Merlara used the ladle and stirred the stew, making sure it wouldn't burn. Having to eat burned stew would be just another thing to sour her mood even further. She was hungry and exhausted, she just wanted to eat a quiet meal before catching up on some much needed rest. But instead of peace and quiet, she had to tolerate the bickering pair of younger elves, Falandor and Gildor.

  She had to quell the impulse of whacking them both over the head with the ladle, in the distant hope that they would shut up, only for a few precious minutes. But instead of following her wishes she let out a mental sigh, they were just as sore, and exhausted as herself. They had been traveling at the maximum speed possible since yesterday, barely taking the time needed for her to squat behind a bush this morning.

  But they needed to keep pushing on, they had to reach Thalandorien city to deliver their important news. The entire thing was eerie, and the thought of what they had found yesterday sent shivers down her spine. The people of the caravan they were supposed to catch up to had simply vanished. When they had found the remains of the caravan yesterday there had been clear signs of conflict of some kind. Weapons were lying around on the ground, drawn swords and broken bows were scattered among the still full saddlebags of ore they were supposed to transport. They had also found dried blood in the dirt in several places, too much blood in too many places for comfort.

  The odd thing about it all, was that there were no corpses to be found, not even the animals, and no one had touched any of the valuable ore, personal items or even their supplies. Merlara had tried to find a plausible explanation for the entire thing, but nothing seemed to fit. The two guys had debated endlessly about what they thought. Falandor was driven by personal bias, while Gildor had heard too many stories to scare children while growing up.

  Falandor raised his voice, and stated for the 50th time that day.” Humans, it had to be humans. Poachers that came into our forest to find and kidnap elves to sell at their slave halls. It is simply the most likely explanation,”

  Gildor, who had heard the same thing over and over again, replied with the same answer as every time, seeming annoyed at having to repeat himself. “Then, why didn't they take any of the ore? Or any of the other valuables? If it had been humans they would have taken everything they could possibly sell. They are too greedy to leave things behind. It must have been something else, normal beasts would have left behind remains, bones and prints to track them. But what if it was them?."

  Falandor threw his hands up at Gildor’s idiotic remark and said.” Them? Really, them? Not this again. If they still existed, the entire world would be in uproar, and all the races would unite in a crusade to eliminate such a threat. Last time, it was the first and only time we allied with those foul races. I would rather salt my own roots than believe such nonsense. Your wet nurse must have taken delight in scaring you senseless with her stories.”

  Merlara had heard enough by this point, and spoke up, annoyance clear in her voice. “ For the love of the great tree mother, can you two stop bickering. I'm just as outraged as you are, but blaming the humans won't get you anywhere, when did humans even dare to come this far north. And Gildor, stop believing nonsense. They are gone, running around believing they still exist is only foolish. Now shut up, eat your damned stew and get some rest. We have to report our findings to the elders as soon as possible. And they will be the ones to debate what could have caused it.

  Their meal went on, without any major discussions, the group finding peace in the silence after an exhausting day of travel. So Merlara was startled when Gildor suddenly jumped up from his seat and screamed. “ Look there, there is something staring at us from the underbrush” while pointing into the darkness.

  Merlara studied the underbrush, just in case he was right, but she couldn't see anything. She had to strangle the desire to smack Gildor’s head for startling her. Instead she took a deep breath, counted to three in her head and said. “ There is nothing there, stop panicking for nothing, I'm starting to believe that Falandor is right about you hearing way too many stories as a child.”

  Gildor’s cheeks blushed in embarrassment and he muttered. “ I'm sure I saw something, I felt something watching us.”

  Falandor snorted loudly and replied sarcastically. “ Of course you did, you saw something scary right? Taken directly out of your wet nurse stories, We should all surrender to the scary non existing thing that is staring at us.”

  Merlara held the bridge on her nose, holding in all the frustration and anger that had built up in her over the last two days. With as much authority as she could muster in her voice she spoke. “Stop it now, both of you. I don't want to hear any more of your antics, we are all stressed and having you two riling each other up isn't making things easier. If you don't have anything positive or productive to say, then don't speak.”

  Merlara had finally gotten those two to stop spewing nonsense, and was reveling in the sweet peace and quiet until she heard an unfamiliar voice. She turned to see who had spoken, and the sight sent shivers down her spine. All three immediately stood up, and Merlara stepped forward, putting the two younger elves behind her. Gildor pointed toward a shaking finger towards the new arrival, and stuttered. ”T…Th..They are real. It’s a demon fox. Demon fox. The demon fox is here to devour us all.”

  Merlara gulped out of nervousness. She had heard stories all her life, about those damn monstrous foxes. They should have been extinct centuries ago, only living on in legends and stories to scare children, and yet , there was one standing in front of them. The demon fox was female, and had a slim but muscular body, designed for swift moments. She was also smaller than what she would have expected, standing a head shorter than herself. There was dried blood in her hair, red spots on her face and clothes. A clear sign of what she was capable off

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Out of the blue, the fox started waving her hands in front of her, and slowly sat down. Merlana was confused, this was not how she expected one of the dreaded demon foxes to act, was all this some kind of scheme? “ What is this supposed to mean? Why isn't she attacking? Merlana asked, not hiding the panic in her voice.

  “M…Maybe it's a trick? You know, illusions, while we are distracted here, the real one might ambush us from behind?” GIldor stuttered.

  “We don't know how many of the stories have truth to them. We have to be ready for anything.” Falandor flatly stated.

  The mouth of the fox twisted into a terrifying grin as a loud rumbling sound came from her stomach. The fox then spoke in a language Merlana had never heard before, and an involuntary shiver shook Merlana’s body.

