The Beast in the Forest by Gita

Nyle was sitting by the grave, drinking the remaining rum from his bottle. His back towards the gravestone against which he was leaning. He turned and glanced over it, reading the text once more despite having read it hundreds, if not thousands, of times. ‘Here lies Siner, a beloved panther, and a partner to Nyle. He poured the last few drops of his rum onto the grave and sighed – “Partner, not a day passes when I don’t miss you, I’ll find that bastard, I swear! I already know his name and city.”

Nyle turned around and knelt to the grave once more before using the gravestone for leverage. Stumbling up to his feet, he stretched and cracked his neck – “Alright, time to work…” He made his way out of the graveyard, by the exit of which he was greeted by a couple of city knights. One of the knights nodded at him – “Nyle, evening.” Nyle nodded drunkenly in response – “Bren” he stumbled his way past them and headed towards the tavern.

The trip wasn’t exactly long, Amit was a wise man, he built his tavern close to the graveyard, knowing that nothing heals sorrow better than alcohol. As Nyle stumbled through the doors, the chatter in the tavern stopped for a brief moment as majority of the customers turned to look at the newcomer. A man in the shadowy corner of the tavern laughed out loud – “Ain’t it Nyle, the strongest hunter? Barely able to stand, what pity!”

Nyle ignored the remarks and laughter which followed shortly after and focused on Amit, the tall standing elf who was polishing a drinking glass, his gaze fixated on Nyle as he shook his head lightly. Nyle was uncertain if that was a shake of disapproval, or a gesture of ‘don’t wreck my tavern’, but he didn’t care, he was here for a drink and information. 

Nyle practically collapsed onto the barstool as his face hit the table in an audible ‘thump’, he grunted as he held a finger up – “ffan…. Han… an…. RUM!” he exclaimed loudly. Amit sighed and poured him a glass of water, passing it to him- “Nyle, you alright bud?”. Nyle turned the glass with his hand and stared at it – “I ham! Ham? I wa ham!” Amit shrugged – “Kitchen is closed”

Nyle grunted as he forced himself up into a sitting position and chugged the liquid in the glass, slamming the glass on the table after as he focused his blurry drunk vision on Amit- “Traito! Shat wash no rum!”. Amit laughed and briefly nodded at a table to his left, there, a couple of travelers sat. Nyle looked over his shoulder at the 2 men, both dressed as merchants would be. He looked back at Amit – “they?” He nodded. 

Nyle stood up and walked over to the table, slamming down into the empty seat without a word he faceplanted onto the table again with a loud thud. “Shay, shoo guysh fro…fre…fro.. Ughhh… zshe zity?” he spoke with his head still on the table. One of the merchants laughed as the other replied – “Yea, and you are from the drunklandia ain’t ya pal?” He laughed at his own terrible joke – “Move along, pal”

Nyle reached his hand over into his pocket and pulled out a coin purse, placing it on the table he lifted himself up and looked the older merchant into the eyes – “City knight captain’s name? What is it?”. The merchant, taken aback by the drunk man’s suddenly sober voice was awestruck for a moment, and then a familiar ringing of the coins in the bag, as Nyle shook the bag on the table, brought the merchant’s attention back. – “Maverick Broad”. He said, his eyes fixated on the bag. 

Nyle pushed the bag closer to him, still holding onto it – “Address?” The merchant hesitated – “uhh” the other pulled out a piece of paper and passed it over on the table. “Right here”. Nyle averted his gaze down, onto the piece of paper on the table. On it was written ‘Knight captain Maverich Broard. Northern District of Gita, house 57.’ Nyle released the bag and picked up the paper, stashing it away in his inner pocket. 

He glanced at the younger merchant, and then back at the older one again, giving them both a brief nod as he collapsed back onto the table once more and passed out. He awoke from Amit shaking his shoulder “Nyle, I gotta close”. Nyle grunted – “Whateva man do your thing!” as he fell back asleep. Nyle woke up the next morning from sun shining into his eyes. He got up, checked his pocket to find the piece of paper with information of Maverick. His eyes changed, they were focused.

