Chapter 41: The Hunt
Derek walked towards Brom who was sitting on a tree stump, eating an apple. Since he now has a lead and he partially knows what he is up against, he could most likely fight against this Great Animal. And save Odette. Wherever she is.
A paper fell down in front of Brom who looked down. He raised an eyebrow, staring at it.
"It's a mouse?" he said, blankly while wondering why Derek had showed it to him.
"The Great Animal," Derek corrected him.
Brom chuckled. "A tad small, wouldn't you say?"
"Yeah? Until it changes into this," Derek responded as he put another piece of paper onto the first one where it shows a great big dragon. "An animal that can change its shape. A harmless creature approaches… Then suddenly, it's too late."
Brom widened his eyes, staring at Derek with a faltering look. "You mean… You mean it could be anything?"
A mischievous glint sparkled in Derek's eyes as he climbed onto a nearby horse. "Anything."
Brom gulped as he suddenly heard a buzzing sound. He noticed that it was a small fly that was flying around where it landed in front of his face. Startled, Brom yelped as he was trying to shoo away the fly. That new piece of information of what Derek just told him?
Wasn't really helpful.
Sora kicked a small rock from the ground as he was following around the bank of the lake while the others were riding on the lake. So much crazy has happened in just a few days where it was hard for Sora just to process everything that has happened. All he can grasp was that Odette can turn into a swan from a madman who casted a spell on her.
And he thought transforming into a bear was weird.
Every night with an every moon to go with.
"How about you, Jean-Bob? Jean-Bob? Highness? Sora?"
An awkward pause.
"SORA!"
Sora snapped himself out of his thoughts and back to reality as he realized that his name was being called out. He turned his head to the side where he saw Puffin who crossed his arms over his chest with an annoyed look.
"Um, yes?" Sora asked sheepishly.
"Are you ready for the assignments?" Puffin asked, annoyed.
"Oh…Oh! Oh yeah," Sora confirmed.
"Great. We will see you soon guys," Odette said.
Sora paused in thought before he spoke. "Um, shouldn't I come with you guys?"
The four stared at him as though he had grown another head.
"Um…well, I don't know how to say this but you can't fly," Jean-Bob pointed it out.
Sora chuckled nervously. He might as well tell them. Since they are flying towards Derek's castle then that probably means they might have to go through the forest. Of course, Sora doesn't know the forest at all but since he knows how to fight, it would be better for Sora to come with them so that he can protect the two.
"Actually…I can," Sora admitted which made their eyes go wide from shock but Jean-Bob was more cynical than amazed. The frog crossed his arms with a disbelieved look.
"Oh yeah? That will be the day when frogs can fly," he muttered.
Sora smirked. He knew there would be people who wouldn't believe him and in all honesty, he doesn't mind. It does seem just a bit far-fetched for a human to fly.
Sora took a step back and then pointed his Keyblade that appeared in his hands.
"Glide!" he shouted and then, the spell swirled around him and within a few seconds, he was up in the air which made Jean-Bob drop his mouth from shock.
Sora laughed as he flew around until he felt the limit going down and he eventually went back to the ground.
"Woah! That was amazing, Sora!" Odette cried out.
"A human that can fly. What next? A tree?" Jean-Bob muttered while he pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. "Nope! I'm not dreaming!"
Puffin closed his mouth, sputtering from astonishment while Speed looked at Sora with an impressed look.
"Why didn't you tell us that from before?" Puffin demanded.
Sora stuffed his hands in his pocket, giving out a small shrug. "Well, think about it. A human that can fly? Doesn't that seem far-fetched? And ridiculous? And you guys don't seem to have a ship, anyway."
"A ship? What's a ship?" Jean-Bob asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Never mind. However, the only problem with the Glide is that it has limitations. Sure, I can't fly for very long and the only direction I can go is straight but I can be of help with Puffin and Odette. I can fight. I know spells."
Jean-Bob gave him a skeptical look. "If you can go only straight, what kind of flight is that? It seems pretty useless to me…" he muttered.
"Honestly? It actually helped me out a lot," Sora said.
"I think we should let Sora go," Speed commented. "As he said, he has magic spells that could be proven useful for whatever reason and I don't want you to get hurt."
"Aww, I didn't know you cared about us," Puffin grinned.
Speed rolled his eyes. "I only care about Odette."
Puffin scowled.
Jean-Bob clasped webbed hands together, taking a breath before he spoke. "Alright. Fine. Fine! If Sora can be proven to be useful, then away he goes! But if something happens to Odette, I'll have you whipped, flogged, put on the rack and then have your back legs fried in butter!"
Sora rolled his eyes but Odette and Puffin had already taken off as Speed wished them a farewell.
