Nasty Little Witchling

Unlike Sweeka, the jackalope was less graceful in navigating a wooded landscape. They were used to vast open plains and kept getting their larger antlers entangled in the brush. However, they were still faster and nimbler in getting through the undergrowth than me.

My eyes were locked on the ground, tracing the fresh paw prints on the thin layer of snow in the dark. So, the branch at head height eluded my notice until it was too late. Avoiding another bash to the head cost me. I slipped on the icy ground, landing unceremoniously on my back. The chill from the damp forest floor seeped into my clothing despite quickly scrambling back to my feet.

I resumed tracking the small paw prints while keeping a better eye on my surroundings. However, I was now too far behind to sense the mana-lacking jackalope in a forest overflowing with living beings and plants. The jackalope had circled a giant redwood tree and hopped into a clearing. The canopies above didn’t overlap as much and let through faint moonlight that glinted off the snow.

The tracks ended abruptly. And I searched from the edge of the clearing for where they could have continued. The snow may have been too compact for the paw prints to show. Or did they leap into a bush somehow?

Beyond the many wakeful animals and critters flooding my mind with their nocturnal activities, the trees were also whispering to each other. Regardless, there was nothing to suggest where the jackalope had gone.

Now that I’d exhausted all my attempts at keeping my naive hope of them simply eluding me alive, I searched for potential predators. Due to the lack of another set of tracks, I checked the sky first. If it had been an airborne predator, they would have already whisked away the jackalope to a faraway nest, ruining my chances of ever finding them.

Fortunately, while the jackalope was airborne, they were not in the clutches of an owl or storm eagle’s talons. They were high above, kicking about from inside a cocoon that shimmered in the limited moonlight. The black threads were full of mana, blocking the fear the poor animal was experiencing.

Plenty of creatures used silk for protection, hunting, and trapping. I worked through a list of those I would least like to meet in the dead of night and hoped for something mundane and harmless.

I didn’t get my wish.

A night mantis wasn’t the worst possibility, but its sharp, scythe-like limbs were unsettling. It twirled them around from a branch above to gather the silk thread and pull up its catch. It would come up to my thighs if they were on the ground, easy enough to kick, but that didn’t help when they were high up in lofty branches.

The jackalope’s size and struggle stopped it from being reeled in all the way up to the deadly limbs, their antlers also poking holes in the silk.

It didn’t care about or understand anything I had to say. The single thing on its mind was the thrill of a successful hunt and worry over losing it. It skittered across the thick branch while holding onto the threads it produced from its limbs, away from another larger mantis waiting at the tree’s trunk.

The cocoon dangled below it, swinging from side to side and eliciting more kicks against the silky capsule from the trapped animal within. I followed underneath, my neck craned back to stare up at the display. I slipped the dagger at my waist out of its sheath, comforted by its weight but with no idea what to do with it.

Throwing was more likely to end up hitting the jackalope or me when it came back down.

To eat its catch, the night mantis would need to escape from its competition to solid ground or a larger branch that could hold the struggling quarry. Without focusing on where I was stepping, I strode into a bed of sticky silk, the mana in it coming alive at the touch to wrap around me.

It didn’t get very far since it wasn’t made for people and merely reached my knees. I grabbed the thin thread at the corners of the sheet and yanked, resulting in rustling from the leaves above as a different night mantis came tumbling down. Moving out of the falling insect's way caused me to trip and fall to my knees as it landed beside me.

The fall didn’t affect the critter, and it made a swipe at my tangled legs as soon as it got up. I crawled back, yet the attack wasn’t meant for me, but rather the threads connecting us. It sliced through them and turned to scrurry up the nearest tree, unwilling to fight something much larger than itself.

I got to work slicing the rest of the threads and glanced up at the original escaping insect, trying to keep track of it amongst the numerous other creatures in the darkness. I regretted not wearing gloves as the threads tangled around my fingers so tightly that I couldn’t get the blade’s edge between them to cut.

