BEAST

Falla held her hands up to her ears, her ears were a bit long but fairly close to a nymphs, small and rounded with a slight tapered tip. She clutched hard and after a few seconds the pain left as uncomfortably as it had come. When that pain hit her it was like daylight cresting the horizon, sudden and searing against her mind. Yet when it left the only thing she could compare it to was pulling her hand from a seething mass of ants, all of them skittering and falling off of her even as touches of their feet and jaws remained to sting. Her eyes were still wet with tears and she blinked several times to make them focus. The first thing she heard wasn't Ros asking if she was okay or one of the humans shouting.

It was a cough, the kind Old gran used when she wanted the kids to pay attention during lessons. Falla looked up confused at where the sound had come from.

Her eyes fell on the goat... monster... man? Thing. The Goat thing. In a deep voice that made her insides shrivel he asked what was happening. His voice was unpleasant, as was the rest of him, and was only a few octaves away from just being the deep bass croak of a toad in her opinion. Falla didn't want to answer that voice, she didn't want it in her ears or directed at her at all. Then one of the humans shouted. Falla looked and saw the man raise up a sword and rally his fellow hunters, calling the monster just another goat. They couldn't really think that thing was one of them could they? It was twisted and all its proportions just seemed wrong. It was too tall and its back bent like it was old, its arms seemed to stretch past what was reasonable, and those horns... they looked the worst. As if someone had broken them time and again yet they remained attached. Big horns for satyrs was something of a symbol of... pride. At least for the males. However when she saw that thing's grotesque and violent looking antlers it just made her freeze.

That goat creature stepped forward and then a human rushed at it. The human had an axe and raised it up to swing down on the beast. Yet in a motion that more practiced and controlled than she expected, the creature whipped out its staff at the man's legs and then wrapped its too long fingers around the handle of the axe to pull it aside. It was the kind of motion she had seen from hunters and warriors of the tribe, the kind that took skill and confidence to do right. She had more expected some kind of savage rush from the beast. The black creature tilted its head back slightly then smashed its forehead into the human's face. There was a loud sound like a melon breaking against the ground before the human crumbled. It seemed as if a string that had been pulling ever tighter finally snapped as the rest of the humans started moving as well.

It was a battle.

Another man, this time with a sword, ran forward and swung his weapon. The creature blocked that swing with its staff but a second came fast behind it. The creature stepped to the side but it was somewhat awkward and its horn, already long and twisted, was still in the way. When the blade hit the horn the goatman lost its balance and had its head twisted to an odd angle. Another human was running for the creature and Falla wasn't sure what to do but felt someone grab her hand. She looked at saw Ros, his eyes wide and staring into her own.

"We need to go." he said firmly.

Falla nodded and started to get up but her leg shook at the strain and her face tightened into a grimace. Ros realized right away that Falla wouldn't be able to run and a look of determination started to set into his face. Falla could see it, the idiot was going to stay and fight to protect her. Her heart seemed to pound in her chest as she tried to think of the words to tell him to leave, words he would listen to, but before she said anything a scream filled the air. She turned and saw a man slam into a nearby tree, the bark splintering under the man's weight. Her head whipped back over to the creature, who held that black staff as a mass of writhing snakes sunk back into the wood. She heard Ros cruse next to her. "Bludmoon, what is that thing." He said. Falla winced as he invoked the red moon of the fall. Most the satyrs took such things a simple markers of the seasons but Falla had heard plenty about how dangerous the changing of the moon's color could be.

"I don't know but, I think its helping us." Falla said quietly.

"Or it just hasn't gotten to us yet." Ros replied.

Falla wanted to rebuke Ros but before she could one of the human hunters shot an arrow into the creature. The goat thing dropped its head and then raised it as a low cry of anguish turned into a sharp bleat of pain. A bleat Falla had heard before, as had Ros, near any satyr who lived in a clan knew it. The sound of real pain. Mothers dreaded that noise and warrior's worked to push it away in combat. From a child with a broken arm to a dying soldier the sound of a satyr bleating in pain was near universal. Falla looked at the creature again, with its wrong proportions and its twisted antlers, it could be a satyr if she squinted hard enough. It could be a satyr.

