Chapter Fourteen

A young boy came running around the corner jumping into Jupiter's arms, causing him to fall to his knees. He dropped his sword and squeezed his arms around the boy. I stepped around the two and walked around the corner. Looking over at the ground where the smell was coming from. My eyes were drawn to a large smug of dried blood on the ground leading to the body of a grown man. A large puddle of blood pooled underneath him.

"Sir! We got a problem over here," I said, running up to the man.

Jupiter came around the corner with little Keven by his side. I was struggling not to vomit from the smell as I turned away and walked as far away as I could. Jupiter quickly picked up Keven and walked him around the corner.

"He is dead," He said, holding his nose.

I'm not sure Keven is old enough to understand that his father was dead. Jupiter held little Keven as he walked closer to the exit, I couldn't stand to be in the same room as Keven's father. A large gap was torn from his shirt along with a good portion of his abdomen. His lower leg had a gash in it, and it wasn't a cut from a blade or scratch from an animal attack, something took a large bite out of him. I've seen injuries like this before, back at the Kingdom. There was nothing but fear in my soul as I jogged over to Jupiter and Keven by the exit. Jupiter came around the corner, and over to me. Trying to put some distance between us and Keven, while still keeping him in sight.

"He won't talk, just cries when I ask," He said.

"Do you blame him? I think I know what happened, I've seen the injuries on his father before," I said.

"What? Where?" He said.

"Back at the kingdom, the king sent a group of six scouts into the forest, they missed their check-in that night and were missing for three days... only three of them came back, two of them were carrying the third... their friend... the third had injuries just like those. He lost his leg, his arm and the doctors were unable to do anything to save his life despite their effects," I said.

"Who could have done Something like that? Take out a team of three men and send the others running with such ease?" He asked.

"Not a who; what. The two that survived called it a monster created by the devil himself, they describe it as a large animal, a hybrid of animals almost with incredible speed, strength, and stealth, they said they were only able to see it for a few seconds before their team was massacred, I was in the room when someone took their statements, I saw the fear in their eyes," I said.

"We have to get out of here," He said, rushing over to Keven.

"Sir," I said.

"What! We have to get Keven out of here," He said.

"We won't make it back if we leave now," I said.

"What are you talking about? this is that thing home," He said.

"Those men I just told you about, they said it only hunted them at night... It hunts at night; we leave now and we will be dead within hours then again if we stay, we'll be dead within minutes," I said.

"We can't stay here, but we stand a chance out there, we will have the advantage," He said.

"We will need to move fast and find a place to hold out for the night," I said.

He picked up Keven, holding him tightly in his arms, I grabbed his sword before we jogged out the exit. Keven had a tight grip on Jupiter's shoulders. I moved in front of the two, scanning the surroundings on the ground and the top of the trees. After thoroughly examining everything I waved over to Jupiter that it was clear. We started to run back to the clearing, I was staying in front and leading the way. We went over the creak and straight back following the water. The heavy underbrush and bushes on this side of the creek would create some good cover if we are spotted or tracked. We ran until we found a good spot to hide out through the night.

"Hey, let's stop here," He said while trying to catch his breath.

"Here? we will be sitting ducks here," I said.

"The bushes can give us the cover we need if we stay close to the ground," He said.

I shook my head, but even I was too tired to keep running, Jupiter slowly knelt and tried to get Keven to release his grip. Keven wouldn't release, but his grip loosened enough when his feet touched the ground that Jupiter could pull his hands away. He sat little Keven up against a tree trunk before, sitting beside him. I fell to the ground, pressed my back up against a tree with my eyes pointed at the sky. Hours had passed, and I had nearly drifted off. I had snapped out of it when someone gently shook my shoulder.

"Hey, wake up," Jupiter whispered.

"Sir? What's happening?" I whispered.

He sat beside me, keeping his eyes on little Keven, who was sleeping not too far away. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the little dagger and traced his finger over the letters carved into the bottom of the hilt.

"Why do you call me sir?" He whispered.

"You told me not to call you by your name," I whispered.

"You can call me Jupiter from now on," He whispered.

"Do you know what that says? I tried to read it before, but I had no clue," I whispered while pointing at the letters.

"It says, little Keven... I made this for him when he turned five. His father hated that I gave the boy a hand-crafted blade for his birthday, but it was a tradition with our bloodline," He whispered.

In an instant, one of the loudest roars this world had ever heard shook the leaves off the trees. We could feel the anger of the creature shake the ground beneath us, like an earthquake. Without hesitation, we got up and ran over Keven. I tossed Jupiter's sword over to him and pulled out my second blade. Little Keven was, so frightened he couldn't move or speak, we created a two-person kill circle around little Keven. Covering him from all directions, it was so dark not even the moonlight could create a shadow even the stars weren't visible where we were. We were in a panic trying to find out where the sound came from, but it echoed through the trees. Jupiter had closed his eyes and knelt, placing his hand on the ground.

"What are you doing?" I whispered.

"We are flying blind use your ears, not your eyes," He whispered back.

Following his advice, I closed my eyes, slowed my breathing, kneeling close to the ground, and placing my hand in the dirt. Suddenly the sound of huffing and growling jumped out at me, the beast found us, and it was waiting in the thick brush, watching. Jupiter heard the same and moved around Keven to stand beside me. Standing up, I gripped my blades as tight as I could as Jupiter knelt down and so that Keven could climb onto his back. The growling grew louder as Jupiter stood up.