Soul of a Dragon

2

Slowly, and silently, Taehyung moved around the fire to where Yoongi slept. The eyes were visibly gone, but he could still feel them watching him from all around. It was all together unnerving; he didn't know how many of them there were, whatever they were.

Kneeling beside Yoongi, he whispered the sleeping warrior's name, just loud enough to bring him from that sleep.

He could feel Yoongi tense under the restraining hand he'd laid on his shoulder as his eyes snapped open, but didn't protest as the look they exchanged explained all it needed to. Getting to his knees, Yoongi slipped his twin blades soundlessly from their sheaths as Taehyung moved to wake Jimin.

Unsure as to how the mage would react to being woken so abruptly, Taehyung placed a hand over his mouth as he shook him awake, immediately forcing Jimin's eyes to meet his, and realize it was him, so he wouldn't struggle. Removing the hand, Taehyung then lifted it to his lips, signaling silence. Jimin nodded, laying a hand on the smooth, six foot long birch bark staff he kept always on his person, and which had been resting beside him as he slept. The top was fitted with a fist sized clear crystal with a jet of deep purple running through its center, though at the moment he kept it down as Taehyung hurriedly explained what was happening in as short a way as possible. The blonde nodded his understanding, and prepared himself for rapid-fire spell usage should it come to that.

Taehyung could still feel the eyes on him while they did this, and it caused the hairs on the back of his neck to prickle uncontrollably. He vaguely wondered what would be so foolish as to stay while they prepared to defend themselves. Even though they moved with unmatched stealth, they had already been spotted. It was a mystery he hoped to soon solve.

Then, as if the thing watching had suddenly vanished, the feeling disappeared. Taehyung blinked, eyes once again piercing the darkness for any sign of the thing, or things.

Nothing.

The three of them spread around their camp site, careful to keep within both sight and hearing distance. Each one of them came back empty handed. There were no tracks, no traces of anything there, but even Yoongi trusted Taehyung's sharp instincts, and knew the rest of the night would pass sleepless.

Now wide awake, the three of them settled next to the fire again, adding more wood to keep it bright and cheery despite the coldly quiet night around them.

"What was it?" Jimin asked quietly, first to break the unnatural hush that had gathered over them and the area.

"Not sure..." Taehyung replied, eyes still scanning the darkness.

"Something that suddenly became afraid of us in the end..." Yoongi said, eyes switching between the outer forest and the two others.

"What do you mean? How could you tell?" The mage asked.

"You can smell fear." The dark haired warrior answered.

...

The next day, the three of them searched once again for traces of what had visited them the night before, but again, nothing was found. Whatever it had been, it was damn stealthy.

Something else that had bothered Taehyung, was the fact that the horses had not reacted at all to whatever it had been. Checking on the beasts had revealed them silently standing grouped together, half asleep. No panic, no nervous shifting. Nothing to denote that they were afraid in any way.

It was just another disconcerting thing to add to their rapidly growing list of uncertainties.

The task of rolling up the blankets and repacking the saddle bags was undertaken quickly, and they set out to be away from the place before night again found them.