Some Rabbits have teeth.

[Valideen Grimlori]

510 AV 60th day of summer




Valideen yawned, looking amongst the foliage, and the trees that were around him as the light slowly began to fade, it had been a long day of traveling, so much so that an hour ago he decided walking his horse would be the most comfortable option. Especially since Gaer was starting to get a little moody. His eyes slid up to the sky, watching the clouds coloration as the sun’s fading light cast different shadows on them, he stopped for a moment and pulled a dried peach from his pack, as well as a few almonds to stave off his hunger...but he knew at some poin the was going to need some meat, and at this rate he wouldn’t mind having a man-wich or two.

He sighed, and then thought about his sister, the reason he was so far from home, and his friend, who had told him Syliras might be a good place to get some help.
“Yeah…like anyone in Syliras is gonna give a damn about a Symenestra and his kidnapped sister..” Valideen sighed, the Symenestra were responsible for more than their share of abductions, and from another race’s perspective it was probably karma coming back to bite in full circle.
“…so tired…” Valideen stopped and lay against a tree, while Gaer stood about 10 feet off to the side eating some grass.
“…Just a few…chimes…of rest…” Valideen started to fall asleep, the sun was only moments from setting and casting a shadow over him.

Gaer’s ears perked up and he began to search the area, for a horse it was not only mischievous, but as a breed the Leopardbred are known to have much better hearing, not that Valideen was paying attention. Gaer nuzzled Valideen with his nose a few times, and then began stamping it’s feet, bringing Valideen to consciousness.
“What do you want…” Valideen groaned, pushing Gaer away, only for the horse to push back, head butting Valideen square in the face.
“Ow!” Valideen’s eyes shot open and his fangs began to protrude within his mouth.
“I’m trying to sleep!!” He shouted at the horse, and then took a moment to examine it.
“Whoa…you ok boy?” Valideen patted the side of it’s head, trying to calm him down, then he started to look around, while Gaer kept pushing him, until finally Gaer turned and ran.

“Hey!!” Valideen shouted, then sighed and turned back in the direction the horse was looking before running away, the light was now almost nonexistent, and the moon was not yet up, under the circumstances a human would be almost blind, but a Symenestra could see as clear as day.
Valideen only saw a blur of motion in the distance before an arrow whizzed past him and embedded in a tree.
His eyes launched open in shock, and for a moment he stood in place, completely dumbfounded, and looking back to the source, he could see three humanoid figures running towards him now, wearing fur and some sort of mesh to keep them hidden in the foliage, they were all relatively good-sized, or at least that’s what Valideen guessed as he started running in the direction Gaer took off in.
“Oh no no no no!!” Valideen stumbled slightly and clipped his shoulder on a tree. He clenched his teeth in pain and continued to plow through the foliage underfoot, ducking under any branches, and cringing at the near-misses, he could feel his heart pounding, and his blood beating in his ears, he felt like he was running in slow-motion, or at least not fast enough.

He took a glance behind him to see that the three were closing the gap, and they shouted at him, making noises like they were hunting a rabbit or other game animal.
“Oh by the gods….come on!!!” Valideen felt fear creeping into his mind, and then started running faster, his breathes became harder and more erratic and he could feel his legs burning.
“Keep running dammit! I can’t die yet” He thought to himself, and tried to run even faster.
Valideen began to slide along the forest floor more easily, only keeping his feet on the ground long enough to tap it and continue running, he felt confident enough to look back.

He was beginning to outrun the three, who carried all of the extra weight of their gear with them, while all of Valideen’s belongings, with the exception of the dried peaches and almond pouch. When he started to look forward again the worst happened…he tripped on a root.
Valideen went down fast, but tucked himself into a ball and rolled a good 10 feet before he stopped.
“What do I do!?” He searched for something to help him, he lay on his belly, and he could hear the three crashing through the foliage, he thought he could hear their footsteps crashing through the forest but he couldn’t be sure if that wasn’t his-now exploding-heart.
He crawled across the ground carefully and hid behind a tree.
“Where’d he go!?” One of them shouted, his voice was harsh and of a higher-pitch, Valideen guessed he was only 30 feet away from him.
“Shhh! He’s around here somewhere…..see the root….he tripped on it…ripped it out of the ground some..” another spoke, a voice that sounded like a normal person’s, not what you’d imagine.
“Wonder what he’s got on ‘im that’s got ‘im runnin’ so good..” this time someone with a very deep voice spoke, he was probably the farthest away.

