The sun shone in its last brilliant rays of red turning the sky a gorgeous array of multiple colors. It gave off a false sense of warmth in the frigid air, almost gloating over the three figures sprinting through the woodlands below. They couldn't feel its warmth. Their breath came in great bursts of steam as they followed a thick trail of blood through the iced over snow.
The first youth had long black hair and bright green eyes kind of like the green of new daffodil shoots. His name was Jasper.
He carried a spear loosely in his right hand as he sprinted.
He wore a dark brown cape with differing shades of brown underneath.
The second boy was Dærian. He was exceptional with the bow and worked as the town hunter, bringing new meat to the butchery everyday after hours of hunting.
There was rarely a time when the sand haired young man came to town empty-handed. He wore a thick fox fur coat with his black leather boots. Of course, being an archer, he carried a long bow of seasoned pine.
In his quiver he carried arrows fletched with the feathers he would pick up after his ducks molted them.
He had one nocked as he ran, bow aimed to the ground.
The third one wasn't so quick. He eyed the blood using his sense of smell to guide him just as well as his sight.
He also carried a bow. His arrows were fletched with blue Jay feathers. He wore a deep blue cloak and tan trousers. His brown leather boots were trimmed with white fur keeping his feet warm.
His name was Leo. He was different from the others. He wasn't human like them. He was of a higher race.
That was obvious as his pointed ears suggested.
He was deep in his own thoughts as they proceeded.
*The fairies...they aren't out here,* he thought. *They should be guarding the forest...this is their home.*
He wandered in confusion as they continued on their hunt.
"Oi!," Dærian hissed as he kneeled by an ominous lump in the snow.
Leo picked up his speed.
As he moved in closer, dread filled his chest. There was blood pooled in a six foot radius. The snow was all trampled as if some struggle took place there.
Then the thing in the center made his heart leap to his throat.
He exchanged grieving looks with his fellows.
He crept closer, not wanting to know what it was.
But he found that his fears were only reality in that moment.
The object turned out to be the lifeless body of young man around their age.
His entire torso was torn open, the ribs prominent in the dying light. His entrails were still dripping as they lay dangling from the bone.
It was still steaming....
Jasper picked up a sword that lay nearby, his facial expression disconcerted and pale.
"He died fighting," he said under his breath.
"And he died in one of the worst ways imaginable. Where is the thing that did this!?," he screamed hoarsly.
Leo eyed the woods, his expression cold. He didn't really want them seeing his grief.
He pointed toward a thicket of evergreen bushes.
"Something gives me the feeling that it went that way.
This is an awful creature."
He started toward the clump of greenery, drawing an arrow from his quiver. He slung the bow and fitted the projectile to the string. He couldn't help that his boots crunched in the ice covered snow, so he winced with every step. The bushes were still as death as he approached. But he got the scare of his life as all of a sudden, out leaped a humanoid creature with the head of a bull. The bloody tusks that jutted from its bottom jaw displayed their prominence all too well as it roared at him. He stumbled backward as he felt the spittle and flecks of blood spattered across his face. He wiped the grime from his face just in time to see the beast advancing toward him. He pulled the string to his bow and fired an arrow at the monster as quickly as he could.
It caught in the minotaur's chest giving itself away with the blood that spilled heavily. Suddenly another projectile struck through from behind, though this one came through its shoulder, rendering its arm useless from here on out.
Blood pooled from the appendage and matted down the beast's fur. Leo figured it had to be an artery. He jumped up from where he fell and pulled his silvery dagger.
The monster was roaring incoherently making it easier for him to attack. He stabbed through the throat as quickly as his arm would thrust. He pulled it out and struck again. The roars of agony were reduced to gurgle as the creature's throat filled with blood. He stabbed again and again till finally the beast slid forward off of Jasper's spear into the ice.
Dærian, Jasper, and Leo stood silent watching the body making sure that it was no more.
"Brothers. I think we are done here,"Leo stated quietly.
"Let's grab the body of this man and his sword.
We have to bring him to town for burial."
Jasper and Dærian nodded as they picked up the remains of the youth's twisted body.
Leo couldn't bear to see it but he knew he had to watch.
He picked up the blade that had failed its weilder in battle and examined the metal.The glimmer seemed to give off a sadness. It was almost as if the blade watched back, his reflection faint as the sun touched the horizon with her final moments of warmth.
Leo gave it some thought as he stared at the blade. He looked over to the minotaur's dead state.
"In an effort to make your wrong doing right, I'll give you a final moment of justice," he brought the sword over his head in both hands, blade turned forward. In all swiftness, he brought it down hard through the heart of the dead monster.
"It will stay there as a message to all."
He turned and nodded to his friends.
"Let's go".
The others lifted up the lifeless heap and began carrying it back to town. He gritted his teeth and rested the sword upon the body's chest.