.”

  The rgest of the three fmetail leopards—the oh a garish scar around its left eye—unleashed a guttural growl that caused the ground to shake.

  “It seems we’ve outworn our wele,” Rowan said in her usual impish tone.

  “I wele the danger”—Bram brandished his sword at the rgest of the beasts—“if it meant we were closer to finishing this quest.”

  Unfortunately, it didn’t quite go as the prince hoped.

  Even with Rowan and Ravi supp them from the rear, their battle against the cursed beasts soon turned disastrous for Bram and the otherworlders. Seven more fmetail leopards arrived during the fierce struggle where every csh of steel and bone was a brush against death. This leap of leopards drove Bram’s party into dire straits where they had no choice but to flee or lose most of their members in this struggle.

  Bram, who stood as rearguard while the athered behind the sorcerers, was separated from his party by the rgest of the fmetail leopards, which, besides its abnormal size, seemed special in parison to the rest of its leap. The fires sprouting out of this leopard’s spots coated its entire body in fme, making it extra-resilient against the party’s sorcery.

  “Rowan!” The priurned his gaze over to the trickster who was singlehandedly fending off three beasts with only her Bloody Fal in hand. “Take care of the others!”

  Bram didn’t wait for a reply. He plunged into the shadows of the trees in the opposite dire to force the rgest fmetail leopard into chasing after him. The prince calcuted that if he could take this beast out of the equation, thehers under Rowan’s prote could deal with the rest of the leap. Only, as the sounds of pursuit followed him, Bram couldn’t help w if even ‘Status Emution’ was enough to challenge such a savage beast as the ohat hounded him now.

  “What doesn’t kill me”—he tore through the forest floor like an arrow in flight—“will only make me stronger…”

  His bravado pushed him onward and right into the path of an exposed tree root that tched onto his foot.

  “Phoebus’—”

  Refusing to fall pletely, Bram dropped shoulder-first so that he could roll forward and use the momentum to slide out of the way of the fmetail leopard that just pounced on his back.

  “—Cock!”

  He’d been angry at the roots that tripped him, but this anger evaporated once he realized that the fall also saved both his life and his lute. For had the roots not forced him to stumble, the back of his head would have been skewered by the dagger-sized cws of the fmetail leopard’s paw.

  ‘Crash!’

  Without the prio cushion its nding, the beast crashed into the trunk of a tall red piunning it long enough for Bram to get ba his feet and flee.

  “The god of fortune”—a grin fshed on the prince’s face—“truly does favor the bold!”

  It was a grin that was short-lived.

  The beast’s roar caused a shiver to climb up Bram’s spine.

  Instinctively, he turned around, his longsword twirling forward in an ard then—arks flew as the prince’s bde met an outstretched paw coated in fmes.

  “Argh!”

  Bram just barely mao block the attack, though the force of the fmetail leopard’s strike was s that he was sent hurtling toward a line of pines behind him. He crashed spine-first against a tree and then crumpled to the ground with a groan.

  “No…”

  Bck spots hovered over his vision. His back ached terribly.

  “Not dying today…”

  Groggily, he sat up, and the first thing he did was check his lute.

  Fortunately, the entment that protected it from physical damage had been enough to shift it out of the way so that only Bram’s spine was bruised.

  “I khat extra charge…for ‘Bubble ’ would be worth—”

  ‘Grrr…’

  A growl forced Bram’s gaze forward.

  The fmetail leopard crouched nearby. Close enough that it need only pounce for a third time, and it could pin Bram down to the forest floor. Strangely, the beast that bared its fangs against the priook not oep forward.

  “What…?”

  Its ge in behavior seemed so unnatural to Bram that his gaze was forced to flit left and then right in search of the reason for the beast’s hesitation. That’s wheiced where he’d fallen. Bram y half-proween a pair of young pines whose red leaves had yet to darken like the older trees spread throughout the forest. These two trees were surrounded by other young pines, and all of them had knotted silver cords tied around their trunks.

  “These trees…” Realization dawned on his face. “…They’ve been made sacred.”

  He gnced over his shoulder.

  Behind him was a small clearing of wildflowers bordered by an encirclement of young pihe same ohat seemed to be repelling the cursed beast that wao rip Bram into shreds.

  When his gaze returo the fmetail leopard’s, he couldn’t help sending it a taunting grin. “You’re not allowed in here, are you?”

  Hungry eyes drifted to Bram’s feet which were still oher side of the fence of sacred pines.

  “ht.”

