Chapter 88: The Princes And The Pretender Jumped!

Malric

Ghoul bears were no friends of wolves. It was strictly on sight with those grotesque, undead abominations. They were corrupted, skinless nightmares, driven by a dark, relentless hunger. If they were Ghoul bears, they were horribly outnumbered. If there were truly six or seven ghoul bears creeping through these woods, they were in mortal danger.

Worse yet, the strict tournament rules explicitly forbade them from shifting into their true wolf forms during the hunt. Without their jaws and claws, they were certified death cause no weapon can harm Ghoul Bears, only wolf teeth can hurt those things.

They were doomed.

Suddenly, from the far tree line, the bushes parted. A massive, white-furred winter bear lumbered into the clearing, its black nose sniffing the copper-tainted air. In the center of the clearing, Travis froze. "Bear!" he screamed out, holding his bow with shaking hands. "Bear! It’s here!"

Back in the bushes, Theo let out a breathless sigh. "Hear that, one whistle. One bear."

"Bear!" Travis shouted again, his voice cracking with sheer panic as he pointed frantically toward the eastern ridge. "Another bear!" From where they crouched, the princes couldn’t see the full scope of the clearing through the thick trees. But then, the sound reached them, a sharp, piercing shrill.

Preeeeeet!

The silver whistle echoed violently through the valley. Vance swallowed hard, his posture going rigid. "That’s... that’s the second one..

Preeeeet! Preeeeet! PREEEET!

The whistle blared incessantly, rapid and hysterical, punctuated by Travis’s faint, screaming voice echoing over the rocks: "BEAR! BEAR! OH GOD, ANOTHER BEAR!"

"Shoot," Theo hissed, his face draining of color. "He’s right. Keali was right!"

"Why would you say this now?!" Vance rounded on Keali, grabbing his collar in a panic. "Dude, you’re going to get us all killed!" The whistles were blaring non-stop now, a frantic chorus of alarm cutting through the dark woods.

Malric had to think fast, he looked to the tree’s on his left which surround Travis and the tree’s on his write which take them out of this situation, he put everyone in. You deserve this Travis, He thought to himself as he looked to his brothers. "We need to dip, now, we don’t have that much time, that rat is barely an appetizer!" Malric barked, shooting to his feet.

"Run!" Vance yelled.

Malric grabbed Keali as they broke cover and ran for their lives.

Aina

Aina’s heart was hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird as the clearing devolved into absolute, chaotic carnage. Bears were everywhere. Massive, hulking masses of fur, fangs, and rotting flesh were breaking through the tree line in a terrifying wave. She pulled an arrow from her quiver, notched it with trembling fingers, and let it fly.

Thwack!

The arrow buried itself straight between the eyes of a charging winter bear. It collapsed with a heavy thud. She didn’t even have time to breathe before another one lunged from her left. She drew, pulled, and released in one fluid, desperate motion.

Thwack!

"Thank you, Roiner! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Aina sobbed out under her breath, weeping with gratitude toward her mate for giving her the enchanted bow. Every single arrow she unleashed found its mark with terrifying, unnatural precision. She pulled her third-to-last arrow, turning on her heel as a monstrous shadow fell over her.

This one didn’t look like the others. Its skin was torn away in jagged strips, exposing decaying muscle and black, oozing veins. Its eyes were milky, lifeless, and filled with a horrifying, unnatural malice. A ghoul bear. Aina didn’t know what the hell a ghoul bear was, but her gut screamed that this thing was wrong. She lined up her shot, drew the string back until her fingers bled, and fired straight at its throat.

Clang!

The enchanted arrow struck the creature’s neck..... and bounced cleanly off its hide, dropping uselessly into the dirt. The beast didn’t even flinch. It just let out a low, guttural roar that rattled Aina’s teeth in her skull. "Oh no," Aina whispered, her eyes going wide as saucer plates. "Oh, no, no, no."

In a complete fit of unrefined, primal panic, she took her entire bow and hurled it straight at the monster’s face. The bow hit the bear’s snout with a pathetic thud, luckily Aina didn’t stick around to watch it land.

She booked it.

She turned around and ran faster than she had ever run in her entire life. Her sprained ankle? Pain is a worry for later. Her aching ribs? Irrelevant. Adrenaline surged through her veins like liquid fire as her boots pounded against the rough terrain. She was sprint-singing prayers to any goddess.

As she cleared the rocky bend, her jaw dropped. Up ahead, sprinting through the sparse trees with zero grace were the pristine, untouchable princes. Those damn princes didn’t have the bravery or courage to put up a fight before meeting with death, Aina looked at the shocked as they were running after their own damn horses, which had snapped their tethers and were fleeing the stench of decay.

"YOU WHIMPS!" Aina screamed at the top of her lungs, her voice carrying over the sound of snapping branches and heavy bear snorts behind them. "YOU ABSOLUTE WHIMPS! WHERE IS YOUR HONOR" Malric didn’t even look back, his long legs eating up the ground as he sprinted. "THERE IS NO HONOR IN DYING FROM A GHOUL BEAR!" he bellowed over his shoulder.

Driven by sheer, blind panic and a complete lack of spatial awareness or foresight, the entire group sprinted blindly up the rising incline of a nearby cliff having nowhere else to run. They tore through the trees, breathless, swearing, and terrified, until the ground suddenly vanished beneath their feet.

The princess up ahead Aina screeched to a halt, their boots skidding over the ground of the cliff. Below the cliff was a massive waterfall that dropped into a river. They wanted to turn back and run elsewhere but behind them, the dark woods were already crashing with the terrifying sound of snapping trees and low, ghoul-bear roars.

"This is it, we have to shift and fight or we will die." Theo shouted and Malric was about to say something when a voice rang out. "Move!"

Before Malric could even turn his head away from the waterfall, a blur of motion slammed straight past him. Aina didn’t stop. She didn’t hesitate. She shoved right past the princes and jumped off the cliff. "Wait—!" Theo yelled.

SPLASH!

A massive plume of water erupted from the river below. Malric looked down at the foaming water, then back at the dark, decaying snout of the first ghoul bear breaking through the bushes with its deadly claws unsheathed. He looked at his brothers, who looked back at him with shared, horrified realization.

"Jump!" Malric roared.

One after another, Malric, Keali, Vance and Theo jumped off the cliff, plunging straight into the icy, churning depths alongside Aina.