Chapter 146: Distraction (Ch.146)
narx had not gone so far when he arrived at a groove where a tree grew ripe berries.
For the ti it took him to walk down to this point, his mind had been churning with guilt all the while.
narx could not believe he had completely forgotten that Neveah had not eaten, he had been so focused on getting her out of the precarious situation, he had actually forgotten a basic need.
Even if everyone else did, narx felt he should have been the one person who knew Neveah’s needs better, otherwise, how was he any different to her than his brothers?
What narx wanted, he also was not completely clear on it. But there had never been anyone he wanted approval from as much as Neveah,
For whatever reason, he did not just want to be different from his brothers to her, he wanted to be seen as... special.
"How silly." narx reprimanded himself for his own thoughts as he focused his attention on the situation at hand.
The berries were large and juicy red and a small smile settled on his lips as he picked a few of them.
narx tasted one just to be sure, he knew so of these berries could have a very sour and unpleasant taste, only a certain specie was actually as sweet as it looked.
narx nodded his approval at the taste, storing the berries away in a small satchel strapped to his waist,
He intended to go further and fetch a few other fruits just in case Neveah was unaccustod to the kind of berries he picked, but it was at this point a sense of danger settled over him.
All of narx’s life, with centuries worth of experience, there was nothing that narx trusted more than his own instincts,
At this very mont, out of the blue, narx’s instincts tugged sharply at him, and narx knew without a doubt that sothing was off.
"Veah." narx murmured to himself as he turned and dashed back in the direction he had left Neveah.
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Thud...Thud... Thud...
The sound of the footsteps beca audible to Neveah’s hearing, Neveah was quick to slide behind a tree, hiding herself.
Neveah also sucked in a deep breath and masked her scent, it was an act Neveah was already accustod to, having to hide her true form for so long, she was excellent at concealing her scent.
The tree Neveah chose to hide behind stood at a good enough distance from where the horses were left and where she was previously seated.
It was wide enough to fully conceal her form and so one could never tell there was soone hidden behind it.
Neveah waited in absolute silence, with each passing second, the footsteps grew more audible and it began to sound more and more strange to Neveah’s ears.
Like the sound of thumping hooves, rather than steps and Neveah’s brow furrowed slightly.
The stench grew stronger and soon Neveah picked up the sound of a low growl.
Neveah let herself peek around the tree for a mont, just when whatever had been coming erged from the line of trees and Neveah instantly regretted it.
’What in the world...’ Neveah thought, her eyes going wide as she took in the monstrous creature that was unlike anything she had ever had the displeasure of seeing before.
With a tall and gigantic build, standing up to at least 9ft, the creature truly had hooves in place of feet, it’s body was covered in a rusty brown shade of hairs,
From it’s hooves all the way to it’s upper body. But what struck Neveah most was the horrifying face,
Neveah could not even tell just what kind of beast this was, with two sharp horns extended from the sides of it’s lips and large beady red eyes that shifted this way and that.
It looked like a cross between a bill and a horse and Neveah could only stare in horror, blinking repeatedly to make certain she truly was seeing right.
"Dark sorcery... I sense it. It must be a conjured beast!" Neveah’s wolf thought to her.
’There is such a horrifying kind of dark sorcery?!’ Neveah thought back as she watched the eyes of the beast settle on the horses.
The beast sniffed frantically, searching all around as it thumped about, it was clear it was in search of sothing...or more accurately trailing sothing.
And Neveah had a bad feeling she and narx were that ’sothing’, the beast was in search of.
All the sounds made by the beast were grunts and growls as it stalked towards the horses till it was in close proximity.
Neveah watched with horror as the beast leaped at a horse, tearing through it’s flesh in the blink of an eye, blood spraying everywhere.
The beast did not stop at just killing the horse, it ripped it to complete shreds and Neveah’s heart ran cold.
In that mont the beast had made it’s leap, Neveah could see just how savage and bloodthirsty.
This beast was not just here to let Neveah have a look at a horrifying existence...it was here with a kill order and clearly executed it on whatever was in sight.
"Can we take it?" Neveah thought to her wolf,
"I cannot predict it’s strength, but we have never battled a creature of dark sorcery before..." Neveah’s wolf thought back to her.
"We could escape it...it is distracted in it’s feeding." Neveah’s wolf thought to her,
Neveah was about to consent but then suddenly recalled she was not here alone.
"narx will be back here, we can’t just leave. If it ca for us both, it would find us one way or the other." Neveah thought again.
narx would have no idea what he was walking into and Neveah could not imagine what would be the fate of anyone caught off guard by such a brutal creature.
"Soone must truly want the Lady Kaliana dead, who exactly have the dragons angered?" Neveah wondered as her hands clenched into fists.
’If you will not leave, then let’s have a go at it...’ Neveah’s wolf thought back to her in a fierce and domineering tone.
"Damn this..." Neveah grumbled beneath her breath,
Before Neveah could think of moving, a hand rested on her shoulder and restrained her while another covered her lips to prevent her from screaming.
"Veah... it’s ." narx whispered to Neveah as his hand fell away from her lips.
Neveah’s shoulders slumped with relief as she turned to narx who had showed up out of nowhere.
narx lifted a hand to his lips, indicating for Neveah to keep it quiet as he glanced over at the beast who was still engrossed in it’s feeding.
"I should not have left you by yourself..." narx murmured in a guilty tone.
"How are you here already?" Neveah whispered.
"I do not know, the presence of dark sorcery must have triggered my instincts... I knew sothing was off and you were out here alone." narx replied in an apologetic tone.
"We should leave, we can get far enough and out of here before it notices." Neveah whispered to narx.
"Why did you not leave? You had the chance to...do you not know danger when you see it?" narx reprimanded, his gaze still watching the beast.
"But you asked
to wait here." Neveah countered with a frown.
narx glanced over at Neveah, a look of surprise in his eyes before it changed to sothing Neveah could not quite decipher.
"A kobold is summoned with a scent trail, I believe it has mine... I cannot escape it, but you can." narx replied with a shake of his head.
"You are asking
to leave you here? With that...thing?!" Neveah hissed lowly, frowning when narx’s lips twitched in amusent.
"Why? Are you worried about ?" narx asked with a raised brow.
"Is that even the point right now?!" Neveah demanded crossly and narx’s lips stretched into a small smile.
"I am Lord narx of ruby scales...it would take a lot more than a kobold to take
down. But if you are here, I will be distracted." narx said in a serious tone.
Neveah’s brows furrowed slightly at narx’s words.
"Why am I a distraction?" Neveah huffed out in annoyance.
narx did not respond imdiately, though the answer was clear to him, it took him a mont to form the words.
"When you are in my care Veah, I will not see even a scratch dealt to you... I would not forgive myself if you are hard. Leave this to
and go fetch the Ubrith flower." narx convinced.
Neveah passed a glance to the beast before she glanced back to narx and heaved a sigh.
"I will get it and return soon... just, don’t do anything stupid..." Neveah warned.
"Stupid like...?" narx asked with an amused smile.
"Like dying..." Neveah murmured in response, fixing narx with a warning glare for a mont before she stealthily made her way away from the scene.
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