Chapter 3: It's now or never
The sun was setting when I stormed out of the house, an old tablecloth strapped over the wound I received earlier, a fresh cut on my lip, and my yew bow held tightly in my hand. Father was not happy when he found out what happened, the swelling on my lip was proof of that, but his words cut far deeper than Kat's claws ever could. I know he was just sad that Sherwin was gone, but he was right, "It's all my fault" I muttered as I made my way to the fields with no idea where I was going. I just needed to be alone.
Scanning my surroundings I searched for something, anything! I didn't care what I found, I just wanted to draw my bow and let my arrows fly, like a bird soaring high above the clouds, mountains and forests. I wanted to be free. In the distance I caught the faintest of movement just ahead of me. A rabbit, nibbling on one of the carrots we were growing in the fields. For some reason this pushed me to my tipping point, without thinking I pulled an arrow out of my quiver and positioned my bow. It wasn't that big, and I had to have been at least thirty metres away, I didn't care though, I was so angry I didn't even aim when I released the arrow as it flew out of my hand and straight towards my target "…..I hit it?" "Bloody hell!" I whispered as I ran to the unmoving heap of fur on the ground. It took me a moment to realize what I was looking at. The arrow had not only hit its mark, it had gone right through one eye and was now sticking out the other!
For a moment my anger was replaced with excitement and pride at my ridiculously lucky shot, and then something occurred to me, things could have been different. If I had my bow with me she wouldn't have stood a chance against me! Sherwin would still be here and I would have both my eyes intact! I felt my entire body boil over as thoughts of revenge and redemption began flooding my mind. I need to find my brother! Bring him back home! Kat was going to pay! not sure how, but she was going to pay! Running away from home seemed crazy but staying here and living with my mistakes seemed a whole lot worse!
I quietly made my way back towards the house and crept into the shed, emerging with my rain cloak, a knife, some dried beef and a quiver packed with a dozen of my best arrows, I sharpened my arrows every day and these were made just a few days ago. For the second time today (and my entire life) I was standing on the road, Trotters Path as I have already told you, It's actually called that because of the number of horsemen and Centaurs that travel through here every day as the road is quite smooth and safe to run on. But today was different however; it rained just this morning, leaving the ground soft and moist. A puddle of blood could still be seen mixed in with the mud as I inspected the crime scene, but what I had my attention on was the footprints Kat had kindly left behind. The fact that she didn't wear any shoes was good, her paw marks were quite easy to distinguish and it would be hard for me to lose them especially with Sherwin's added weight that seemed to deepen her prints slightly.
I made my way along the road at a fast, maintainable pace, the clouds had cleared by now and it was quite easy for me to see the path ahead of me. Unfortunately I was only about half a mile into my little adventure when a problem occurred, the tracks veered off the road to the right, taking me to the borders of Moanwood, a place I really didn't want to go to. I don't think I need to explain to you why it was given that name; it's basically alive with monster girls of all shapes and sizes, colours and desires! What bothered me most was the lack of moonlight that penetrated the trees as it made it basically impossible for me to see the paw prints in the grass. Moving a little further into the trees and away from the road I sat myself down against the comfiest looking tree I could find (still wasn't very comfortable) and waited. After a while the adrenaline had left my system and I was beginning to feel very cold, very scared and very stupid. "What am I doing here?" I asked myself after yet another howl (and the occasional moan) echoed through the trees all around me, it was like they were alive, watching me, and I didn't like it.
By the time the sun had risen I was struggling to keep my eyes (eye) open and another issue appeared, I didn't bring any water with me. I cant believe I didn't take some water from the well! I should be able to find some kind of river or lake in the forest as I'm tracking Kat down, but I would have to be careful not to lose her trail (or to get lost in general.) Food wasn't a problem at least, I still had some left over this morning and I shouldn't have any problem finding fruits and berries along the way, I just needed to make sure I ate the safe ones. After a few stretches and a pray to the chief god I began my long, exhausting trek through Moanwood.
With the forest now filled with the morning light I realized it wasn't actually as spooky as I first thought, there were oak and birch trees everywhere I looked and yet they didn't seem to be swelling with demonic energy as far as I could tell, the odd lizard and squirrel that scurried by didn't seem interested in violating me either (thank goodness for that!) and the birds happily sang to one another in the branches above. The only thing that made me nervous was the sound of laughing and singing in the distance, it didn't sound evil or corrupt, more like innocent children playing amongst the trees without a care in the world, but I had no doubt it was just some trick or spell conjured by a horny monster hoping to attract an unsuspecting male! It was about halfway into the day when I came to a sudden halt. "Where did the footprints go?" I asked myself, my voice rising in panic. I looked further ahead to see if there was any trace of her tracks... nope!
"Well shit!"