Chapter 6— Full moon

Months had passed since I followed the King, I kept urging my parents, but they wouldn't listen, they just thought I was being paranoid.

On another full moon, some hunters including my Father went into the forest to hunt, they heard the howling of the King beast but thought it was only a fox, they had to go closer for a better shot. Getting closer, to their surprise, it was a man! The King transforming from man to beast.

In fear, one of them slightly stepped back creating a crunching sound. Swiftly, the beast glanced in the direction of the damned noise. He moved closer cautiously and uncertainly. The men dared not move an inch, the scared hunter's mouth was covered shut by the palm of one of the others. They believed that if they moved, the beast would kill them in one swipe.

At once, the whole place was quiet, the hunters felt a sense of sudden peace and they exhaled with a thought of freedom; if only they were.

They got up still shaken from what seemed like a dream. Quickly they gathered themselves and began to walk away, just then the snarling, blood thirsty beast emerged-- sprinted out of nowhere. The poor hunters stood their ground with the remaining spot of boldness left in them, they had their guns pointed to the face of the demon, a creature that stood ten metres away from them. Both sides of the food chain studied each other's faces interrogatively. The hunters were ready to shoot at any advancement from the creature.

It began to walk towards them still snarling and gnashing its teeth at them. The night was lit up by the watchful moon. The moon did nothing but watch all that happened in the creepy night.

They all shot at the beast in fear, gulping down the courage in their throats. The beast roared at the hunters, howled at the moon, gave them a bitter look and ran away, lost in the night.

Not thinking too much, the hunters took off, with only a thought of going home to safety.

One of the bullets had injured the King beast. In pains, he sneaked into the palace naked.

It was another beautiful day in the small village of Arion. The hunters had all woken up early to hold a meeting about last night's encounter. Few moments later, word was sent to the hunters from the King.

'All hunters were to submit their wild catch at the palace, all those with nothing to offer should also be in the presence of the King immediately'.

Within few minutes, the courageous hunters were standing before the King, as soon as they arrived, the doors of the throne room were shut hard! The palace guards surrounded the poor men with swords.

"You think I would let you know my secret and yet let you live?" King Kufu taunted them with his burning words.

They began to cry out, "Please your majesty, please, we would never say a word to anyone, forgive us".

"Never! You cannot be trusted" He laughed. "Execute them all! Take off their heads!".

Before anyone could breath, innocent heads were on the floor, including my beloved Father. I felt something amiss.

"Well done, now clean up the mess", he ordered.

The Arions carried on with their lives, it was believed that the hunters went for a hunt and never returned, a search was carried out but nothing found. All we could do was weep and continue hoping. Everything in my Mother changed, she became weaker, she almost never smiled again, all she knew how to do was knit and sew while staring into an emptiness.

She never wanted to leave the village and I couldn't just leave her all by herself. Would I have just left behind the only world I have ever known, and walk into the wild?

"Dinner is ready! Let's eat, I'll continue the story after".

"Alright, Mother". The kids unwillingly chorused.