Monstrous - Chapter 4 (Patreon)

Alrüna woke to her stomach growling painfully. Her body, exhausted from the healing process, demanded that she replenish its depleted stores.

Disoriented, her eyes fluttered open, gazing upon a starry sky that glittered like countless jewels adorning the crown of god. She was stuck still by the sight, feeling as if her spirit had lifted from her body to enter the ethereal world beyond man.

She came to realize her position: lying on the ground with soft grass underneath her. Something heavy and warm covered her. She wriggled her fingers, feeling soft, luxurious fur between them. She looked down at her body to see something like a pelt over her.

Suddenly, thirst made her head pound.

She felt as if she held a mouthful of ashes, and her tongue was like a piece of tree-bark against her cheeks. She struggled to sit up. Her arms were without strength, unable to exert the required force the prop her up with the heavy pelt over her. She tossed it clumsily to the side, noticing how it seemed to belong to a large cat of some kind.

Her blood left her head as her upper body became vertical, almost sending her crashing back down in a wave of dizziness. She managed to catch herself by falling to one elbow, a leg curling up underneath her for stability.

The gears had started turning in her addled mind, finally realizing that she had no idea where she currently was. No moon hung in the sky, and the starlight was too faint for her to make out any distinctive landmarks in the darkness.

A faint sneeze sounded from somewhere near her. It was… familiar. She turned her head in that direction, attempting to catch a glimpse of the source.

What greeted her was a tall, shadowy creature. It stared at her with a pair of owl-like, slitted orange eyes that glowed in the darkness.

Like a dam breaking, all the events of the past few days rushed to the forefront of her mind. Her hand went to her mouth, feeling a sticky, greasy substance under her fingers – the remnants of yesterday’s meal.

It wasn’t a dream.

Feeling the onset of terror and panic, she violently shoved down her own emotions. She was starving and thirsty - she couldn’t afford to lose her mind right now. She needed to think, like Rahl had taught her.

She wasn’t a fool. Clearly the beast had no intention to harm her… for now. It had fed her and even watched over her as she slept. It had also likely covered her with the pelt. She remembered some of the gestures it had made yesterday; her disturbed state of mind had been unable to grasp their significance, but it was clearly intelligent and capable of communication.

Right now, the most imminent danger she faced was terminal dehydration. On top of being extremely thirsty, she’d started to experience serious symptoms such as physical exhaustion, mental sluggishness and light-headedness. She had no idea where to find any water.

If the beast was willing to feed her, perhaps it would also be willing to lead her to a source of water?

The hairs on her body stood up as she gazed into its inhuman eyes. She would have broken out into a cold sweat had she not been so dehydrated. She visibly struggled to control her fear, her hands circling her torso to grasp her upper arms with a white-knuckled grip. Her breathing had become erratic.

Would it be able to understand her speech? She wasn’t sure how else to ask for water.

“W-water… I need it, or else I’m going to d-die…” Her voice, hoarse from thirst and weak with fear, exited her mouth with extreme difficulty. She tried to maintain eye contact with the thing in an effort to express her intentions. She relaxed her stiff grip to raise her palms to her mouth, motioning the act of drinking water.

She felt immense relief when she saw it nodding its head. It made its way over to her, stretching out a single muscular arm in her direction. She shook her head with trepidation as she struggled to her feet.

“I can w-walk… walk on my own…”

Nausea struck her like a fist to the abdomen. She fell forward, vomiting the contents of her stomach onto the forest floor. In the corner of her mind, she noticed with vague relief that she’d managed to avoid dirtying the fur blanket.

The beast’s arm circled around her waist, lifting her up and carrying her close to its chest. Her hands pushed feebly against it in protest, but she was too weak to offer anything more than token resistance.

She could almost hear Rahl’s voice reciting a past lesson: ‘If you can’t keep food down, then things have become very dangerous. Nausea is one of the serious symptoms of dehydration.’

In a single movement, like an owl taking flight, it vaulted a great distance over the earth. The strong wind made it impossible for Alrüna to keep her eyes open. If she wasn’t so consumed by the sensation of illness, she would have noticed how smooth the journey was. Her body hardly even jostled in the monster’s hold.

Before long, Alrüna heard the sound of running water. She drew a deep breath into her nose, taking in as much of the refreshing scent as possible. She never knew water could smell so wonderfully delicious.

It loosened its grip, and Alrüna almost broke her shin on a rock as she fell into the river, desperately sucking down every droplet of water. Not only had she been reducing her water intake while on the expedition, but she’d been either injured or unconscious for two days.

The feeling of relief was indescribable.

She poured water over herself between gulps, uncaring of its low temperature. Her dressings had become so waterlogged that she was practically being dragged down to the bottom by their weight. Sinewy fingers grabbed the scruff of her neck to keep her from accidentally drowning herself.

