Branches tore at the girl as she ran. She sprinted between small trees, her breeches and tunic shedding the undergrowth, slipping through forest with a whisper of leaves. The noon sun dropped a blinding shower of light through the canopy. She only blinked at the glare and did not slow.
As she ran, the girl kept her mind focused, letting her body run the long-practiced path. She thought of her father's voice, teaching as he worked the iron: "Your senses bypass thought. Act by instinct and reflex. The glow, the flaking and crackling of the cooling metal, they will tell you when to work and when to quench."
She tried not to think about her goal. Eagerness would force a misstep. Blast it, this time she would win!
She ducked a low-hanging branch and scrambled up a small grade. Almost there! She didn't hear the boys. Now, down the other side and…
The earth rose up and slammed into her face. She heard her own grunt as she hit and rolled. When she came to a stop all she could do is lay and stare up through the leaves. Her head roared. When the rush faded she began to take stock. Any pain? Can I still feel everything? Anything broken?
Completing a first inventory, she lifted herself up and cried out. Deep red smeared her boot and breeches. She folded herself and carefully ran her hands down her leg searching for the wound. Thoughts of stitches and tourniquets and infection chased away her hopes. "I've got to find some bearbane," she muttered, pushing strands of brown hair out of her face.
But there was no gash, no white bone sticking out. Puzzled, she carefully stood up. Leaf litter spilled from her tunic. No stabbing pain. As she pushed stray hair back into a bun, she looked back up the small hill.
A deer lay just below the ridge. Its black eye stared blankly at her. She walked towards the animal and saw that it was actually half a deer. The hindquarters were missing. A gouge left by her sliding foot cut through the entrails. Among the crimson-flecked leaves overhead, broken twigs told her that something large had torn this deer in half. Metallic blood scent hung in the air. It was a fresh kill. The something large could still be near.
She fought to slow her breathing and strained to hear… nothing. The silence pressed against her ears. Dread settled on her like a cloak. The hairs on her neck tingled. She turned slowly and looked down. Strange lobed tracks dented the earth. They were huge, two hand-spans across. Her eyes followed the tracks down the gully to a dense bramble.
She squinted into the vegetation, scanning for movement, a shape, anything that could tell her which way to flee.
Suddenly a shadow resolved into an eye, large, deep, and black. Her chest tightened.
It blinked, a cloudy membrane sliding horizontally across its surface.
The silence trembled like thunder, felt more than heard.
Her brain screamed "Run!" but her feet were planted, frozen.
A distant crash and a boyish shout broke the spell.
A massive shadow under the brush shifted and was gone.
She let out a ragged breath and began to run.
When she made the clearing, all eight boys were already there. They turned at the sudden ruckus in time to see the girl running with whites of her eyes showing. They stood stunned as she crashed blindly into Bayle, sending his trophy flying into the branches.
Pakeha