Pyrik ran.

She ran as gunshots cracked in the distance, as a swarm of arrows flew from high above in the forest canopy. Bark exploded from a nearby tree, spitting wooden shrapnel at her face, grazing only her forehead if not for the padded collar catching the rest of the splinters. Pyrik tried identifying her mystery saviours, however, after a near stumble over a dead tree, she kept her attention bolted straight ahead. It did not matter. Whoever they were, the arrows came at just the right time.

Haldane, you bastard.

The trust she had for him felt foolish now, and she found herself examining every word, every interaction, trying to tease out any hint of malicious intent. After a low hanging branch almost knocked her flat on her back, she stopped any further retrospection. That did not matter either. A new status quo was nailed on the bulletin, and it was that Haldane wanted her dissected on some slab to be poked and prodded and studied like some animal.

Like some beast.

Eventually the gunshots faded, leaving only the sounds of rustling from dashing through gauntlets of branches and leaves. Feeling sufficiently safe now, Pyrik stopped to breathe, to get the jackrabbit thumping in her chest to calm down.

Now what?

She took a moment longer to collect her thoughts and assess this fine predicament. The primary thing that prevented Haldane and his Hospitallers from entering the red forest to capture her was its nauseating effects, however, that might last for long in the event that Haldane discovered a way to acquire some immunity, and a bone-deep intuition told her that he eventually would. Pyrik counted the shots in the hip pouch. She entertained the idea of blasting the whole lot of them to gorey pulp, yet even with all the lead and powder at her disposal, that did not circumvent the fact that she was still outnumbered and outgunned.

A groan hissed out from gritted teeth.

Trapped too.

To the north and west of the red forest were cliff faces too steep to climb, to the east was the settlement that had watchtowers, and to the south was surely Haldane wringing his hands while he waited for her to attempt an escape.

The sun was halfway down its descent. Pyrik could escape at night, while the Hospitallers were concentrated in the Common House. Limbardo could simply become a bad memory, perhaps later down the line as something humorous to muse about over some ale. The idea was quickly shot out of her mind. There was still the matter of that pesky voice inside, the beast within, and she was not leaving until that wretched thing was named and exorcised once and for all. This body was for her to take, and for nobody else.

The same could not be said about the Hospitallers, though. Leaving Limbardo might only exacerbate the problem, like leaving a wound to fester. The Order of Hospitallers was a powerful organization, with strongholds, members and resources that could be mobilized at a moment’s notice. Making an enemy out of them would mean a life of glancing over her shoulder, a hefty sum on her head, which would certainly hinder her on her journey.

Not unless I kill them all… using the beast within.

Outnumbered and outgunned, yes. However, she did have that With her permission, that bestial power could take over her body and render the Hospitallers a non-issue in a moment. Yes, only for a moment. Her consciousness would dim as some other self rampaged and slaughtered and feasted on the bloody violence. At most the experience would become some foggy memory, like a terrible nightmare in the middle of the night...for just a moment.

Pyrik breathed in, held the air, then let it out.

A moment too long, a moment of too much bloodshed. The thought was banished. There has to be another way.

Yet none freely came.

A sudden shock of leaves were swaying down from the branches, and one landed on her head. Pyrik shook it off, glanced up, expecting a crow, that was, until she saw beasts watching her from the canopy.

***

Gunshots.

Arrows.

The shaft was sticking out like an angry sprout, josling about with the arrowhead in his shoulder.

"Ah. Curses!" Haldane collapsed back down on the ground, clutching his wounded shoulder. He had accidentally used his wounded arm for purchase. He considered gritting his teeth and yanking the damned thing out, but then Potash came and swatted his hand away from the shaft.

"You can yank it out when you survive this first, yeah?" Potash shouted through his closed armet.

“Incoming!” Somebody screamed.

Without hesitation, Potash shielded Haldane with his own body as a hail of arrows came down.

Arrows pinged as they glanced off helmets, thwacked as it pierced brigandine, eliciting sharp painful yelps from Potash and other Hospitallers that Haldane could not see. After the volley had either found its pound of flesh or planted harmlessly in the earth, the two scrambled onto their feet.

Total chaos. Hospitallers laid dead on the ground, filled with arrow shafts sticking out. Others that could stand despite the arrows that stuck to their backs like quills helped those who could hardly stagger. Those who were out of range from the arrows were blindly returning fire at the red forest. Whether or not any of the shots met a mark, he could not say.

An arrow crested into his thigh and Haldane howled with agony. He would have fallen without his arm around Potash’s shoulders, who was fighting to stay standing as well.

