She was sleeping fitfully and had been all night. It was late, perhaps close to midnight perhaps well past it, but Alessandra tossed and turned in the darkness. She was fighting against a tide of strange and gruesome images. Suddenly, her eyes flew open and she leapt to her feet with a gasp. For a moment, she stood, chest heaving, ears straining for sound. She couldn’t tell in that first moment, if it was her dream or some sound that had awakened her. Then she heard it. The thunder of approaching footsteps. Her heart seemed to still as she listened, waiting. Perhaps it was a herd on the move; maybe it wasn’t the enemy she feared.

It had been generations since the enemy had struck at her tribe. According to the histories of her people, the great enemy had been silenced centuries ago. What could have caused them to awaken? The horns were already screaming, an enemy was coming. Alessandra told herself that it wasn’t the enemy. Perhaps it was just outsiders. A strangled bleat from one of the horns spoke of the scout’s speedy demise. Whatever it was out there, it was close.

Alessandra’s heart stormed to a halt and for a long moment, she was frozen. A scream from the ground level of the settlement kicked her into action. The enemy had already breached the tribe’s borders. She dragged on her clothes, worn leather breeches and a soft leather tunic, both in shades of green, strapped on her belt with its knife and hatchet and gathered up her bow and quiver. She quickly laced her bracers and tightened them. The bow she cared was simply, but strongly, crafted. She moved quickly, racing out of the bower, catching hold of a vine and sliding the vast distance to the forest floor. The central area appeared empty, only a bloody patch of fallen leaves hinting that anything was wrong. Silence stilled the world for a bare moment, a pair of heartbeats, before sound erupted from the north east. Hoofbeats and the clash of sword against sword. A scream echoed through the empty clearing and Alessandra shuddered. She recognized the tortured sound of that voice.

For a moment, she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. The brush to her left shivered as something large moved toward her. Alessandra’s breath whooshed out of her body and she shot again into motion. Her feet pounded on the layers of leaves on the forest floor as she ran into the sheltering arms of the underbrush. She looped her bow over her head to hold onto it as she leapt up to swing herself onto the lowest branches of a tree. She huddled against the trunk, readying her bow and knocking an arrow. She watched the clear spot she had just left. Her hands were shaking and a cold sweat had broken out all over her body. She couldn’t steady her bow. The wind had picked up while she slept and its chill fingers tore at the loose mess of her hair, blowing stinging tendrils into her eyes. Wincing, she relaxed her grip and shoved the tendrils behind one of her ears. Even as she relaxed her aim to rid herself of the nuisance, the figure broke through the underbrush and into plain sight. She could hear the battle going on around her, but this was her first sight of the enemy.

It was massive, shaped generally like a slug, moving along quickly with its pedipalp. In the darkness, it was hard to see details of the creature, but the front part of it reared back, eyes that glowed a faint grey color scanning its surroundings. Four long arms reached down to the ground, helping to pull it forward. An aura of darkness and horror seemed to flow outward from the armed slug and it was all Alessandra could do to force her hands to move. She took a deep breath, the scent of rot filling her nostrils. She gagged.

Alessandra took in a deep breath and focused on her magic, trying to gather enough energy to cause her natural camouflage to take effect. The spider-web feel of the Weave brushed against her skin and for a single breath her tension eased. Then the magic failed. Immediately afterward a fierce hunger raced through her. A curse raced through her mind, only caught back by the need for silence. The sun was hours away and Alessandra hadn’t eaten nearly enough since her hunt to restore her stores of energy. She had exhausted her resources. Drawing in a breath, steadying herself by force of will alone, she took aim at the armed slug and fired. As soon as she had released her arrow, she put her bow over her shoulder again and began to climb, putting the tree between herself and the slug. Even as she reached the next branch she heard a flurry of movement behind her and the soft wet thunk of her arrow striking flesh.

The creature unleashed an enraged shriek of sound. It now knew there was an archer somewhere nearby, but it was unlikely to find her. Alessandra paused for a long while in silence, straining to hear the movement of her quarry down on the forest floor. Her breath stilled in her throat as she slowly peeked around the tree’s thick trunk. The slug, arrow lodged in its left eye, was attempting to pull the arrow out with two of its four arms. Even so distracted, the creature caught sight of Alessandra and from the round, toothed, orifice that passed for a mouth, it spat a stream of yellow goo at her. The slug wasn’t nearly close enough, but the goo burned through the branches that it touched with disturbing ease. She ducked back behind the tree and began to scramble upwards as fast as she could. Her heart was pounding and she thought it just might burst through her chest and she would tumble lifelessly to the forest floor.

Her mouth was dry and had the coppery taste that nausea so often brought. Her hands were shaking as she reached for the next branch and then the next. Glancing down and back she saw the slug moving off, her arrow discarded behind it. She would have to hold out until sunrise, doing her best to hide and strike from afar.