Peter POV-
𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 walk out of her tent. She was almost unrecognizable, yet her unmistakable, haunting beauty was still ever present. I knew she had no choice but to change into the clothing I provided her, yet I'm still pleasantly surprised she submitted and actually wore them so soon in the game. The items fit her wonderfully; showing off every curve and still holding some innocence. She calmly observed the wild scene before her with those brilliant, blue eyes.
My lost boys were chanting, holding spears and sticks, and singing to the music of my pipe that ensnared them with wild carelessness. They spun and jigged to the beating of the insanity within their heads.
I gently set my pipe aside and willed the boys to continue their dance as I disappeared into the shadows. I crawled from shadow to shadow, unseen to anyone until I walked out from the shade of the house that was behind Rowan. I walked behind her, so close I was now able to smell the sea salt that seemed to have permanently attached itself to her body.
"You look different," I stated, causing the girl before me to jump with sudden surprise.
She turned and, ignoring my comment, she spoke, "What do you need, Pan?"
I smiled, politely. Her quick aggravation always amused me.
"Absolutely nothing." I smiled again.
I paused, allowing her time to become confused and open her mouth to begin talking before I cut her off and began talking again.
"But the boys, on the other hand, need a dinner."
The anger clouded her eyes at my words. She stood straighter, more defiant. She spoke no words, stuck her nose in the air and began to walk away.
I continued to look at the space which had previously been hosted by Rowan as I spoke.
"You're going to need to hunt." I flicked my gaze to her face with an amused smirk.
She stopped and looked back at me, eyebrow raised. "I don't know how."
Turned my entire body towards her, so I was facing her. I summoned and threw a bow and a quiver full of arrows in her direction.
"You're a smart girl, Rowan. You can figure it out." The smirk never left my face as I walked back to my boulder and sat down, beginning to play my pipe again.
~*~*~
Rowan's POV
My vision was clouded with fury as I wrapped the quiver and a bow around my body. I seized my staff and stormed off.
When I was positive that I was far enough away from camp, I started grumbling disdainfully to myself. I didn't really care if Pan heard, however. He cannot just treat me like this.
"How dare he? How dare he!? I am not a toy! I am not to be used as an item of his amusement! I am not a slave!"
"But, you are a slave." My thoughts reasoned in reply.
I am a slave.
I am stuck here.
No! I cannot think like that anymore if I wish to survive.
No, I live here, now. This is my home. This is where I must learn to stay alive.
I kept walking, trudging over logs and stones. No game presented itself to me. After a while, my leg started throbbing so bad that I was forced to rest on a large log that I had found.
I layed there, breathing and silent, slowly calming down from my anger and enjoying the sounds of the birds for what must've been 20 minutes before a twig snapping behind me echoed through the trees. I spun around, holding my breath.
There, was a stag. A large stag.
Carefully and slowly, I reached for my quiver and pulled out an arrow. I slowly and as silently as possible, strung the bow and aimed.
The large creature sensed some sort of danger and perked up. I took a silent breath and released my arrow.
Tswoos.
It missed and lodged itself in the tree that was next to it's head.
The deer sped off running.
I cursed and slammed my fist down on the rock. And then proceeded to curse louder because the rock was very hard and I threw my fist with a lot of force.
My recovery from anger was instantly squandered.
I picked up my bow and staff and tramped over to my arrow that was lodged in the tree, pulled it out and placed it back in my quiver.
I continued to trek forward, looking for a new place where I could go and look for more possible hunt. A while later, I came across a large rock. It was about twice the size of me, but not nearly as tall as the crows nest back on the Jolly Roger. I gaged the size and then threw my staff, quiver, and bow on top of it. I then started to climb. It was steep, but not vertical. It had a slight incline which was helpful for my leg, though not by much.
I ignored the incredible throbbing in my leg as I climbed, foot hold to foot hold. After a while, I reached the top, panting and grimacing. I looked down at my leg and saw that it had not yet started bleeding again. Good. It meant I had more time.
After I had recovered from the physical taxation of climbing that large stone, I looked down to the surrounding land. There were no animals to be seen. So, all I could do was wait.
15 minutes.
30 minutes.
An hour.
Two hours.
At this point, I had been away from camp for 3 whole hours. I didn't care. If Pan wanted me to get the boys food, I was going to get them food. They're just going to have to wait for however long it takes.
Just then, I saw a large doe creep out slowly from behind a bush. She was slow as can be. I was about to release an arrow, when I saw a young fawn come out from behind her. I slowly lowered my bow and watched them.
They were so pure. The doe nuzzled the young fawn's head and they proceeded to munch on leaves and bushes that they found in the forest.
I put my bow down, sneering at it. I could never learn how to use that in under one day! What the hell was Pan thinking? Oh, I know. He was thinking of playing another game. A game to get Rowan to fail tasks over and over again. I shoved it away from me.
