Chapter 7 (Patreon)

Finding itself partially free from the scarlet bonds, the monster immediately waved its paw and sent the Kskunit flying to the nearest bushes. The gunton flew in another direction. Having covered a distance of ten steps in one jump, the creature attacked Daniel.

Losse became numb, realizing her mistake. Meanwhile, the monster leaned heavily with its body on the elf. The remaining threads barely held it back, preventing it from biting Daniel's neck. The creature continued to press the elf down, and the threads broke one after another.

“Sol, fire! Fuck you!“ The elf yelled.

An obscure swearing came from the bushes. The man was speaking a language unknown to Losse. Daniel fell silent, focusing on his magic spell, the only thing that could stop the sharp teeth from separating his head from his neck.

Losse rubbed her eyes with her fists. She always made split-second decisions, and she often was sorry about them later. However, now, she thought she could correct her mistake in some way. The barefooted Kettu girl galloped across the wet grass and picked up a stick. She raised it over her head and rushed towards the monster. Screaming at the top of her lungs, she brought her weapon down on the creature's head. The stick cracked loudly and broke in two. A guttural disapproval sound came from the creature's mouth, and its eyes closed. The pause allowed Daniel to free one of his palms and snap his fingers loudly. The magic spell flashed red and knocked the monster back.

The elf sprang to his feet and looked severely at Losse. She was still nearby, pressing a piece of stick in her hand. Daniel took a deep breath and focused on the monster again, stretching his arms forward. A new magic spell flew towards the creature. Sweeping away the fog clouds, it enveloped the monster’s body in a purple glow and forcefully pushed it even further. The Kskunit finally emerged from the bushes and turned a somersault easily, picking up his gunton from the ground.

The furious monster chattered its teeth and scratched the soil with its claws, trying to run forward. Its eyes burned with hatred.

“Get down! “Daniel shouted, and, without waiting for the Kettu to respond, he roughly pushed her away with his shoulder. Losse didn’t have time to object. Falling to the grass, she felt another dozen stitches tear on her nightgown.

The spell was interrupted, and the creature was free again. Not expecting the resistance to stop so abruptly, it picked up speed and rushed forward. With no time to slow down, it struck its head on the oak trunk with an awful crash. One of the deer's antlers couldn’t stand it and broke with a loud crack. The beast roared and walked backwards drunkenly. Blood flowed down its left eye, and the right one was spinning wildly in its socket, trying to find the right position. The monster quickly recovered. It raised its muzzle, but only to see that a shiny tube was pointed at the undamaged eye. There was a third shot. Finally, the forest fell silent.

“ I told you. You should have aimed straight at the head,” Daniel exhaled.

The beastman slung his gunton over his shoulder and shook his head doomily.

“Such a trophy is lost…“

Hissing in pain, Losse stood up and wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

“Oh, dear Kettu! I hope you are safe. I'm sorry, we should have rescued you before the mimic got close to you. You could have a chance to leave!“

Losse ran an eye over the clearing: the morning fog was melting in the first sunrays. The Kskunit sat down on the ugly monster’s carcass. Muttering something under his breath, he took a tin box from his belt pouch and pushed its contents into his smoking pipe. Blood from the monster’s wounds flowed onto the ground. Its flesh emitted a disgusting odour. Losse was silent and confusedly shifted her gaze from the monster’s muzzle to the Kskunit’s face and back.

“ My comrade’s name is Solid,“ Daniel politely pointed at his partner with his palm, “ he is a Kskunite. A hunter and an expert at using a gunton. He comes from the distant southern lands.“

Losse pressed her lips together and sniffled. More than once she imagined herself the heroine of catching stories about adventurers who strike down monsters easily. Those monsters were very impressive: stronger, more terrifying and larger than the one lying lifeless on the ground and smelling rotten fish and a goat troll's dung. The reality turned out to be unpleasant: Losse couldn’t help the adventurers and almost became the culprit for the death of one of them. Treacherous tears came to her eyes.

“I think I should say thanks to you," the Kettu girl said hesitantly.

The Kskunit cleared his throat loudly, drawing attention to himself.

“And to you, sir!“

“S-s-sir!“ The Kskunit said in a drawling manner, he took a draw from his pipe and produced a smoke ring that melted in the air.

“How did you get here? And who is this, what’s his name, Mimic?“

“We will have enough time to speak about it. You’ve had a lot of trouble today,” the elf noted, examining Losse from head to toe. “But your dress... is the worst-hit“.

The Kskunit grunted with satisfaction and blew out another smoke ring.

Losse lowered her eyes and squatted down with a squeal, pressing her ragged nightgown against her breast. She bowed her head in shame. Her hair spilled over her face, hiding her flushed cheeks.

“I-I... don't look at me!“

Daniel hurriedly took off his cloak with the intention of handing it to the embarrassed Kettu. As ill luck would have it, he couldn’t unlock the silver clasp.

“ Just a minute!“ said the elf, "sometimes it gets stuck."

Savouring the moment, Solid didn't hide his smile.

Finally, the elf took off his cape and handed it to Losse. She instantly wrapped herself in the cloth and thanked the elf with relief.

“It’s wet...” the Kettu suddenly said. She ran her hand over the cloak, looked at the hand, and then at Daniel.

“Oh, I see you also took a beating, elf.“

The elf looked at his shoulder and raised an eyebrow in surprise. Blood flowed from three holes in his shirt.

“Wow...” He touched the wound, not believing his eyes. “And I wondered why I felt so giddy. The claws are really sharp.“

The bewildered elf scratched his head, took a step forward, tottered and fell into the grass.