Beyond The Bounds of Zupolis

Chapter 2

As soon as we shot it, it collapsed onto the ground groaning. We had just hurt it, with no intention to kill. We still had our bows ready in our hands. We couldn’t move as we just continued staring at it and at each other back and forth. It had fallen face first onto the ground, trying support itself up with its uninjured arm but kept falling down at each attempt. Its grunts and groans kept getting louder as it turned its face into the night sky and hissed in pain. The clouds cleared, thus giving way to illuminate the land with the bright moonlight. And that was when we saw it, completely. At the sight of it, my sister yelped, having to cover her mouth to not startle it. I stared at it intently, trying to remember why its features look so familiar to my memory. I took a step forward to get a clear view of it as my sister stopped me. I shook her off and carefully moved forward.

    “Don’t. Please, come back” she demanded sternly.

     I ignored her. I bent lower and crept closer towards it. It let out a sudden grunt and turned to my direction. The suddenness of it made me take a step back but I didn’t move completely. Its upper torso was turned in our direction and it kept staring at me, breathing heavily. Our eyes locked and its mouth parted a little, exposing a sharp set of fangs on its lower jaw. We stayed like that for a while and I felt its eyes soften for just a second until it let out a low snarl at me and lifted its head towards the moon and holding its bruised arm in pain. I let out a stiff breath and stood up as I pulled at my bow and point the arrow at it.

      “Who are you?” I asked it in a stern voice.

      “What the hell are you doing?” my sister freaked with her hands on top of her head.

        I ignored her again. The creature slowly turned towards me, still holding its wound and looked at me unfazed and let out a painful sigh.

         “I am not shitting you. I swear I did it once I will not hesitate to do it again.” My voice was now stern and filled with warning. It still didn’t respond and just continued lying there looking into the sky and muttering something under its breath through its teeth. As I got closer I could see it more clearly. At first I couldn’t comprehend what I saw but as I kept looking harder, I was taken aback. Its torso was that of a human, fit and healthy with an arrow popping out from the left side of its waist. Apart from that, there were angry gash marks across its pale body that was oozing blood, covering most of its skin. Around its neck was something that looked like a necklace, a thin roped necklace with a pendant of something that I couldn’t really make out. Its elbows were thick with fur and so was a line going through the center of its back, down the lining of its spine. Down until a few inches below its navel was a body of that of a human. From below that its body was that of something else. It was fully covered with fur and its body resembled that of something else, some animal; a goat thickly coated with white fur. It had a medium length curvy tail that curled towards the end which lay lifelessly beside its body. Its face was hairy too, with a pointy beard extending to below its chin and curving in the end like that of a goat. It had long and silky hair that was the length of its chest and it had a pair of thick curved horns on either side of its head, exactly like that of a ram’s and pointy ears next to it. It had a thin cloth wrapped around its waist that was now stained with blood too. This cannot be what I think it is. It cannot be.

     “WHO ARE YOU?” I yelled getting closer to it, now angry and frightened.

     “Stop it please!” my sister yelled, sobbing.

      “JUST LET ME HANDLE THIS” I yelled back.

        I crept closer to it and was now inches away from it as I knelt now and pointed the arrow at its heart.

       “Say what you are right now or you’re dead” I snarled and I could hear my sister sob.

       “You already know that, don’t you? I could see it in your eyes as you studied me. That look of realisation was not hard to miss” it said in a low deep voice that sounded strained.

         I was breathing heavily now, letting out hot strained breaths.

       “How did you get here?”

         “It would’ve been easier for me to talk if you hadn’t just shot me and drained me off my blood” it said grunting.

         “You were hurt already” I said pointing towards the scratch marks. “You would’ve died anyways” I added.

       “You help me and I will give you the answers you need.”

       “And why would I do that?” I snapped back.

       “You know you cannot rest otherwise” it smirked at me.

 I exhaled noisily and got up.

      “What was that supposed to mean?” I asked angrily.

       “Everyone here knows about you. You need to look for answers, you need to know things. If you save my life, I will give you the answers you need and maybe much more than just about myself” he smirked.

       “And if I say no?” I asked, my confidence now wavering. But I can’t let him know that.

        “You have blood on your hands. Even though I was already hurt, it was your arrow that killed me. My death will be on your hands.” he let out a low laugh, knowing well that he had won this argument.

      I paused for a while, contemplating this. Anger from within me was rising with each passing second.

      “Don’t even think about it, if Mama and Papa get to know about this, we’re both dead. Our whole clan will murder us. We cannot associate with unknown species and you know it” she warned me.

      I considered what she told. She was right, maybe for the first time, but she was. I cannot be found helping someone else, something else.

      “Fine, I will help you. But no one can know about this, ever. Because if you do tell anybody, I will kill you and for real this time.” I snarled at it. However, it remained unfazed by this threat of mine. According to it, this was a victory.

        Amara pulled me aside by grabbing me by my arm taking me behind the bushes, particularly the poisonous one. Usually, we know something is poisonous by the colour of the leaves. This had green leaves and bore red cherries. It was nature’s way of warning us from danger. As soon as we were away from a hearing distance from it, I yanked my hand off of her grip.

     “What the hell do you think you’re doing? She snarled at me.

     “I cannot have blood on my hands, Amara. “ I snapped back at her.

      “I KILLED IT TOO” she yelled.

      “NO, YOU DIDN’T. YOU MISSED. I WAS THE ONE WHO SHOT IT, TWICE.” I growled.

       Her expression changed, her face drained off colour. She didn’t say anything for a while.

      “What is it that we shot?” she asked, now terrified.