Chapter One - Page Three.
314 Words
Taking a deep breath, Taka jumped up and down, waving his arms and yelling, "Over here! Over here!"
It worked - in a way. The auroch gave a furious bellow and charged at Taka - and the axe hit the mud where she'd stood a heartbeat before. As she splashed towards Taka, he threw himself behind an oak tree.
No time to climb it - she was almost upon him. He heard her grunt as she heaved herself up the bank - he felt her heat on the other side of the tree-trunk...
At the last moment, she swerved, flicking up her tail and blundering off into the forest, her calf galloping after her.
The silence when she'd gone was deafening.
Sweat poured down Taka's face as he leaned against the oak tree.
The hunter stood with his head down, rocking from side to side.
"What the hell were you doing?!" Panted Taka. "We could've been f*****g killed!"
The hunter didn't reply. Lurching across the stream, he retrieved his axes and stuck them in his belt, then shambled back again. Taka still couldn't see his face, but he took in the hunter's muscled limbs and jagged slate knife. If it came to a fight, Taka'd lose. He was just a boy after all, not even fourteen summers old.
Suddenly, the hunter stumbled against a beech tree and began to retch.
Taka forgot his alarm and ran to help him.
The hunter was on hands and knees, spewing up yellow slime. His back arched - he gave a convulsive heave - and spat out something slippery and dark, the size of a child's fist. It looked - it looked like hair.
A gust of wind stirred the branches, and in a shaft of sunlight, Taka saw him clearly for the first time.
Finished on — A Saturday. 1/02/2025, at 1:32 AM.
Words included — 314.
- Writer
