A Cycle of Lies

Sam felt cold, wet and miserable. It felt like they had been watching the herd all his life, just waiting for something exciting to happen as the rainfall had steadily increased to a torrential downpour. Even though this was the first time he was seeing a full herd of Barasin Deer, complete with a huge buck adorned with a menacing set of antlers, Sam was struggling to muster any sense of enthusiasm.

After all, they had dealt with a variety of large and unusual animals ever since he had joined the family line of work. The sense of wonder is soon washed away when the majestic creatures you've heard stories about are trying to kill you. After a few broken bones and puckered scars all that remained was the thrill of the hunt, and the fear of death. Ever changing but always present. Although Sam still nursed a childish hope in his breast that one day he would get to see a Wyvern up close without becoming a light snack.

The thrill of catching a mysterious predator that had plagued the region was also being eroded by the constant downpour and the waning sun. His camouflaged lean-to, haphazardly put together once the herd stopped for the day, had begun to drip water on him hours ago. The once relaxed tempo had reached an almost fevered pitch over that time as the leaves above him were displaced by the heavy rain. He was starting to shiver as the water settled against his skin, each fresh droplet seeping straight through his sodden clothing.

He wished he could reach up and plug the holes in the roof. But he was acutely aware that anything more than a slight shift in body position to escape the downpour could make all their misery worth nothing. He just hoped he would be able to destroy the evidence before his brothers or father could guffaw at his blundered handiwork. Sam flicked his eyes to the horizon, It was hard to tell if the sun had gone down, or was just shrouded from view by the rain and clouds, regardless he saw all the deer had finished settling down for the night. They had formed a large circle with the young and old in the middle, and several thick haunched bucks around the perimeter, and the Alpha guarded his own side of the circle.

He was almost tempted to risk fixing his roof and changing his cloak as the deer went to sleep but he dare not risk it, several were still periodically checking the forest around them before going to sleep. Sam could picture his father now, warm and dry in his meticulously built hide. Trying to divide his attention between scowling, observing the herd and keeping an eye on his little brother Micah, the most devious member of their tightly knit family unit. Then there was his big brother Belen who no doubt was grinning from ear to ear. Probably shirtless as he sat as far into the open as he could while remaining concealed, or perhaps he had lathered himself in mud again. His brother seemed to derive joy from throwing himself into any extremes that the world had to offer, and was no doubt finding the cutting wind and torrential rain invigorating rather than sapping. Sam pulled his sodden cloak tighter around his body, tried to get comfortable without moving more than one muscle at a time and settled in for the rest of the night, his eyes constantly moving over the slumbering herd and surrounding underbrush with a hunter's gaze.

Sam thought it was fascinating how one of the larger Bucks on the outside was always awake and vigilant, the timing was so consistent he found himself so mesmerized by their movements he nearly fell asleep. One would raise its head and peer through the downpour into the dark shadows between the scarred and knotted trees, and as he tucked his head back into his forelegs another head popped up on the other side to begin sniffing at the air and looking for any sign of movement in the bushes and ferns that were amongst the boughs. They were still unaware that Sam and his family were also keeping watch over the sleeping Barasin. Neither group had yet caught sight of the mysterious predator that had been terrorising the area.

Just as the grey light of morning began to overcome the black of night Sam heard a twig snap somewhere behind him to the right. He turned round slowly to see his father's scowl deepen disapprovingly in Micah’s direction who was sheepishly lifting his foot from the offending broken stick, Micah had ruined their father's favourite habit of appearing silently out of the trees. Then he heard Belen’s deep rumbling chuckle from his other side who had just spotted the pitiful excuse for a hide Sam was huddling in.

“Looks like you got to enjoy the rain nearly as much as I did Sam! It was magnificent, was it not?” Belen spoke with a deep muted rumble that was as quiet as he could speak without using hand signals. Sam spotted some clotted mud with grass sticking out of it in his brothers hair.

“I honestly think something in your head is broken beyond repair, brother.” Belen laughed softly and promptly blew a small pebble out of his nostril. Sam suppressed a chortle and Micah had to bite his hand to stop from laughing. Sam took the arrow he had knocked to his bow string all night and slid it awkwardly back into his quiver with shivering hands. He couldn’t help but wince as he stood and blood suddenly flowed to his stiff and cramped muscles once more. He started to grumble something about no one appreciating the things they had to put up with to keep them safe in these mountains when he heard a loud cry of alarm come from the Barasin. As he turned around the rest of the herd joined in the call before what could only have been the massive Bull let out a furious bellow, drowning out all the rest. The herd started a panicked stampede.

