Chapter 4
Less than a week later, Riley was walking normally again, her ankle injury a thing of the past. Yet she was wary in the village and didn’t stray too far from the camp.
The other children mostly ignored her, as if it had been proven she was not a threat.
Yet Riley was getting frustrated and annoyed. She bared her teeth at the children as they passed, her hand brushing her sword, knowing that if Aerlid had seen her snarling like a wild beast she would have received a thump on the head. She didn’t want to be frightened. She didn’t want to stay here because the children were horrible and mean.
So today she ventured into the woods, determined to overcome her fear. Beforehand she had informed Aerlid of her plan.
She was careful and avoided the other children. They were dangerous, she now knew. They were not to be trusted.
As she played and jumped through the trees her fear gradually eased and was overcome by delight. A wide grin was on her face as she flowed like water up a tree, all the way to the top. She sat on a high, thin branch, overlooking the forest. Calm and content.
She stayed up there, her eyes drifting closed, though she didn’t sleep. She enjoyed the feel of the tree against her back, the wind against her body, the pleasure of balancing on a thin branch, and the view of the forest before her. She faced away from the village.
A noise drifted up to her. Her eyes flickered open. The children. Not an unusual noise, she could recognize the pleasure and fear in those voices. Another sound, more uncertain. Another, more fear.
Her eyes flicked open again. They were annoying her. She couldn’t make the noises go away, but she could at least see what was happening so she could then ignore it.
Riley flowed down the tree, and then from one to the next. The sounds grew louder as she approached the village. She stopped, her heart hammering in her chest.
A deer. A deer standing by a tree, its head down. But the fur wasn’t right. It was a reddish brown, but it looked wrong. Not soft and furry. Jagged and tearing. The deer raised its head. Sharp teeth filled its mouth. The eyes always distressed her most, because they were the same. The same dewy tenderness of a normal deer.
Riley tilted her head back and screamed. It came out like the sound of an owl. The children glanced towards her from where they were gathered in the trees.
Riley looked back at the ehlkrid deer and shivered. As she watched, it reared up and slammed its hooves against the tree the children were in. It shook and creaked. The children screamed and sobbed in fear, some climbed higher up and jumped to other trees.
It reared again. More of the children scampered and leapt into other trees. Soon only three children were left in the tree and they hung on grimly. Riley watched. She could not fight the ehlkrid deer. It was a monster, a terrible monster. She just watched and waited for her call to be answered.
A movement caught her eye. One of the children was trying to reach her tree, but he had jumped badly. The branch he was on swung and shook. He clutched it with his knees and hands, his eyes wide with fear. Riley quickly scampered up to his branch.
Nervously she approached, intending to help him along. Her eyes were on the deer.
She was on his branch, carefully moving along. Then the deer jumped.
It was a prodigious jump, rising near three meters in the air. Its sharp teeth grabbed the shirt of the boy. He screamed, though the deer only had his shirt. In his fright though his hands slipped.
With a cry of dismay Riley jumped out and grabbed his hand as he fell.
He swung from her hand, his chest heaving, his eyes bulging.
The deer circled. Riley heaved him up quickly, her arm shaking from the strain. The boy had his hands on the branch and Riley was trying to pull him up when the deer jumped again. Riley reacted instantly and leapt from the branch.
The deer saw her, started and stopped. It fell gracefully to the ground, its eyes on the easy prey. There was a standoff as Riley and the deer regarded each other. Then Riley turned and ran.
She ran and ran. The deer moved after her quickly and silently. She knew it was there. She was heading towards the village. The ehlkrid was fast, very fast. Not as fast as the mountain cats, but then neither was she.
She needed a tree, but the ehlkrid could jump high and fast too and would likely get her before she could get high enough to be safe. She let loose another owlish scream.
She turned suddenly and rolled. She was on her feet in seconds and was moving again. The deer scrambled, it could not turn as sharply as her.
She didn’t risk a glimpse behind. She turned again. The deer was faster this time. Then a flash of silver caught her eye. Riley hit the ground and rolled. Behind her there was an animalistic scream. Riley turned and was on her feet again. The deer was down. It thrashed, its teeth gnashing the air, its hooves flailing.
Aerlid stood over it, his sword dripping blood. He stabbed it again and it went still. He turned to her and said nothing.
‘The children are back there. I don’t think they got eaten.’ Aerlid nodded.
‘Shall we go check?’ He asked. She nodded. Giving the corpse a wide birth Riley led the way back to the children.
They were still huddled in the trees. Shocked surprise greeted her as she appeared. They’d thought she’d been eaten.
‘It’s dead now.’ Aerlid announced. ‘Come down and I’ll take you back to the village.’ The children clambered down. The pale and trembling group approached and huddled around him as he herded them back. He noticed the boy with the ripped shirt. ‘Did it break your skin?’ he asked.
The boy shook his head. ‘If you feel ill or strange at all, you must tell me at once.’ Aerlid said, and the boy nodded fearfully.
Back in the village the children suddenly broke away and hurried to their parents, who had come out of their houses.
‘What was that?’ one of them asked, approaching Aerlid.
‘An ehlkrid deer.’ Aerlid said tiredly. ‘I killed it, now I need to destroy the body.’
The beast, Olef, stepped forward. ‘No! Give it to us and we will take it.’
Aerlid eyes narrowed. ‘You intend to eat it.’ he said softly. It was not a question.
Olef, a touch of nervousness in him, nodded.
‘The ehlkrid flesh will do nothing for you. At best, you will be terribly sick until it is expelled from your body.’
‘I have eaten it before!’ He roared, a hand pounding his chest. ‘I am strong!’
Aerlid paused. ‘Are you sure it made you stronger? How sick were you?’
Olef said nothing, which said it all.
‘If you wish to eat it, I won’t stop you, but be aware, you have not enough…you are not strong enough to gain any benefit from consuming ehlkrid flesh.’
Olef bared his teeth. ‘Where is it?’
With a sigh Aerlid pointed into the forest. ‘Will you at least burn what you don’t eat?’
Olef nodded. ‘Aye.’
With that Olef and the rest of the villagers headed into the forest.