"Thud!"
Star smiled as the large beast in her line of sight fell to the ground. She jumped down from the tree she was in and walked up to the fallen beast. "It's dead… You can come out now and do what you need to do."
She turned and watched as a small group came out with small swords and knives around their belts. "Thanks for helping us with the hunt. We'd have some injuries if we went after the beast ourselves."
Star shook her head and smiled. "It's not a problem… You needed help and this meat will help out the villages."
"With your help Star, the entire region will be able to make it through the winter."
Star smiled and nodded. "That's the plan. If I was just staying at the tavern with Maseli I would grow bored with just serving people." She looked at the leader of the group with a serious face. "Make sure you tell the others as well. That was part of the deal in me coming out here."
"Yes… Yes. We'll let everyone know of your heroic deeds hunting with us."
Star watched the hunters as they started to carve the beast meat up into large chunks that they could carry, and sighed. "The trip back will probably be a bit harder with all that meat and blood on you."
"Yes, you're right. Any beast that loves the taste of flesh and blood will be on our trail. We'll need your help to keep them at bay as we travel back."
Star nodded. "Not a problem for me. It helps build my reputation around the area."
"If you're trying to build a reputation. Why don't you go see the bounty list and chase escaped criminals? Maseli will have one. That'll get your name out faster than with just the hunters. You'd also get better coin for it."
"You mean bounty hunting?"
"Yes… Not only would the guard know of your name, but also the criminals would start fearing your name if they knew you were on their trail."
Star looked at her bow in thought. She looked up at the hunter and smiled. "Thanks… I'll talk with Maseli about the bounty list. Anything I can do to get my name known the better."
"I've been wondering why you're doing this?"
"To get into a guard team."
"Ahh. It makes sense now. Don't worry we'll do our best to get your name out so that everyone knows of the beautiful Star."
Star smiled and nodded. She looked at the hunters still cutting the beast and looked around her. "Don't worry they're almost done. Watch. They'll leave a small amount behind so that any beasts will go for this first, and hopefully become full and ignore us."
"That's a good idea. Does it always work?"
"Not always… That's why there's a small group of us. If one is injured, they drop the pack and the others help carry them back. Sometimes it's better to drop the meat and live then try and keep the meat and die."
"That's true."
"Chuma… We're done here. We're ready to head back."
She turned and looked at the hunter she was speaking nod. "Good. Let's get moving. Star it looks like we'll have to trouble you for us one more time."
Star shook her head and held the bow in her hands as she started to lead the group through the forest. "It's not any trouble at all."
She waved her hand. "Let's go… The sooner we're back the better."
She turned and watched the group of hunters follow her. She smiled. "So far so good."
"Roarrr!"
Star cursed and looked back. "It seems I spoke to soon."
"They'll go for the carcass first. We still have some time."
She looked up at the sky and frowned. "They shouldn't be out at this time… Isn't a bit early for the beasts to come?"
She turned and looked at Chuma. "How long does it normally take for beasts to find the carcass?"
"Usually it takes a few hours or so. But you're right. That was too quick."
"Then we need to increase our pace. Let's move faster."
She watched the hunters increase their pace. She stopped moving and stared back in the direction of where they came from. Star closed her eyes and opened them staring into the distance. "It even works in a dense forest. I can see them. There is a small pack of beasts…" She turned and looked at the hunter pack.
"Get moving! They're not interested in the carcass. They're coming in this direction."
"What type of beast are they?"
Star shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. "No idea… I've never seen a beast like that before… But I haven't been out hunting a lot."
She looked back in the direction that the beasts were in and pulled her bow. "I'll take care of them… You head back. I'll catch up to you in a bit."
She let the arrow fly and formed another arrow releasing it in quick succession. She followed the arrows flight and smiled when they hit their targets causing the beasts to instantly fall to the ground.
She aimed her bow and shot it at the other beasts quickly causing them to fall onto the ground. She turned in the directions of the hunters and stopped. She looked back at the beasts and frowned. "Green?"
She stopped walking and turned around and ran towards where she killed the beasts. She climbed into a nearby tree and sat staring at the dead beasts around the carcass. "I wasn't wrong there is something green there. What is it?"
She sat in silence watching and listening to the sounds from the forest. Once it was clear she jumped down and pulled out a small knife and cut open one of the strange looking beasts pulling out a green battery. Share held it in her hands and frowned. "Why would a beast have one of these in them?"
She looked at the beast and frowned. "There's no cuts or places where a battery was implanted into it… If it ate it, the battery would be in its stomach…"
She knelt and touched the head of the beast looking at it's sharp teeth. "What are you?"
Star looked up at the other dead beasts and walked over to them cutting them open and removing green batterys. She placed them in her pack and stood up wiping her knife and started to run in the direction of the hunters. "Maybe they know… If they don't them I sure the blacksmith who made this bow and my bow to come and his weird apprentice would know what these are."
