The group officially awoke at dawn. Purple marks covered Gabriel's eyes. Rethusa kept an impassive face. And Lante discerned a certain tension between the two that hadn't existed yesterday.
However, the half elf chose to hold quiet. She just had a restful night and didn't want to worsen the mood more.
Under Rethusa's instructions, they decided to head south. The captain thought the pack had fled there because of another predator.
A deep silence fell on the group.
They came to an intersection. A weeping ground tree stood imposingly in the middle of the oak forest. Its long, woody tears covered a figure at its feet.
"Syria!"
Rethusa's voice broke as she ran towards the tree. Followed by Gabriel and Lante.
A young woman was leaning her back on the trunk of the tree. Marks of blood flowed from light wounds on her legs and right arm. Her chest heaved with difficulty to catch a little air in her lungs.
Rethusa put one knee on the ground and asked the girl what had happened.
"Capitai...ne, is... you?"
The girl's gapless pupils lit up. Hope emerged on her lips.
"Syria, tell me. Where are the other girls?"
Syria let a rattle escape from her throat.
"It... it was too quick..."
Tears rolled down her eyes. She tried to pull herself up with her hand, but the strength left her. Rethusa caught her before she fell.
"Can you look after her, Lante?"
Rethusa stood up, her head bowed.
Gabriel, who had been watching the scene from the side from the start, saw her clutching her bow tightly. He knew what she was about to do. He approached her and grabbed her arm.
"Rethusa, we don't have any information on what attacked Syria and her group. Leading on like this could be risky."
"You think I'll give up my sisters to certain death? You're wrong Gabriel, I'm not like that. Time is running out. Let go of me."
Gabriel withdrew his hand and watched as the woman's back escaped through the trees. His mouth fell open.
"I knew it."
Lante, who was holding Syria in her arms, looked up.
"Gabriel?"
The man had disappeared.
As he chased Rethusa through the forest, Gabriel became acutely aware of the physical difference between them. He had only taken his eyes off her for two seconds, yet her tracks had vanished into thin air.
Gabriel stopped on the road and looked at the red marks still fresh on the leaves. He deduced that the blood belonged to Syria. If he followed these tracks, he would find Rethusa and the group of girls.
Holding the bow firmly in his hands, Gabriel set off into the forest.
Meanwhile, Lante did her best to reassure Syria. The girl had no deep wounds, but the battle must have exhausted her. Lante remarked a bundle of leaves beside the tree. She sniffed the air and opened her eyes.
"Meat?"
At that moment, a cracking sound emerged in front of her.
"Rethusa? Gabriel?"
Lante leaned Syria against the tree, then slowly approached where she had heard the noise. Seeing nothing unusual, she went back to the injured girl, when she noticed that her shadow on the ground had grown several times larger.
Gabriel found Rethusa. She was standing among the trees. Wolf corpses scattered in every direction. Guts filled the ground, mingled with the dirt. The flowers reeked of blood. A one-sided massacre.
Although the appalling scene made him want to vomit, Gabriel managed to restrain himself. It wasn't the first time he'd seen something like this.
"I didn't do it."
Rethusa refuted Gabriel's thoughts. If it wasn't her...
"Was it the beast?"
"Yes. But some wolves have holes in their abdomen. Probably arrows that caused the death."
Gabriel frowned.
"Does that mean the other girls survived?"
"See the totem pole over there?"
Rethusa pointed to three stones stacked to the north.
"That's a clue left by my sisters. They got out and went back north, towards the house to inform Mistress Artemis of the incident."
"Why didn't Syria follow them?"
Gabriel asked, but received only silence from the captain. The man continued to speak, trying to determine the options.
"The battle ended after Syria went to the weeping ground to wait for us. But there's no trace of the said beast. However, something big ripped these wolves apart."
Rethusa turned to Gabriel. The latter looked back at her intensely.
"There's only one possibility. The beast was no longer in the area when the group arrived. The surviving wolves assaulted them. Believing they'd completed the mission, three girls returned, leaving Syria to find us at the meeting point. But the beast attacked her on the way.
"That doesn't make sense."
Rethusa refuted Gabriel's words. But he didn't take his eyes off her, his voice deepening.
"Rethusa, think about it. Syria never told us her sisters were in danger!"
The captain opened her eyes wide.
"We must get back to Lante fast!"
The two turned as quickly as their legs would carry them. By the time they reached the weeping ground, only Syria remained.
"Lante!"
Rethusa shouted. There was no reply.
Gabriel spotted the large footprints intertwined with smaller ones on the floor.
"Where's the meat?"
Rethusa noticed that the packet of leaves in which she had put the meat had disappeared.
"Lante must have taken it to lure the creature away from Syria."
"Damn it!"
Rethusa kicked the tree. A mark a few inches deep formed there.
"We've still got a chance."
Gabriel began to follow the footprints on the ground. He came to a clearing. Grunts echoed in this place fully lit by sunlight.
The man saw a young girl with pointy ears collapsing to the ground. A grizzly bear, three meters long, stopped its large body. It stood on its two feet, ready to crush the elf.
After a deep breath, the man raised his bow. In barely a second, an arrow was resting on the taut string.
As he exhaled, a familiar sound rang out. The air whistled. The next instant, the grizzly howled in pain. The elf seized advantage of this to clear a path away from the beast.
With his bow reloaded with an arrow, Gabriel dashed forward.