The Huntsman

Jacob walked through the tall maze of sycamores never making a sound on a single leaf or twig, the wind was blowing towards him as the sun sent beams of light through the leaves of the trees creating a mosaic of light, off the morning dew. He was hunting in his home woods, the "Brightwood Forest", a twenty mile wide forest in the southern edge of the Wichita mountain range.

Jacob Rivers was 26 years old, and stood at a flat 6 feet tall. He had short brown hair that was buzz cut about a centimeter long. His eyes were a deep hazel that often reminded people of hot chocolate. He dressed simply in faded blue jeans, a long-sleeved tan shirt with a black tight-fitting overcoat and brown leather boots. He had a smooth completion all in all save a few scratches from the woods and its denizens.

"I can't believe that this thing has been living in my backyard all this time, Henry is going to be devestated if I don't find it before tonight", thought Jacob. "This thing has been killing his sheep for a month now."

He began to think about his encounter with his "neighbor" that had taken place a week before. He had been called out to his ranch of Henry Aarons to inspect some dead livestock. He had just walked up to the gruesome scene, of over two dozen slain sheep, when he was approached by Henry who began to explain what he thought happened and what he wanted Jacob to do.

"I think a pack of coyotes ran threw here and tore up my sheep, I lost almost 20% of my flock," explained the herdsman. "Any ideas on how to get rid of them?"

The young hunter paused a moment to think and said, "Well if you want this place to be clear of coyotes then you may as well pay me now, because no coyote did this."

"Whada ya mean no coyotes?, said Henry taken aback. Don't you see all the dead sheep?"

"Yeah, there are dead sheep but these bite marks are way to big and I don't care how many could have been in a pack they wouldn't attack a herd this size," said Jacob.

"Then what did it!" exclaimed Henry

"A wolf," stated the huntsman bluntly.

"One wolf cannot do all this damage in one night, plus they don't even live in this area!" said Henry with a tone of irritation.

The hunter did seem puzzled by this but took a closer look around the location, after looking around for about 5 minutes he finally said, it is very strange that a wolf has traveled this far out away from its usual home, and that it would do all this and not eat any of it, but if you look closely there is only one set of tracks that are about the size of a large wolf."

After a moment to collect himself Henry asked, "Why do you suppose it didn't eat hardly anything then?"

"I honestly have no idea, even if it was rabid I don't think it would do this much damage," said Jacob.

"So now what?" asked the concerned herdsman.

"Well I suggest you pen up the remaining sheep, and keep a watch out," said Jacob, "I'll see if I can track this thing down for you."

"Alright, thank you," said Henry. "Now what do you want as payment?"

"I need some warm clothes for winter so I suppose any wool you can salvage from the corpses," replied Jacob.

"Very well," agreed Henry.

That had been a full month ago and Henry's herds have been attacked again and again. If Jacob did not find this wolf tonight Henry could very well lose his ranch.

Jacob began to smell something awful and rather than cover his nose, he followed the scent to a fresh steaming pile of poop, and suddenly Jacobs eyes lit up. Now most people wouldn't be excited to see a hot poop, but to a hunter that means something is nearby. He got on his knees and inspected it closely, the size appeared about right for a wolf, there appeared to be strands of wool sticking out of it. This appeared to be his target, so he searched around the pile for a new set of tracks not moving his head.

When suddenly there was a rustling in the bushes and a white furred bunny charged out of it like lightning. The rabbit ran right towards him and looked like it would jump over him. . . it did not it vaulted over his head, pushing it into the warm pile.

Words failed to describe his rage, but since he new his hunt was so close, he kept his mouth shut. Instead while cleaning his face, he had this simple thought, "MOTHER F***ING, SON OF A B***H, GOD DAMN, C**T, ASS FUUUU!"

He had quite the swearing problem and would be vocal about it if he weren't so close to finding the wolf.

After cleaning off the wolf leftovers, he looked to where the rabbit had gone and heard more rustling in that direction, he drew an arrow and prepared a shot, if it was a rabbit or wolf, something was gonna die. As it turned out the rabbit was the unfortunate creature to hop out. The arrow flew 30 feet and pierced the hares neck killing it instantly.

