The noise that followed made Aldor feel like he was being stalked. Dale and the boar heard it too. The boar lifted its head with a piggish shriek and leapt into the brambles where Dale's arrow couldn't follow. Dale froze—except for his head, which he turned to gaze at Aldor, terror flitting into his vision. Dale lifted a finger to his mouth and closed his eyes, the gradual sounds of heavy paw steps crushing bracken splitting their mortified eardrums.
Aldor sucked in a deep breath, squeezing every muscle so as not to quiver. Dale tensed next to him, beads of sweat oozing down his cheeks like tears as the heat turned into an uproar. They stayed perfectly still, sensing the creature break through the weeds and right to where the boar had been standing previously. Whatever it was, Aldor hoped