The goatman was pulled back and was being dragged by a rope tied to the arrow. Every pull tugged at the sharp metal in the meat of the satyr's shoulder. It was scrambling back in panic when another arrow caught its arm and started pulling with another rope a different direction. This was what humans did to satyrs. They captured them, tied them down, hurt them, and cut off their horns before killing them. Falla turned and clutched Ros' arm so hard her fingers were turning white. "We need to help him!" She said near to panic herself. Ros was looking at the black satyr and just nodded once. He looked pale but resolved himself.

Ros stood up and started moving, after a few steps Ros seemed to finally settle and picked up a fallen sword as he moved. He was quick and quiet, springing up with grace and agility toward one of the humans holding the rope. The attack was sudden and the hunter wasn't paying attention when the blade ran him through. The rope was released and the black satyr was already righting himself as he grabbed the other rope and began to fight back. Falla held her breath as she watched the fight continue, now with Rosadis in the middle of it.

The fight wasn't divided fairly, as the black creature took on two humans and Ros only faced off against one. Honestly that put Falla at ease as her eyes naturally focused on Ros' fight. The young satyr held the sword like he did wood sticks when playing with the other boys. How many times did they play warriors as they ran around the village? How long had it been since the boys played like that? Was Ros out of practice? Did it even count as practice? Right away the difference in skill seemed obvious. The human kept his balance and held the weapon with the intent to kill while Ros held it much like he would a club. Something about the way the satyr held himself spoke of inexperience. When the first clang of metal against metal rang out Falla was thrilled to see the human pushed back.

Ros grinned as well, that charming grin, as he swung the sword again and again. Each clash was loud and the force seemed to keep the human on the defensive. Falla glanced at the black satyr and saw he was dealing with his own humans well. Glancing back at her friend she watched him swinging faster and faster at the human and the hunter certainly looked worried... but it wasn't right. Falla looked closely and saw that even though the human was being pushed back he was moving slowly with careful steps, each block was in place before Ros' sword came down with near time to spare. On the other hand Ros seemed to make every move just as he thought it and was starting to breath heavily. How could Ros not notice, he was being worn down! Falla's chest tightened as she saw it.

The human was better than Ros when it came to fighting. He was baiting Ros and soon he would strike back. Falla started to look around for anything that she could use to help, a rock or maybe a- Her eyes touched on the smooth brown handle of an axe. At some point it had been knocked near her... but still out of reach. Falla lurched forward, quickly feeling that her leg wouldn't support her weight. She instead half-dragged herself across the ground and half walked on her hands and good leg to get over to the axe. She could feel warm blood matting down the fur on her leg but she pushed through to grab the wooden handle. Looking up she could already see Ros slowing down as he tired, the expression on the human no longer faked panic and looked almost bored. Falla felt her blood rise as she grew angry.

She wanted to dash over and use the axe on the hunter's head but her leg would never support her. Instead she took a deep breath and held the ax in two hands behind her head. She tensed up with all her strength and then threw the weapon over her head. It instantly began to tumble over itself in the air. Falla wished that it was a beautiful and masterful arc that would land in the hunter's head, but she wasn't that good. The ax made it to the hunter but far from the man's head. In fact it landed on his foot. The butt of the ax struck hard into the man's left foot and then smacked with the blade into his leg, but at an odd angle that stopped it from doing any damage. Apart from maybe a bruised foot the man would be fine. Falla felt crestfallen for a second, afraid she would see Ros die.

Yet her efforts weren't in vain. The ax had surprised the hunter and thrown off his rhythm. Ros' next attack was fast and with his legs tangled up the human wasn't ready. The blow caught the human in the neck and the blade stuck half way through. Ros seemed as surprised as the human but acted faster, pressing his hoof against the man's chest and pushing back to free his bloodied sword. The human fell back grasping at his neck. The spray from the wound was impressive and for a second she felt several drops hit her, even as far away as she was. Maybe they had been on Ros' sword and flew because of how he swung it, she couldn't know for sure. But Ros was alive.

When Falla looked back over at the black satyr, he was standing close to the last living human. The black creature moved forward slowly and then leaned in to whisper to the man. A second later... the human started to pant as if in a panic. Then he screamed and ran off into the woods. Falla watched as the human mindlessly ran off, like a beast fleeing a terrifying predator.