Close Call

Emyri lept from tree to tree, keeping her claws embedded firmly to avoid a slip and fall. One incident was enough for her to know better. Leaves continued to float gently down with each sudden movement she would make, her ears twitching when she detected noise coming through.

Horse hooves and crunching ice.

In a moment, a horse zoomed past the woods panting frantically with the hunter atop looking out. Huh, I thought he would be harder to fool. A minute passed by before she granted herself the relief of a fresh breath of air. A slight gush of wind was enough to bring her back, shivering as the cold covering her chest, arms and thighs. Would be better to transform back to my cat state, but I can't move as fast in the ice. Moreso, she worried that althought being little makes it easier for her to hide, it made her fall under prey to bigger animals looming around.

"Never steer away at daylight." She muttered to herself, catching view of her breath. Cats have keen sight in the dark and find the shadows more comforting for their presence. Now it was several minutes after sunrise where she was met with a foreign view of the woods. Well, he left that way so better to go the other way. But, which way takes me home? Climbing up to catch a view over the trees only gave her the sight of more trees, so that did little of help. There is smoke over there but... no, that's going to be where more people are.

"That can't be home. Darn, which way?"

She jumped down, shyly hugging herself as she chose a direction to move forward. Minutes became hours and soon her worried thoughts became louder in her head. "I can't be too far, I should be catching their scent soon. Maybe a mark or a sign, something. Maybe... Maybe I'm not looking hard enough. Yea, that should be it, I'm just being a silly Sally."

Her ears perked up at the sound of men shouting. Quickly she climbed up the nearest tree and several minutes later a carriage drove by with its man on board shouting "Yah! Yah!"

She deciding to stay above, climbing from one branch to another when something caught her eye. Peeking around, she stayed dangerously quiet when she heard something crack. Something whispered to her, when suddenly the branch she held onto snapped and she collapsed underneath. The snow cooled off the soreness she felt on her butt which took the impact, with her grunting and rubbing her tender skin. When she opened her eyes, she saw a baby pup with snow white ashy fur squealing three feet in front of her, retreating in terror. Suddenly a low growl emerged from behind her and she squealed, crawling and panicking behind her as the mother wolf snapped its jaws toward her. Several more wolves began approaching her, each one dripping saliva in anticipation and hunger. She backed away as far as she could until she pressed against a tree, keeping her trapped in place.

"S-Stay back!" She squealed, slashing at them until her claws slapped the mother away with a whine. Another wolf dove in as she took the opportunity to climb the tree, this one trapping her ankle in its teeth and tugging her down. She cried in pain, feeling her strength replaced by fear as she turned around and covered her face.

"Don't!"

Something whooshed through when she heard the cry of a wolf throwing its head in pain. More projectiles flew by, when she opened her eyes she saw the hilt of an arrow stuck to a tree. The wolves whined and ran away, screeching in terror leaving her alone. Well, almost alone.

Panting and struggling to calm herself, she hissed when the pain in her ankle throbbed and twitched. Looking down she saw she was bleeding, the teeth must have sunk in deep. Still whining, she heard someone rush up to her and looked to that direction. The hunter placed his bow aside and extended some wraps, carefully lifting her leg onto his knee.

"No!"

"Shhh! Try not to move." He kept his eyes down, focusing as he cautiously dipped a brown bottle upside down onto a small wrap before pressing it to her leg.

"Aa-aaAAAH!" It hurt, like a sudden fire igniting on her wound.

"It stings, I know. Keep your voice down." The hunter said sternly, wrapping the white cloth around her ankle. "Teeth are perfect for causing infection, you need to be more careful. How the heck did you survive on your own?"

"I wasn't! I was-I was perfectly fine until you showed up! Ow ow ow, let go!"

"Hey, hey! Look at me, look into my eyes. Breath, breath okay? Breath with me." He breathed in slowly, letting it out through his nose as she stared. Soon she began to imitate his actions, breathing calmly with him. It helped put her heart to ease, the pain was still there but somehow she wasn't as scared anymore.

He let go of her leg, easing it gently on the snow. "You were close to coming into shock. The pain will stay for a while, I don't think you'll manage to walk for some time."

She turned her head away, scrunching her face in pain. Her ears dropped and suddenly she felt the emotions begin to spike up. "Is this the part where you kill me?"

He stared at her after she spoke those words. "The contract says I was to settle a situation of thieving cats taking their food."

"We were hungry!"

"As were the people you stole from. Look we can talk about this somewhere else, right now I need to take you anywhere but here. That blood will attract something else, and I can't just leave you like this." He gripped his cloak and removed it swiftly, tossing it over her. She looked puzzled. "Wear it, it'll help keep you warm and also... yea."

She looked down and hugged the fine silk against her skin, watching as he knelt down and scooped her up. He's pretty strong for a guy his size, but where is he taking me? If he takes me back there, I'll be done for!

He flinched as he whistled and waited for his black horse to walk by, settling her on top. She was pretty light for a girl her size, he did his best to avert her gaze when she looked at him. Her eyes had something mesmerizing about them, maybe it's just her nudity and the tent in his pants talking. I'm a hunter, a monster hunter at that. This is not at all what training prepared me for. She gasped behind him, making him look back when something pounced onto him, hard. He heard something scrambling away from his body, his face feeling cold pressed into the snow. Why was he feeling light headed?

The last thing he heard was another female voice talking above him as numerous paws moved around, talking to Emyri when his sight began to fade.