Like a hunter who was stalking its prey, Nyle showed nothing but focus. He ventured out of the tavern and headed home. It was winter and the trip to city of Gita wasn’t short, it was a three day hike, but for Nyle, who sometimes spent weeks out in the wild while hunting it was but a walk in the park. His house was small, his walls were lined with trophies of his hunts ranging from skins of foxes all the way to dragon claws and drake spikes.  

He packed his usual winter gear, a crossbow and 20 bolts, a foldable longbow and 20 arrows, dragon claw dagger, winter clothes and tent, sleeping bag, fire starting kit and dried meat as well as fruits and berries to last him the trip there and back. As Nyle was about to head out after making ready, he stopped and glanced over at the large pillow on the floor on which his partner Siner slept. He clenched his teeth – “I’ll have my revenge, partner.”

Nyle ventured out and followed the road north, leading towards Gita. The first night came and Nyle fell asleep, he dreamed of that fateful night. He was out on an unusual hunt, order from the city of Gita. They had a mythical beast in the vicinity which hunted their livestock. They hired Nyle to hunt the beast. As per usual, Nyle was accompanied by his partner, Siner, a panther. He found the beast and was working on cornering it with Siner. He waited in position.

He waited for Siner to chase their target toward him, but nothing. Hours passed, and Nyle knew something wasn’t right. Any attempted calls resulted in silence, he knew something was wrong. Nyle went to search for his partner, only to find a group of knights standing triumphantly over the corpse of the panther. The captain of the knights lifted the dead body above his head – “Today we killed the vicious beast that plagued our lands! We shall present it to the mayor.” 

Nyle awoke from the nightmarish dream to a sound of a branch snapping a few meters away. As he sat up and looked around the pitch-black forest, the darkness that not even demons would dare stroll through. He focused his senses and could hear footsteps walking past him in the night, heavy steps of someone walking through the snow. Nyle listened as the steps distanced ‘must’ve been another hunter’ he thought to himself and fell back asleep. 

The next couple of days passed uneventfully as Nyle continued his hike towards Gita, however, on the night of 3rd day, heavy blizzard hit him. The heavy storm made navigation difficult even for a skilled hunter, but his dedication to finding Maverick did now allow him to hunker down. And although the heavy storm slowed him down, Nyle pushed onwards and, a day later, arrived by the city walls. 

He settled outside the city as to not draw attention to himself. Afterall, last thing he’d have wanted is to inform the guards at the gates of his intent. He laughed at how absurd it would have sounded – ‘Greeting, I’m hunter Nyle, here to find and kill your captain, Maverick’. He set his camp up deeper into the forest so that he wouldn’t be spotted when the weather cleared up, but to his surprise, the storm just went on and on. And this night, once again, he heard someone walking by his camp.

He listened attentively as the heavy footsteps once again walked past his location, as if distancing when spotted and closing in until spotted, testing his senses. He readied his crossbow and kept it at the ready day and night. On the 2nd day of camping, he heard a scream of terror, albeit briefly due to the heavy wind. He climbed out of his tent and made his way in the direction of the scream. Footprints, several, relatively fresh, led in the same direction. He followed them.

A loud roar, mixed with the roar of the wind, made the hunter stop and crouch. He focused. His senses were sharp as ever, his mind racing in an attempt to identify the beast by its roar, but nothing came to his mind, it did not sound like anything he had ever encountered before. After scanning his surroundings and confirming no immediate danger he followed the disappearing footsteps as they got covered in ever falling snow. 

A few minutes later he could finally make out some shapes in the distance. By the looks of things, they were a few nights, a bright red stain on snow before them, a body buried in the snow. Nyle hid behind a tree, observing from a distance, but in his peripheral vision, he noticed something on the tree against which he stood. Claw marks, massive claw marks. He traced through the marks with his fingers 

‘Hunting grounds mark… something in this forest uses this place for hunting’. He remarked in his mind while staring at the mark. It was large, bigger than any bear but smaller than a drake. Whatever hunted here was definitely a mythical beast, he thought to himself as he hunkered down to observe the guards, making sure to stay on guard at all times now. His mind still raced with the possibilities of who this beast might be.

