Rander was beginning to fall asleep when he heard rustling
from the trees across the clearing. He
perked up and looked closely at the area.
Though his eyes saw nothing out of the ordinary, his ears heard the
snapping of branches caused by an animal running in the woods.
He turned to signal his brother but noticed that Bander was
preoccupied trying to swipe a mosquito buzzing about his head. Rander dared not make a sound, in fear of
revealing his position. He waved an arm
to get Bander’s attention. The gesture
went unnoticed. Bander’s interest was
totally held by the flying nuisance.
The sound from the woods grew louder and was repeated in
unison from other nearby clumps of trees.
Rander could wait no more. He
placed an arrow on his bow and fired it at his brother. It struck the tree near Bander’s head. The suddenness of the event nearly caused the
burly elf to fall from his perch.
He drew back an arrow and turned to see his attacker. When he spied his brother looking at him most
crossly, Bander relaxed his bow and stared at him with his head slightly cocked
to the side. Rander feverishly pointed
to the woods from which the noise had originated. Bander stared at the woods with the same
confused look he had been showing Rander.
Suddenly, the trees began to shake. Bander joined his brother with his bow ready
to fire. It was not long before a herd
of deer stepped from the woods and into the clearing. Without hesitation, the elves fired. Their aim was true and two deer fell
immediately. The rest of the herd
charged down the clearing with great haste.
Rander pulled a second arrow from his quiver and fired again
at the fleeing game. The arrow struck a
deer in the hind leg and knocked it to the ground. Bleeding badly, the animal tried to get to
its feet and resume running.
Not wanting to lose the precious meat, Rander dropped his
bow, drew a knife and slid down the tree to finish his task. As he neared the fallen game, he noticed that
it was not looking at him as it tried to escape. It was looking back at the woods it had just
left.
Rander stopped next to the deer and turned curiously to look
at the woods as well. All he saw was a
charcoal-colored blur as he was knocked to the ground. An immense pain came from his leg moments
later. He looked down to see his entire
calf lodged in a Trogo’s mouth. It shook
its head back and forth so hard that the motion lifted Rander off the
ground. With one last swing of the head,
it threw Rander several paces in the air before he landed and rolled to a stop.
The wounded elf was in shock and looked about for the
beast. To his horror, more creatures
than he could count had entered the clearing and were surrounding him. They growled and snarled as they moved closer.
Time seemed to creepas Rander awaited the attack. He screamed for help, but his voice was
overcome by the sounds of the Trogos. Having sized up their prey, the one with
Rander’s blood in his mouth attacked first.
Having lost his knife during the attack, there was little
Rander could do except put his arm in front of his face and close his eyes. The
sound of the barking suddenly stopped as a low-pitched whine came and went in
an instant. Immediately following it was
a loud yelp from the Trogo near him.
Uncovering his eyes, Rander saw the Trogo spinning in a
circle, trying to remove an arrow from its side. It had hit near the ribs, but did not dig
deeply into his thick hide. Another
Trogo came close and snapped the arrow’s shaft.
It was about that time that another arrow struck the same
wolf. It struck in the hindquarter, but
again, did little damage. A third arrow
totally missed the target and lodged in the ground.
The pack spread out and did not take long to locate Bander
in his tree. They left Rander and the
deer behind as they surrounded the tree and began barking at its host. The beasts demonstrated remarkable agility as
they leapt nearly to the branch where he stood.
As the terrified elf drew back his bow, one of the trogos
caught hold of his boot at the apex of its jump and tore it from his foot as it
fell. The incident knocked Bander on his
belly. He struck his head on the wide
branch but had the sense to hold on to it.
In order to grab the branch, however, he was forced to let go of his
bow. It fell to the ground, where it
instantly became a chew-toy for the trogos.
Realizing he was within reach of his adversary, Bander tried
to return to his feet. The action was
too late, however, as a wolf jumped for his dangling arm. Bander could see the jaws coming near as if
it was happening slowly.
Just as the teeth were about to strike, a high-pitched whine
preceded an arrow slicing through the great animal’s neck. The arrowhead stopped only after exiting the
far side of the skin. With a horrible
yelp, the beast fell to the ground and moved no more.
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