Up in the treetops, in a silken nest, two forward facing discs peered unblinking over the fields. All around the forest canopy hummed, clicked and rattled with the night calls of insects and small creatures that scurried around in the dark. A lizard hurried past the still eyes but such a morsel was ignored. In those black mirrors could be seen the faint reflection of the flickering torches far out in the fields. The two-legged cattle were restless tonight, their numbers had grown again; soon it would be harvest time. Drool and venom dripped from its fangs in anticipation. Its mouthparts moved momentarily and then once more it was as still as a statue; watching.
***
... The barks of the hunting pack were getting louder as they threw on the tunics. Nuarana tore strips off the hem of hers and bound the wounds on her feet; she put the overseer's boots on and attempted to walk. The boots were still a little loose, despite the bindings, and it was still excruciatingly painful for her to walk.
"Hold the weapons Nuarana." said Kaziviere, handing his bloodied scimitar and the overseer's short sword to her.
He grabbed one of the torches, now merely darkening smoking coals which threatened to extinguish itself. He blew on it so the end now smouldered, but didn't let it burst aflame and give off a tell-tale light. Without hesitation he put Nuarana over his shoulder and walked as briskly as he could away from the stripped bodies.
Leaving the beanfields they entered the forboding forest, finding an animal path that threaded its way through the thickening trees. The sounds of the night-time insects were loud in their ears. The starlight above them disappeared as the atmosphere grew humid and foreboding. The baying of the hunting dogs faded, muffled by the timber behind them.
The dogs fell upon the bodies that were strong with the scent of the blood spoor they had followed. They ripped into the naked flesh. The hunters caught up with the dogs and looked in horror at the scene. They kicked and whipped the dogs from the bodies of their barely unrecognisable comrades from the nearby slave compound. One dog picked up a faint scent and followed it, its nose to the ground. Denied their sport of troubling the corpses the other dogs gradually peeled away, following their pack member.
***
It felt the thrum of the trip wires as the two-legged cattle entered the forest. It smelt the smoke of their torch. Fire! One of the few things it feared, that, and others of its kind. In its dark mirrors it saw more commotion in the fields as more creatures headed in its direction. Slowly it dropped down on a silken rope from the high canopy to hang above the narrow path, without disturbing the night calls of those around. It waited.
In thundered the four legged beast, its nose to the ground; unaware in the excitement of the chase that anything was amiss.
There was a strike and a yelp of pain and alarm; the violence of the movement caused the night calls to abruptly cease. The other dogs came bounding in, skidding to a halt as they saw the horror hauling itself and its prey back into the trees. They barked their defiance at it. It viewed them impassively in its dark mirrors as its fangs injected venom into its prey. The captured dog's shaking ceased as paralysis took hold of its body. Still the other dogs barked at the abomination before them, but were reluctant to attack it.
The monster withdrew its fangs from its meal and hissed and bubbled at the impertinent beasts. They yelped and whined and ran back out of the forest in terror, leaving the horror behind them.
Its clawed and shiny legs grasped the silken rope and hauled its pale, sickening body back up into the canopy; its meal in its jaws. The others would play with the two-legged cattle in the forest.
Up in the tree tops it returned to its watch over the fields, the reflections of distant torches dancing in its black mirrors. It settled down to eat, the chewing and sucking noises mingled with the nocturnal chorus that resumed all around it.
Excerpt from The Dead Gods - Flint & steel, Fire & Shadow Book 2