The guards, to Nyle’s surprise, were foolish enough to split up. He decided to follow the 1 that ventured to the east, since, from where he stood he could see disappearing footprints leading in that direction. So he followed the guard, observing from a distance, hiding in the snow, making sure to stay downwind so no beast ahead of him can smell him. 

It did not take long for another roar to echo through the forest. The guard he was observing stopped and readied his pike but in the heavy blizzard, even a skilled hunter would struggle to find the beast. Nyle observed vigilantly when a dark shape emerged from the snow mound to the left of the guard about 5 meters away. The figure quickly dashed towards the guard, charging him like a bear, but bipedal. 

Nyle watched as the beast’s claws tore through the guard’s armor like it was paper and blood splattered on the snow. A pained scream followed right after, and only the deafening roar of the wind remained the next moment. Barely a dozen meters ahead of him, a bipedal beast stood above the beheaded corpse of the guard. The beast looked around and sniffed the air, not spotting anybody else nearby it dragged the guard away. 

Nyle contemplated following the beast to learn of its whereabouts, hunting the beast, remaining hidden, or running away. His primary instinct was to hunt the beast who was a threat to the people of this city, but as he glanced at the blood-stained snow, he remembered Siner who was coldbloodedly killed by the knights of this city. Anger boiled within him as he smirked.

His grimace twisted into an evil grin as he pulled out a pouch of dry soil and smeared it on his face, then followed the beast from a safe distance, remaining downwind. He followed the beast who dragged the corpse of the guard behind it, for about 200 meters, heading deeper into the forest, towards the mountains. The creature occasionally stopped and smelled the air, checking its surroundings. Nyle noted that the creature’s cautiousness was quite interesting. 

As they reached the base of the mountain, the creatures headed into a cave, well hidden by thick bushes and treeline. Nyle glanced around for markings and landmarks and made a mental map of the location so he could find it later on. He remained hidden in the shadow of a tree, buried slightly under snow as he lay in silence, observing the cave in order to determine the beast’s behavior. 

The beast did not leave the cave for hours, so Nyle assumed that it had a ‘hunt and rest’ type of behavior. Which implied the beast was an opportunity hunter and only hunted when hungry, rather than ‘stockpile’ behavior, which implied a beast would keep on hunting so long as prey existed within its territory, in order to have a stockpile of food for when prey does not present itself. 

Nyle made his way back to his camp and packed it up to move it. Assuming the beast had already found his camp earlier, he wished to remain hidden. After a short rest and a nap at his new campsite, he headed towards the city gates of Gita. 

The blizzard showed no sign of easing up and Nyle considered it a great opportunity. At the gates he was greeted by a female viera guard – “Stop right there!” She commanded as she approached the stranger – “What brings a traveller to Gita in such horrible weather?”. Nyle lifted his hood up a little and made a panicked expression – “Miss guard! I am a hunter from the village of Zel a few days from here. I was making my way here since I heard rumors of a beast”

She raised her eyebrow – “And?” He continued – “I heard rumors of a beast in the vicinity of Gita from merchants in the tavern and decided to offer my aid. I traveled for 5 days in this blizzard, and last night I heard a scream. I saw the beast attack a woman and then drag 1 of the guards into its cave.” The Viera guard’s eyes widened – “R…right this way please, I’ll take you to the captain” 

As she guided him through the gate, another guard stepped out of the watch house and took over her position. The guard took him to the barracks and guided him to the captain’s office. After a knock, they were called in.  “Sir, this man is a hunter from Zel village, he has information on the beast’s nest presumably.” Maverick lifted his gaze from the report on the table, which, upon a quick glance, Nyle noticed, read ‘Casualty Report’. Nyle nodded – “aye sir, I watched the beast drag 1 of the guardsmen into its cave, it’s a miracle I wasn’t spotted.” 

Maverick stood up, slamming his hands onto the table, averting his gaze from the hunter back down onto the report. He slowly grabbed it – “Was…was he alive?”. Nyle wanted to smile, he wanted to grin, to laugh, but he held it all back. He made a concerned expression as he spoke casually – “He was alive, screaming, trying to fight back the beast, I think he will be kept alive for a few days at least until the beast is hungry.” 

