The Little Shaman

Chapter 8 - Whack-its

The darkness of the swamp surrounded Tibby's mother, Kavetra. Her ankle was in excruciating pain from having twisted it on a root. A blasted root! It never would have happened under normal circumstances. Not with her keen footing and amazing sense of balance. But this situation was anything but normal.

A lone wolvren had spent the better part of an hour hunting her through the swamp. Twice she'd managed to evade it, losing it among the brambles and treetops. Each time it had managed to find her scent and continue its pursuit. It was determined to dine on her flesh. Had it devoured a member of her tribe in the past? That would explain its almost fanatical devotion to tracking her down.

This was exactly why she'd wanted Tibby to stay at home. She couldn't even begin to imagine what it would have been like to flee while also worrying about Tib. Even thinking about him at that moment was too distracting. She'd already twisted one ankle. Best not to repeat the mistake a second time. Jumping and swinging tree to tree, she hoped her erratic path would allow her to lose the beast once and for all.

Another half hour went by with no sign of the wolvren. Ahead and to the right was a rocky outcropping jutting up from the edge of a murky lake. Thus far, Kavetra had been lucky enough to escape her hunter and to discover the rocks. Would her luck extend to discovering an unoccupied cave? Good fortune continuing to be on her side, she found the entrance to a shallow chamber. A slab of rock obscured the entrance, which itself was tall and narrow, forcing her to turn sideways and to tuck in her tale as she passed through.

The cave was empty, although there were enough bones and other refuse to suggest it had been home to something in the recent past. Stumbling towards the far wall, she turned and put her back to it, sliding slowly to the ground. This was it. An opportunity to allow her body a moment's rest. She sighed in relief and the simple joy of knowing something wasn't trying to eat her at that specific point in time.

With her back still to the wall, she raised her face towards the ceiling and wondered what her little Tib and Deemo were up to. Probably play cards and dice or some other game of chance. Deemo was fond of those sorts of games, and Tibby was always one to go along with her mischievous ways. She smiled to herself thinking of her son and the light sprite arguing over who had the winning hand.

Sadly, thinking about her son invariably led to her thinking about her husband, Denario. They had been picking mushrooms and having a laugh when the human warriors had arrived. Why did he have to push her into the brush? Why did he have to sacrifice himself for her safety? She knew the answer to those questions, but it made the situation no less frustrating. As strong as their love for each other was, it wasn't enough to keep them both safe.

Slowly blinking while the last rays of the sun were still visible, she felt herself beginning to drift when a strange sound that didn't make sense echoed in her ears. Confused, her eyelids opened wide onto a cave that was pitch black and cold. Wait, had she fallen asleep? How else could the cave have seemingly changed in an instant. Her body felt restored and rested, which confirmed that she had indeed passed out. Though it was nice to feel that way for the first time in two days, falling asleep could have resulted in her death, especially if the beast had found her. Thinking back to what had roused her from sleeping, she came to the sudden realization that it had been a strange sound. A growling sound.

Like the one coming from the cave's entrance.

Launching to her feet, she reached into her side bag and ripped out an acorn-sized nut. Rolling it between her fingers, she watched the wolvren peek it's head through the cave entrance. Seeing its quarry, the beast squeezed its full body through the opening, bubbling foam and streams of saliva cascading from its fangs. With mere feet separating them, the beast wasted no time in lunging at her. Calculating the throw in a fraction of a second, Kavetra tossed the nut into the wolvren's open mouth as she dodged and rolled to the right.