Chapter 28 - Mysteries on the chase
After having watched Kat run off into the forest, Scarlett started following the forest edge as she searched the fields for her butler. It only took her a couple of minutes before she spotted him, close to the border of one of the fields, assisting a rather large bald man who lay on the ground and had blood running from what appeared to be a bite on his right leg. An impromptu splint made of part of the ruined fence nearby had been created to support the leg.
When Garside noticed her he stood up and bowed towards her. "My Lady. The monsters appear to have fled, as you predicted. I've assisted a number of the villagers in escaping back to the village itself, just as you ordered."
Scarlett inspected him. He'd been wearing the same black suit during most of their journey—she could only assume he had many like it—and it seemed mostly intact so he probably hadn't been hurt. There were some signs of blood on his sleeves, but they didn't seem to come from him. "Well done," she said, momentarily glancing over the injured villager as he shakily stood up. "Kat has left in pursuit of the monsters," she continued. "I expect it will be some time before she returns. I will retreat to the manor for now. If you wish to search for any other injured I suggest you do so immediately."
"Understood, my Lady. I will join you as soon as I can," Garside said. She nodded her head and began to make her way back to the village.
Kat's breath flowed out heavily as her foot found purchase on a protruding root in front of her. She tried to pace her breathing evenly as she sprinted through the dark canopied forest. The haste spell was taxing enough on the body as it was.
Leaping over the body of a fallen-over tree, and landing with some uncertainty before quickly regaining her balance, she spotted more movement some distance in front of her. These wolf monsters were as quick as cockatrices. Even after injuring some of them, she could only barely keep up. Another minute or so and she wouldn't be able to keep the spell up any longer either.
She dodged a low-hanging branch that she noticed at the last second, scanning around for the wolf she had been following. Howling sounded out somewhere to her right, but it was far too dark for her to see anything in that direction. She kept running forward, hoping to spot her target again.
There. A short distance away some of the moonlight found its way through the trees and reflected off silver fur. Kat immediately veered off towards it.
More howls, some of them closer than before, rang out from different points in the forest. She ignored them and focused on following the monster ahead of her. She saw it run out from amongst the trees and cross a wide area that held a large gathering of rocks before continuing deeper into the forest on the other end. She made sure to not lose it as she ran and kept her balance across the stones. The wolf didn't seem to mind her as she kept close to its heels, when it suddenly slinked into a large bush next to a tree and disappeared. Both her feet slammed into the forest floor and she grabbed onto the trunk of a nearby tree to help her halt despite her speed. She readied herself for an attack and observed the bush closely, but there was no more movement. The wolf wasn't hiding. She didn't even think these monsters had the brains to try and trick her like that.
She looked around the area. Judging from the howls earlier there were still other wolves out in the forest. Although they had turned out not to be a major threat to her, finding herself stuck amongst an entire pack of them while dealing with the aftereffects of using haste probably wasn't the brightest of ideas. She glanced up the tree next to her. Boosted by haste, she managed to jump and climb up the tree without much issue, setting herself to rest on a branch that was fairly high and gave her a good enough view of the bush that the wolf had disappeared into. She wanted to make sure this was the right place. She also let go of her haste spell, feeling the fatigue wash over her body like a Viles-damned wave. Some of her bones made small popping noises in protest and she was already starting to feel stiff all over. Gods, she really hated that spell.
Taking long and deep breaths as she kept an eye out for any more wolves, she began trying to look to the east and see if she couldn't find out her general position. Scarlett had been right when she'd said the mountains wouldn't be far off. Kat could see them through the treetops. Without haste it'd take her maybe a minute or two to get there.