The forest began to grow more irregular. The terrain rose and fell between rocks and thick roots. My heart was beating so hard that I could barely hear anything else.
Until Rowan shouted again, "This way!"
He turned to the right between two large rocks. We followed him without hesitation. The space between the stones formed a narrow passage where we could barely fit one at a time.
Daren went through first, then Claire. I slipped in behind them, and Rowan was the last.
When we crossed to the other side, Rowan stopped for a second, breathing heavily while looking toward the passage we had come through.
The first grimrats were already arriving.
But the space between the rocks was too narrow for many of them to pass at the same time.
I looked to the sides. "Damn, there's no way out."
Rowan followed my gaze to realize the same thing. Even though there was a way out, we would have to climb, which would take us a long time, something we didn't have at this moment. "Take your spears and strike at the gap where they're coming from!" he ordered.
We positioned ourselves in a semicircle in front of the space between the rocks and aimed forward.
A first grimrat managed to pass through the gap. As soon as it was within reach, the four of us struck toward it. It was pierced in several places, losing its life instantly.
The body of the grimrat fell between the rocks, its weight blocking the gap for a moment. For an instant there was silence.
Then the next one tried to force its way through. Its snout pushed the corpse while its claws scraped against the stone trying to squeeze through. Daren didn't wait.
His spear shot forward and sank into its neck.
The creature shrieked and jerked backward, pulling the weapon slightly before falling half on top of the first one.
"Hold them there!" Rowan shouted.
Another grimrat poked its head between the bodies, snapping its teeth furiously. I pushed a minimal amount of pulsar into my arms and lunged, piercing through its eye and skull. The creature twitched violently and went still.
For a few seconds we managed to hold them.
Every time one managed to pass through the gap, one of us pierced it. The narrow passage worked in our favor. They could only come in one at a time, sometimes two if they managed to climb over the bodies.
But they kept coming.
I began to grow desperate. My body slowly started to freeze up, that feeling I had felt back then on the expedition slowly returning, that absolute fear I wanted to escape from, but didn't know how.
Rowan noticed my nervousness. "Calm down Luke, we need you here."
I glanced at him quickly from the corner of my eye. "I can't—"
Kreeee
A very sharp shriek, but not unpleasant like the grimrats', sounded in the distance behind us.
We all quickly turned around in a defensive position, but there was nothing nearby, only rocks and more rocks.
"What the hell was that," Daren said.
"I don't know," Rowan seemed to realize something, "Watch out for the fro—!"
We all looked back toward the gap where the beasts had been coming through, but not only was none trying to enter anymore, we also heard how the stampede turned around and ran away in panic.
I dropped my spear and fell to my knees on the ground. I was exhausted. I slowly began to look around me in search of what had happened. When I was about to give up, I saw something in the top of a nearby tree.
It was a bird, a hawk to be more precise. It was considerably large. It had black plumage with several red feathers. It was staring directly at us.
"There," I pointed from the ground.
Everyone looked toward the tree.
"A bird?" said Daren.
I stayed watching it for a few seconds. "Do you remember I wanted to tell you something during the expedition, when we all gathered? I think it was that. I had seen a bird… beautiful."
Rowan looked at me fixedly.
"Now you're talking nonsense Luke, you better rest a bit," Claire said while throwing herself onto the ground.
A moment later the bird flapped its wings and left.
"More than an hour has already passed and they haven't come back, we should leave," Rowan said firmly as he stood up.
"I agree, whatever scared them away I don't want to run into it," Daren said while sighing.
"Let's go straight back to the village, I'm very tired. I think that's enough hunting for now."
I was still sitting on the ground, leaning my back against a rock while catching my breath. The trembling in my arms had diminished, but the exhaustion still clung to my body as if I had stones tied to me.
Daren was the first to move. He approached the gap between the rocks and carefully looked to the other side, holding his spear ready just in case.
Nothing. No shrieks, no movement. Just the forest.
"Looks like they really left," he murmured.
Claire stood up with some difficulty and stretched her arms to loosen her muscles. "I'm not staying here to find out."
Rowan walked toward me and extended a hand. "Come on, Luke."
I took it and he helped me up. My legs protested a bit at first, but they managed to hold me.
I picked up my spear from the ground and observed it for a moment. The tip was covered in dark blood and mud. I wiped it against the dirty snow that remained between the rocks.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Rowan asked quietly.
I nodded. "Yeah… it was just the moment."
He didn't seem completely convinced, but he didn't insist either. "Then let's move."
We crossed the narrow passage between the rocks again, this time much more carefully. The corpses of several grimrats were still trapped in the gap. The metallic smell of blood filled the air.
Daren pushed them aside with his foot to pass. When we came out on the other side, the forest seemed different. Quieter.
The grimrats' tracks marked the mud and snow in every direction, but many of them clearly moved away from the nest.
"Whatever made that noise… really scared them," Claire said.
Daren looked around with a frown. "I don't like it."
"That's why we're leaving," Rowan replied.
We began walking back, this time without trying to follow any tracks. We just wanted to get away from that area as quickly as possible.
The terrain began to rise again between trees and roots. The morning mist had almost completely disappeared, letting the cold daylight pass through the branches.
After several minutes of walking, the sound of the forest slowly began to return.
The wind moving the leaves.
A bird somewhere in the distance.
My shoulders finally relaxed a little.
Daren walked ahead, using his spear to push aside some low branches. Claire walked beside him, quieter than usual.
Rowan stayed behind with me. "That hawk…" he said suddenly.
I looked at him. "What about it?"
Rowan took a moment before answering.
"I don't know," he finally admitted, "but I've never seen one like that."
Neither had I. I relaxed and put on a sarcastic expression. "It's not like we've seen many, it's not like we remember much beyond the last year."
He laughed a little and shook his head.
We kept walking between the trees for quite a while longer.
But as we moved forward, I couldn't shake a strange feeling.
As if, somewhere among the branches of the forest…
something was still watching us.