They both almost shot their arrows haphazardly, when a loud voice shattered the heavy stillness permeating the trees.
“Strangers to this forest, hold your arrows!” called a deep voice, from just a short distance away.
To Lee, the voice came from a hidden place that was uncomfortably close. None of the four could see the speaker of the words, though their eyes raced as they hurriedly cast looks all around the encompassing shadows and trees.
At the very least, Lee knew that the voice came from no beast. Rather, it sounded like the voice of a man.
“I am the one who felled the Harraks with arrows,” the speaker continued calmly. “I am not your enemy.”
The mystery of the unseen archer revealed slightly, Lee suddenly feared for the man, especially if he was a stranger as well.
“There are beasts out there! Beasts that killed some of the winged animals, and their riders,” Lee shouted into the forest, “It is dangerous! They are very close!”
“Beasts?” The voice seemed to carry amusement, much to the abject surprise of Lee. There was not a trace of worry at Lee’s pronouncement within the tone of the other. “Oh, those beasts. Nothing to fear from them. They are not your enemies either. They were your defenders. You already know they fought to help you.”
A stunned expression crossed the faces of Lee, Lynn, and Ryan, and even Erin’s eyes widened at the words of the concealed speaker.
“Come out in the open, then, if you are a friend” Lee addressed the possessor of the voice, not willing to believe how casual the individual was about the ferocious creatures that were prowling somewhere nearby.
Slowly, out from behind the trunk of another large tree, a broad form emerged. Lee knew in his heart that the man walking into view was native to the strange world, or at least someone who had lived within it for a notably long time.
A thick, shaggy beard, and long, unkempt dark locks covered most of the man’s head and face, and the brown tunic and trousers that he wore blended in smoothly with the hues of the trees. The man’s shoulders were of substantial width, and his thick legs and stout torso indicated great physical strength.
His piercing blue eyes regarded them intently, alert and studious at once. A long bow was gripped in his left hand, and the hilt of a sword, sheathed and suspended from a baldric, poked up from his left side.
“I am Gunther,” the man said in the way of introduction. “I am here with my Jaghuns… those creatures that you call… the beasts. You saw them destroy the Trogen warriors and their Harraks, who were out to slay you. Perhaps you will come to understand that my Jaghuns are your friends as well.”
The man suddenly cupped his hands to his mouth and made a bird-like call, the sounds uncannily familiar to Lee as a realization dawned on him. He remembered hearing the distinctive calls more than once during their trek through the forest, discounting the sounds at the time as coming from simple denizens of the forest.
He now understood that the man before him had been following them for quite some time. The notion was sobering, as Lee grasped that their own existence had depended on the woodsman’s judgement of them.
Lee had witnessed the skill that the man had with the longbow. The woodsman could have picked off Lee and his companions one by one, with absolutely no difficulty, from the shadows of the forest.
Four large forms suddenly came into view, as if manifesting out of shadow and brush. They trotted forward, continuing up to the man’s side. Lee and his companions were mesmerized at the sight of the beasts padding out of the foliage and into the open. The ease of Gunther’s posture with the beasts only slightly took the edge off of Lee’s renewed stress at watching the creatures emerge, their broad muzzles glistening with dark, crimson stains.
Gunther seemed to sense their fascination with the Jaghuns, as well as their great apprehension. “The Jaghuns are my companions and friends. I have raised each of them from when they were cubs. They will do no harm to you, as long as I will it.”
The implied warning was not lost on Lee.
As he looked upon the huge woodsman, a look of concern then started to creep across Gunther’s face. His eyebrows narrowing together, the woodsman’s eyes cast about the woods, looking past Lee and his companions.
“Mianta!” Gunther called out in a loud voice. His voice held a very noticeable anxiety, as he repeated the name once again. “Mianta!”
A worrisome look encompassed the woodsman’s face, as he waited for some kind of response. Lee then remembered the fallen Jaghun that he had witnessed, the one that had suffered the back wound, and had subsequently been impaled with the arrow.
The Jaghuns around the woodsman seemed to become distraught themselves at the woodsman’s escalating agitation, whining and slumping their heads, as their tails were tucked in. It was then that Lee fully discerned the nature of the situation, and he held his tongue.
He did not want to be the one to bear the dire news, but his expression must have betrayed his misgivings. Gunther’s eyes bored into Lee, and he was unable to meet the woodsman’s troubled look, as his own gaze fell to the ground.
“Where is Mianta? My other Jaghun?” Gunther asked, almost pleadingly, taking a couple of slow steps forward. He then queried Lee more pointedly, “Tell me now… what do you know?”
Heavy of heart, Lee was unwilling to deceive the man that had come to their aid. He turned and gave a small gesture off to the left, where the battle had transpired with the last two riders. The body of the Jaghun, arrow lodged in its head, lay still near to one of the slain winged steeds.
Gunther stepped forward, until he saw what Lee had indicated. His eyes widened and he broke into a full run, followed closely by the other Jaghuns. He slumped to his knees, reaching down and lifting the slain Jaghun about its forequarters. He cradled the lifeless body, as he held the creature’s head close to his chest.
The other Jaghuns were subdued, their tails sagged down and their ears flattened as they lay upon their stomachs, close to their fallen comrade. They emitted a distinct whimpering sound, which to Lee seemed strangely like a human sob.
Weeping bitterly, Gunther uttered loud, mournful cries that filled the forest. Lee and the others drew close together, watching the man suffer through what looked to be tremendous agony. They made no move to go any nearer to the grieving man.
The sobs gradually lessened, until they finally became silent, but there was no change in the postures of the woodsman and his creatures. Gunther and the other Jaghuns remained in place for a very long time, during which dusk gripped the land.
Stoically, Gunther finally arose in the dimming light and started clearing out the debris around the body of the dead Jaghun. At one point, when the soil had been bared around the corpse, he glanced toward Lee and the others.
Listlessly, he simply said, “Help me.”
Without exchanging another word, Lee and the others moved forward to help Gunther, as they worked together to drag the bodies of the winged steeds and fallen warriors to the sides. As large as the winged steeds were, they were not nearly as heavy as Lee had expected. Nonetheless, it took multiple individuals working together to move them.
Seeing their arsenal of sharp teeth and large claws from a close perspective, he knew that they would have been a formidable match for the Jaghuns had it not been for the element of surprise. The musky scent of coarse fur that filled Lee’s nose was mingled with the sharper tang from their gory wounds.
Neither Lee nor his comrades could refrain from periodically glancing in the direction of the prone Jaghuns. He did not feel any more at ease around them, not even with the woodsman in their direct midst. The blood of their victims was still caked around their jaws, amplifying Lee’s apprehension.
With several grunts and heaves, he labored to pull one of the felled enemy warriors away. Looking down into the canine visage, his mind assailed him with imaginary images of the eyes suddenly snapping open, and the lips curling into a feral snarl. Lee had to keep his eyes focused above him as he lugged the body the last few feet.