He watched them rushing out of the valley below, churning the shallow fjord in the river into a brown foam. Sam turned back to his family, Belen was still ruffling Micah’s hair, but their dad was peering after the herd, trying to see what had startled them. Then the bushes next to him exploded with a streak of black fur, white teeth and a blood curdling snarl that answered their questions.

Their father reacted quickly, stepping in a neat pirouette and slashing the mass of black fur and muscle clean across the throat as it soared through the empty space Kovarus had just occupied. Before he could say anything another two monsters erupted from the darkness with blood curdling howls. Sam shot one behind the shoulder and it dropped instantly, the arrowhead passing clean through its heart. But the other smashed into his father's back like a rock slide.

Kovarus managed to turn as he fell, twisting his upper body and raising a forearm to its gnashing Jaws as the weight of the massive beast crushed him into the earth like a piece of iron between hammer and anvil, pinning him in place. Before he had the wind driven out of him their father managed to yell, “run! It's a bloody Wulfr pack!”

Belen scooped up Micah but Sam already knew he had no intention of running either. He nocked another arrow as another wulfr tried to slink into his father's blind spot, Kovarus stabbed it through the roof of its mouth as it eagerly rushed forward. Belen lifted their little brother into the lower branches of a nearby tree that was barely thicker than his big brothers arm. Sam took aim at the mass of quivering muscle still trying to snap and claw at his father's face and belly. He'd managed to keep his forearm wedged deep into the beasts mouth and he was punching his long knife into its flank over and over, but the beast kept shaking his head and trying to eviscerate Kovarus’ belly with his hind legs.

Sam took a deep breath, drawing his bow to its maximum length and prepared to let fly at the monster. But just as he was letting his fingers slip off the string another Wulfr burst out of the undergrowth, leaping straight for his throat with ravenous jaws. The arrow whistled uselessly over the Wulfr's head as Sam dropped his bow without thinking and pulled another from his quiver. He sidestepped the flying mass of teeth, claws and muscle, grabbing it by the scruff off the neck and ramming the arrow deep into the side of its throat. He threw the squealing, spluttering creature back into the ferns and frantically looked around the undergrowth for his bow.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Belen wrestling with a Wulfr almost as big as the one trying to maul their father. Somehow he had managed to stay on his feet after the creature drove him into the tree from behind, but Sam could hear the trunk beginning to crack and splinter as Belen grabbed the monster clinging to his back. Micah tried to jump to another as the trunk creaked its final protest but the branch he grabbed tore off in his hands.

The whole world seemed to stand still as he hit the ground. The trunk crashed down on Micah's legs, trapping him. His screams of pain reached a fevered pitch as two glowing yellow eyes began trotting out of the bushes towards him.

"There is another one Belen!" Sam yelled as his search for the bow became a panicked scramble in the underbrush. Belen crushed the wulfr's ribs in his huge arms, its snarling attack turning to a desperate whining attempt to escape as the blood bubbled into its punctured lungs. He tossed it's broken body aside and rushed towards Micah, trying to put himself between their brother and the glowing yellow eyes. But it was already too late. Micahs scream reached a terrifying crescendo as the final wulfr landed lightly on the trunk pinning him, lowering its slobbering jaws to sniff and lick at the blood on Micah's face, Belen's roar nearly drowned out the screams as the beast lowered his head towards their little brother's throat.

Sam couldn't hear anything after that except the ringing in his ears and the pounding in his chest. Belen kicked the wulfr off of the tree before grabbing each half of its jaw and wrenching them apart with a savagery Sam had thought his big brother did not possess.

His hand finally brushed against the smooth wood of his bow as the tears started to mix with the rain on his face. Before another droplet of water could fall from his chin he had another arrow knocked to the string and the bow at full draw once more.

Somehow their father was still fighting off the Wulfr that had taken him by surprise as Sam focused his aim on its neck. Suddenly he heard a sickening crunch as the creature gave a savage twist of its head and the massive jaws tore through their father's vembrace and eagerly rip through the bone and thick muscle beneath. Kovarus' scream turned from one of agony to one of shock and horror as the blood fountained from the stump of his forearm and the monster howled triumphantly letting the brutally severed hand flop onto Kovarus' face as the blood poured down with the rain.

Sam tried to slow his racing heart and steady the roaring tide of emotion in his chest, but the arrowhead continued to sway in front of him. Kovarus was still trying to defend himself by jamming the stump in the wulfr's mouth, but he couldn't hold out for long, Sam shut his eyes, and let all his pain and frustration flow out of him. He let his fingers slip off the bow string, sending the cruelly barbed arrow head on its path.