Maverick crumbled up the report – “Nynu! Ready the knight squad, we’re going hunting!”. The guardswoman saluted him – “Sir” and headed out. His eyes focused on Nyle who watched the guardswoman leave and then looked back at Maverick – “I saw piles of bones outside its cave which indicates stockpile behavior, the beast keeps its prey alive, likely for up to a week, so we must hurry!” 

Maverick walked around his desk and grabbed Nyle’s hand, shaking it – “We’ll repay you well hunter! What’d you say your name was?” he glanced at him intensely. Nyle smiled as he remembered wise words he heard from a thief once: ‘if you’re lying, only half-lie, then it’s harder for them to notice’. “Nym, sir, I’ll assist you in this expedition and help with the hunt”. Maverick nodded – “Thank you Nym!” 

A couple of hours passed, and Nyle enjoyed a hot meal offered by the kind viera guard he had encountered earlier. Maverick had paid him in advance for the assistance in the hunt and information, which Nyle accepted. Nyle found himself facing the forest, with 7 knights and Maverick. 

Nyle ordered the guards to smear charcoal on their faces in order to mask their smell from the beast, of course, this actually had the opposite effect, as the smell of charcoal actually made beasts angry, due to how it occurred in nature – ‘smell of charcoal implied fire’ which made beasts angry and cautious. He himself, of course, smeared dried soil that did mask his own scent from even the most sensitive of beasts.

The gate guards watched the expedition set out, led by the skilled hunter Nyle. They snuck through the forest at his command, struggling at times to keep up with his pace which he quite frankly struggled with as well. The desire for revenge was so strong that he could barely hold back his laughter. Nyle led them around in a semi-circle so that they’d end up approaching the cave from the upwind side, not downwind. This implied that the wind would have brought their smell, and the smell of charcoal into the beasts’ cave a while before their arrival, warning it.

Nyle stopped and pointed – “There, the cave” About 20 meters ahead of them, they could, just barely, see the entrance to the beasts’ cave. Maverick nodded – “Stay back, hunter, we’ll take the lead here.” Nyle pretended to protest – “Sir wouldn’t it be better if …” but the knight captain shut him up – “Silence, you were paid for information and guidance, now let us deal with it!” He turned away, a grin stretching across his face – “yes, sir, as you wish, be safe.” 

The squad of knights, led by Maverick, the largest of them approached the cave. 2 went from the right side, 2 on the left side, and Maverick stood before the cave’s opening with 3 knights behind him. The watched the cave for any movement or response but nothing. He ordered the first 2 knights, on the right side of the entrance inside. A short while passed and a voice echoed from inside the cave- “sir, it’s dark here but we’re yet to find the beast.” 

Maverick ordered the 2 knights on the left side of the entrance to stand guard, and led the other 3 with him inside the cave. A while later, a scream came from inside the cave, followed by indistinct shouting and then more screaming. The remaining two guards rushed inside. Nyle laid, downwind, 10  meters from the cave, hidden under the snow, watching. The shouting ceased and Nyle decided it was time to follow in. 

He ventured inside the deep cave and walked for no less than 5 minutes, his crossbow at the ready, loaded with a neurotoxic arrow that would paralyze even an elephant. Body parts littered the cave, and bones cracked under his boots with each step. Helmets and swords lay all around. 

He made his way towards a large opening, with a lake at the far side of it. Each step he took echoed through the open cave, a bioluminescent moss dimly illuminated the vast room, with several cave entrances leading out of it. To the right-hand side, he could hear grunting. As he turned and focused his vision, on the ground against the wall laid a knight, bleeding heavily from his neck, his hand trying to reach for his sword that was a few paces away. 

He knelt beside the dying knight – “Where are they?” The knight’s eyes darted to the nearest entrance. Nyle nodded – “the wound is fatal, don’t struggle” as he unsheathed his dagger and placed it against the knight’s chest plate – “Rest well, unfortunate soul”. In a swift slam, his dagger pierced the knight’s chest plate and then his heart. The knight’s eyes widened as he died. 

