Thud! Thud! Thud!

Multiple beasts thudded past him. He struggled to stay still as he shivered from the excitement of the chase. His pursuers' bobbing heads and swishing tails were clear from his vantage, while the hooves were hidden in the clouds of dust rising from the chase.

Sigh,

He'd managed to evade them, finally. This chase had gone on for far too long and despite his leg up on speed, the sheer numbers and their persistence were finally wearing on him. He waited till the dust clouds settled and got up to a crouch.

'Well', he thought, 'I guess this is it for to-'

Thwack!

He froze, thoughts cut off as an arrow pinned his shoulder to the trunk behind him. He didn't understand, he couldn't. He'd lost them all, the canine trackers first, the centaurs and hunting parties had followed after half the day, and then finally the stubborn minotaurs. The canines had gone crazy, disobeying orders as they went in search of the enticing smells beyond the shades. He'd had the foresight to set things up the previous night and as the sun crested its zenith, the wax covering the bomb gourds melted in, disturbing the overripe broth within. This is what had triggered the canines, allowing him a brief respite as their handlers tried in vain to bring them back to heel. They had eventually given up on their sharp-toothed companions and resorted to the good old ways of trackers. They'd picked up his trail again within the hour and the chase had begun anew. The fast centaurs led the second leg of the chase and multiple times he'd only escaped by sheer luck, turning into narrow spaces that wouldn't allow their bulky lower parts. They could outrun him, but all he needed to do was outlast them. He needed to delay them long enough for their stamina to wane and at that moment, he would get the opportunity he needed to shake them. After two hours of the continuous chase, it seemed the centaurs had finally run him into a dead-end. He'd turned his back to the wall of trees and deployed a smoke bomb to shroud him and his pursuers in thick cover. The leader, an overzealous buck with keen eyesight had given the orders for his bunch to stand back while he subdued the target. He stood stock-still as the buck approached him, even when the buck lined its antlers for a charge, and even when the buck charged had towards him in a rush of antlers and frowning muscle. At the last second, he leaped onto a branch to avoid the ramming motion and was almost shaken down by the force of impact. As the buck shook in a daze, he leaped onto its back, blindfolded it, and took out his next weapons, the first an irregular object made of a metallic stone sandwiched by two darker stones tied together by a red string; the last a dry pod. The first he threw into the crowd and upon landing, it blossomed into a bright light that blinded the bunch. The second he pressed between his thumb and index, lining it with the buck's ear and snapping it. This sent the blindfolded buck in a panic, bucking him off its back before it raced out towards its companions. Still partially blinded, the bunch saw something blur past them and gave chase, leaving him to his second respite. A few minutes later, he'd gone towards the center of the village,

'If the final hurdle isn't going to come after me, then I might as well go after it!'

He forsook cover and stood in the middle of the circle facing the herd of minotaurs. The proud beeves were busy munching as they always were. He picked the largest, which happened to be Red's latest wild one, LongHorn. He'd only been in the capital for a week but all the younger Taurs seemed to respect him as one of the new leaders of their generation. Having picked his target, he hurled the largest stone he could manage towards the bull's forehead. Long Horn's eyes flickered towards him and held him in place as the stone hurtled towards the forehead. The bull squinted and he couldn't help taking a step back, tripping and plopping onto his ass.

'What a malicious presence! I might have bitten off more than I can chew', he thought.

LongHorn moved his head to meet the stone, catching it in the folds and crushing it to dust as he scrunched his forehead. LongHorn relaxed and pulled his head back, his movements resulting in a fine mist of dust.

'Impressive...', Calf thought, marveling at the dust bubble and before he knew it, LongHorn was right there in front of him.

He'd barely registered the sudden appearance when Long Horn crouched for a tackle and bore his head to his chest. He only had enough time to brace for impact but all the good that did for him. He was sent hurtling towards a tree 6 meters away and it was a miracle the force of the impact did not black him out. He got up gingerly and on instinct made for the upper branches, leaping off to the next tree in time to avoid disaster as Long Horn's next charge broke it off at the base of the trunk. He'd underestimated the young bull's capabilities, this monster was definitely out of his league and he had to end things quickly. To avoid overplaying his hand he climbed down the tree, making sure to stay out of minotaur eyes before reengaging the minotaurs in a taunt, this time from a safer distance.

He did not wait to see the results of his taunt before running away as fast he could towards the shade edges. He relied on his senses to gauge the proximity of his pursuers and just as the one in the lead was about to impale him, he grabbed for one of the vines and curved around the closest thick tree, scaling it and settling on a high branch behind thick leaf cover. The stampede rumbled further beyond the shades the minotaurs none-the-wiser of his misdirection and current position.

'Phew, I finally dodged them', was what he thought as he waited for the dust to settle.

Huff!

'Just another day... Well, I guess that's it for to-'

and everything came full circle, his brain finally catching up to his current predicament. He could feel the attention trained on him and his instincts screamed danger by now. The last thing he saw as he struggled to extricate himself from the branch was a red blur and the wide horns riding it towards him.