"Good luck! Have a nice flight!" Speed exclaimed.
In the depths of the forest, Brom and Derek roamed around the woods as the two were being on guard even though Brom was more shaking in fear than Derek who was determined to find this beast and to stop him once and for all.
"He's in here, Brom. I can feel it," Derek proclaimed.
"How will you know the Great Animal when you see it?" Brom asked nervously as he feverishly looked around the forest, wildly. He did not like this one bit.
"I'll know. Better stay close," Derek warned.
Brom laughed nervously. "If you say so."
The two then started to roam around the forest with a bow and arrow in hands while also being on guard. For quite some time, everything was silent. Except for the small sounds that the forest would make from the birds.
However, Brom didn't paid attention to where Derek had went since he was gazing at a spot that had light shining on it. When he suddenly realized that he had gotten separated from Derek, he called out.
"Derek? Derek, where are you?"
"Shh, shh!" Derek hissed.
Any sound that was made, it would either scare the big animal or would give the spot of their locations. And, all Derek wanted was to have an element of surprise if he could give one.
"Oh, sorry," Brom said sheepishly.
The two continued their walk with them being on guards, weapons in hands and ready to fire the arrows if necessary. Halfway through the forest, Brom got slowed down since a fly got in his way and with shaking hands in fear, Brom got out his arrow but his aim wasn't true since he was shaking fearfully.
"Derek?" Brom whimpered as he frantically waved his hands around. "Derek!"
And then, he fired the arrow but it missed the insect and the arrow went flying through the sky.
Meanwhile, up above, Odette and Puffin were flying above the trees but Sora was in the middle of the forest since he couldn't really fly very high. Of course, sometimes he would use trees for high jumps but even that was exhausting. Occasionally, he would have to take small breaks but told the two to go up ahead and he will catch up to them.
As Sora continued to fly, he didn't realize that he was about to go and get a strike from an arrow. Luckily, he didn't and the arrow just flew inches away from him which made halt in his tracks.
"Woah!" Sora exclaimed, watching the arrow fly right by him. He widened his eyes and quickly called out, hoping to alert them on time. "You guys! Watch out for an arrow!"
Sora must've got them in time since he heard Puffin's scream and he assumed that the arrow had also nearly caught him.
"Ack! Where was that from?" Puffin shouted from above as he frantically searched down
"Derek! He's here!" Odette exclaimed.
Unknown to Sora, he almost lost his balance since he suddenly saw something white flying past by him in a blur.
"What the!" Sora exclaimed as he felt something sharp nearly cutting the bridge of his nose.
"Odette!" Puffin shouted after her, flying towards her. It took a few seconds for Sora to process until he saw that Odette got ahead of herself and he too went flying after Odette.
Sora was surprised to see how fast Odette can fly and he was barely trying to catch after her even with high jumps to cover long distances. But no matter how many times Puffin and Sora called out to her, Odette couldn't hear them. She was too far away from them and that made them worry.
What if Derek accidentally shot Odette?
From that worried thought, it pushed Sora to fly faster and he took a short cut, landing on the ground and decide that running through the forest would probably be a bit faster than gliding.
In the forest, to where Derek was, he was growing more anxious by the minute. Where was the Great Animal? Shouldn't he appear? Derek narrowed his eyes as he looked left and right, not wanting to miss anything. However, something bright blinded him and he squinted his eyes so that he could adjust his eyes to the light.
When his vision got cleared, he widened his eyes from realization as the shape came closer to him.
"A swan?" he muttered to himself, puzzled. "A swan…" he repeated until he connected the dots. "Of course! It's not what it seems!"
He then started to prepare his arrow, pulling the string back. "Come on. Just a little closer. Come on…come on. This one is for Odette!"
And then, Derek emerged from his hiding spot and fired the shot. Sora widened his eyes as Puffin exclaimed in fear.
"NO!" Sora shouted.
Luckily, Puffin got there in time and shoved Odette out of the way.
"Stop, Derek!" Sora yelled as he emerged into the view. "Stop! Don't shoot!"
"Get out of the way, Sora!" Derek snarled as he shoved the boy down to the ground, making him fall.
"That's not who you think it is," Sora said but it was too late.
Blinded, Derek continued his hunting, not even knowing why Sora was here. He had one goal and that was to kill the beast.
Author's Note: Aw, snap. Lucky for Puffin that he got there in time otherwise, it could've been bad for Odette! But Derek needs to snap out of his state and realize that isn't the Great Animal! And I'm assuming, the world for Odette isn't very ahead of technologies and machines and stuff so I'm assuming, they wouldn't have a ship at that time. Correct me if I'm wrong, though. What happens next? Find out! Toodles!
