in my spine. It was close.
I flew between the trees. Feet high to avoid the tangled ground.
Faster.
The beast's clawed feet ripped at the ground behind me. It was getting closer. I could smell it. An overpowering musk of raw animal, and something underneath, something sour that licked at the back of my brain. Decay.
There. An opening in the undergrowth. Not much. Just enough to squeeze through.
I felt the pounding rhythm behind me change pace and knew it was going to pounce.
At the last moment, I threw myself sideways and into the hollow. Branches scraped my arms and face as I wiggled through.
There was a crash and a resounding roar. The thicket shook. I yelped and covered my ears, wriggling deeper into the briar.
The creature roared and swiped at the brush with one huge claw. Debris rained down, getting in my eyes and mouth. I coughed, choking and kept going, pushing through until I was out the other side. I scrambled to my feet and ran for the cave.
I called it the cave, but it was more like a crack. Two huge pillars of stone from some ancient hall had crumbled against a short cliff face, leaving an enclosed hollow that was the closest thing to a home I knew. The entrance was hidden in a cascade of ivy, appearing more like a fissure in the rock than anything welcoming, but it opened into a mostly dry space with room for a fire and cracks for the smoke.
Home.
I took the squirrel and a knife from my belt and crouched beside the blackened circle of stones. My fingers touched the twigs left ready in the pit.
"Burn."
A large part of my lower back pulsed, and grew warm as the wood caught fire. Magic tracing the rune in my scarred skin. Sometimes I forgot where some of the scars were, but not this one. This one I hated more than any of the others. This one I would carve from my body if I could reach it. This one had kept me alive when I should have died.
And I had paid for it.
A small shoot pushed its way out of the soil beside my foot. A tiny vine with purple flowers. I smiled.
I fed more wood to the fire until it was blazing and sat back on my heels, letting the heat from the flames chase the ache from my muscles.
That had been close. The monster was getting faster.
A half-heard noise locked my body in place. The scuff of claws over stone. The hair on the back of my neck rose.
I turned.
The monster stood in the mouth of the cave. Grotesque patches of fur over its belly and chest caught the light of the small fire. It stood a full head taller than me, four powerful, overlong limbs pressing into the ground, each lined with six-inch-long claws. Its body tensed, muscles bunching over a prominent spine.
It watched me, shadows pooling in its eyes. Drool slid down one set of its enormous teeth as its lips peeled back for a growl.
I sighed. "You know the rules."
The growl escaped. Filling the cave and forcing its way into my chest, stealing my breath.
"Last one home has to share." I held out my hand.
The monster bared its teeth and snapped at me, fangs dangerously close to my fingers.
I regarded it.
The monster threw its head back and howled. Despair and heartbreak smothered the flames. The fire flickered, close to going out.
I waited.
The monster lowered its head. Its eyes flashed in the muted light, a hollow, dark red. It shifted and dragged its hind leg forward, a small hare caught in its claws.
I retrieved the food and placed it beside the squirrel on a flat rock at the back of the cave. It only took me a moment to strip the skin and prepare the meat. Bones went into a small pot for stew, but I was too hungry to wait for that now. I considered the skins. I needed new gloves. The winter was sharper this year, and I would probably regret not having wraps for my feet, but the rules of the cave were simple.
Share. Or die.
I threw the skins to the monster. He snapped them out of the air, swallowing without chewing. I didn't know if it was actually a "he", but at some point, I had just started thinking of him that way. He was still sulking, lurking in the corner by the entrance.
I skewered the meat on thin twigs and secured them over the flames, coaxing the fire back to a healthy burn.
I approached the monster.
He turned his head away from me, almost pressing his forehead into the wall.
I bit down on a laugh. "Don't sulk."
He ignored me.
I lifted my hand and reached up, carefully placed it on the back of his neck, away from the teeth. The monster leaned in, and I grinned.
The game was an old one. One I had played for years. Survive. The monster had lived in the forest before I did. Before I was even born. It should have eaten me. Those were the rules. The strong ate the weak. And when my mother died, it should have taken what nature demanded. But it didn't. Instead, we played the game.
I moved my hand through his fur. My palms still hurt from using the runes. It always hurt. Like I was carving them all over again.
The monster huffed and leaned into me. I scratched behind his ears. He had magic, too. Deep. Woven of ancient things. But not unnatural like Mother claimed. Just a balance. He was as necessary to life in the forest as the life-giving water running through the streams, soaking the earth, running up the roots, trunks, leaves, and out into the sky. His magic was old, darker. Of the soil and decomposing things, but still a part of it all. So, I accepted him without judgment, and he, me. There was still fear. I wasn't stupid. And fear had kept me alive more times than I cared to count. But there was also respect. Something reflected in the depths of our magic. Something shared that kept us both alive.
Two monsters in the forest.