Savage Feast

The rain was too heavy.

Jorgen wiped the mud and water from his right eyelid and opened his eye. His vision was clear for only a moment. The raindrops accumulated on his eyelashes soaked into his eye sockets, enveloping everything in bubbles. His left eye was about the same. It was better than not seeing anything at all, he thought. Thirty seconds ago, a vine hanging from the tree canopy struck above his right eye. Fortunately, he had turned his head in time, so it did not hit his eyeball directly.

On a thunderstorm night in the Stranglethorn Vale Rainforest, it was difficult to avoid some new wounds while running at full speed. Sharp leaves, tough vines, and animal bones buried in the mud were just the most ordinary traps of nature. Fortunately, in the heavy rain, most of the truly dangerous carnivores were hiding in their dens.

But the rain was really too heavy. Jorgen could hardly hear his own footsteps. If he did not wipe his nose with the back of his hand from time to time, he could hardly breathe. In the distance to the right of his body, Jorgen could occasionally glimpse the outline of the Gurubashi Arena illuminated by lightning. He tried his best not to pay attention to that huge object. Just during the day, it was as lively as a market, with small stalls all around the city wall. But now it was just a huge black sculpture, as if it would crush down on this forest at any time, taking advantage of the storm.

Jorgen was chasing someone, and that person was obviously better at running in such an environment. Again and again, the target disappeared from Jorgen's sight, and it took a great effort to catch up. Sometimes Jorgen thought it might just be an illusion caused by the rain curtain. But in any case, he had to do his best to catch this phantom.

When he entered an area where the tree canopy was particularly dense and heavy, blocking a large amount of rain, Jorgen felt that his right leg was not working well. Since an injury seven years ago, his right leg had never fully recovered. If it were not for running at full strength, the consequences of this old injury would not show. But Jorgen still hated the feeling of his body not fully obeying orders.

As he went deeper, the raindrops hitting his body became less and less. Jorgen began to see the footwork of the escapee and could hear his gasps. He seemed more tired than himself. The steps of both people slowed down a lot.

"Stop, Idoli," Jorgen said, "there's no need to run."

The man in front could barely move his feet, as if stuck in the mud. Ten seconds later, he finally stopped completely and bent over gasping for breath.

"You did the right thing. No need to run anymore." As Jorgen spoke, he drew a dagger from his right hand and flung away the water droplets that had seeped into the scabbard mouth and hung on the blade.

"Don't kill me," Idoli turned around, "you've drawn your dagger. Don't draw your dagger. Put that thing away. Don't kill me."

"This is for safety, I won't do anything. Just be honest."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Gold coins, Idoli. Five hundred gold coins. We both know they're not yours. Where did you hide them?"

"I earned that money the hard way."

"There is a difference between earning and cheating. Don't argue with me. You can't get away. Those gnomes won't let you on the ship. "

"God, it's just five hundred gold coins! What does that count for in your MI7? But that's all I have. Haven't you done one good deed in your life? "

"I admire your interesting logic. But a crime is a crime."

"What will happen to me if I give you the money?"

"No more need to run. You only committed a minor offense, not to mention you haven't used that money yet. As long as you cooperate, I guarantee you will be free again in less than three years. If you run now, you will never be able to return to the Eastern Kingdom for the rest of your life, and you will not be able to use a penny of those five hundred gold coins, because we will find them eventually. Now is the chance I'm giving you."

"I will disguise myself, even cut off my nose. Just so the gnomes won't recognize me. Then I can get on the ship."

"Even if you can sneak onto the gnomes' ship without them tying a rock to you and throwing you into the middle of the sea, nameless and penniless, what's the point of escaping to Kalimdor? To me, a fraudster who hid five hundred gold coins but couldn't use them is the same as a penniless fraudster. Do you want to live like this for the rest of your life?"

"How do you know I won't be able to come back for the rest of my life?"

"Because you have offended everyone who could help you. You know better than I do. Five hundred gold coins are far from enough to fill the gaps in your debts and loans. Your life is over."

In the moments of silence, Jorgen heard the rain gradually weakening. Even so, attempting to throw daggers in such an environment was still unwise.

Idoli lowered his head and then raised it again. "You do have a point. I'm tired of it. Don't want to run anymore."

"Right, so..."

"But I won't go back to jail," he said, "not for a minute."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Idoli turned and ran again. Damn it! Jorgen could only slap his right hip and chase after him.

The second chase did not last long. Idoli stopped under a big tree, looking at his feet. He had stepped on something. At first, Jorgen thought Idoli had stumbled over a round stone, but then he found that it was a rounded oval leaf, not just one. They wound around the tree roots. Idoli looked up in confusion, and at that moment Jorgen heard hurried footsteps. He muttered under his breath, damn, because that sound did not belong to humans.

No sooner had he emitted a warning than Jorgen saw a raptor leap out of the dense forest, jump up two meters high and land, pouncing on Idoli and tearing a strip of flesh from the center of his throat. It threw back its head and swallowed the flesh, then tore off another strip, this time from the prey's chest. It did not immediately eat this large piece of bloody flesh, but tossed it forward to let the second raptor that leapt out bite it. Next came the third raptor. It bit off its favorite part, chewed, lifted its head, and the thick center of its neck bulged slightly as the food slid into its esophagus.

Before being seen, Jorgen hid as quietly as possible in the dense bushes nearby. The raptors did not come after him, which did not make him feel very lucky, because the target he was trying to catch alive had accidentally stumbled into a raptor nest and crushed newly hatched dragon eggs, provoking angry family revenge, and would soon be reduced to a pile of white bones.

He put the dagger back into its sheath, and water droplets seeped out from the mouth of the sheath. He knew he should not have chosen to track on such a thunderstorm night. In the past two years, nothing has bothered him more than a failed mission.