The Wulfr's triumphant howl became a Yelp of pain and surprise, Sam opened his eyes and saw the shaft of the arrow buried deep behind the massive wulfr's shoulder as it staggered away from his father. But the arrow clearly hadn't pierced its heart as the monster still stood, panting and glaring at him with baleful eyes. Sam had just knocked another arrow when the beast turned tail and dashed into the bushes, disappearing from sight. He sent the arrow after it for good measure before dropping his bow once more and rushing over to his father, who was spluttering in panic on the floor, circled by three dead wulfr, one with Kovarus' long knife still buried in its eye. "Its okay dad, it's me, lay still let me bind your hand". His father spat a lump of clotted blood to the side and managed to open one of his deep blue eyes.

"I.. I thought I told you boys to run. Is Micah safe?" Belen had carried Micah over to them while he was binding the stump and checking his father's other wounds. He turned away from his father's claw raked face to look at his brothers. Belen shook his head with tears falling from his eyes. Sam followed them down as they landed on Micah's crumpled bloody body. Sam was devastated, but he had no tears in his eyes, he knew what he had to do. "Micah is fine dad, but we didn't want him to see you like this, and we couldn't leave you to fight them alone."

Their father grumbled, coughing and spitting more blood onto the dirt. "Well at least you boys are alright, and I'm proud of you for staying to fight, even if i told you to run." He coughed some more, opening the eye he could and looking at Sam. "Come on then, how bad is it, and please tell me I at least took a couple of the bastards down".

Sam couldn't help but laugh even in the tragic circumstances, he also heard Belen's familiar chuckle to his right. He sighed in relief and exasperation. "You killed three of the biggest wulfr I've ever seen, two while that monster was chewing on your arm. But it's really bad dad, your stomach and chest are shredded to ribbons, your face and legs are torn up. I'm pretty sure you have a few broken a few ribs, maybe punctured a lung if all that blood you are spitting out is anything to go by…" by the time he tailed off the bandage on his father's stump had turned completely red, despite the tourniquet.

"And then there's my hand, or rather there's my hand". Gesturing his stump towards the curling fingers next to his ear. his father chuckled darkly to himself before coughing up some more blood. "Ahhh that's my good hand as well, bugger it. I can't hold my sword in the left one, it just never felt the same." They weren't laughing now, despite their father's jovial attitude. They all knew what was happening.

"It's okay boys.." Kovarus coughed some more, his face was a sheen of blood, mud and sweat. "so long as you three are alive and strong. ..You brothers have a duty you know.. a purpose. I know.. I know you will do great.. But I.."

Kovarus stopped wheezing, and his eye looked up to the stars. Belen lay Micah down in their father's arms and turned to Sam. But he was already running, his father's long knife in hand. There was no time to grieve now, he ran through the trees with a fire burning within him as he followed the trail of blood left by the injured monster. Sam was breathing hard, his chest felt heavy with loss and rage as he darted between dense trunks. He only had one purpose in this moment, and that was to hunt this monster down.

Sam stopped running, he could no longer see the blood glinting on the leaves in the moonlight, he looked around for paw prints and other signs of passage. He knew the injured animal couldn't get far, but he was already tired when all this started. Off to the side he found some disturbed ground covered in blood, there were tracks leading away from it, but he could hardly see any blood. Sam started jogging more slowly, keeping an eye out for tracks. He had to appreciate the beasts intelligence, it had dug up the earth and rolled in the dirt, matting its wounds with fur and caked mud.

Suddenly he heard a surprised yelp of shock and pain in the distance. Then he heard a piercing squeal agony and terror. Sam rushed towards the sound through the spiky bushes and dense trunks that surrounded him, now he could hear the wulfr whimpering softly, and muffled squeals came from further ahead. He made his way forward more cautiously, gently brushing the undergrowth aside until he saw the white feathers of his arrow, waving from side to side with the Wulfr’s laboured breathing.

Sam furrowed his brow in perplexion, the arrow had been ripped out of the massive shoulder muscle and was buried in the animal’s spine. The white feather fletching swaying with its laboured breathing. The Wulfr was trying to crawl towards something, dragging its rear legs through the dirt. Sam blanched, realising what had happened, but not understanding how. He made his way up to the head of the whimpering paralyzed animal, placing a hand on its head as he looked into its frantic tear-filled eyes, feeling all the rage fade away. He quickly cut its throat with his father’s long knife, and went where it led, his apprehension building with every step.

The mouth of a cave loomed in front of him out of the hills and trees, from the smell it was clearly a den. There were large mounds of bloodied fur scattered around the entrance, Sam felt his stomach continue to turn as another small mass of fur flopped lifelessly onto the mound from inside the cave. A deep, menacing chuckle began reverberating from the cave as Sam wretched and spat on the floor.