"That what you get for pushing my face into that!" exclaimed the hunter at a soft yell.

He moved to retrieve the arrow when in an instant the wolf jumped out of the bush and began charging towards Jacob. He tried to draw another arrow, but the wolf was to fast and bit down on his arm with bone crushing force.

"AAGGGH!!" cried out the pinned Jacob.

He used the arrow that he had been drawing and used it like a spear to jab the wolf in the eye. The wolf howled out in pain releasing his arm. The wolf took a step back but did not run away. Jacob looked at his bow and saw that the wolf had unstrung it when it tackled him, so he had only one choice. He drew his rapier that only was used before to quiet dying animal, but was now about to use it to protect his own life.

The sword was an heirloom that had been passed down in him family for generations and was used in many wars and on many hunts. The sword was a well kept silver blade with a hilt that was formed by many brass vines, and inscribed on the pommel was his family's crest, a double-headed phoenix.

The wolf jumped at him once again but this time he was ready. Jacob dodged to the side and slashed the wolf along its front shoulder, causing it to bleed but nowhere near enough to take him down. He charged again but this time rather that side-step Jacob took a step towards the wolf and stabbed into its snarling mouth killing the beast.

Jacob dropped down and let out a great sigh of pain, the wolf had tore up his arm quite badly and he was losing a lot of blood. However he had to inspect the wolf to see what could have caused it to act so violently. So he cut off a piece of his torn sleeve and tied a tourniquet at his elbow above the bite mark.

He moved over to where the wolf was lying to witness something extremely strange. The wolf had dark grey fur on first inspection, but it began to fade suddenly and it appeared to have a much darker coat.

"What the hell?" stated the injured hunter, forgetting his pain for a moment."

"Ah poo, you killed my new pet," said a voice that chilled Jacob to the bone.

"Who's there!?" said Jacob startled. "This is your wolf!?"

"Yes, and I am very angry that you've hurt him, said the voice. And I had spent so little time changing him into the chaotic little beast he is. . . well was today."

"YOU TRAINED THIS THING TO BE A KILLER!" said Jacob outraged. "SHOW YOURSELF SO I CAN KILL YOU BASTARD."

The voiced replied  "My my such temper, what did I ever do to you."

"You trained a wolf to be a killer, released it onto my neighbors herds, and had it attack me! yelled the hunter.

"Aw come on, how can you still be mad, I already fixed your arm and clothes," said the voice in an insincere apology.

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Jacob tuning to look at his arm.

When he saw it he could not comprehend what had happened. It was just as the stranger had said the wound was completely healed, his clothes were mended and even his bow had been restrung. This did not calm Jacob, it made him more frightened and angry than ever.

"How the fuck did you do that," said Jacob shocked.

"Watch you language now," said the voice sternly. "Honestly you have such rage within yo-. . "

The voice stopped as though it had just realized something. Jacob had noticed it to and took the opportunity. To try and find out where it was coming from. But he did not have to search long for the source of the voice appeared before him, causing Jacob to question if the wolf had some kind of hallucinogen in its mouth. The creature before him looked to be larger than a bear, but snake shaped, stood like a man, but had the leg of an alligator and goat, its hand appeared to be a lions paw and bird talon. The whole thing appeared to be some sort of abomination.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU!" screamed Jacob in fear.

"Yes, yes you'll do nicely," said the thing. "Such rage."

Jacob began to draw his rapier once again, but the creature nearly snapped its fingers and it froze in place, mid-swing. The creature snapped its fingers once again but this time a great flash of light appeared and the next thing he new, he was on some sort of stage with a blast of dark blue energy hurling towards him. The sword was still stuck in place and he could not move it even after pulling with all his might. The blast hit the sword full on and exploded, Jacob was shocked but unharmed, and the sword was finally free to move again.

"What on earth is this thing some sort of familiar!?" said an ominous female voice. "I will be back and know this, my night will reign forever!"

Jacob was sure he was either dead or hallucinating, because when he looked out from the stage he saw a crowd of colorful horses, and a dark fog floating out the window.

To be continued.

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