The night mantis was stuck at the edge of the branch, wanting to jump across to another less than a yard away. The smaller mantis would soon force a decision; it approached from the trunk, now joined by the one that fled from me. Instead of uniting forces, they fought over the closer position on the branch.

When it finally decided to jump, I was still cutting the remaining loose thread wrapped around my pants. The durable material at least made it easier to slice without worrying about hurting myself. Its stick-like legs bent for the jump, and leapt across the gap at a creeping pace with the silky cocoon swinging below.

I started to weaken the wood of the branch it was going to land on, but that wasn’t necessary.

At the apex of its jump, the jackalope's weight caught up with both of them, and they plummeted. The carrying capacity of insects was well-known, but that hardly helped in mid-air. I stumbled underneath them with my arms held out, noticed I was still holding the dagger, and dropped it moments before catching the jackalope.

The mantis landed beside us, a scythed limb catching my arm and making it through my garment. Either the jackalope couldn’t hear me or was too frightened to care that they were impeding my effort to help by struggling.

This night mantis was more invested in its fight with me than the last, focusing more on the large meal in my arms than how tall I was. It swiped at my legs, stabbing into the ground at my feet. I held the jackalope to the side as it continued to struggle so I could see my attacker better, but I mainly succeeded in tangling my arms in the sticky silk.

I stepped back onto the dagger I’d dropped and stopped with it under my heel. The two other mantises skittered down a trunk behind me to join the fight for their meal. I needed the dagger and my arms free before they could.

I kicked out towards the creature's large eyes and forced it to retreat while swiping at my boot. It noticed the pair closing in and chose to ignore them. With numbers on their side and their rivalry temporarily forgotten, they began to surround me.

I leant down to pick up my dagger while cradling the jackalope under one arm, spinning around to brandish it at whichever approached.

Never again would I disparage Yis’ choice to make me learn the glaive. The weapon's reach would have been a great help instead of my blade, which was only slightly bigger than their limbs.

The jackalope’s struggles let it escape most of the silk and observe our predicament. They hated what they saw and made an effort to leave my grasp for the safety of my shoulder. Their antlers scratched the fabric covering my face and almost poked an eye out before I threw them off.

“If you run, you’ll end up in another trap,” I snapped, spinning to kick at an approaching mantis and throwing a blast of wind at another. They stopped thinking of bolting and hid between my legs, making twisting around quickly much more difficult. I flung another blast of wind, but their insect bodies were so thin there was nothing for the air to catch.

Raising a dirt mound to block them wasn’t helpful since they climbed over.

I didn’t think I was in much danger of being badly hurt by a few insects, but I could feel the gaze of other prowlers of the night. They were interested in all the ruckus and, most likely, scarier than the bugs. Additionally, my use of mana may not have been the brightest idea if it attracted more.

I kept my back to the most aggressive of the lot, letting them get close. I wasn’t the best at telling when they were about to strike, and I misjudged it, taking a cut to the back knee before turning. However, they were too close to avoid my retaliation, and I struck down at it.

Their bulbous head split in two as the dagger cut down into their neck. The insect slid off my knife and crumpled to the floor, its limbs twitching. I spun towards the remaining two who were going for my open back, one managing to catch my ankle, only covered by a wollen sock.

The jackalope japed an antler into its leg and chased it away before I could strike.

The mantises didn’t feel it was worth it anymore with the jackalope out of the binding and retreated up to the branches. I had more space to act and was frustrated beyond caring. I snarled and swiped my outstretched fingers towards their climb in my first attempt at Evie’s wind strike. The ‘blades’ of solid air weren’t at all sharp but were solid enough to knock them off the trunk and into the forest beyond.

“Would you—Arg!” The jackalope was bashing their hind leg into me, trying to get out of the remaining threads. They kept hitting the cut on my ankle, adding to my aggravation. I raised my fist, ready to hit them back with the hilt of my dagger.

Instead, I looked up at the starry sky and let out a long sigh before bending down and cutting them out. I held their antlers to hold them still and keep them from running away right after.