  The fmetail leopard pounced, but Bram was quicker. He tucked his feet in, bringing them into the prote of the fence of sacred pines before the beast’s cws could get at them. Instead, those savage paws smacked against one of the young pines—and then came a sound akin to a thundercp. The cursed beast was thrown back while the fmes that licked at its body winked out as if they had been doused in water.

  The beast sent the prin indignant gre, and Bram replied with the middle finger.

  “Not today.”

  Meanwhile, Bram’s other hand brushed against one of the wildflowers scattered around the clearing. Only then did he give this flower the proper iion it deserved.

  “This is…white sage…?”

  It was a fa Aarde that the st of sage was repugnant to evil things. Bram even had a bundle of ‘Sage Torches’ ly packed inside his bag for when the night came, and his party was in a pce where the blessings of nature—a blessing that seemed all around him now—were nowhere in sight.

  His gaze drifted from the white sage beside him to the silver cord tied around the young pine.

  “A double dose of sacred blessings to drive away evil…but for urpose?”

  He rose to his feet, dusted off the dirt and leaves ging to his trousers, and then he moved deeper into the clearing.

  “Is this a natural sanctuary or perhaps…?”

  He spotted a mound of stones in the middle of the field.

  “I see now.”

  The rough stones piled one on top of the other rose to his waist.

  “This is a .”

  Scrawled on the surface of the sto the very top of the was an are array whose patterns resembled the steltions appearing in Aarde’s sky. Bram had seen this magic circle enough times now that he k activated the ‘Door of Dimensions’ sleeping within this arra of stones.

  “This must be the st oint that the expedition made…”

  Once more, Bram’s gaze drifted to nature’s prote scattered around him.

  “The other oints didn’t have this sort of protective measures…” His brow furrowed. “What dangers did the enter to need—”

  From the gap between pines, he caught a glimpse of a rge feline form.

  “Ah, right…a silly question.”

  The fmetail leopard walked the fence of sacred pines as if pting how it could enter a pce that had been made to repel the evil it brought with it. No, Bram didn’t think the beast itself was evil, but the curse of huhat tur savage must have been. For how else could a creature of this woodnd realm be barred from any part of it?

  “You’re not getting in here, so why don’t you just give up, you whore’s swine!”

  In truth, the prince didn’t want this fmetail leopard to surrender. He he beast to remain fixated on him so it wouldn’t return to where his party stayed behind. So, giving up on his stubbornness not to break character, Bram pulled out his lute and began to sing a so to annoy the fel beast that was stuck outside the grove.

  “If there’s a cost for foolish judgment,” he strummed his lute, “then you’ve certainly paid it.”

  In an uone, he added, “Foolish cat…”

  Bram’s voice was its usual perfect pitch, but his tone had a bit more spite to it.

  “You’re no longer worth my attention, e back again when you’ve earned more wit!”

  While strumming his lute, Bram began to dance a jig meant to taunt his enemy. And, though it cked the magic of a proper bard’s spell, the vulgarity of his dance was enough to raise the fmetail leopard hackles.

  “Whoa ~~a, no o way, you won’t catch me, no — no!”

  His strumming turned feverish, a beat that demanded more mog movements.

  “Give up, give in, check my grin, I’m untoucha~~able!”

  Bram twirled around so the fmetail leot a good view of him smag his own ass.

  “Take a look, I say, it’s all yetting,” he sang, “e on, I dare, stop my pying~~g!”

  The strumming slowed; the final verse was ready.

  “You’re sad, you’re bnd, you’re—”

  A growl most menag reached his ears, f ao Bram’s song.

  “Huh… I guess it worked. It looks ready to kill me now.”

  Yes, Bram may have gooo far for it seemed the fmetail leopard had heard enough.

  The beast disappeared from his sight so that he could no longer catch a glimpse of it through the trees. He could still hear it though. Only, with each awful sound spilling into the clearing, Bram was vihat unfathomable devilry was afoot. For what first had been the browls of a beast soon turo the gasps of a man in pain.

  Carefully, Bram pced his lute on the ground. In the same breath, he whispered, “Emute.”

  ALERT! Sihere are nets avaible for emution, the system will refer to your saved profiles…Evehe fmetail leopard chased him across the forest, he chose not to use ‘Status Emution’ because he believed it wasn’t yet the time to spend such a valuable boon. Now, however, the threat from beyond his sight—ohat caused his spio tingle—made it necessary to throw caution to the wind.

  ALERT! One profile is avaible. Would you like to copy the status of [Rowan Wolfe]?YESNOBefore Bram could give his sent, he heard a voice frht outside the fence of sacred pines. “You are not wele here…”

  It was a deep, guttural voice that seemed more beastly than man.

  “Who are you to say this to me?” The prince responded.

