Astray

Bounding past brush, I dashed with a pounding heart. The late sun barely breaking past the leaves above, as twigs snapped under foot. None ran into the forests, the hills, the mountains. Monsters dwelt there.

Yet no monster as vicious as man.

A lie. Monsters and beasts could be more cunning than a fox and more savage than the sea. Especially here, yet I feared them less for they'd bring death, but not bondage and beatings. I'd lived a life of those, I'd die happily without them.

Still my heart yearned for freedom from the machinations of man. To live without worry. To rest until my body no longer ached. The life of a house cat preferable to that of any station in society.

A howl on the wind drew near. Death followed its echoes. No freedom here, not for people, not for humans, not for I. This place only held death between its promises.

Ragged and hoarse, my bare feet ached a bloody trail with every step. Until even the threat of death could not push me further. My knees struck dirt. Shins to roots. My stolen dress soiled and torn.

Crawling over to a tree it gladly held my weight as I watched for the howling beast that followed. Any minute. Any moment, or breath. Eyes trained on the shadows, creeping, crawling, growing with the setting sun.

It crept on too many legs. Snarling it neared. It's teeth like daggers, its body larger than a war horse. The kind of thing that swept caravans away into the night never to be seen from again.

One step.

Another.

The beast loomed over as it approached, teeth barred in preparation for its meal that could no longer run.

Yet it halted a foot away. Snout sniffing, before a forepaw raised and hooked a claw under the hem of my skirt and tugged. The fabric tore leaving a long cut. The beast then turned and began to walk away as if that lone cut was my life removed.

I released my breath in its wake and my body turned to jelly against the rugged bark of the tree. What use was I if not even the monsters would claim me? I dwelt not on it and instead fluttered my eyes closed for a moment to rest a touch. Just a touch. I'd find proper shelter later if nothing wanted me.

Just a touch.

—

In the morning I woke to find a fresh slain rabbit at my feet, and nothing around to claim the kill. An offering from the forest. Strange, concerning, the forest gave nothing for free, a trap most likely but of what kind I could not say.

Still I starved and thirsted and its blood was fresh as its flesh.

Without utensil nor tool, I used my hands to pull the kill up to my mouth and dug through its torn skin with my fingers. It felt warm. So warm and still and edible.

A feast for a beast. I ate and was left with a pelt I could not cure. The earth would claim it back like it did all things.

With my needs sated and my body rested as a tree could allow, I stood up and hobbled my way further into the domain of monsters.

By mid-day I'd come across a stream flowing free of a ravine carved through a hill, the clear waters showing smooth river stones. Hesitantly I walked up and plunged my hands into it to scoop up water.

Cool on my tongue without the horrid stench of well water I found it paradise compared to before. As if all the worlds waters should be so pure, yet tainted by sin.

So wrapped up in the moment I noticed not the small woodland creature upon the far bank lapping the water up. Not until a sound drew my attention up. The cawing of a crow with too many eyes and too many wings watching over the far fair fox and I. For a red fox stood at the opposite bank mirroring me.

The bird itself watched both attention split, but the fox merely watched and waited. Or so I thought until I saw the waters reflection. The fox's reflection ran while it stood still to be attacked by the many winged crow. The avian passing though the still figure until it faded like fog.

The cawing crow screeched in rage before flying off into the wood.

Stranger than story was the forest.

Rather than wade the stream I followed it down. No purpose save to move. Perhaps to find a better bed, than rough bark perhaps out of fear.

I'd little fear left, only resignation. The monsters would claim me when they desired, I'd no illusions about it.

By nightfall I'd found a small clearing with grass just soft enough to slumber upon. Weary I lowered myself onto it, my dress stained in the blood of the rabbit, the bark of the wood, and the dirt under foot.

Its softness like fur as I closed my eyes and found dreams take me once more.

—

A pair of still warm squirrels greeted me the moment I woke. Something saw fit to continue the offerings. Tricks of the fae people would call it. That to eat upon their gifts was to be claimed, but I never believed the tales. Monsters were true and faeries mere tales.

