I |
raised myself slowly; my ears ready to pick up any hint of movement from the kin. My brown eyes were locked with his amber ones, though it made my blood run cold to keep that contact. I felt myself analyzing every part of this foreign creature, and I could see quite well how the kin had frightened the human men that had tried to confront him.
Everything about him reeked of immortality. His sneering face was inhumanly pale and without flaw, and his long, dark hair looked too smooth to be real. That was topped with the obvious mark of the kin: a pair of long, sharp, silvery horns protruded from his head much like my ears from mine. Doubtlessly he was concealing a pair of leathery wings under the long grey cloak that hung from his shoulders to the ground. The fact that he was taller than any human man I had ever met did not help him seem any less frightening, either.
Whatever camaraderie I should have felt toward this fellow immortal was outdone by the coldness I felt in my gut. Why did he keep staring at me? Could he not speak? No, it seemed that he was content with seeing how long I could last under his gaze. It would not be long – I was beginning to shake, and it made me want to be sick knowing how scared I was. I could not stand any more. I caught a single glimpse of a scaled tail as it flicked out from under the kin’s dark cloak.
It was a few seconds that later I found myself charging through and over several bushes, and I had no idea where I was going. I nearly ran into a tree, but I spun away and kept running. My legs would not let me stop, and I dared not look back to see if I was actually being chased.
I turned, dashing out of the forest and finding myself among a patch of various squash. Not even pausing, I proceeded to jump over them, row after row, very thankful that my legs were made for running like this. However, due to many years of sedentary life, I was already exhausted and my legs were starting to burn. After a few moments of hopping around, I slowed to a walk. Then I stopped completely.
I fell to the ground beside a rather large pumpkin, gasping and struggling to catch my breath. I looked back toward the forest, but saw no movement at all. Feeling a little stupid now, I sighed and rested my forehead on the pumpkin's cool flesh.
What kind of coward was I, to run away like that?
I threw myself backward onto the dirt and stared at the darkening sky. My heart was still hammering at an uncomfortable volume and my breathing sounded