[The forest is more unsettling than Vander had first expected it to be. He’s always known not to put too much stock in rumors of monsters and other things that go bump in the night, but he’ll give credit where it’s due here—the island is certainly living up to its reputation as a sprawling field of danger once the sun set.
He’s already turning as the sound of a chase thunders against the earth behind him. There’s barely time to register precisely why the voice calling out sounds familiar to him before a centaur with an unmistakable long mane of hair comes barreling out of the brush and into the clearing he had stopped to catch his bearing in to answer that question for him.
Her warning is heeded with zero hesitation. Vander takes a step back, squares up into a waiting posture, fists clad in an enormous pair of rough-looking gauntlets poised to brace for an attack. The thing that bursts into the clearing after the woman stumbles in its chase as her arrow finds its mark. The thing flinches at the arrow sprouting from its neck, scrambles to keep its momentum going but finds instead the sting of iron ready to halt it in its tracks. Vander pulls one fist back and strikes the creature with a bone-crunching hit to one shoulder as it tries to stumble past him after its original quarry.]
Eyes on me, you big lug.
[He steps back quickly, gauntlets raised, feet surprisingly spry for a man of his size. Over his shoulder he calls—]
I’ll keep its attention so you can get another clean shot.
04
He’s already turning as the sound of a chase thunders against the earth behind him. There’s barely time to register precisely why the voice calling out sounds familiar to him before a centaur with an unmistakable long mane of hair comes barreling out of the brush and into the clearing he had stopped to catch his bearing in to answer that question for him.
Her warning is heeded with zero hesitation. Vander takes a step back, squares up into a waiting posture, fists clad in an enormous pair of rough-looking gauntlets poised to brace for an attack. The thing that bursts into the clearing after the woman stumbles in its chase as her arrow finds its mark. The thing flinches at the arrow sprouting from its neck, scrambles to keep its momentum going but finds instead the sting of iron ready to halt it in its tracks. Vander pulls one fist back and strikes the creature with a bone-crunching hit to one shoulder as it tries to stumble past him after its original quarry.]
Eyes on me, you big lug.
[He steps back quickly, gauntlets raised, feet surprisingly spry for a man of his size. Over his shoulder he calls—]
I’ll keep its attention so you can get another clean shot.