Telari's Arc

Chapter 1 of 11

Telari had heard the whispers three nights running, and tonight she would go find their source. She stood on the platform of her watchtower home, high above the trees, and strung her bow. Below, the forest breathed dark and cold. She had hunted wolves and bandits with these arrows. But hunting evil alone was different. If a fight turned against her, no one waited to guard her back. That thought sat in her stomach like a stone. She climbed down the tall wooden ladder. Two mountain lions rose from the shadows at the base of the tower. One was large and grey, sleek and calm. The other was small and white, its coat pale as frost. They were not tame pets. They lived near her tower and hunted the same woods. Telari fed them scraps. In return, they tolerated her. That was the whole of their bargain. "I need more than scraps tonight," she told them. Her voice sounded thin in the dark. The whispers came again, carried on the wind. A wet, hissing sound, like something crawling that should not crawl. Telari's skin prickled. She nocked an arrow and stepped toward the noise. The grey lion fell in beside her left knee. The white one ranged ahead, ears flat, tail low. They did not run off to hunt. They moved with her, matched her pace, watched the trees. She stopped. "You're coming." The grey lion looked up at her. Its yellow eyes held steady. The white one glanced back, waiting. Telari understood then. She had fed them all winter, and this was the answer to that kindness. She would not walk into the dark alone. A shape moved between two trunks ahead. It was low and pale and wrong, dragging itself over the roots. The hissing grew louder. Telari drew the bowstring to her cheek. Her arms were steady now. The grey lion crouched, muscles bunched. The white one bared its teeth. The thing lunged. Telari loosed her arrow. It struck the shape in the shoulder, and the creature shrieked. The grey lion sprang and drove it back. The white one darted low and raked its flank. Telari nocked a second arrow and fired clean through its neck. The creature dropped and went still. She stood over it, breathing hard. Her hands shook, but she had won. Both lions circled the body, then came to her side. She knelt and pressed her palm to the grey lion's broad head. It let her. "Partners, then," she said. But the dead thing was not alone. Beyond it, deeper in the trees, more whispers answered. Dozens of them. This creature had been a scout. Something larger had sent it, and now it knew she was here. Telari counted her arrows. Twelve left. She looked at her two new companions, and they looked back at the trees. The real hunt had only begun.