THE HAUNTED TRAIL
The forest hums at this time of the day; a tune of ghastly menace. Sombre shadows blur the green lucence of its leaves and, just before the daylight slips into darkness, a threat seems to peek through the interstices of the leaves; of the ghoulish imminence of dread..
Akueme looks about him with a keen caution. He's quiet. He's been quiet since we entered the deep forest. I see his ears straining to pick up every sound; the snapping of twigs, the screeching of scurrying birds, the hum of the forest's ghosts...
The trail seems to grow far into eternity. I crouch on one knee to examine the tracks on the earth. Warm, and confident, they boast a defiance too daring to touch. Akueme knows this is dangerous - this party he leads to the arms of the Cocona like lambs to the slaughter.
It'd first attacked our village three moons ago. With its long, forked horns, agile body and irrevent claws, it resembled a fierce tiger, an ugly deer, and a vengeful rat. And further down the trail, the birds wailed louder, the ghosts hummed deeper and the winds grew darker - almost as if the trail was haunted...