The forest was quick to swallow them. The trees were tall and tightly packed, with branches that blocked much of the light and roots that jutted out of the ground at unannounced angles. The mud from the previous night was still damp under their boots. Kael walked a few steps behind three recruits who had entered together and who, as far as he could tell, had no plan other than to keep moving forward and wait for something to happen.
He had followed them from the edge of the field.
Not because he knew them. Only because they moved with more conviction than the others, and that, at the moment, was enough.
One of them turned his head and looked at the bow.
"Are you sure you know how to use that?"
Kael looked at the bow.
"Yes."
'I just haven't done it yet.'
The three looked at him for a second. They kept walking. No one told him to leave, which was the closest thing to a welcome he was going to receive.
The forest rustled to their left. The four slowed their pace without agreeing. They waited. It was just a branch.
"So what's the plan?" the red-haired one asked after a while.
"Not getting killed," the thinnest one said.
"How helpful."
"Hey, you don't have anything either."
"Shut up, both of you." The big one didn't slow his pace. "We need to lure it to a point. Something that will stop it while we attack."
He looked at Kael.
The red-haired one also. The thinnest one also. Kael understood before they said anything. It was simple math: three bigger guys, one smaller one. The answer was there without anyone having to formulate it.
Kael stepped forward.
"I'll be the bait."
"You?" the red-haired one said.
"I'm the smallest. The animal will come for me. You attack while it's focused."
The big one crossed his arms.
"Fine. Don't worry. We'll attack before it reaches you."
"Yeah, don't be afraid," the thinnest one said.
"I'm not afraid." Kael looked at the three of them. "Look, I haven't shown it yet."
His energy shifted. It wasn't exactly something visible, it was more a presence that wasn't there before, dense and still, the Aether igniting around the big one with that calm held by things that have been waiting a long time.
"You bastard." The red-haired one pointed at him. "Why were you holding out? When I was dying on the circuit, you could have helped me."
The big one opened his mouth.
The punch landed first. Straight to the stomach, not too hard but not soft either, and the red-haired one doubled over with a sound between surprise and pain, his hands searching for his abdomen, his lungs deciding whether to cooperate or not.
"Shut up. You're here alive."
The red-haired one stayed bent over, rubbing himself, his teeth clenched and saying nothing because he couldn't at the moment.
Kael approached the red-haired one.
"I need your weapon. I won't be able to defend myself with the bow if the animal reaches me. With the sword, I can try to land a blow if it gets too close."
He held the bow out to him.
The red-haired one looked at him. Still with his hand on his stomach, still trying to regain his breathing rhythm.
"You'll give me the bow for my sword?"
"Yes."
"Fine." He extended the sword.
Kael extended the bow.
The moment the two objects changed hands, when the red-haired one's fingers hadn't quite closed around the bow and Kael's hadn't quite closed around the sword, Kael lowered his gaze to the boy's leg.
And he plunged the sword in.
Not deep. Not to the bone. But enough for the blood to start immediately, for the leg to give way, and for the scream to come out before the red-haired one could process it. He fell to the ground, his hand reaching for the wound, his eyes still not fully comprehending what had just happened.
The big one turned abruptly.
"What are you doing!?"
"You bastard!" the red-haired one yelled from the ground, his hand on his leg and dark, fast blood flowing around the blade. "Grab him!"
"Look at what's happening." Kael's voice came out without rising. "The blood and noise will attract the Pumareth. We already have the bait. We need to hide, it's the only chance."
"He's crazy!" The big one took a step toward Kael. "Help him! He can't take it out!"
"Help me!" The red-haired one writhed on the ground, trying to reach the hilt with his fingers. "It hurts! I can't take it out! Ahhh!"
"Listen!" Kael said.
No one listened.
"Kill him first!" the red-haired one shouted, pointing at Kael. "Kill him!"
"Listen!" Kael repeated.
"What?" The big one stopped.
"It's coming."
The two stood still.
A sound came from somewhere between the trees. It wasn't the rustle of a branch or the movement of a bird. It was something heavier, more deliberate, with the rhythm of something moving because it had already found what it was looking for.
The big one and the thinnest one exchanged a look.
Kael moved a few steps away and raised the bow.
"Get to the corners. Once it attacks, we destroy it. It's the only way out."
"What are you doing?" The red-haired one followed them with his eyes, one hand on the wound and the other trying to reach them. "I told you, what are you doing! Don't leave me!"
The thinnest one hesitated. Kael saw him hesitate and waited. The sound between the trees grew closer. The thinnest one moved toward the trees on the left. The big one followed without saying anything.
Kael moved away toward the right flank, the bow in his hands, and found a position between two wide trunks with a line of sight to the clearing where the red-haired one was still on the ground.
"What are you doing?" His voice cracked. "Help me! You can't leave me here!" He dragged himself toward them with his arms, the blood trail widening on the dark earth. "Don't leave me! Don't leave me alone!"
The forest did not reply.
"Please!" He kept dragging himself, his arms trembling from the effort, his face almost touching the ground. "It hurts like hell! Help me take it out! Ahh!" He tried to wrap his fingers around the hilt, but the pressure was unbearable. "Wait! Wait, please!"
The forest rustled again.
Closer.
"No." The red-haired one stopped dragging himself. He looked between the trees, his eyes wide. "No. Don't come. Please." His voice had dropped to almost nothing. "It hurts. It hurts too much."
The shadow arrived before the animal, long and silent, cast upon the ground from behind the red-haired one. He saw it extend next to him and turned his head very slowly.
The Pumareth emerged from the trees without warning, and its claws tore his head apart. The body fell, and the animal rose over it, its fur stained red, its eyes slowly scanning the clearing.
"Now!" Kael shouted.
The big one and the thinnest one emerged from the trees at the same time. The Pumareth saw them and went on guard, its body turning with the calm of animals who know no haste. The thinnest one attacked from the left with the sword. The animal dodged him effortlessly, and its claws knocked him to the ground with a swipe, the sword landing out of his reach.
The big one came out from the right corner with the hammer, the Aether igniting around him, and struck the Pumareth in the flank. It was a light blow. The animal absorbed it with its side and turned toward him with a speed that did not match the size of its body.
The big one stepped back.
The Pumareth advanced.
Kael aimed.
He didn't aim at the animal.
He aimed at the thinnest one, who was trying to get up off the ground, and shot him in the leg.
The boy screamed and bent his knees, and the Pumareth instinctively turned its head toward the sound, and in that instant, the big one brought the hammer down on the animal's ribs with all the Aether he had.
The Pumareth staggered.
"Go! Keep going! Don't stop!"
The big one struck again. The ribs. The back. The animal tried to turn its head.
"Keep going! Keep going! Don't stop!"
Another blow. Another. The hammer rose and fell non-stop, and the Pumareth retreated without being able to find its balance, its legs giving way under the accumulated weight of each impact, its head lowering.
"Keep going! Keep going! Keep going!"
The Pumareth fell after several hammer blows.
It did not move again.
The big one let out a shout. Short, wordless, the kind that comes out when the body suddenly releases everything it had accumulated. He was exhausted, the Aether consumed, his arms trembling, but the animal was on the ground and wasn't moving.
He had done it.
It took him a moment to turn around.
The thinnest one was on the ground with his leg open, not moving.
And Kael was ten steps away, the bow raised.
Apuntando directo a él.
The big one looked at him.
He said nothing.
Kael didn't either.