  “Quickly get your weapons out.” Merlana ordered, finding her forgotten courage. Both elves rushed to their bags, not arguing for a second

  Gildor was first, and drew his shortsword and pointed it directly at the threat, his posture ruined as the frightened elf was shivering in terror.

  The demon fox got a dissatisfied expression on her face and stood up again, waving her hands again, and spoke in that weird language, before she simply turned around, walking away.

  “What happened? Did we scare her off? Gildor questionably asked.

  “How should I know? The entire thing is weird. This is not how I expected a demon fox to behave.” Merlana answered.

  “Are we safe then? Will she just leave like that?” Gildor asked.

  “We might be. Now it is even more important that we report to the elders. Imagine meeting one of the demon foxes and live to tell the tale.” Merlana stated.

  “By the rotted roots. We can't let this chance slip away from us. We must avenge our fallen. That thing must have eaten my mother!” Falandor screamed. He had found his bow, and drew up a shot, aiming directly at the retreating fox.

  “Don't be a fool, you will doom us all” Merlana shouted, as Falandor let his bowstring go, the arrow making a swish sound as it passed Merlana.

  The fox turned as the arrow flew in her direction, her eyes widened at the realization, and moved at an impressive speed. However, she didn't move fast enough and the arrow hit with a wet thud.

  The fox let out an agonizing howl, and with an arrow sticking out of her shoulder, she ran towards cover, making Falandor miss his second shot.

  “What have you done!” Merlana spat at Falandor.

  “I tried to avenge our people. We couldn't let such a menace roam around free, and when does anyone get such an opportunity for a clear shot.”

  Another howl emerged from behind the tree, along with a string of words Merlana had never heard before. There was clear anger in the voice. Suddenly the underbrush rustled and something ran off at an incredible speed.

  Merlana gulped and hurried to kneel down, put both palms firmly into the ground and started her chant: “Great spirit of the tree mother. Your boundless spirit is present in all things, I draw from your greatness for the greater good, grant me protection.”

  With that, roots emerged from the ground, wrapped around her wrists and started spreading over her body, covering her in a wooden armor made out of roots. Now armored, she found her sword, to be fully prepared, she would face whatever would come next.

  “Did it perhaps run off after being injured?” Gildor asked carefully.

  “Maybe the famed demon foxes aren't that tough after all,” Falandor replied.

  “We can only pray, but I doubt we will be that lucky” Merlana stated.

  Falandor let out a boisterous laugh, and continued to brag “Should it even dare to come back, I will, ouch.” The words cut off mid sentence, followed by a wet sound and a loud scream. Merlana turned, and saw the white fox, sitting on top of Falandor, chewing directly on his neck, his scream quickly turning into a wet gurgle.

  The demon fox rose up, her blood stained face took on a blissful expression, her predatory grin splitting her face into a grotesque monstrosity. She turned towards Merlana, her eyes as red as the blood running out of her mouth.

  Gildor fell to his knees at the sight, his mouth moving in silent words. Merlana cursed, and ran towards the demon, her sword held high. The fox simply dodged to the side, and swung her hand in a slashing movement toward Merlana.

  The slash hit Merlana’s chest with a thud, flaring off an inch of her root armor. The fox slashed again, and Merlana met the attack with a stab of her own. The fox barely dodged the stab, glancing her left side, while the slash tore more armor off.

  The demon fox yelped and jumped back, inspecting her injury. Merlana grasped the brief pause and yelled out to Gildor.” Get yourself together. Stand up and fight, that's the only way we can survive now”

  Gildor blank eyes, blinked, and he managed to drag his eyes off Falandor’s corpse.” How are we supposed to fight something like that?” He said, his voice stained by despair.”

  “We either fight or we die. Now get up and help with the stabbing, just be careful of her speed” Merlana replied

  The demon fox went down on all four, and charged. Merlana swung her sword, but the demon sidestepped the blow and leapt at Merlana, slamming her into the ground, and started biting her wrist, her root armor quickly gave in, and Merlana lost her sword in the pain of having teeth buried into her wrist.

  Merlana screamed out in pain as the fox was chewing on wrist. Gildor, who had found a spark of courage, ran towards the pair, his sword pointing toward the fox. Merlana let out a louder scream of agony as she felt her hand tear apart when the demon fox jumped off her.

  Gildor quickly checked on Merlana before he took a defensive stance in front of her, and pointed his sword shakily towards the demon fox. He frowned at seeing the fox focused on stuffing something into her mouth, only to realise that she was eating Merlana’s severed hand. He turned to the sobbing girl behind him, seeing her holding on to the stump of her missing appendage.

  “This can't be happening” Gildor muttered to himself, as he watched the demon fox eat, the bones crunching under her teeth. Feeling rage and hatred towards that damned monster, he ran towards her, his sword held high for a downwards slash.

  The fox simply stepped back, letting the sword hit the ground before she kicked his side with enormous force. Gildor groaned as several ribs cracked.

  Merlana held her stump, trying her best to halt the bleeding. She felt dizzy from the blood loss, but she couldn't look away when Gildor was sent flying several feet by a single kick.

  It's over. Merlana thought to herself, crying out of despair as much as the intense pain of having her hand torn off. The demon fox turned and walked calmly towards her, the sound of crunching bones still coming from her mouth.

  Merlana looked up at the monster figure, now looming over her like an executioner axe. Their eyes meet, and for some reason Merlana felt she saw sympathy in them, she snorted by the notion. Sympathy from the demon fox? She must have imagined it from the blood loss.

  The demon spoke a few words that held no meaning to her, then she felt a slash over her chest, the remaining of her armor coming off. She felt the next slash digging into her flesh, but she barely felt it, everything started to feel muted and colorless, like all this was an old nightmare she remembered. Maybe if she closed her eyes and counted to three, she would wake up.

  Merlana closed her eyes, and started counting "One. Tw…."