After a while, she finally satiated her thirst. Her long, ash brown hair had fallen over face, making her unable to see anything in front of her. She tried to sweep some of it aside with one hand, only half succeeding.

Through one eye, she could see the monster submerging itself in the river. It had let go of her and slipped into the water without her even noticing. It was unnaturally silent for something its size, its shadowed form almost disappearing into the blackness of night. Only the top half of its head stuck out, revealing a long nose, a pair of tufted ears and large, glowing eyes.

Those eyes would break even the most seasoned hunter’s composure.

Alrüna had to keep reminding itself that the thing meant her no harm. After a moment, she had to look away as its visage was simply too chilling where it floated in the dark water. It was almost like some kind of evil messenger, come to carry her over the river of ghosts and into the realm of the dead.

It wasn’t winter, but the night air carried a chill that penetrated to her bones. She started shivering as she watched the thing rose from the water. It plucked a white substance from somewhere – where, Alrüna had no idea. It smeared it over its two palms and started rubbing it into its fur: head, abdomen, arms and legs.

It was washing itself.

The substance had a scent that she could detect even from some distance away. It was strongly floral with a smoky undertone.

Detecting her curiosity in the darkness, it floated over and held out an open palm to her. She flinched, but relaxed when she saw it wouldn’t be coming any closer. Her curiosity winning out in the end, she approached it.

She half-crawled, half-waded forward through the water towards its outstretched limb. While she was feeling quite cold, it wasn’t the kind of freezing death she’d experienced during winter. She’d be alright as long as she dried off properly after getting out of the water.

As she came close to the paw, she both smelled and saw that the white part of the substance was… animal fat. Was the demon using a mixture of animal fat, herbs and ashes as a way of cleaning itself?

Her caution all but forgotten, she couldn’t help but lightly scoop some off the substance off its furred paw. She rubbed it between her fingers and watched dumbfoundedly as it transformed into a slippery, foamy lather.

If its ability to communicate had confused her, then invention truly flabbergasted her. She was a shaman, and creations like these were within the realm of her interests. If it could make something like this, then the beast was beyond just having human-like intelligence, it was truly smart.

She looked up at it, conflicted, as she tried and failed to formulate a question.

Before she could continue, an interrupting growl sounded from her stomach. Her pressing thirst having been taken care of, and now her body had let her know just how hungry it was.

Hearing the sound, the beast huffed through its nose. Was it laughing at her?

She watched as it dunked itself underneath, foamy water splashing to all sides. Having finished rinsing, it leapt upwards to land on the riverbank and shook itself vigorously. Its hair puffed up, making it look a little bit ridiculous.

Alrüna stood up from where she sat waist-deep in the water, seeing that it was finished. She wasn’t exactly sure what would happen next, but she thought that the creature must have its own plans.

The herb-scented thing suddenly pounced on her and slung her over one of its shoulders like a bundle of wood, taking off into the forest at breakneck speed. Any words of protest that left her mouth were drowned out by the sound of the rushing wind.

It was hardly comfortable, but the beast somehow kept any branches or leaves from striking her as they zipped between the looming trees.

Her head was still spinning when her feet finally landed on the ground again. She felt a claw tapping her shoulder. She looked at the beast to see it pointing into a cave: the same one she’d escaped from during daytime.

Did it want her to go in?

She tried to make eye contact with it while shaking her head. She really didn’t want to go back to that terrible place. A horrifying aura hung in the air like a blade held against her neck. She couldn’t stand it.

The thing nodded its head at her. Its finger moving to point at the entrance border before lifting both hands and motioning at her with open palms.

“You want me… to stand there?” She managed to stop her teeth from chattering with cold. She was still soaking wet.

It nodded again. Seeing her comply with its demands, it headed into the cavern’s depths.

Once it was gone, she quickly stripped out of her dressings while squeezing and wringing as much water out of them as she could. She had a spare set, but she’d left that behind when she fled the camp.

Her face turned to a frown, remembering the… things the monster had done to her. Was that the reason it was behaving this way? Did it consider her as its… mate?

This realization caused conflicted feelings to rise within her. She certainly had no desire to experience anything like that again. On the other hand, if it did indeed see her in such a way, then she could be more assured of her own safety.

If it did want… her, then she needed to figure out a way to defend herself. However, thinking back to the amulet’s destruction, she knew that she would never be able to conjure such a powerful spell. Even that had not been able to stop it – what hope did she have?

She could feel herself slipping into despair. She would just have to think of something and pray that it did not attempt to force itself on her until then. It did seem different from that night, so the idea wasn’t entirely a fool’s dream.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a large shadow apparated from within the cave. She couldn’t help but be startled, as not even the sound of rushing wind clued her on its arrival. One moment, it was simply there.

She watched with apprehension as it dropped a bloody, skinned corpse at her feet. Was it one of her party members who’d been killed and stripped of their skin? Her imagination was working overtime.