She jumped over a small bush and saw the hunters moving ahead of her. "Almost there."
She jumped onto a branch and jumped again rolling onto the ground in front of the hunters. She stood up and turned looking at them seriously. She pulled out the battery and showed it to them. "Have you seen anything like this?"
"No."
"No."
"No… Was it in the beast's stomach?"
Star shook her head. "It was in the place of the beast's heart." She picked up a stick and roughly drew the sketch of the beast in the dirt. "How about this. Have you seen something like this before?"
"Star I've never seen a beast like that, but I can tell from it's teeth, legs and claws that it means serious business. Maybe they moved from a different place. You said it had that battery, could it be from the windy plains around the tower?"
Star shrugged. "I'll head there next. I might know someone who knows what these are."
She put her bow on her back in its sheath and pointed to the distance. "We need to hurry back, just in case there're more of those things around."
"Yes… That's a good idea. Let's get out of this forest. We'll inform the patrol of these new beasts in the area."
"Roarrrrr!"
Star cursed and looked back. "There's more of them… Hurry!"
She watched as the hunters started to run. She grabbed her bow and kept her eyes behind her as she ran with the hunters. She looked ahead of her and smiled when she saw smoke rising into the sky. "We're almost there… Hurry. They're not far behind."
"Roarrrrrr! Roarrr! Roarrr!"
Star started panting. "Hurry… They're almost on us."
She jumped and spun behind her firing arrows towards the beasts running after them. She landed on the ground and kept running with an exhausted smile on her face. "That'll give us a moment."
She watched as the hunters burst out of the forest onto the road leading towards the trading town. She stood on the road with her bow drawn and watched the forest. She frowned.
"Silence… I didn't kill them all. It seems they're intelligent creatures." She looked at the other hunters and pointed to the small town. "Let's go deliver the meat. Then we can discuss what the next step is."
"Very well. I don't think we'll be going out into the forest without a few mercenaries to keep away from those beasts. I hope there aren't anymore than those you killed. If not, we will run out of meat fast."
Star nodded. "After I go to the tower and ask around, then I'll come back and let you know. Hopefully they'll know what's going on."
She smiled as she saw Maseli's tavern in view. "We made it back…" She let out a long breath and put her bow on her back. "Thank you Star. If it wasn't for you, we'd be fertilizer for the forest about now."
Star shook her head. "It was nothing. Now if you excuse me. I'll go talk with Maseli before I head off."
"That's fine. We'll give your payment to her. She'll pass it on to you."
Star nodded and walked into the tavern and smiled at the large woman behind the bar. She sat down and pulled out a green battery and placed it on the table in front of Maseli. "Do you know what this is?"
"It's a battery girl, but I've never seen one like this. Did you find it in a stomach?"
Star shook her head. "No. I found it in a group of beats. They didn't have a heart but had this instead."
Star pulled out the other green batterys. "What did it look like?"
"It had long claws, sharp teeth, long legs for running and shorter claws for attacking their prey with once they bite it."
"And you said they were in their bodies where the heart was?"
Star nodded and played with one of the green batterys. "Were there any scars showing that the battery was implanted into them?"
Star shook her head. "No. That's the bit that confuses me. It's like it was born with a green battery in it."
"Yes… It does sound strange, but I think the tower may know about these batteries. I hope they don't get to close to the roads and cities. They'll cause a lot of panic."
"That's another thing Maseli." Star took a drink from the mug and wiped her face. "We ran towards the road and this place. I saw them get closer and shot off a few arrows, yet they stopped and turned around the moment we stepped on the road."
"They're intelligent…"
She heard Maseli's whispered voice and nodded. "I think they are. I'm sure that if I went back and started shooting them again, they'll be looking where the arrows were coming from."
"Beasts that don't sound like beasts and are able to learn… That's very scary news Star… That deserves a drink I think."
Star nodded and watched Maseli pour a drink for her and herself. She picked up the mug and drank its entire contents keeping up with Maseli. "Ahh… That's better. So, Star what are you going to do with these batterys? I hoe you haven't tried to turn them on?"
Star shook her head. "Have a look at them. There's no switch to turn them on. What I was planning to do with them was to go to the tower and find out someone who would know what they were. Then at least if the beasts decide to attack a city or town, we'd be ready for them."
"That's a wise first step… However, I'll give you some advice about the tower. They may look like all about research and study friendly and covered in dust from books and boards. They'll try and do anything to learn something new."
Star nodded and put the batterys in her pack. "There's a blacksmith that I know and trust there. He has a strange apprentice who I think will know what they are… The batteries at least, I don't think he'd know things about the beast, but if they're a result of some experiment in the tower I'll get it shut down."
Star looked at Maseli with a serious look on her face. "This'll put your name on the map girl. Just be safe, and if there's any trouble you can come back here and Maseli will watch your back."
Star smiled and nodded at Maseli. "Thank you…"
She stood up and walked to the tavern door with her pack and bow. "I'll be back soon with some information."