Chapter 9. Something Bloody
With powerful and sure momentum of her black wings, Sephora flew over towards the bloody claw marks indented into the ancient tree; which had been torn in half. Gently she touched one of her fingers against them mark.
Going by the size of this... perhaps there was a bear here? As she considered this further, Sephora looked again at the surroundings and shook her head.
If there was a bear here, it was more likely to have gotten caught up in... whatever, had done this and whatever this was.
For a flitting moment, Sephora gave a silent thought to the bear which likely got caught up in this. Is that what the blood and fleshy chunks were? The heckles on the back of her neck stood up in fear. Though she would never admit it to her mother...
What could eat a bear? Certainly, Sephora was no fool. If it whatever did this could kill and eat a bear... then it could kill and eat her too.
She gulped. Shaking the thoughts out of her head and looked towards the next splotch of blood. Gleaming in a flicker as the clouds passed by.
The blood was fresh. Whatever it was, it had been injured but not killed. Meaning that patch of crimson flesh hadn't been the bear. Something had survived...
Over the twisted roots, and walking along the huge trunks of the fallen ancient trees, in this area, Sephora tracked the blood. The creature seemed to have made its way naturally to the cover of the trees on the other side of this... clearing.
It was sad to think of it as a clearing. This wasn't a space meant to be cleared.
Sure, Raven Harpy didn't indulge in religious or ritual practices. Some of the harpy clans did, but not them. The closest thing they had to that was sentimental aspects and value.
This entire forest had stories of ancient lore and legend passed down to just about every clutch of children born in the Raven Kingdom.
As she continued on the make shift path; following the bloody trail, she was almost at the other side. Decidedly she allowed her thoughts to lament back on the stories their old wet nurse used to tell her and Seraphina before bed. Tales of creatures that would drink nothing but blood! Others with had a long, and violent blood feud with those blood drinkers. Men who could shift into beasts!
These were not like Harpy. Who were born with the ability to adjust their forms. For these creatures it was one or the other. They could not half shift, and they could not always control it.
When pressed on the subject of these animal shifters, who were both like Harpy and completely other; without sense or control, the wet nurse admited that she had never actually come across one... in fact. No one in the Kindgom had seen either of these such creatures in many, many years.
Not since the father of the late King drove both out; our grandfather!
They were both believed to be completely slain.
At these memories, the image of the claw marks slashed deep into the old tree came to mind. It made her shudder at the prospect of meeting one of these senseless beasts.
Those are just children's stories! Sephora reassured herself. No one in the whole Kingdom has seen either the crazed shifters or the strange blood drinkers.
Sure, Raven Harpy and other, carnivourous clans drank blood wine occasionally to celebrate. However they didn't like off of that solely. Their entire existance didn't depend of that crimson liquid. Actually.. most Raven Harpy enjoyed a bottle occasionally for guests or the more common enjoyed it at social gatherings and occasions. Raven Harpy Still ate meat.
Just as she had finished hyping herself up and reassuing herself, these creatures did not exist... she was standing at the precepice of the other side of the forest. Where the trees towered high one again and the light of day was dimmed, as was visability.
The thoughts of either of the creatures of her childhood story tales was enough to ensure Sephora never left the ground and stayed mid-flight.
Rationalising her fear away, the youngest Raven princess gulped and pushed on into the other side of the forest. Where the trees seemed to cluster together far more and the environment seemed far darker.
Her survival and combat training with her mother kicked in. Not exactly her favourite person in the world; given that to her mother, Sephora would always be less than perfection and never anything more.
Beginning to really survay her surroundings, she flew slower. The noise from her wings carrying her couldn't be helped... she was no Owl Harpy, and couldn't fly silently and completely stealthily like they could. It was at this point she realised and accepted that this was a perfect place to be ambushed. Sephora was after all, one of the two royal princesses' of the Raven Harpy Clan & Kingdom. Even though to her mother, she might be less than perfect... to others, she was political capital and very much a prize.
What she did have, was her talons... as she thought about this, she extended her fashionable almond nails out. As she considered the landscape in this side of the forest. The same way a cat might extend its claws. Five perfect black blades, thin enough to slice with precision but not thick enough to gouge; like an Eagle harpy's talons might.
As she glanced proudly at her elongaded black talons, she spied more slithers of blood ahead of her. Smeared against the bark of some of the trees ahead... even a line of spray on a bunch of white capped mushrooms she was just flying past.
The land itself was generally flat and didn't slope any one particular way or another. Neither was it rocky or with any cliffs or hidden dips. This was after all, an ancient forest. This forest floor was old and worn by hundreds of years of deer and other creatures roaming around.
Still Sephora had seen no life at all, and heard not a single tweet... or even the caw of a crow. Serously, this is getting way too creepy... where is EVERYTHING?