Looking more closely, she realized that the corpse wasn’t human in appearance at all. This was most likely the creature who’s pelt she’d been sleeping under at that time.

Was it giving this kill to her? She’d eaten raw meat before, but she did rather prefer it cooked.

The beast disappeared out of the cave. Cracking and snapping sounds could soon be heard from its direction. She watched as it returned with two bundles of wood, one clutched underneath each arm-like limb.

It took a long, sharpened piece, like a wooden spear, and completely pierced the corpse with one strong thrust. It then pointed to the remaining wood and at her.

She didn’t need to be told twice. She was hungry and cold; a fire would certainly help her deal with that.

A short time later, a fire was roaring on the cave floor. The beast had lifted the corpse easily by the wooden shaft that protruded from it and was know effortlessly holding it over the fire, turning it this way and that to ensure an even roast.

Alrüna sat by the edge of the fire, holding her hands out towards it to warm up. She felt somewhat awkward for a lack of something to do, and was stuck staring at the flames. Truthfully, she felt very uncomfortable in the monster’s presence.

She’d been holding on to a question since some time earlier. She thought the beast may be able to understand speech, though it was possible that it had simply been reading her body language until now. She was having a difficult time asking the creature… she didn’t know how she would feel if its answer did end up being in the affirmative.

Gathering her courage, she spoke. “Do you… understand my speech?”

Its head turned towards her and met her gaze with its large, unblinking eyes. It slowly moved its head up and down.

Alrüna felt some discomfort at the admission. If it could understand speech, then… The implications of that were rather significant. She looked down at her feet while rubbing her hands against her furs.

“Were you… once human?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the beast become completely still. The grotesque hand that had been turning the roast trembled slightly. Alrüna turned her body to face the beast head on.

A long silence stretched between them.

Finally, without making eye-contact, it lifted the roast from the fire and set it down on the pile of leaves that she’d stripped from the wood. A long blade slid from one of its fingers, slicing at the meat. It took a large portion for itself before taking a position slightly outside the light of the fire.

It very pointedly didn’t answer her question.

She couldn’t help but furrow her brow in thought. The monster had definitely understood what she’d said - the effect of her words couldn’t be denied. Its response was very telling. If it had no relation to humanity, it wouldn’t have acted as it did. It could be trying to deceive her, but what purpose would that serve? She was already at its mercy.

She scooted over on her butt to the remaining portion. She felt famished, yesterday’s meal having been vomited out due to her dehydration. She almost managed to ignore the blistering temperature as she dug in to the unseasoned meat.

Despite her hunger, she wasn’t able to completely immerse herself in the process of eating. Thoughts kept circling in her head. She furtively glanced over the fire at where it sat, a clump of darkness in the already black cave. Words welled up in her throat, but she swallowed them down.

‘Why did you violate me? Why did you capture me? What are your intentions for me?’

Instead of voicing any of these questions, something different slipped from between her lips.

“What is your name?”

She didn’t intend to ask the question out loud, but once she thought of it she became unable to restrain herself.

She saw the two reflective eyes blink in the darkness. It stood up, prowling over to her side. Alrüna watched warily as it stooped over an arm length away to scribble something on the ground.

She was surprised to note that its scratchings were very similar to the runes that she’d learned under Rahl. She leaned forward while making sure not to touch or be touched by the demon. She struggled to puzzle out the meaning of the runes. They seemed… old, and the sounds were foreign to her mind.

Finishing its writing, it stood up and looked down at her. She felt some anxiousness, as if it was pressuring her to speak its name out loud. She was unsure whether or not that was a good idea, if having its name spoken would give it some kind of power.

It made no move to force her, just patiently waiting for her to speak. Well, she was already at its mercy, and she did wish to communicate more with it, if possible. She was also burning with curiosity to know more about this mysterious devil. She chewed on her lower lip while considering her options.

Finally, she made up her mind.

Nothing good had come out of following the traditional way. She had been bullied, tortured and persecuted despite her and Rahl’s dedication towards their village and tribe. True, the monster had raped her… but it was clear to her now how that behaviour was not its default state.

Alrüna badly wanted to believe that there was at least something out there that she could put at least some amount of trust in. This devil had treated her better than any of her fellow villagers, aside from Rahl, ever had.

She didn’t miss how its gaze constantly stuck to her body. Where the men of the village always tried to hide theirs, its gaze never wavered even when she caught it looking. Having lived a life of being deceived, she could appreciate that type of honesty. She wasn’t planning on giving herself to the demon-wolf, but still…

She wiped the grease from her face, feeling the syllables of its name in her mouth. She wasn’t sure if she would pronounce it correctly.

Taking a half-breath, she drew on her magic to prepare herself for the possible impeding fall out. Then, she spoke:

“Gévaudan.”

The monster radiated self-satisfaction, its teeth sliding free from its gums to reveal a massive, horrifying grin.