Keke swallowed the building lump in her throat as she observed the furlocke at a distance. She used a tree for cover while she watched it munch on a large piece of pink fruit that bore large, black thorns. Protracted black claws carved through the fruit with sharp tips, piercing the skin without meeting resistance as it weaved between the thorns. Dark eyes surveyed its surroundings while it ate, and its slender snout sniffed at the air. The creature was so much longer and larger than it had appeared in Keke’s mind when the spirit of the wolf first showed it to her.

  The first shred of doubt clouded her mind, and she licked her lips.

  Am I ready to fight this thing?

  The sun was setting. Fight or not, if she didn’t start her trek back soon, then there was a good chance she’d get lost along the way. The paint she’d used earlier would help, but she would need to build a reliable source of light, like a torch, if she wanted to see it properly, and that would take more valuable time.

  I can’t let this opportunity go. I don’t know when I’ll get another chance.

  If she could aim a single well-placed arrow at its head, then it would be over in mere seconds. One shot, one kill. Yes, that would be the perfect end to her day. She dragged her tongue along her canine, glancing at the forest floor and back to the furlocke. She considered using [Pinpoint Weakness], but the Skill tended to alert stronger Encroachers. Besides, the back of the head was practically a universal weak point.

  While the Encroacher slurped and chewed, she snaked her way to the opposite side of the tree so she could have a better shot from its back. She retrieved an arrow from the quiver around her hip and strung it across her bow. She steadied her breathing, accounted for a few what-if scenarios, then pulled the string taut and took aim.

  Let this arrow hit.

  She knew from the moment she loosed the arrow that it was a perfect shot. The arrow soared through the air with purpose, hissing its deadly intent. There was an audible thunk as the tip struck the Encroacher in the back of the head.

  Keke’s eyes widened. The furlocke snarled as it looked over its shoulder at her. The arrow fell to the ground, and the furlocke scratched the spot where it had struck as if batting away an annoying gnat. Its long tongue slithered out of its snout like a strip of pink leather, licking the top row of its sharp teeth. The furlocke tossed the remainder of its fruit away, its eyes locked on Keke instead.

  Oh no. Keke strung another arrow across her bow, shouting, “[Pinpoint Weakness]!” and loosed the arrow at the furlocke’s right arm as soon as the red bead appeared. The arrow whistled harmlessly beside the creature. It replied to Keke’s shot with a sound that resembled a mixture of snarling and laughing before dropping to all fours and stampeding toward her.

  “Damn it!” Keke rushed to the safety of her tree, reeling back when the furlocke’s claw snaked around to slash her. The sharp nails dug into the bark with ease, blowing out splinters on contact. As Keke tried to right her footing, a root caught her heel and she fell on her backside, squealing as the furlocke deftly completed its turn around the tree to strike her.

  Keke stumbled out of the way and scrambled to her feet, retrieving another arrow from her quiver. She kept the shaft gripped in one hand and her bow in the other, vaulting over the tangles of growth and zigzagging between the trees to keep from being predictable.

  It didn’t work as well as she’d hoped. Despite the beast being three times her size, it cut through the bushes and overgrown roots with alarming speed and ease, swerving around anything too large for it to demolish. Which, as it turned out, wasn’t much. Even many of the smaller trees were bowled over by its thick skull, of which Keke now noted, did not bear a red mark from [Pinpoint Weakness].

  In fact, most of the furlocke’s body was free of weak points, with its claws being the only notable points available. With no way to strike the beast’s vitals, Keke’s heart began to pound and her mind started to race. Her ‘what if’ scenarios had proven inadequate, and she was about to pay the price for her impatience.

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  Damn me, damn me, damn me!

  The furlocke roared with such intensity that it shook Keke’s entire body. The urge to stop and clap her hands over her ears came and she fought against it, vaulting over another overgrown root in her path. She glanced over her shoulder at the beast, alarmed to see that it was gaining on her. The creature’s eyes had morphed to a deep red, and slobber drenched the edges of its mouth as its tongue flapped in the air.

