Raised From The Wild-Chapter 234: The ’Thing’
Amaya studied her surroundings as the horses continued on their way. They followed a narrow path along the steep slope of the mountain. Sometimes the slope became so steep that the trio had to hug the horses’ necks to to keep themselves from falling off the horse.
Earlier, Amaya passed another sachets that contained citrus peels, dried leaves of peppermint, dried barks of tea tree and cinnamon, and dried petals of lavender and rose. The sachets gave off a strong scent that could deter snakes, spiders, and other poisonous insects.
As they went higher, the fog became thicker making visibility poorer. Even without the fog, the forest was already dark because the sun was blocked by the lush canopies of the trees. Marx handed Amaya a goggle. It was tight-fitting and completely covered her eyes and the facial area around her eyes. It was embedded with a microchip that enabled her to see even when visibility was poor. It was better than the night vision. Marx and Vasquez also wore similar ones on their faces.
A terrifying roar was heard from far away. The hair of the two male humans stood on their end. Even Amaya who was used to such an environment was bothered by the roar. It was not something she had heard before.
A flock of birds that were resting on the nearby trees scurried away, leaving behind a swirl of fallen leaves and feathers.
The three horses stopped. They turned around and headed in the opposite direction. They were careful with their steps as if they were afraid of accidentally making a noise.
’What kind of intelligent horses are these?’ Amaya asked silently. She patted Artemis’ neck.
"Good girl. Do you know what that is? Why are you running away?" Amaya whispered in the horse’s ear.
The horse snorted softly. It was trying to say, ’Human, if you are capable and so brave, then go yourself and be food to that monster.’
The longer Amaya interacted with the white mare, the more attuned she became to the horse’s feelings.
"The horses are afraid. What kind of animal could have given out such a roar?" Amaya turned to Marx and asked softly.
"It sounded like a bull, but not like a bull."
"Yeah, It sounded somehow like a distorted human voice crying in agony," Amaya said thinking aloud.
"Do you think what the game master said is true?" Marx asked. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶
"You mean the king’s official who talked about minotaurs, unicorns, and the other mythical animals? Those are just myths. Daddy Ibrahim told me about those animals that could be found in the mythical twin cities of Rome and Greece. Those are fictional stories and shouldn’t be true."
"Come to think of it, I was once on a mercenary mission. I heard rumors that there was once a lunatic zoologist who was obsessed with those mythical animals. He devoted his life to creating those beasts by combining and altering different animal DNA and editing their genomes. A mercenary who was hired to guard the lunatic left the mission but later on, was hunted and killed.
Marx listened seriously. He wanted to say that it was possible. His family in Usturia were also involved in research and development and the potential of the human mind especially that of a genius was limitless.
"Hmm. It could be possible." He commented briefly. He put a little pressure on Apollo’s body urging the horse to speed up.
After a while, their horses started running until they came to a stream. The three of them get off from the horses and after letting the animals drink, they tie them to a tree to ensure that the horses will not run away.
Vasquez was checking out the packed food he had in his backpack when a blur of something white attacked him from the back. He was a highly trained soldier before he became a mercenary. When he settled as Marx’s bodyguard, he continued to hone his martial arts skills. His sense of danger was very high. He felt an aura of killing intent, and though he was able to dodge the wolf was still able to bite his left arm.
Vasquez yanked his arm while slashing the wolf in the neck. The wolf was fatally injured but it still managed to scamper away.
Vasquez used his right hand to apply pressure to his wound to stop the bleeding. His wound was long and thankfully it was not that deep but he was bleeding profusely.
"You’re bleeding." Princess Amaya approached Vasquez. Marx on the other hand, stood guard with a gun in one hand. He was a little careless. He did not notice the wolf. What if it attacked Amaya?
Amaya disinfected the wound. She spread the ointment over it before bandaging.
"Thank you, Princess. I think we shouldn’t stay in this place for too long. I feel like there are a lot of eyes watching over us." Vasquez said as he surveyed their surroundings.
Amaya looked at Marx meaningfully. "I need to relieve myself," she said nonchalantly.
Marx’s ears turned red. "Don’t go far. Just go behind the tree where the horses are. I’ll be right beside you."
Amaya took a piece of black cloth from her backpack. The cloth was made of thin material and was wide. It could be used as cover to shield them from the sun. It could also be used as a blanket and a towel.
The princess wrapped the cloth around her body pulled down her undergarments and released the liquid from her overly full bladder. She used a tissue paper to wipe herself. When she arrived at Asteria palace, she experienced some feminine comfort and she developed some habits.
She folded the cloth and stuffed it back inside her backpack and she was about to call Marx when she was suddenly lifted into the air. A rough hairy hand covered her mouth. She was hoisted up in what looked like a broad hairy shoulder.
’Is it a bear?’ Amaya asked herself.
She looked down and estimated her height to be 2 meters from the ground. The animal that took her was very tall.
The thing that took her was walking carefully. It avoided creating a noise so as not to attract the other two humans.
Amaya tilted her head toward the face of the ’thing’. From her peripheral vision, she saw a face and she was shocked.
