Leander took the Stalker's attack on his right vanbrace. For the first time since he had donned his scale armour, Leander heard the sound of his armour being damaged as the Stalker's scythe-like appendage cut into his vanbrace. The scythe cut deep, slicing through the vanbrace and into Leander's flesh.
Had he been a living being, it could have been a problem.
Throwing himself backwards, Leander rolled, sliding to one knee.
'That was too fast for any beast to move… without using anima.'
His head shot up, facing the Stalker, but another bolt of lightning descended from the sky to strike the earth. Leander's face contorted into a mix of subtle anxiety and caution. The Stalker had vanished, leaving Leander alone in the dark.
Lightning continued to flash; had Leander's heart been beating, it would have drowned out the thunder. Frantically, he looked around for any sign of the Stalker. After a few minutes, a small part of Leander questioned whether what he had just seen was an illusion brought on by Narina's story.
Running his fingers along the vanbrace that wrapped around his right arm, Leander grimaced, feeling the tear in his armour.
'If only it was that easy.'
Taking a moment to ground himself, Leander looked towards the corpse Stalker had just been feeding on when the same noise, the same chittering howl that had initially alerted him, sounded from somewhere around him. It was so loud that Leander couldn't figure out what direction it was coming from.
About to prepare to defend himself, a harrowing thought crossed Leander's mind.
Breaking into a sprint, Leander ran back towards the cave. Any pretence of stealth was abandoned now that the Stalker knew he was there.
Every moment, Leander prepared for the beast to lunge from behind a tree, then the next tree, maybe from behind, out of a bush beside him. Yet for all of Leander's worries, the Stalker didn't emerge, neither did it release another deafening howl.
Leander's instincts began to calm, seeing as the Stalker had seemingly vanished into the night, perhaps to hunt easier prey.
"Narina!"
Reaching the cave, Leander squinted, trying to see inside. Having to wait for a bolt of lightning to light up the cave. This is when Leander saw it: his cloak lay on the ground. Narina was nowhere in sight.
Moving to his cloak, Leander picked it up, his face beginning to contort, anxiety giving way to a bubbling rage. A single thought began to burn within Leander's mind: Had the Stalker left him to hunt Narina?
Cloak tightly held in his hand, Leander moved back to the mouth of the cave. Roaring into the storm, he called out to his new companion.
"Narina! Where are you, Narina!"
The sound of something shuffling behind him caused Leander's focus to snap back to the cave.
"Hey, stop being so loud..."
Narina half stepped out from behind a large rock, causing Leander to exhale in relief.
Putting his cloak over his head, Leander adjusted it as he faced Narina.
"I thought, I thought that beast had come here to get you… I'm glad I was wrong."
Narina, still half hidden behind the rock, moved a little further behind the rock so that only her head could be seen.
"You saw him? You saw Stalker?"
Touching the scars on his vanbrace, Leander dryly chuckled.
"Oh, I saw him alright. A twig broke under my foot as I was trying to sneak away. Stalker tried to take my head off, but fortune was on my side tonight. It seems to have gone somewhere else, so you should try and get some more sleep. It won't be long until daybreak, and we can start moving again."
Narina's face grew still as Leander spoke, her eyes widening, her pupils beginning to shake, her entire body shaking.
"H-he, s-saw you, Stalker. The Stalker saw you… And you came back here!"
Surprised by Narina's sudden outburst, Leander raised an eyebrow.
"Of course, I came back here; where else would I go?"
Covering her face with her hands, Narina's teeth began to chatter, her body shaking more and more with each second. Suddenly, she moved up to Leander, her fists pounding against his breastplate as she broke down.
"You don't understand! You haven't lost Stalker; he's not like other beasts. He's the pinnacle of an ambush predator! If his first attack fails, he will wait as long as it takes until you let your guard down, and then he'll strike!"
Leander's eyes widened, shock taking over his mind.
What Narina described, had that not been exactly what Leander was doing. Just because the Stalker hadn't immediately attacked him, Leander had assumed the beast had fled, causing him to lower his guard.
The Stalker had played him.
Grabbing Narina, Leander picked her up with one arm. Carrying her just as he had when she was unconscious. Looking around, Leander made sure the Stalker was nowhere nearby before running east, trying to reach the lake.
Although he was confident he couldn't see the hunting beast, because of Narina's words, Leander was on edge. Leander understood why he had not realised Stalker was an ambush predator. Stalker was a tall beast, standing two heads taller than Leander. It was large, and its arms looked more like clubs than any kind of precision tools, yet with its scythes, it was capable of dealing devastating blows.
It was in part due to its black carapace that Stalker was practically invisible within the dark. Yet, Leander couldn't understand. If it was an ambush predator, roaring into the sky, alerting everything that it was nearby, it defeated the very purpose.
This was a question Leander had no way of answering right now. He had only one focus, and that was to live through the night.
