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I can hear them now, calling to one another as they close in on their quarry.
“Go wide, Eltana,” calls one with a laugh. “We don’t want her to escape.”
There is more taunting laughter from the others. They are playing games with their prey.
“I have lost sight of her,” calls another through the trees.
I don’t know who ‘she’ is, but the scent of her is driving me wild.
“Don’t worry. I know where she is,” a third calls. “You cannot escape us, sweet lady, we will find you, and you will please us well.”
No, she won’t, I think to myself. She is mine, and she will please me well.
The female is making a lot of noise as she runs. She has no thought as to where she is going, and she is sobbing quietly as she crashes through the trees. I can smell her fear. It makes me wild. How dare they cause her such terror. She is mine!
The first elf I come across I manage to take by surprise. He is using the branches of the ancient trees to stay off the forest floor, but I am waiting for him. There is a moment of realization when he notices that I'm not part of the tree he is circumnavigating.
But his hesitation comes too late. I swipe my claws across his throat. I know I need to make it swift. He cannot alert his friends of my presence. I catch him before he crashes through the branches below and leave him draped across a branch like a used rag.
The smell of his blood fills the air, but I can do nothing about that now. I hope the others are too distracted with their game to notice.
The hunt is on.
I swiftly chase another. Failure is not an option. The forest becomes a different place when I am hunting. My senses are always acute, but in this state, I feel like I become one with every living thing around me. Even the lowliest insect gives me feedback as to the direction I must go.
I locate my quarry, and I slip through the shadows to intercept it.
“Where are you, sweet woman?” taunts the dark elf in my path.
This one doesn’t even notice as I step up behind him. I casually rip his head from his shoulders and drop it on the ground next to his twitching corpse. The wondrous scent of his death envelops me, and I smile in satisfaction.
I must be careful now. There are only two left. It won’t take long before they realize their comrades have fallen.
“Alandra, she is heading your way,” I hear the one closest to me call in a sing-song voice.
There is no answer from Alandra, of course. I sense the tension in the air as he calls again. “Alandra.” This time he speaks sharply. “Are you th…” He never finishes his question.
Instead, he draws his wicked elven blade. At last, a worthy foe.
I face my enemy, smiling and ready for combat. He is fast, his blade flashing, trying to find my weakness. He looks shocked when I laugh.
“Pathetic elf, you could never defeat me,” I tell him.
He slashes again, and this time I let his sword connect. He stares in horror when he sees his blow does not penetrate my thick skin.
“You will need a better blade than that to kill me,” I tell him with a laugh, stepping forward and casually gripping his throat.
There is terror in his eyes as I squeeze.
“Shhh,” I tell him as the life fades from his eyes.
I sense a movement behind me. It is his friend. The last elf standing.
He takes in the situation in horror. He is young, and the fear that emanates from him is tangible.
“Run,” I tell him as his comrade goes limp in my grasp.
Without a backward glance, he is gone through the trees.