“Isn’t this enough to convince you that being here isn’t that great?”

The vast open space and grass were powerful motivators compared to rough stone and damp basements. But they at least felt it would be safer to view the forest from my arms.

I limped out of the clearing as soon as I cut through the last thread and rounded the base of a trunk, hoping to avoid the watchful gaze of many curious animals. Yet, there was a certain malice to whatever was still watching us.

Something whistled through the air and rustled the leaves of the lower branches, embedding into the bark beside my ear. Primates sitting up in the branches started screeching and hollering, announcing themselves as howler monkeys.

I’d jerked my head to the side right as the javelin hit. I eyed the length of carved wood for a moment before dashing away, forgetting my hurt ankle.

Another branch carved to have a pointed edge dug into the ground before me, and I swerved to avoid more throws. They were launched with such power that I barely had time to nudge the wooden weapons away from my back.

They didn’t care to eat me, but I wasn’t sure if that made things better. They were intelligent enough to know the ‘hairless ones’ roamed together in tribes and needed to be chased away, so we didn’t establish ourselves in the area.

They were, however, not intelligent enough to understand I was alone and didn’t want to be anywhere near their territory. The hooting continued as I ran around tree trunks while they swung from the branches, easily keeping pace.

They were so loud that, coupled with my and the jackalope's heartbeats thumping in my ears, I didn’t notice they stopped following me until I had to stop at a river. I immediately turned around, noticing the predator lurking in the shallow depths and a second immersed in the muddy bank.

“This is that foolish cat’s fault,” I muttered, catching my breath. “I do not need to prove myself to either of you. This is ridiculous.”

The jackalope thought it was my fault for taking them outside the safety of their rocky surroundings. And while there was some truth to that, I still blamed Evie.

I turned toward Drasda, using the few stars I could see as a guide. Going back to the tunnel was an option, but I’d rather not have more javelins thrown at me. The howler monkeys knew better than to leave the safety of the treetops when it came to people with mana, but that still wasn’t reassuring. Even without them directly confronting me, getting a stake through the heart would only take misjudging one dodge or nudge.

The chirps and hoots of insects and birds drew my eyes every which way. An owl regarded me, deciding I was too heavy to carry and took flight in search of different prey. A feline I had no interest in examining to determine what type stalked me from afar. I mentally screamed at them loud enough to frighten them away since they were uninterested in attacking prey that knew they were coming.

My panic subsided at a break in all the things thinking of eating me, and I stopped running. Without my necklace on, the only way they could discover me was through the noise I was making and maybe my smell. After taking more than a few deep breaths, I started to traipse over the dead sticks and around bushes.

Nothing bigger than a rodent noticed my silent passage through the deadly forest from then on. This trip had adequately demonstrated why the train had waited till morning to cross through it.

The most dangerous thing in my forest near the cottage beside the treant was venomous snakes that had no interest in me. It was a jarring difference to the Red Forest I’d assumed couldn’t be as bad as people suggested.

A faint sense of steel nearby that I could manipulate halted me in my tracks. I was between a narrow gap between two trees, and my next step would have placed my foot on the metal. I crouched down and prodded the pointed spikes that poked out of the ground, surrounding another slab of metal.

It wasn’t hard to imagine what the design entailed for my leg if I’d stepped on it.

I flung my head back, mouthing expletives and searching in vain for someone to share in my misery at the situation. Everything in this damn tree-infested nightmare was out to get me.

I carefully shifted the ground beneath the trap and buried it further, hearing a faint click as the teeth tried to close around nothing but dirt. As I got closer to the sound of human laughter, I found two more and buried them as well.

There was also a jackalope-sized cage with berries as bait that I made sure my companion noticed. They were already looking to escape again, having forgotten the consequences of their last attempt, and this was a sufficient reminder that I was good company.

The train tracks were the next bit of steel I found, and I followed them to the military camp between the forest and Drasda. The unnatural hill and ditch stretched out before me, with light from both mages and lamps illuminating the entire length. It was placed as a barrier to the forest for good reason, from what I’d learnt in my few hours of exploring it against my will.