Beneath me, there were now squirrels, rabbits, more deer, and a few birds. I just sat there and watched them.
At a moment that appeared to be completely arbitrary, the bird's call changed and all the little animals sped off into different directions. I was suddenly on high alert. I picked up my useless bow and held it, hand on an arrow. The next noise caused my hair to stand on end.
Awooo!
A very large, very loud wolf weaved lazilly through the trees. Then another. And another. Soon a pack of 6 wolves were walking around beneath my rock. At first, they appeared to be about the size of a human.
But, the closer they got, the more I realized I was mistaken. They were about twice the size of a 6 foot human.
They sniffed the ground and led to my rock. They sniffed the side where I had climbed up. One of them saw me and snarled. It's bright yellow eyes glowed. It's teeth were covered in foam and froth.
Then it let out the most blood curdling howl.
These wolves began to circle my rock.
The more I fearfully observed them, the more supernatural they looked. Their grey fur was thick and literally sparking like silver in the light of the setting sun. Their eyes lit up the areas that caught their gaze. Their snarls had multiple tones and seemed almost demonic. The more I noticed, the more fearful I became.
My heart was leaping in my chest. My hands shook. My breathing picked up. I had nowhere to go.
I strung up my bow and armed myself with an arrow. I aimed at one of them but my hands were too shaky. I had bad enough aim with a bow as is. I don't want to make them more agitated.
I just held my bow and was frantically spinning, looking from wolf to wolf, trying to think of some sort of escape.
Just then, at the opportune moment, one lept.
~*~*~
Peter's POV:
I saw her climb the rock and camp herself on its peak.
I was about to turn back to camp when I witnessed her face soften as she, curiously, didn't shoot the doe. Out of curiosity of her behavior, I decided to not leave just yet.
I watched her go from incredibly peaceful to incredibly on edge in a second. She stood in a sort of attack stance as the wolves made their way towards her.
I observed from high in a nearby tree as she spun pathetically. She became more and more drawn with fear the more she watched them. The more she saw their hellish features. I mentally told her to move, to shoot, to do anything but just stand there in fear as she was doing.
The moment I couldn't observe was when the creature lept. I flew with lightning speed, dagger brandished, and killed the creature before it reached her.
I turned to her and saw her expression of shock and fear. She was paler than usual and her eyes were dilated.
As the dead wolf's body hit the ground beneath us, all hell broke loose. The other 5 wolves began to jump, swipe, and attack us.
She hiked up her skirt and pulled out a dagger, abandoning her bow and quiver. She swiped at whatever she could reach. I did the same.
One wolf lept attempted to take a large bite out of her as her back was turned. Before it could reach her, I stabbed it in the neck.
Stab. Jab. Slice. Swipe.
No matter how much we tried, these wolves refused to die and they refused to leave.
We weren't even making a dent.
I looked down at my dagger, and saw that there were no traces of blood on it. I looked at Rowan's and saw the same. I growled.
"Pick up your staff!" I shouted over the wolf's barking, wining, howling, and snarling.
"What!?" Rowan had the audacity to retort. "How the fu--"
"JUST DO IT!"
She let out a violet stab to one of the creatures then spun and picked up her staff that, miraculously, neither of us had stepped on or kicked off the top of this rock.
I turned and touched the stalf, willing it to become the image that was vivid in my mind.
There was an incredible light and the wolves stopped attacking as they wined, swiping at their ears with their paws and looking at the ground.
When the light dissipated, the wolves and Rowan were both dazed. And, in place of the wooden staff that our hands had both gripped, was a golden staff.
"This... this was why you made me grab my staff? You wanted to make it a useless metal!?" Rowan glared.
I glared back. "Twist the top of it, pirate."
I shoved her back and continued my stabbing and jabbing.
I knew she did as I had said as the satisfying sound of a sword being unsheathed reached my ears. I smirked as I saw her expression of awe as she stared at the long, diamond sword was in her hand. She grinned viciously as she looked at it before spinning and stabbing a wolf. When she pulled back her sword there was the satisfying colors of red and silver interlaced blood all over.
She soon had vanquished the entire pack.
She and I were left panting, surrounded by bodies of dead wolves.
"What the hell were those?" She panted sheathing her sword again.
"Amaroks. Giant, supernatural wolves that attack hunters who travel alone." I replied.
She shouted, "You sent me out here on purpose! You knew they would attack me! You wanted me to come back wea--"
"Do you really think I would've come to help you if I wanted you dead?" I spun around to face her.
The silence between us was tense as we just stared each other down.
"Clean your blade and bring the wolves back for the dinner." I spat.
And, just like that, I left Rowan on her own again.
~*~*~
[𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝟖/𝟏/𝟐𝟎]