The storm still showed no sign of ending. The rain fell heavy on Leander's face as he dashed through the forest, ducking from side to side, avoiding the swaying trees and a few fallen trees ripped out of the ground by the storm. Even meeting a beast or two, which quickly turned the other way and fled upon seeing him – it seemed Leander wasn't the only one that was worried about what might be hiding in the dark.
Leander's clothing was soaked through, the tunic beneath his armour clinging uncomfortably to his skin. His hair, which had only recently been an annoyance getting into his eyes, now stuck to his face in wet strands – only a few still stirred in the wind.
Narina clung to Leander's arm. On any other day, she might have protested – insisted that the way he carried her made her feel like a sack of potatoes. But right now, she couldn't muster a single complaint. The sheer speed at which he moved turned the trees into little more than a blur, the wind whipping past her face.
Even if she had tried, Narina knew the fear in her heart would have caused her to stumble and fall. Allowing the beast hiding somewhere in the darkness to consume her.
Every step Leander took was a blind gamble, as the lightless forest caused him to continue onwards with a blatant disregard for his own safety. More than once, Leander had nearly collided with a tree, only for a sudden bolt of lightning to reveal the path just in time, allowing him to correct his course at the last moment.
A fallen tree or even the corpse of a half eaten beast did little to slow Leander down. He jumped over them, his stride never breaking.
Leander's mind was empty, free of any and all thoughts, as his mind focused only on his surroundings. Should the Stalker engage him now, Leander would be ready. He knew he would be incapable of killing the predator – any beast that could use anima would be nothing less than a death sentence with the state he was in currently – but at the very least, he would buy Narina time to escape should his worst fears come to fruition.
Charging onward, Leander's mind only began to calm when he saw what he had been hoping for. The edge of the forest and beyond it, the light of day piercing through the storm clouds that had tormented the land all night.
The sun was rising, but Leander and Narina were not out of the dark woods yet.
Leander's smile flickered as he heard something.
A sound so quiet it was all but suppressed by the sounds of the storm. Yet in his state of instinctual overdrive, Leander could recognise that noise no matter how quiet it was.
It was the sound of a branch snapping.
With one fluid motion, Leander seized Narina by her furs and hurled her forward. In the same breath, he twisted, dropping low just as the Stalker's scythe slashed through the air. The blade missed his neck by an inch, but not without consequence – it sliced clean through a few strands of his hair, leaving them to be taken away by the storm.
"Narina!"
Leander roared, balling his fists.
"Run!"
With no time to check if Narina had followed his instructions, Leander sprang into action, engaging the Stalker.
The Stalker's other scythe lashed out. While the first had aimed to take his head, the second came slashing downward – mere moments from cleaving Leander in half.
He couldn't let that happen.
Dropping low, he surged forward, closing the distance in an instant. The Stalker's long arms, which allowed it a considerable reach, now worked against it. Leander was already inside its guard, poised to strike before it could reposition to defend.
Hurling his first forward, intending to strike the beast's chest.
As his fist connected, Leander couldn't help but laugh.
The Stalker caught Leander's fist with one of its smaller arms, its three clawed fingers clamping down, locking his hand in place. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pull free.
His shoulders rose and fell in rapid succession – despite not being alive, Leander still felt out of breath, having run so far, so fast, for so long. Leander lifted his gaze, meeting the creature's insectoid face. His own reflection stared back at him, distorted in the glossy surface of its many eyes.
"…Damn."
The Stalker's mandibles chittered – a sound disturbingly close to laughter – as it lifted one of its larger arms, its scythe-like appendage poised for the killing blow.
Leander exhaled, his muscles relaxing.
'I hope Melaine can forgive me, Sword too..'
When the scythe was so close that Leander could see a lightning bolt reflecting in its chitinous obsidian-like blade, something big crashed into the both of them, splitting Leander and the Stalker, sending them away from each other and into the mud.
Trying to pick himself up, Leander slid on the mud as he looked for what had hit him. Something moved in the darkness, unable to discern its shape. Leander was relived when the shape spoke with Narina's voice. Her voice was shakey, yet she shouted with such force that her voice broke through the storm, forcing itself to be heard.
"Leander! Come on! We need to get out of here!"
As the Stalker began to pick itself up, Leander was already moving. Following after Narina, who had just saved his life. The edge of the forest was so close now that the light of day would rob the Stalker of its greatest ally.
And it knew this.
Giving up any idea of ambushing Leander, the Stalker was on the move. The distance Leander had created between himself and the Stalker was closed at a rapid speed.
Leander knew he couldn't look back, so he ran.
Leander burst from the treeline, hurling himself forward. He dove out of the suffocating darkness and into the light, the dawn washing over him.
Behind Leander, the Stalker made one final attempt to end him. Its scythe-like appendage, which had moved with blinding speed within the dark, slowed the moment it crossed into the light, its momentum faltering.
Leander hit the wet grass with a heavy thud, rolling onto his knees as he turned to face the woods, preparing for whatever was going to happen next.