“Your kidding me….Bandits?!” Valideen thought to himself, somehow the knowledge only terrified him more, he felt like a helpless cattle being led to the slaughter.
“So this is what it feels like….for the victims of Symenestra?….I suppose it’s right that I should feel this…test..” Valideen smiled, and realized that he now has a certain benefit to hold over them, several in fact.
He could hear footsteps nearing the tree he was hiding behind.
“Come out come out wherever you are…” The high pitched man’s voice creaked through the dark forest, as he neared the tree, Valideen climbed up the other side, using the natural climbing tools that all Symenestra have, the bandit heard sound on the other side of the tree, despite Valideen’s efforts to be quiet, and jumped around to that side, a macabre grin spread across his face, that faded out almost immediately, when he saw that no one was there.
Valideen stifled a laugh as he climbed higher into the tree, bending his body to grip the strongest branches, he started to move the edge of the tree’s top, and looked to the next tree over.
He braced himself and jumped to the next closest branch, barely hanging on and pulling himself up.

“There he is!!” The deep-voiced bandit shouted and pointed from where the sound came from, but couldn’t see Valideen just yet.
The three bandits encircled the tree, Valideen snickered and moved through the treetop, at first very slowly, trying to get a good hold before moving, but soon he moved faster, and leapt to the next tree, the bandits began following the sounds, hoping to find him, but in the darkness Valideen was the only one with clear vision, and he could see one of the bandits with a bow, arrow ready, and poised to shoot at what he thought looked like their target.
Valideen stayed perfectly still, he could feel his heart starting to pound again, and fear begin to pour back into him, then he had an epiphany….He reached into his pouch and grabbed three peaches, he threw two in opposite directions, into different trees, making it sound like he went into both trees, when he really hadn’t moved. The bandit the bow looked in both directions and started to whisper to the others.
“You-------over-----I---got------way” Valideen could only hear a fraction of what was said, but he imagined that the man with the bow was confident enough to go to the other tree on his own, something the bandit didn’t take into account was that he lacked line of sight to his allies.

Valideen smiled, and began to creep down the tree slowly, he thought about trying to morph his hand, but right now was not the time for experimenting, but tried and true methods instead.
As he smiled his fangs became more and more apparent.
“You guys see anything?!” The bandit with a bow shouted.
“I think so!” The deep voiced man shouted back.
Valideen was now ground level, he stayed low to the ground, and stayed very silent creeping across the dark forest floor with malicious intent, his eyes locked onto the single bandit, who was searching the trees, the bow’s drawstring was no longer pulled back, time seemed slow as Valideen closed the gap, 10 feet away. The insects could be heard buzzing, it was peaceful, and that peace was about to fade.

Valideen pounced on the man biting into his neck injecting his venom, while slashing and lacerating everything he could reach even before the man hit the ground, he stopped clawing long enough to grip the man and bite the other side of his neck, injecting more venom, his gargling and thrashing could be heard by his comrades, and Valideen pulled off of the man and ran on all fours up the nearest tree as fast as he could, he could still see the look of terror on the man’s face, and could hear his last breathes through the gurgling, he smiled in an animalistic fashion, his fangs were completely extended, and in this moment, he hardly felt like a sentient being.
From the treetop he could see the blood-trail leading up the tree.
Valideen began laughing as the other two bandits saw their comrade dying, the look of confusion and shock readily apparent on their faces, not a word passed between them as they abandoned their comrade to his fate, a somewhat slow death, but at least he’d choke to death before the venom did most of it’s damage.

Valideen slid down the tree, and sat next to the man, he brushed the hair out of the bandits eyes, then slid his hands around the back of his head, and his chin.
“Thank you for your flesh and blood on this day, may your soul rest in peace.” Valideen nodded his head in prayer, and then gave a quick jerk, ending the bandits pain.

“Soon….I can feed.” Valideen smiled, a mix of relief, and disgust at himself.

~End.