“They really do have delicious little hearts these things, i’ve always preferred hunters as my prey, there’s something about the thrill and strong primal instinct that lurks within. But of course you know all about that, don’t you Sam?”

He recoiled at the sound of his name being spoken by something which sounded inherently evil, feeling the dread rising in him as a shadowy figure flowed out of the cave after the cruel scathing voice. Its form appeared hazy, like it was constantly shifting and trying to redefine itself. But he knew it as intimately as he knew his own face. This Thing had tormented him for as long as he could remember, always lurking at the edges of his subconscious, waiting for any opportunity to break through.

When it looked at him all Sam could focus on was its burning white eyes, they pierced right through him, the light blotting out any other features the monster may have had. Even though he had seen this creature many times before, now he finally spoke to it. “Why did you do this? Why slaughter them all, even the pups!?”

"Do you really need to ask?" The malignant figure chuckled as it popped a bloodied piece of meat into its face, the sound was grating and hard.

"They killed your father, they killed your pathetic excuse of a brother, the pups would become killers in time, if they could even have survived without the hunting pack that your family so callously slaughtered." The last sentence was dripping with sarcasm. "Honestly, I think I did them a kindness by ending their suffering."

The monster's voice sounded much like his own, but far more ancient than his fifteen summers. It was a voice full of malevolence and vindictiveness, overflowing with derision and impetuity. A voice that had suffered for centuries, and caused suffering for many more.

"But they are justifications, not reasons. You already know the reason I did it, because it is why you were going to do it. For the sweet sanguine pleasure of it, for the euphoria that comes from bathing in the blood of your enemies and absorbing their power. Admittedly the pups were a wasted potential, but there is something about them, such a delicate morsel, truly an exhilarating rush of concentrated life. I did it simply because it is what I wanted to do, and because I knew you could not."

Sam was aghast at the callous nonchalance with which the creature described its brutal eradication of the entire pack. Whenever they had found the young of an animal they were contracted to hunt they would raise them on their land and release them in the wilderness at the foot of the mountains, some were even domesticated to a degree. But they had never slaughtered them like this.

The worst part about the Thing's words was their accuracy. They cut straight to his very core, he had always had a greater capacity for violence and savagery than his brothers. He loved to fight, to hunt, to live in the moment and test his skills against any opponent. He had wanted to kill the massive Wulfr that took his father, he had wanted to take everything from it as well. But he knew that this level of butchery was something he could never stomach.

"I will never be anything like you, you are a monster, a perversion of the natural world, you are evil."

The Thing moved towards him, its eyes growing brighter and brighter as it flowed over the ground. It laughed contemptuously.

"What is so monstrous about exacting revenge and taking down a killer? Is it evil to to hunt a hunter? Think of all the other animals and people that I saved this night by butchering these wulfr and their pups. Sometimes the only way to stop monsters is to embrace monstrosity".

The Thing continued to move towards him as it spoke, its voice getting quieter yet more menacing with its approach. "You still don't know who i am or what my purpose is, so how can you presume to know these things about me? A monster? Evil? A perversion of the natural world, was it? Rest assured Sam, I am as natural as you are, as natural as life and death themselves".

It was almost face to face with him now, he felt cold even as the white light of the Things eyes became so blinding he had to squint and peer through his hands. It stopped right in front him, its eyes boring straight through his, burning through his very soul. It whispered "I hope soon you will understand".

Suddenly the Thing closed its eyes and the entire world went pitch black, the moon and stars disappeared. Sam groped blindly in front of him for the Thing as an intense freezing cold rushed through him, but his hands found nothing but air in the darkness, the Thing was gone once more.

All Sam could feel now was the cold. It surrounded him, seeping into every inch of skin and piercing right through to his heart. It permeated his very bones, he was completely alone, sobbing in the inky darkness, being swallowed by it.

Out of the darkness he felt the warmth of a large friendly hand gripping him firmly by the shoulder and shaking him. A voice he vaguely recognized was full of concern and calling his name. He cracked open his eyes and the brilliant light of fire danced all around him. He winced as he focused on the torch and the source of light overwhelmed his senses. He blinked, rubbing the moisture and grit out of his eyes before opening them once more.

Now he could clearly see his father looking down at him, face full of concern. "Are you okay son?" Sam nodded his confirmation as he extricated himself from the soiled sheets. "Good!" Kovarus boomed, smiling wide and folding both arms across his chest. His father's expression turned serious once more "because we've got a bear to hunt."