She felt the cold rage rippling off the animal in waves, making the temperature drop as it went.
With every step it took, a strange mist eked off its fur and low to the ground, seeming to reach for her with thin, opaque tendrils. She took a single step back, almost landing on a stick behind her— at the last minute, feeling the solidity of something other than leaves, Charlotte stepped aside.
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(do you have a plan? What kind of solidity is she feeling exactly? I minor confuse ^^; )
(sorry that was just a stick that would have snapped)
(Oh I get it lol smacks forehead)
The monster was almost upon her, so close that every droplet of water clinging to its whiskers was perfectly picked out against the mist. But then, without warning, it stopped, as if it had reached an invisible wall. It still clearly knew where Charlotte was and could have easily attacked her, but it didn't. Instead, it puffed up its chest and gave one last furious hiss, flaring its fins out intimidatingly. Then it settled into a crouch as if to make sure that she did not return to this spot.
(haha you're good)
Charlotte stayed still for a few more minutes, observing the creature as it settled into its position.
Must be territorial. Moving an inch each time, Charlotte gradually stepped back from her cover, more or less out of sight but most importantly further and further away from the animal.
It didn't move, only hissed at her again when it spotted her. After a minute, it seemed satisfied that she was leaving and rose, trotting back towards the marsh. Once it was gone, the mist and chilly air dispersed with surprising speed.
Once she was sure the creature had gone, Charlotte let herself relax and kept going, now acutely aware of every sound and movement around her.
Now that it was clear how the creature marked the edges of its territory, it became much easier to tell where that territory began. There were trees with gouged out trunks all along the edge of Albert's fields, following the river back for quite a distance. When there wasn't a tree nearby, the creature had evidently had to get creative: some low shrubs had been ripped to shreds and a couple had animal bones resting among the branches. All the marks were clearly quite fresh, which matched what Albert had said about the monster having only just arrived. One of the skulls looked suspiciously like a sheep skull, and wool was scattered nearby. It definitely seemed like this thing ate more than just fish.
As she went, Charlotte couldn't help but admire the creature's ingenuity. She made sure to skirt its territory, keeping an eye out for any more odd creatures of the brush. She circled the lake, eventually seeing Rick in the distance as a thin black dot.
He spotted her about the same time and waved, heading in her direction. Albert was nowhere to be seen–perhaps he'd gone to see to his livestock.
"Hey," Rick greeted her when he was within earshot. "See anything?"
"Did I?" she sighed with a tired smile, jogging to meet him. "How about you, where'd he go?"
"Oh, he went off to make sure the Deorn hadn't stolen any more of his animals. I got a few more details, but nuthin' we hadn't already guessed. What did you find?"
"Well, I found a– if not the animal. Some sort of oversized ferret. Over by the marsh," she told him, pointing. "It's marked its territory and was ready to shred me when I trespassed."
"Pretty sure that's the critter we're looking for. The young ones get pretty defensive when they're settin' up house." Rick scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Albert said it was an Ice Deorn….was it chilly at all when you ran into it?"
"Sure was, and misty. I haven't seen one of those in a long while, I'd forgotten…" she trailed off thoughtfully. "Fire is a weakness?"
"Well, it depends. They don't like it, that's for sure. But a strong Ice Deorn can just use ice or rain or somethin' to douse the flame. Luckily, I doubt we're dealing with a strong one today since it's not full-grown yet. I think we could safely use fire to fend it off if we have to." He thought some more. "Did it show you its human form?"
She shook her head, thinking. "No. I don't think it's particularly aggressive, though, because the moment I was out of its territory it calmed down and retreated."
"That's a good sign, if it's not overly ambitious or hungry for a fight." Rick thought for a moment longer, then shrugged and started walking. "How about we plan on finding its den and destroying it, that'll throw it off-balance and make it think twice about stayin' here–especially if we use fire to do it. After that, we see what happens and play it by ear, hey?"
She observed the plan for a minute, silently thinking.
"Well… that'll work. It seems a tad cruel, but I imagine it's the only way to keep it from coming back. Okay," she finished.
"Yeah, it's a little mean, but it can always rebuild somewhere else. We just gotta be careful to keep track of it the whole time and don't let it attack us. I'm thinkin' we'll take turns trashing the den while the other stands guard. Sound good?"
(btw I was thinking that maybe this Deorn will end up joining their traveling group, if I can think of a way for that to work. Would that be okay with you?)
(Sounds good to me!)
"Okay sure. Let me stand guard first? I've never had to hurt a Deorn, so you can set the example and I'll follow."
(Okie dokie! I gotta go do chores next, but I'll be back later ^^)
"Alright. It may not be in the den when we get there, so watch our backs good. If you see it, the main thing is to use fire to keep it at a distance. If it gets close, our chances of success go way down." Rick stopped at the edge of the territory, looked around to make sure the Deorn wasn't nearby, then forged onwards, trying to be as stealthy as possible. "Here we go. Lemme know if you see it."
Charlotte stationed herself a few feet in front of Rick, scouring their surroundings for any drop in temperature, mist, rustling, the ripples in the lake nearby… she was on edge, senses heightened, her training kicking in again after years being dormant.
It didn't take long to find the den. It was a messy thing, dug straight into the riverbank and shored up with mud and dead reeds. There were tracks everywhere–both human and animal–and remnants of past meals littered all over the ground, but the creature itself was nowhere to be seen. Rick peered inside the den carefully, then started gathering more grass to use as fuel for a fire. "I'm gonna knock down the walls and light the whole thing up. It'll smoke like crazy so mind the breeze."
Charlotte nodded her assent, keeping her gaze trained on the forest.
Rick got right to work. The den was in fact very badly built, and in minutes the mercenary had reduced it to a pile of wet earth. Piling the grass on and around it, he deftly lit a match and tossed it on top. The grass was much more dry and brittle than it looked, and a second later it began spilling out huge clouds of white smoke. Rick added more grass, as well as a few dead branches from nearby.
At first, there was no movement or sound from their surroundings. But as the smoke filled the air and rose above the marsh, it soon became far too obvious to ignore. From the north, not nearly far enough away to be safe, came a loud splash and the sound of something calling out very angrily.
Charlotte was already advancing towards the water. Halfway down to the bank she grabbed a thick stick and, wrapping the end with bark, stuck it into the fire.
Holding out the makeshift weapon, she stationed herself at equal distance between the water and the den, turning to face every new splash as the Deorn grew closer.
A moment later it burst out of the water, somehow seeming even larger than before. It was about to lunge at Charlotte when it caught sight of the flames and balked, hissing loudly. Up this close, its eyes were like sea-glass. It began to circle the pair, its fins flaring open and closed.
"Don't give it an opening," Rick called, scrambling to find more fuel to burn. "It ain't scared right now, just confused. Try to keep it that way, they don't think so well when they're caught off-guard."
It's been so long. I'd forgotten how intimidating they can be.
Though she was recoiling at her core, she stood her ground and began waving the stick at the creature, creating trails of sparks around and leadimg off back towards the water.
The creature bared its teeth at the sparks, flinching away if they got too close, but didn't retreat even one inch. Rick was right–it did seem much more puzzled and disgruntled than afraid. It stalked after Charlotte, and after a moment the temperature started to drop again. The shallow water along the bank crackled quietly as ice began to form over it.
"Don't get too far," Rick reminded her. "I'm almost done here."