Fingers found purchase upon their hides and within came warm nectar and a savory feast.

Upon laying the remains back down to offer to the earth I bowed my head to the forest. My hands clasped in prayer to thank whatever creature saw fit to feed me.

A moment later I continued to wander. The clearing nice and perfect to stay in, yet my heart's lust for wonder drove me forwards. It was not the place to den.

Streams and strange beasts crossed my paths but each one merely glanced my way before ignoring. My hands thumbed the small tear in my dress as if it were a marking, a brand.

No such thing, merely a tear, and not the only one at that.

The dress itself stolen and ill fit my frame and body. I was not born for dresses no matter how my heart ached to be fit for them. My body painful to look at, my face worse so, and thus I avoided. My blood stained hands the only things that crossed my eyes.

The further I journeyed the greater the trees growing to further heights, the branches twisting and curling up and around. Each one grown further apart from its peers. It felt as if I shrank with each new step through the deeper forest. A set of tracks larger than my torso tripping my foot as I stepped.

That night I curled up in the roots of a mighty oak.

My next meal was not an animal or two but merely a piece and a large one at that. A limb of some furred creature. Strong by its size alone. Likely a predator judging by the claws.

Upon feasting and returning it to the earth I claimed a claw. The curled thing sharp as a sword. I held it in hand like the smallest dagger beret of a handle.

That day I saw a titan a slithering serpent wading through the trees. Tongue touching the air as if to taste the fear of all the world. For a moment it watched me and I could not move a muscle, not to breath or cry nor scream. A statue petrified until it turned and slithered off, my heart resuming, my breath racing. Even peaceful it bore terror in my soul.

My eyes flickered back from whence I came. I should've turned back the clearing fair and tranquil, close to the stream and soft to sleep on.

But my feet refused to take a single step back. That tug on my heart said that forwards was not there. It was past where the serpent slithered.

A long hour passed before I continued on, my claw picking at the undersides of my nails. Cleaning the blood and soil caked beneath.

I did not sleep that night. Eyes staring off into the darkness, ears listening for the serpents return. The forest made not a sound save for the wind on the distant leaves far above.

And when morn came another limb lay at my feet, nothing wandered close to leave it. The flesh still fresh, and full of blood.

Ate I did, my teeth tearing through it as easy as ever. Each meal of the forest better than the last and miles above the gruel I lived off before. It tasted divine, like life and ambrosia. The red trickling down my chin that I wiped with my wrist.

My journey into the dark began to wander up hill, then a steeper incline, the trees growing further and further angled as they reached upwards. Softer soil grew stones, like those from an untilled field.

At points the incline rendered me crawling rather than walking. All for limbs carrying me over the ground that soared ever higher.

Weary and weathered I collapsed into a small den in the mountain. The stones having formed a small shelter from the wind. The ground softer than bark, and thus soft enough. I curled in on myself and caught up on my sleep.

Waking brought a meal, a lizard ripped open and my teeth plunged into its soft scales. My claw pulling out the meat. The lovely offering's remains were tossed down the hill side where something else might claim it for the world.

And so I climbed on all fours. The challenge growing with height until I scaled a cliff side as I heard the titanic wings of a might beast churn the air. I dared not turn to gaze upon it. Whether a great tyrant bird or dragon I could not say. Only that it passed casting a shadow over the mountain.

Upon reaching the height of that cliff I was rewarded with a split in the mountain like that of a giant axe blade that'd struck off center. It carved a path clean to the other side and I felt that tug.

Crawling through the crevasse a storm began to howl, the winds and thunder striking the world beyond the thin mountainous sliver. Rain fell over head and washed down the sides as stone turned slick and gusts uprooted stones to have them fall.

I pressed on in haste, this place slick and of falling rocks. Thunder booming like the hammer of a god. On such strike of blinding light occurred over head turning the world white for a long moment as the cliff face began to crumble above and stones fell.

