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“Stop,” Metunius hissed. “I hear something.”
The two foxes stopped in their tracks and listened intently, prickling their ears. All around them, the forest was deathly quiet. The track they were on was old and run-down and the trees in the surrounding forest were thick and close-together. The forest had a dead feel, as if life itself had given up. One of the foxes, the one with the slightly darker fur, looked at Metunius angrily. It was about to turn around when a crunching noise was heard, coming from within the forest. The foxes exchanged nervous glances before changing back to their half human forms.
“I don’t like this,” Gren said nervously. “Not one bit.”
The crunching noise could now be heard more clearly, coming from the woods, away from the village.
“Footsteps?” Freya whispered quietly. Metunius shook his head.
“No,” he said, puzzled. “That’s not somebody walking. No, it sounds… it sounds like… chewing.”
“Chew...ing?”
Metunius nodded. “I work on a farm, and if that’s not the sound of some kind of beast chewing on something, I have no idea what it could be.”
“Hmm…. okay. That makes sense,” Freya said quietly. “But be that as it may, we still have to investigate. Gren, inform the watch and then come with me.”
Gren nodded solemnly before turning around. He took a deep breath and whistled a tune, unlike any Metunius had ever heard before. It was a quick tune, but it made Metunius feel more aware of his surroundings. It made him wary of possible danger, and seemed to bring out a rush of energy. Gren smiled to himself after the tune, and listened as another tune was whistled out from the distance, one that made Metunius feel accepted and wanted. He couldn’t explain it. There was something about the whistling, something about the tune they played, that he couldn’t understand.
Metunius stared at Gren as he walked over to his sister and whispered something to her ear. She nodded, then beckoned Metunius forward.
“We can’t leave you here, and there’s no way the guards would let you into the village without us. You’ll have to come with us.”
Metunius nodded.
Freya and Gren turned around and changed back into their fox forms.
“And stay quiet,” one of them whispered, before running off through the trees. The crunching noise continued, getting more frequent as the group ran stealthily towards it. The trees started thinning out, and began forming into a large clearing, and before long, the group was sneaking as close to the noise as they could get. Metunius, crawling on his belly, came to a large bush at the edge of the clearing and crawled next to it. The foxes joined him, peering through the bushes.
“By the Ancients…” Metunius gasped. “This… this can’t be.”
There in the clearing, a creature stood, clad in gleaming blue and white armour. It sat on a metal object, bigger than a horse, and held a small box in it’s hands. Most of the face was covered by a mask, but the skin that was visible was a dark green colour, gleaming in the sunlight. The creature pressed something on the box, and a crunching noise could be heard, coming from a strange object lying next to it.
“A scout,” Freya said nervously, back in her semi-human form. “Nothing too dangerous.”
But Metunius wasn’t listening. This was impossible, he thought to himself. He had heard stories of the fall of the old civilisation. But those were stories. These creatures were fantasy characters. This couldn’t be real. He started backing out nervously, thinking only of getting as far away as possible. Then it happened. As Metunius backed out, he stepped over a large stick, unaware. A snap. And the noise from the clearing suddenly stopped. The fox-people looked in alarm at Metunius, who was a good three metres away from the bushes. They looked back through the bushes, and immediately got up, panic-stricken.
”It’s coming. Run!”
CHOICES:
1- Run! NOW! It doesn't matter where, just as far away from this creature as possible
2- Run! Towards the village. Hopefully you'll lose him by then. And if not, the guards will help.
3- Run! Away from the village. It's not worth compromising the safety of others.
4- Fight! Three against one are very good odds. As long as he doesn't take out his weapon.
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