****
We turned at the sound, fear in our hearts. He strode out of the shade of the trees and we were stunned by what we saw. This was Herne the Hunter, the mad Forest God of legend, the epitome of savagery, the Lord of Nature.
He stood at least nine feet tall, not counting the magnificent rack of antlers on his head. His face was blocky, inhuman, before human. His chest was massive and covered in a thick mat of coarse brown fur. He was naked, his equipment a thing of nightmares. A long tail with a serpent’s head writhed behind him. His long legs ended in cloven hooves, the better to run you down and trample you.
He snorted at us, an angry sound. Solid black eyes raked over me and in an instant, I felt what it must have been like to be the prey, to see the hunger in the predator’s eyes. He grinned as he smelled my fear, his lips parting to reveal sharp, yellowed teeth. The better to devour you with.
I reacted instantly, drawing forth the industrial grade stungun I had recharged on the way over and activated its compression chamber. I leveled it at Herne and fired. A muffled thump of sound issued forth as compressed air powered two flying darts attached to wires.
He laughed as the darts sped across the clearing towards him. Just as they were about to make contact, they transformed. No longer were they sharp metal, now they were a pair of dragonflies that buzzed around his antlers before alighting on his shoulder.
I glanced down at the taser in my hand and realized it was now a powerless twig. Herne was not afraid of technology. His was the world of the Forest and the machinations of man had no place in it.
“That’ll be enough of that, don’t you think?” he said easily, like a well-fed predator. “There’s no reason we can’t be civil. The Hunt has not begun yet. Besides, I have you to thank for freeing my hound.”
He gestured and the mystical chains fell at the feet of the Bloodbeast. Suddenly free, the beast looked momentarily perplexed then started to pad towards us on near-silent paws. Herne gave a sharp whistle and the beast halted reluctantly. It wanted our flesh but it knew better than to disobey its master.
“Come along, hound. We have more important matters than these simple beings.” Herne said and with a gesture, he and the beast disappeared with an audible pop. A stunned silence covered the glade.
“We are so screwed.” Greg said.
****
“So, what do we do now?” I asked.
“We contact Dr. Webb.” Eric answered reluctantly. “No matter how much we don’t want to.”
“He’s going to blame me. He always blames me.” Greg lamented. “I was doing a favor for a friend the whole time but he won’t care about that. I just know he is going to dock my pay.”
“None of that matters now. We have an angry Forest God and his unkillable hound about to run rampant over the world, hunting down everything that doesn’t fit a very narrow definition of nature.” I said bitingly. “Who gets blamed is the least of our worries.”
“That’s easy for you to say. Webb likes you. You never get blamed for anything.” Greg growled back.
“Because I am never to blame.” I grinned happily.
“Cut it out. We have to stop Herne and we can’t do it with you two pointing fingers at each other. Head back to the vehicles, I’ll contact Webb.” Eric said with a confidence I wasn’t sure he actually felt.
“And the two rookies?” Greg pressed.
“We are in the middle of this. We aren’t stopping now.” Clara said, speaking for Dewayne, who nodded in agreement. “Besides, you three need all the help you can get.”
“This may be a suicide mission.” Eric warned.
“It’s suicide if we don’t tag along. At least this way, we get to have some fun before we die.” Clara answered.
“You have the strangest sense of fun.” Greg mumbled.
“You have no idea but if you are lucky, one day you will find out for yourself.” She winked at him.
“Try to keep it in your pants.” I growled.
“Enough. Move out. We have a lifetime’s worth of work ahead of us and not a second to waste.” Eric commanded and everybody obediently trudged out of the clearing.
I paused at the tree line. Against my will, I stared back long and hard at the pile of mystic chains laying in the center of the clearing. This was all going to end in tears. I just knew it.
###
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