  A naked man stepped through the gap between trees as if nature’s blessing no longer barred his way from entering the clearing. Well, calling him a man might have been a stretch for there were few men in all Aarde as tall or wide as this one. Indeed, it had been a long time sineone dwarfed Bram’s size.

  He had a muscur, reddish chest that seemed ued by the chilly te afternoon air. His dirty blonde hair was short and wild, brushed bad set like twin demon horns. It served to enhahe savage tenance of a face disfigured by a single jagged scar across his left eye and cheek. This was how Bram khat the great fmetail leopard that chased after him and the beastly man before him now were one and the same.

  “You’re a wearg,” he realized.

  The prince had heard tales of humans cursed by the gods to live half-lives. One half as men who walked with two feet, while the other half as beasts who ran on four. Bram had never met one before now, but he was certain this man was such a creature.

  The man’s lips curled into a snarl. “I am Scarfang…of the Fmetail tribe.”

  Scarfang was at least a head taller than Bram, with shoulders much wider than the prince’s. His arms and legs were thick like tree trunks, and the nails on each toe or finger were sharp like a beast’s.

  “I’m Bram, Seventh Prince of the Atn Imperium and Governor of Lotharin…”

  One of Scarfang’s thick brows hitched upward. He reized the meaning of Bram’s title.

  “Then you’ve e to rape our forest like those others before you…

  Bram’s brow kogether. “Your forest…?”

  “Our tribe has lived here lohan when you outsiders built your walls outside its boundary…and we have grown tired of watg while you pilge our nd and rape our mother.”

  “The Red Forest is…your mother?”

  If he hadn’t met Rowan, Bram might not have taken Scarfang’s words literally. However, it was no longer outside the realm of possibility to assume that something as old as this vast woodnd realm might also have a sciousness—a spirit—that guided its growth.

  “We didn’t e here to rape and pilge,” Bram insisted.

  “Your as speak louder than your words,” Scarfang argued.

  “You came at us first,” Bram argued back. “We were merely defending ourselves.”

  Then realization dawned on him.

  “And as for my song, I will admit that now that I know you to be an intelligent being I may have crossed a line I shouldn’t have…sorry.”

  The apology was not accepted.

  Scarfang scoffed. “You came to our home with your steel and your sorcery…killing the creatures who live under Mother’s care.”

  This was a truth that was hard tue against, though Bram khat he had to try. For even now, the cogwheels of his miurning. If he could have a proper versation with this wearg, then perhaps Scarfang and his people could bee allies in the ing flict with the north. There were other siderations as well. Chief of which was the search for the missing Stargazers. With the aid of these weargs, trag the expedition would be much easier.

  “We don’t have to fight.” As a show of good faith, Bram lowered his sword. “As I’ve said, we’re not here to take anything from you…”

  This was teically not a lie because the problem of trade and security could be dealt with aime and with more diplomacy than Bram could achieve during this heated enter.

  “We’re here in search of our panions who’ve gone missing.”

  “The jurers who liked to watch the stars.”

  “You know about the Stargazers…?”

  “They went where they shouldn’t…and woke Mother from her slumber.”

  “They woke the spirit of the forest…” Bram didn’t raise his swain, though his grip on its haightened. “Did you hurt them?”

  “Mother was angry.” Scarfang took a siep forward. “Angry at them… Angry at us.”

  “Oh, Warbringer’s balls, I uand now…the spirit of the forest,” Bram’s brows kogether, “that’s who cursed you with rabid hunger.”

  As soon as Bram uttered those words, pain fshed on Scarfang’s face.

  “Yes…”

  Suddenly, as if the civility he’d just shown was beginning to wilt away, Scarfang growled.

  “Always hungry now…hard to suppress.”

  He bared his teeth at Bram.

  To the prihis was a familiar se. Ohat reminded him of his former an’s sudden and drastic ge during their deathmatch.

  “Don’t do it…” Despite showiraint, Bram readied himself for the attack he knew was ing. “We still—”

  Scarfang leaped forward.

  “Damn it!” Bram drew his longsword.

  Sword and fist would have collided then and there, but in that momeween life ah, an interloper made her fshy appearance.

  The red-haired trickster in her green traveler’s cloak fell from the sky to nd right between Bram and Scarfang so that she caught his fist in one hand and the bde of Bram’s longsword iher.

  “I’m sorry,” Rowan smiled impishly at the wearg, “did I step on your moment?”

  Note:

  A group of leopards is called a ‘leap’ or ‘prowl’.

  Wearg is a very old German for warg, which mean wolf or outw, but in this story, they enpass all shifters.

  GD_Cruz