However, with the hight she was forced to fly at to follow the trail accurately, she was at a vulnerable height. If anything attacked her with a firm and sure pouncing ability, it would be more than sufficiant to knock her from the air. Then she would be at a disadvantage.
Contrary, if she walked she wouldn't have the maneouvarbility to chance a dodge, not the same way flying allowed with air currents. It was safer to fly.
Without any noises from birds around, she was sure there had to be something predatory around here and something large. Either that, or something gravely unnatural had come to the ancient forest which allowed access to the Raven Kingdom.
If there was something above her, which there wasn't at this time and was truly alone in her quest to follow this blood trail, then that would also work well for an ambush tactic. Knocking her to the ground like that would allow her wings to be pinned... even broken.
All of these scenarios rushed through Sephora's head, as she mentally prepared herself the best she could for... she had no idea what! A bear? An angry, hurt bear? Those could be dangrous but they would be delicious if they were so injured. She could take some of its limbs if it were as dead, with the amount of blood loss Sephora was seeing. Then the amazing chef in the mannor would be able to work his magic on it! Bear was tough... but it wasn't as if she had managed to find a single deer the entire stretch she had covered.
The blood got fresher, and the buzz of flies arose.
Raven Harpy, had such a poor sense of smell that it had to be extremely pungent for one to smell something very, very off.
Blood this heavy? Flies gathering like this? Something's dead nearby, I hope it isn't my bear. I wanted to find him alive. Just as she finished that thought, she spied an area in front of her where the blood had stopped.
One of the trees was competely covered in a fresh coat of blood, at a section of its redwood base. Just of centre of this, was a bloodied lifeless bulk. It was in such bad condition that Sephora couldn't actually make out what it was.
Lowering herself, as silently as she could manage, just as she was a few paces away from... what must only be a corpse. The were hoards of flies covering the body. The creature had to be dead. Taking a few steps around to, what seemed to be the front of the creature, as Sephora could make out an arm and a shoulder.
She gasped from shock and blatant surprise. Just as she got to the front, the face of the creature. Laying smooshed, pale and bloody... it was a human!
Then, it hit her, "Oh... it's just a human. I've followed a trail to find a dead human. Not even a half dead bear or anything exciting." With the tip of her black shoe, she nudged the shoulder of the human's carcass.
No human could have caused that distruction single handedly. They must have gotten caught up in whatever had happened. Had they been alive, they might have been able to tell her what had happened here and maybe, just maybe she could have done something. He might have even gotten to tell the Raven Queen herself and their household might have gained a new man servant.
It would be entertaining having a pet human around. Almost all the workers in the kingdom were Harpy. Human's just couldn't get up to the sheer heights. At least, not easily and not without being noticed by a busy city of flyers.
Even a Raven Harpy warrior would struggle with the injuries that this mere human had sustained. Sephora found herself, giving admiration to this human. At least mentally. On the side of his bare torso, which had 4 large claw marks gouged out of his sides. It oozed blood constantly, the flies hovered around this area and the shoulder on the same side.
Something had definetly attacked him. Maybe it really had been a bear?
To find a human in these woods was unheard of. Perhap's he is what had scared off all of the creatures. If this was a human, why weren't there more of them? They rarely appeared individually.
Sephora took another glance at him, he'd been a very lean human while alive & would have made a fun man servant to have around. Her mother would praise her for bringing a trophy home alive.
She was brought back from her thoughts by a horrid bubbleing and gurgling. Snapping her gaze to the human, she watched his mouth move but no words come out. Just unnatural and conserning sounds. Blood, dribbled from his mouth.
The human's eyes were open but they weren't stairing at her. They couldn't seem to actually focus, signaling a head injury.
"All right, I'm going to take you back home with me. You're pretty much already dead and if I don't mother won't believe me and I won't have my older sister's defence today. I'm probably already late and mother is going to be so furious with me."
She leaned down to scoop up this human into her arms, in a cradle style. When she groaned in protest, not at his weight - which he deadweight was more than Sephora had estimated - but her favourite non-formal velvent dress was now covered in the blood which oozed from his wound.
"If you don't die on the way there, I'll kill you myself for wrecking this dress... but, if you actually live," Sephora spoke to him, as she kicked off the ground and pushed the air below her wings hard. Propelling herself up. Climbing higher and higher with each flap, until she was at the top of the trees again. The body of this frail human on the verge of death, lay limp in her arms as blood from his open wounds countinued to drop. "... if you live, you can tell us what the hell is going on and what actually happened here."
With that, Sephora made the decision to take this almost, corpse of a human back to the Raven Kingdom, What's the worst that could happen?
She thought to herself, she flew back towards the trio of mountains... back to the castle where she may very well be about to meet her fiancee.