Madly my limbs scrambled for purchase to hurl me out of the way, and not a moment too soon as the path behind was sealed with a stone thrice the height of a home.

Weathering the storm, I reached the chasm's end and found further steep slopes awaiting me. The path down more treacherous than up even as the winds died down and the rain fell to a drizzle.

Rather than weather the path I found an alcove and waited until the weather cleared.

A bird tasting most fowl awaited me, and yet I loved every bite. The birds feathers would have become perfect quills to scribe with but I had no such need… though I plucked a long feather from its wings and tucked it in my hair behind my ear.

My hair a mess of tangles. A notable amount of that morning was spent freeing my mane from the rats nest it'd become. My long hair was my most favored aspect, and I could not leave it to suffer for my journey.

My journey to somewhere I knew not.

Carefully with every limb I descended the cliffs into the forest. Once more, my brief sight over the canopy showing that it extended onwards in every direction forever more. All was the great forest that covered the land, none ever witnessed its depths… and returned.

The trees this side weren't nearly so towering though they spiraled upwards all the same. Their leaves and branches not nearly as foreboding on the way in. Not nearly big enough for such a grand serpent as before.

Not that it would bother me.

Nothing had.

The forest claimed me and gave me free passage as it drew me towards my goal, a goal I could not waver from even if my legs should fail me. They did not. My limbs stronger than ever as they carried me through the forest. I moved with far greater ease than that first day I'd been ragged of breath and bloody of foot.

The only blood I wore now were of my meals.

Trotting beneath the branches I encountered another stream, and lowered myself to lap it up, the water clear and clean as the last. Creatures lurked within its waters, many fish but also a slithering creature that observed my crossing. The eel coiling as its six eyes watched.

I only spared the creature a glance and continued on.

By nightfall I'd found not a clearing but a larger meadow, with a large tree perfect for shelter. The short grass a cozy cushion for my tired form. A long yawn escaped my lips as I curled up upon it.

Dreams did not take me swiftly, but in the evening light I spied a group of deer small as dogs forage from the meadow, some watching me wearily. Skittish things deer, and their smaller variants the same.

Still sleep claimed me.

Only the morning changed. I found no meal awaiting me, no fresh kill gifted by an unseen presence. My journey not over, though it drew closer to its end. Food, and drink. I could not continue until sated.

Rising and stretching my limbs I turned observing the meadow and the forest beyond. How far would the small deer have run? They'd make a lovely meal.

I'd never fancied myself a huntress, a city girl all my life, but I knelt down to inspect the tracks and caught their scent all the same. Low and lean I pursued into the wood, legs powerful like freedom, heart beating slow and strong. The scent and tracks led my path instead of the journey's constant lure.

If this was how the beasts felt, then I wondered why man ever saw fit to leave the forest for hearth and home.

The drudgery of scullery work paled to the chase. The moment the tiny things spotted me, I pounced crashing through the brush and onto the thorned cervines. Pinning them to the forest floor, I sank my jaw into its neck and twisted a thundering crack announcing its death as its family fled.

It wasn't too small, it'd do.

So I tore into the fresh kill like every morn and ate to my delight. The body left to return to the earth.

I turned and trotted away head held high from my triumphant first hunt.

The day passed quicker than the last and as the sun hung low I felt my journey's end too near to rest. Instead bounding, galloping through the trees, crashing through branches that could not piece my skin, until I found myself at moonrise staring at a small cabin, far too small for me. One for gnomes or pixies or sprites perhaps but not for a human.

Still the hearth light looked like comfort, and the grass by the garden looked comfortable to rest on. My legs collapsing as I curled up and felt peace and safety wash over me. The night of pleasant dreams, of hunt and prey.

Come morning I cracked an eye open not to find a dead creature, but a live one. A woman of little years with only a few creases of timeless age, she smiled up from the garden she tended. She spoke words in a language I knew not but understood still. A welcoming, coy but earnest.