Pairs of uniformed soldiers walked across the scaffolding behind, their torsos lazily bobbing along as they chatted. I debated sauntering over and getting them to fetch Yis, but that would result in an inordinate number of awkward questions.

Thus, I went the long way around to avoid any such issues.

That was until I stepped on a patch of grass in the darkness, and it sent off a subtle pulse of mana. The guards consequently threw an orb of light my way, and I heard the questions about what could have set off the alarm.

I dove into the grass with the jackalope still nestled in my arms and sunk the dirt below me to hide from the light. The guards didn’t seem too interested in what could have happened as they withdrew their light and carried on their way, voices fading into the distance.

I poked my head out of the ditch I’d made to check they were gone and moved further away from their wall into the empty field of tall grass.

There were no other issues besides different spiked seeds sticking to my pants and socks that I had to fling off. I reached the smaller barrier surrounding Drasda and clambered up the hill and over the wooden scaffolding when there was a gap in the guards. I dropped down into the darkness again with a disgruntled jackalope and made it to the cobbled streets of Drasda.

I only knew of one entrance to the sewer and had an easy time avoiding the watch patrols, a hooded figure exiting the window of a house, and people returning from their night out.

My lockpicks were still deformed, and getting through the lock to the restaurant was more challenging than all the cages combined. Especially, when I had to corral an uncooperative animal that didn’t want to return to being underground while keeping my hands free to use the tools.

I ducked into the sewers from the cellar, snatching a stick of celery for the jackalope and a small wood and crystal salt mill for me. Now, out of danger, I succumbed to the pain from the cut in my ankle and limped through the sewer, guided by the few rats that didn’t scurry away from the scent of blood.

No peluda tracked me; if it had, I guiltily considered throwing the jackalope at it to escape from how whiny the creature was being.

I made no attempt at communicating with the big, annoying cat once in the basement again since that required more lock picking. I pushed the jackalope into their enclosure and snapped the lock back on, feeling slightly blameworthy at their rejoiced for the safety of the cage.

However, I also blamed them for our lack of safety out in the wild.

Yis, if he had witnessed my fight, may have made the argument it was due to my lack of weapon and magic training, but that was nitpicking. Utterly ridiculous. I’d performed… adequately under pressure and surrounded by thigh-high insects.

I sighed, not believing my own arguments. I’d need Evie to teach me so that next time, I could slink into the shadows or slice a mantis to pieces instead of just pushing them. Maybe I could learn from the bulgasari how to levitate my dagger and cut down the next trapped jackalope from the ground.

After analysing my actions, I was left disappointed and frustrated that I had not even considered certain options.

By the time I was most of the way back to the first castle door, I’d imagined the fight playing out in dozens of different ways. Some had better outcomes, and others ended up with me being surrounded by things worse than night mantises.

But, all led to one simple conclusion: more training with Yis and studying creatures like Evie.

I closed the last door behind me and turned the key, dragging my feet the rest of the way up to the palace. My cuts were scabbed over and more itchy than painful at this point, making it easier to climb the stairs and avoid the early-rising staff.

My eyes may have been playing tricks on me, but sunlight may have been leaking through my curtains already. I placed the salt mill in my bedside drawer and walked through my shower, leaving my dark clothing in a sweaty heap.

I barely managed to pull on my nightgown and close my eyes when there was a knock at the door. I groaned but waited for Haily to walk in, see I was still asleep and leave.

There was another rap at the door, more forceful than Haily’s reserved knock. I stilled, making a deal with myself to see who it was only if they knocked again.

They did, and I pushed off the soft, warm, and comfortable bed to march into the sitting room. I yanked open the door, ready to tell the duke I wasn’t interested in having breakfast today, but I found Yis with his fist raised. I buried my head in my hands, regretting my words on more training with the man.

“I didn’t mean now,” I whined. “Let me sleep.”