Sitting up, Su-Ni looked to her unwitting companions' campfire. It was burning low, though she knew someone must have still been awake, keeping watch and tending the small fire. The young diplomat took comfort in the tiny yellow light in the distance, and she sat watching it for several minutes until her eyelids once again became heavy.
Somewhere to her right, a cricket chirruped, and her eyes snapped open. A little in front of her, another cricket answered. She realized that the small insects had likely been playing all night, and it was her stirring that had momentarily silenced them. She continued to sit still as the whole grassy earth around her slowly came alive with a crescendo of the natural music. Normally the repetitive, high pitched noise would have aggravated her and kept her awake, but her weary muscles and heavy eyelids took that away. The cricketsong was a lullaby, and she was succumbing to its magic.
Her eyes snapped open again.
The sudden silence roared in her ears. She flinched and looked around cautiously. Perhaps she had begun to fall back and caught herself, and the sudden movement had startled the crickets. She peered into the darkness all about her but could not see beyond ten feet in the light of this not-quite-full moon.
Su-Ni froze as a light patter, almost imperceptible, issued from her left. It seemed as though the sound darted quickly to somewhere in front of her. The distant campfire blinked out of her sight for just a moment. She knew something was out there now. Something was circling her. Not ready to panic yet, she wondered if it might be someone from the camp investigating the area.
"Hello?" she ventured, but not too loudly. "Who is there?"
Something flashed in the darkness, low to the ground. Four little circles appeared and disappeared quickly just out beyond the dim light. The young diplomat recognized the reflection of the moonlight in the eyes of some animal.
Or animals.
It seemed to her that it had to be more than one, for she had seen two pairs of eyes flashing in the dark. She peered out all around her, squinting slightly at the effort. The pattering came again, followed by another flash of eyes. She began to worry that a pack of hungry wild dogs had come upon her in the night and saw her for what she was.
Easy prey.
Su-Ni cursed herself for bringing no weapons with her on this journey. Not that she was skilled with any weapon, but she certainly would have felt safer now with some kind of dagger in her hand. She glanced over at the faintly glowing campfire in the distance and wondered if they would hear her if she screamed and, more importantly, if they would arrive in time to save her.
She gritted her teeth against that thought. She was not even sure if the creature, or creatures, were dangerous. She would only reveal herself if she perceived a greater risk in doing otherwise. Of course, she wondered again if there would be enough time to save her when she finally perceived that risk.
A low chitter-like sound broke the silence, causing Su-Ni to jump. She grabbed her small pack and stood quickly, holding it defensively against her chest. She turned all about, trying to catch another glimpse of her stalker. She tried to control her breathing and strained to hear over the pounding of her heart in her ears. That sound was surely not made by any dog.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw another movement, and she turned to look. Something stepped into the circle of low light offered by the moon.
She could see that it was some manner of quadruped, but she was confused by the jumble of mass around its head. The creature ventured closer, seemingly smelling the air and turning from side to side. As it stepped toward her and into a bit more light, Su-Ni's confusion melted into tentative fascination. She realized that what she had thought was its entire head was actually its head and an extra set of long, jointed forelimbs that grew from its well-muscled chest. She was also shocked to see that the two pairs of eyes she had seen belonged to only a single creature. It turned its head again to focus on her with the other pair of lidless, glittering black eyes.
Though the rest of the creature's brown fur-covered body was, indeed, dog shaped, the four eyes and the two extra limbs, which now started to unfold and probe the ground in front of it with large, black, single-taloned tips, made it seem almost spiderlike. It chittered again, and Su-Ni noted the massive black beak from which it had issued the sound.
She marveled at the enigmatic looking creature. It seemed to be a jumble of the most unlikely animals she could think of. She also thought, though it did nothing to quell her uneasiness, that the creature had a rather comical face. A bony ridge set high on its flat head made it look a bit surprised to see her. She knew better than to be at ease as those two enormous taloned limbs now pawed at the air.
The creature chittered once more in an almost quizzical tone.
An answering chitter came from behind Su-Ni. She turned quickly to see another of these odd beasts approaching her. Now she started to feel panicked. As they came closer, it seemed that their tapered bodies crouched lower, especially in the rear, where their thickly-built back legs twitched eagerly.
Su-Ni did not doubt that she was in trouble now, but she was too stunned to find voice enough to scream for help. The way the two creatures were edging in on her, always staying on opposite sides, told her unquestionably that they were hunting her. She looked from one to the other, watching as they padded forward, more with those powerful rear legs than with their front. Each inch that they crept closer brought the prominent ridge of their spines arching even higher.
The two creatures leapt at her with terrifying speed, using their rear legs to push them off the ground and their extra limbs to provide impetus. Her sharp logic had told her what these creatures were about to do, but it was purely her instinct that had her dropping to the ground at just the right instant. She had barely hit the dirt and started rolling out of the way as they crashed into each other in midair. They fell to the ground and struggled with one another, trying to disentangle their limbs, snarling and screeching simultaneously. The sound chilled Su-Ni to the bone, but she wasted no time gaping at the fighting beasts. She jumped up and began running toward the low campfire in the distance. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a third creature take up the chase, screeching loudly.
Now she screamed.
She was running full speed, yelling for help as loudly as she could. She still carried her small pack, but she quickly decided to drop it and concentrate every effort on reaching the soldiers' camp. The fire that had moments ago seemed comfortably close, now looked as though it were miles away. She looked back over her shoulder, hoping that the creatures had paused, if even for a moment, to investigate her pack. She looked just in time to see a sleek fur-lined body flying at her.
Again Su-Ni ducked, but it was not fast enough this time. She was hit with a force that knocked the air from her lungs and pushed her to the ground. She screamed again as the creature's claws dug into her sides. She threw her arms up defensively against the wildly stabbing talons of its forelimbs. The beast's screech tore through the night air and left her ears ringing so that she could not hear the other two bounding up fast to join in the killing.
She knew they were coming anyway, so she continued to scream and tried desperately to roll out from under the beast while still attempting to defend herself. The creature merely screeched louder and dug its claws in deeper. Its talons tore deep gashes in her forearms, which began to lower as Su-Ni tired and as muscle was cut down to the bone. Her screams became weak, pleading sobs. Tears mixed with blood...
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