We ditched the pickup as the foliage grew denser. I placed the pickup on GPS so I'd be able to find it later, before I guided Rue.
As the darkness took over the sky, we increased the speed of our pace, with Rue trailing behind me as I took the lead. As we got closer and closer to our hunting grounds,
Once we crossed a certain point inwards, I knew we had arrived. I could tell that, just from looking at the trees.
I turned to Rue. We had to lay down some ground rules if we were to enjoy our little camping trip.
"So, when you are here, you gotta follow a few rules. Else you might as well just go back and wait at the car. "
Rue looked attentive, yet at the same time not, reminding me about the times I went camping with dad. I had the same expression back then.
She may believe that she could hide her thoughts from me, and I was in no hurry to correct her. Instead I continued.
"Rule 1, don't hang around me. Because, when I hunt, I really don't care about what happens to my surroundings.
Rule 2, don't go picking targets you cannot handle. This place has those. So don't expect me to come running when you are getting ripped into pieces.
Rule 3, no cellphones, no campfires and no laptops. This weekend, we are here to enjoy a nice couple of days in the great wilderness. Got it?" I sound so much like my dad right now.
"Got it" she mumbled through her gritted teeth, and dashed away. Must be cause she's getting some time away from her captor, because she sounded chipper. Or maybe it was just my imagination.
Whatever, I didn't care. I didn't want to waste my time on emotional support, cause I had bigger prey waiting.
I roamed around, looking for tracks of something that could catch my attention. Just rabbit tracks, maybe some other somewhat larger but comparatively small and common animals that didn't catch my attention.
I roamed around. Just browsing through my options, before I selected my menu for the night.
'I feel like eating something gamey, how about you?'
"How about some escargot?"
"Well, its not night time yet, so why don't we explore a little instead of going hunting. "
Yeah, I was not eating snails. Doesn't matter if they were magical or not. No offence to all who eat snails. But nope. Nien, Non, Nahi, Nada. I ignored Artalis's grumbling and walked even deeper into the woods.
I wasn't a seasoned hunter, but I knew my way around a forest. I knew how to follow tracks and guess what type of animal, or in my case what weight class the animal belonged . And for someone like me, that was enough.
"Hoof tracks," I murmered as I crouched closer to the ground examining the tracks on the moist black earth. "Weight should be around three to four hundred kilos judging from how deep the track marks are." I placed my fingers in the pit before rubbing some dirt between my fingers. It was moist loose enough, so by my estimation, it should be a herbivorous creature. Likely a deer.
'Congratulations '
"Why thank you Artalis"
'You have successfully wasted five seconds of your life posing around when I could've just tracked the target using a spell'
"Oh god damn it!" She ruined it. She completely ruined my fun playing hunter.
"Haaah" I sighed ignoring Artalis's smug feeling. "Just start the damn tracking spell"
I could hear her snickering in the background as she triggered the spell. Blood slowly pulled out of the pores in my body before dripping onto the tracks,
Pat pat.
Just two drops , but that was enough. The blood grew expanding from the ground up, weaving itself into the image of an animal that trotted along the tracks. As for me, I remained frozen on the spot, unable to find my voice.
"That ain't a deer" Artalis commented after about ten seconds, and I had to hold myself from saying 'you think?'.
That was no deer. Not unless the definition of what a deer has been changed drastically from the time i last checked. No deer's got scales through out their body or a long reptilian tail or a head that had absolutely no skin, just bones and tentacles that came out of its skull where eyes are supposed to be.
Also, did I mention the small hands that came from its chest and stomach?
"I thought you missed that."Artalis commented dryly. "If you ask me, that looks like a chimera more than anything."
"But isn't a chimera a man made creature using different alchemical methods?" I had a bad feeling. A really bad feeling in the bottom of my gut as Artalis affirmed my question positive.
"Yeah, " she replied. "Usually its done by either alchemists or magicians, though there are some creatures who can create chimeras as well."
I quickly ran, as fast as I could. Along the direction where the tracks led. Because from the same direction, I could sense my thrall.
"Artalis," I asked as I blitzed past trees at break neck speeds. "What are the chances for a chimera to remain active even after its maker's death?"
She answered fast." The life of a chimera's creator doesn't affect the chimera, only the materials used to create the chimera matters in that aspect. Realistically speaking, a chimera can live for hundreds of years even after their creator's death."
That was good news. But before I could even express my relief, Artalis continued . "However, chimera without the direction of their creator's usually devolve to their most basic commands. "
We both watched as the bloody image of the chimera quietly hide and watch something. I knew what it was, even without the blood recreating the moment where me and my thrall separated.
The chimera quietly watched the scene from afar, with an unnatural attention while it's malformed hands that protruded from it's body clenched with what looked to be excitement as it's head followed the movement of my thrall. Watching, and waiting with intelligence not belonging to a simple creature but someone who was driving the creature.