"The Jaeger?" Haldane asked as they hobbled away from the forest line. Several more arrows planted around them, narrowly missing its targets.

"Forget about her. She ran into the forest before any of us could do a thing." Potash’s breathing was laboured. “Night is coming soon, anyways. The beasts will deal with her.”

"And the crows?"

"You can stir at their guts as much as you want after you get out of the kill zone."

“But—”

“I was there too, you know. In the Arklay. I don’t want to see what happened there to happen here. So let’s just survive this first, then afterwards you can find a way to get us into that godforsaken—”

Another hail of arrows came raining down, hitting more Hospitallers and Potash in his calf, who buckled, twisted around and collapsed on the ground. Haldane was pushed forward from the many arrows punching into his back, into his brigandine, that reliable piece of armour, stopping the arrowheads from nipping at any more flesh. He turned, going to haul Potash up, yet as he reached for him more of those fatal missiles fell from the sky.

Perhaps Potash said something as he fought to get up. Haldane did not know, he did not hear. Arrows riddled his fellow brother, piercing all over his chest, through the slit in his visor. His body slackened, devastatingly still. Somehow none had hit Haldane in that volley. Somehow he was alive while Potash was dead. The incongruity in thought was like two ships grinding into each other.

“Forget about the body. He’s dead!” Menov tried pulling Haldane away from Potash, yet she only had a handful of coat on him so he easily slipped out of it.

His heart pounded in his ears, counting out the seconds until the next storm of arrows. He tore open Potash’s overcoat and frantically searched the inner pockets until, there, the crumple of paper, and retrieved the letter.

“Come on, you mad fool.” Menov grabbed Haldane by the collar of his brigandine. She dragged him away right as arrows spiralled toward them and hit the ground where they would have been a second ago.

I promise that I’ll get this to her, Potash.

Haldane was careful not to crumple the letter any further. He made another promise as well while they retreated back to the settlement. The death of his fellow brothers would not be in vain and that he would capture the Jaeger.

***

The beasts were like insectoids but not quite.

While the insectoids she previously fought were thorny, chitinous, bearing little resemblance to the human form, the ones that were in the forest canopy though… The lower half of their bodies were distinctly spider, with a set of eight, long, sleek carmine-red legs and a large bulbous abdomen, while the upper body was human, clad in a silk tunic and a sash belt around their waist. The females had skin as bone-white as the surrounding trees, compared to the males washed in carmine-red patterns, the same colour as the forest canopy.

Arachne, not insectoids.

Composite bows were slung over their shoulder and chest, much like a rifle sling, those quivers of arrows reserved for other threats. Yet despite meaning no harm, they remained high above from the ground, from Pyrik, wary of the girl for rightful reasons. She was able to enter their forest, after all. An apparent human that could defy the laws of their domain. The caution was rightfully justified.

Slowly, Pyrik hooked the sling attached to the blunderbuss with her thumb, and lowered the gun as a show of good faith. When their wary stares did not change, she also dropped her axe and bayonet. She was going to raise her hands as well until a face dropped down and said, “Greetings, I’m Ira!”

Pyrik jumped back, unpleasantly surprised.

It was an arachne girl dangling upside down on a thread of spider silk. Her long braided pink hair was nearly touching the litter of leaves, and her smile was wide as a sunny horizon but it appeared like a vast frown while upside down. She opened her mouth to speak again, however, she started spinning so she waited until the revolution finished before saying, “Pleasure to finally meet your acquaintance, Pyrik!”

“How… do you know my name?” Pyrik asked, still on her back foot.

“The witch, silly. She told us all about you, and asked us to come to rescue you from those horrible men.” Ira frowned to emphasize her vexation at the Hospitallers, except now it looked like a forceful smile. After spinning another revolution, that boundless smile returned to the cradle of her cute, round face. “Now come on! Let us take you to her.” In one agile motion, she disconnected from her thread and landed with the grace of a cat. “Hop on.”

“Umm… are you sure?” Pyrik glanced at the other arachne, who’s frowns were upright and unmistakably disapproving.

“Of course! I trust you won’t pull on my braid.”

Not precisely the problem I was worried about but as long as she doesn’t mind…

Pyrik collected her weapons from the ground, and trusting that the logic was the same as a horse, she mounted on the back of Ira, the area where the human gave way to arachnid.

“Hold on tight!” Ira gushed out as she jumped into the canopy while carrying Pyrik, who wrapped her arms around the arachne for dear life.