  Keke quickly considered every item in her [Cat Pack]. She hadn’t brought any poisons and was unsure as to their effectiveness on the furlocke should she find something immediately servicable. The lover’s snare was another option, but Thorn was already expecting an adult plant’s worth of supply. Squandering a young snare wasn’t at the top of her list.

  What other choice do I have?

  She leaped through a gap created by a pair of boulders, and spun around to face the furlocke, nocking the arrow that she’d been holding across her bow. The furlocke squeezed through the gap, only for the rocks to entrap it. [Pinpoint Weakness]’s effect had expired, the beads of red now gone. Keke loosed the arrow into the furlocke’s breast with a vain hope of hitting its heart.

  The arrow penetrated and held, but for no longer than a second. It clinked to the pebbles below, and Keke dug into her [Cat Pack] for a vial of the lover’s snare. Cracks appeared in the rock. The furlocke would soon free itself.

  Keke procured the container and shook it around to break up the spines inside. Here goes nothing! She threw the vial against the beast’s face. The glass shattered upon impact as the furlocke broke through the gap and scattered large chunks of rock across the ground. The creature squeezed its eyes shut and roared, clawing at its face.

  Now’s my chance! Keke glanced down at her quiver, quickly retrieving another arrow. As she looked up, she hissed through her teeth at the sight of fur moments away from striking her. The massive arm crashed against her chest, knocking her off her feet and sending her rolling across the stones into a nearby stream.

  As the world spun, her lungs desperately grasped for air. She wheezed, unable to get a full breath, colored spots dotting her vision. Her bow. She needed to find her bow. Her hands searched and searched through the water. It had to be here somewhere. Her fingers felt something firm in the water and grasped. She pulled it free, mouth agape. The bow was snapped in half.

  No. No, no!

  The furlocke wasn’t done. The beast had clawed its right eye to a bloody mess, with bits of pink flesh and white bone poking through. It kept its left eye open, and the ground trembled as it ran toward her on all fours. Keke unsheathed the dagger at her belt as she rolled to her side and onto her feet.

  Seeing her window of opportunity, Keke lunged forward with the dagger in both hands and drove the point into the top of the furlocke’s paw. It slid in with ease, pinning the beast’s paw to the soft mud. Keke pushed her weight into the blade when she felt the furlocke try to pull it free. But even with her weight on top of the dagger, the Encroacher managed to lift her and the blade, with her still firmly attached to the handle.

  The furlocke roared, and this time Keke could not fight back the instinct to cover her ears. She let go of the dagger, kicking away from the beast when it spun around to strike her with its free claw.

  Blood colored the stones as the furlocke’s claw tore through Keke’s vest. The vest and everything underneath came apart at the center, slipping off of one shoulder as she backed away, hand clutched to her chest in shock. She glanced down to see three long lines of red. They trailed from her right shoulder to halfway down the left side of her waist.

  “N-no!” she shrieked, her voice hoarse and her lungs still recovering from having the wind knocked from them. Her skin burned, and the sight of her own blood pouring steadily out of the wounds was indescribable. “Not here!”

  The furlocke continued unabated. She pulled another vial of the lover’s snare free from her [Cat Pack], shook it up, and threw it into the furlocke’s face. The roar that left its mouth was so much louder than the last, but Keke refused to cover her ears this time. She turned tail and sprinted, adrenaline pumping through her veins, using every shred of [Energy] that remained to separate herself from the furlocke, her vision clearer than it’d ever been.

  The entire time she ran, a single thought assaulted her: she’d failed.

  An hour had passed by the time Keke was close to arriving in Khasstead. Chimneys blew plumes of smoke into the air, never the wiser to Keke’s failure. The world was teetering one way and then the next, as if she were on a ship. She wanted to vomit, to stop walking… to enjoy a nice meal and a good drink with Matt and the others.

  “H-help,” she wheezed. She held out hand, licked her lips, and repeated, “Help! Someone!” Her knees gave out, and she fell to her side, alarmed by how pale her hand was.

  The corners of her vision blackened. Her heart slowed alongside her breathing.

  She couldn’t stay awake any longer. She shut her eyes and allowed the darkness to take her.

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