She strode up and placed her hand ever so small against me and petted my flank. I felt myself purr as I leaned into it, melting into the gentle touch. Too much had been rough and weary, and now I rested in comfort.

To my whines her hand pulled back, a giggle on her lips and a promise I couldn't make out.

With a great stretch over the tiny home and tinier woman I wandered into the strange wood. Scents and sounds catching my nose and ears as I dashed through until I caught a small boar. Me feasting lasting minutes before I found I'd left overs.

My mind flickered back to the woman, she looked lithe, and could use more than her garden gave her. So I picked it up in mouth and journeyed back. I placed the carcass at the gardener's feet and her eyes flickered down towards it and up to me with a warm smile. Her words with a teasing lit.

Plopping down to rest as I'd nowhere left to go I waited and watched her take my offering. The boar a reasonable size to a woman like her and a few meals left for her tiny frame. With a knife of bone she dug in and collected her share before saying something in her strange tongue.

It took me a moment, but I realized she probably didn't want it stinking up her place. We'd both claimed our shares and now the earth needed its due… elsewhere.

I returned minutes later, to curl up and watch the woman as she went in and out of the cabin and about her day. She worried not about me beside her though offered me words I could not understand.

Oh and the occasional petting which I adored.

Truly the life of a pet was the best, though I was hardly one. No person was unfortunately. I was neither pet nor woman despite my heart yearning for each. My dress stricken to tatters days ago leaving only my hideous self revealed… and yet she didn't seem to mind. Too kind was her soul to care about a filthy giant resting outside her door.

The day of leisure continued, into a peaceful sleep and a likewise morn. By the third day it'd felt like I'd been there all my life.

However the third day the woman came to speak. Her words meaning less than her tone and gestures to follow her. And so I did, as she wandered into the forest. I trotted alongside her swaying with each step in wonder of what this journey would bring.

She cared a bucket with her that implied much especially when we happened across a stream. A snap of her fingers and a point down, and she forced me to lay before her as she got a brush and rag out and began to wash me.

The act focusing on my form I'd best ignored like I had all my life. Her brush untangling knots, the water washing away dirt and blood alike. My small whimpers as she worked down my body.

My eyes swept form the water to my forelimbs .The only part I cared to look at and not in a few days… but I found not hands.

I found claws, not the one stolen but claws of my own, wicked and sharp next to padded paws. Fur growing up my limbs… Fur. Limbs, claws.

I shot up even as the woman washed my flank stumbling back as I got up in a panic and turned to look down at the rest of me. Fur, matted dark with splotches of red stripes and feathers crowing my back extending into long wings, six limbs beneath me and a large tail making up half my length swished at the end.

Opening my mouth to speak I heard not but a surprised yip. Not my hideous voice I dared not use but the noise of a beast.

My eyes turned to the small woman… if she was small at all. Everything seemed suited to her tiny frame.

Sensing my tension she hushed soft words with a placating hand that ventured forth closer and closer towards my face. It reached. It touched, a clam petting on my snout. Then another as she cupped my face in her hands and looked up at me.

Slow and steady she spoke but I failed to understand beyond an attempt to reassure.

My foremost paw gestured to my body which felt right yet looked wrong. Though as I glanced downwards again the tatters of the dress having been left on the ground by the cleaning, I noticed a bosom, among other changes.

More words and explanations as she wandered back and her hand found a spot behind my ears and scritched. Her act eliciting a low rumbling purr as I melted in. The sound of her voice melodic as she continued the motion that sank me down into a pleasant warmth.

By the time she released her hand I'd gone limp and let her continue cleaning me. The act slow meticulous and time consuming, her entire focus brought to bear on my well-being.

It was strange to finally feel cared for, only after losing my humanity. If humanity was the price to pay for her affection I'd gladly have given it up a hundred times over. I wandered in expecting death. I found something more pleasant than I thought life could offer.