Nyle continued onwards into the other cave. Further ahead, he could hear indistinct shouting and screaming. He picked up the pace and hurried towards the sounds of presumed battle. As he rounded the corner, before him, backed into a dead-end, Maverick and another knight stood with their shields raised, and swords were drawn, desperately blocking the vicious attacks from the beast. A corpse of another knight rested against the wall behind them.  “PUSH THROUGH” shouted Maverick.

The frightened knight beside him refused to take even a single step toward the beast that mercilessly clawed at their shields. Each strike was like a hit from a flail. The sound of claws scratching against the thick metal of the shields was deafening. Maverick watched from behind the corner, grinning as the beast’s claws against the metal sent sparks flying through the air, illuminating Maverick’s frightened expression for a split second after every strike. 

A few strikes later, the beast’s claws punctured the shield, and the force of the impact ripped the shield out of Maverick’s hand as he took a step back. “Nerl, CHARGE!” But the frightened knight responded by throwing its sword at the beast, who knocked it out of the air and growled, approaching the cornered knights.  Maverick slashed at the beast, but his sword did not penetrate the thick fur. The beast stood 2 heads taller than him. 

Claws, sparks, the sound of metal being torn, and then the cave spun, or was it him that was spinning? Maverick hit the ground, blinked, and watched his body, a meter away, collapse to the ground in a loud thud and metallic cling, that was the last thing he saw as he died. Nyle smiled widely as he watched Maverick’s head fly through the air – “At last, you died to the hands of the beast you so wished to hunt” 

Nyle aimed his crossbow at the beast’s lower back. ‘Click’ followed by a ‘thumb’ of the crossbow firing. A pained roar echoed through the cave. The beast turned around, with an arrow sticking out of its lower back. It’s eyes focused on the hunter who calmly reloaded his crossbow, his eyes, focused on the beast, scanning for its weak points. The beast leaped at Nyle, swiping at him as Nyle calmly took aim and shot into the beast’s eye. The beast collapsed on top of Nyle. 

A moment later Nyle crawled from under the massive body and grunted in pain, noticing himself bleeding from the right shoulder he sighed – “Bastard got a hit in, so persistent”.  “Y..you did it!”Spoke a frightened voice. Nyle looked around and noticed a guard, sitting against the wall, pressed firmly against it. “You…killed the beast” 

Nyle approached him and offered him a hand in getting up – “Grab your sword and a shield, there might be more” The guard, stood up, shaking in fear – “w..what was that thing?”. Nyle looked over at the corpse a few paces behind him- “some kind of were-beast… Nasty buggers, have wiped out entire settlements in the past. You’re lucky I was here”. The knight nodded – “Yes, t..thank you for saving me!” He glanced over at the beheaded body of his captain, then knelt down.

He picked up his sword. Nyle, after a quick application of disinfectant cream over his wound, got to work beheading the beast to present its head to the mayor of the city, which proved to be no easy task, and considered it a miracle that his first arrow actually pierced the armor-like thick fur of the beast. He sacked the head and, with the last surviving knight, made his way back to the city. 

Back in the city, after medical treatment, when the weather cleared up, the mayor of Gita presented Nyle with a medal of honor and awarded him a great sum for ridding their forests of the vicious predator. The surviving soldier was promoted and awarded greatly for participating and assisting in the hunt. A few days later after rest, Nyle set out to leave the city, but was stopped by the gates, by Nynu, the guardswoman viera. 

“You could’ve killed it earlier, no?” she said in a quiet tone. He turned and looked at the forest, letting out a deep sigh – “What comes around, goes around. I did what I had to do, not what I could have done”. She nodded – “I can see it in your eyes, regret.” Does revenge taste good?”. He shook his head- “No, but my partner now rests in peace. “How’d you know?” he asked, while fixating his gaze on her. She smiled softly at him as their gazes met -“I sent those merchants, I knew of what Maverick did and I did not think it was right.”  She replied, then turned around to leave – “Safe trip to you, Nyle”