There had to be another route because if monsters were terrifying, then the Godds were unspeakable. Even our isolated village knew not to mess with them or invoke them.
Ward turned his back on the thing, which seemed crazy. “I thought humans loved pigs. Don’t you keep them in your village?”
“Maybe other people do, but not this human! They will eat people, Ward, and they’re crazy smart.” They had terrorized our village enough when they escaped farmer Hime’s pen.
“Honestly, I expected more of a fight on this. Isn't it cute?”
Nope. I moved him further in the piglet's way. Shoving someone as big as him was a task, but that thing wasn’t getting near me.
“No. Its eyes look pretty beady. Let's not talk about its sharp teeth and hooves.”
Ward shook his head. “It doesn't even have its tusks yet. Or all its heads.”
Heads, as in plural? My face had to be green because my stomach sloshed. Everything was simpler at home. Humans and an occasional elf. Done.
“We should keep walking. Hoki are not to be underestimated. As remnants of the Godds of fertility, the mate bond attracted it.”
I swallowed hard on that. I didn’t need to be fertile on top of everything else that was happening at the moment. Or ever.
Ward’s steady hand found my shoulder. “Just edge around it and we won’t attract its parents.”
An adult version of this thing existed? That sounded like nightmare fuel. He stepped into the woods and I followed. The piglet trotted in my direction. I picked up my feet, so I didn’t trip.
“Shoo, git, you terrifying creature.” My flapping at it only intrigued it further. Its eyes were bright on me as it trailed behind us. “Ward, it’s not shooing.”
Ward walked faster, his jaw hardening. “What are you doing to attract it?”
“Nothing! What is this thing, a cat? Does it know I actively hate it?” I did my best to warn it away with wild gestures without pissing it off. Somehow that translated to ‘get closer’. It really was going to eat me.
“Don’t touch it.” Ward slapped at my hands, dragging me forward by my collar.
“I’m trying not to. It’s determined to be touched.” The crunchy leaves slipped under my boots.
Ward pulled me away faster, but the piglet stamped its little feet to keep up. Then we ran and Evie did not run. Even for danger pork. Every branch in the forest rose to trip me. My pack weighed a thousand pounds in an instant. My legs never cooperated right for something that was supposed to be so simple. I thought I was going to burst out of my top. I should have at least been able to outrun a mini slab of bacon, but my legs just said ‘no’.
Ward caught me as I stumbled and put me behind him again. I did my part by gulping in as much air as possible. He roared a fearsome sound at the piglet and the answering cry, from deep in the woods, raised every hair on my body.
A boar, the size of a cart and pony, stepped out of the forest shadows, pawing at the ground. Two heads and everything. As promised. Adrenaline surged through my legs, telling them to run again, but Ward planted himself more firmly. I never thought I would see something that made him look tiny, but the adult Hoki was big enough to toss us into next week. Two sloping heads with two sets of tusks razoring out of each of its mouths came from a stout, attached to a dapple-coated body. The adult version’s eyes looked just as beady, but more angry. The piglet ran to it and joined a small pack of pork at the adult’s feet.
I didn’t know it was possible to bristle without fur, but Ward managed it. I swear he grew a few inches as he set his pack down and drew out a for-real battle axe. I didn’t see why we weren’t slowly moving away. I dredged up some calm.
“See, everything’s fine, mama. You have all your babies back.”
“That’s the male. He’s the less aggressive one?—”
Ward’s warning choked off as a freight train plowed into us from the side and I was flying in a way I never had on my bucket list. Waiting to hit the ground, warm fur enveloped me and I pressed against a booming heartbeat. My completely irrational heart sang through the mate bond as I rolled and we skidded to a stop against a towering old oak. I didn’t feel the impact, but it reverberated through the fur blanket around me.
Cracking one eye open, I found myself in the grip of Ward’s bear. Giant picket-fence-sized teeth dripped with a bit of blood as he quickly healed himself. A bone snapped with a crunch.
Are you hurt, mate? I will shift back when you’re on your feet.
He didn’t need to. He was perfect as he was and more battle ready in my opinion. But he looked… nervous. As nervous as I interpreted on his bear face.
“Hurt, no. In awe, yes.” I couldn't believe I eked that much out of my dry mouth. I would have a few bruises, but they didn’t seem worth mentioning when Ward’s ribs popped back into place.
Chest heaving, I collected myself enough to slide from his grip. I should have been concerned about the murder pork still spraying leaves onto the other side of the clearing, but as the bear sneezed out all the dust we kicked up, my freakout died in the face of my fascination. Running from all these enormous, terrifying creatures would have been my first thought a few days ago. Every primal instinct in me was urging me not to be flying again but fleeing worked out poorly last time and I couldn’t help but stare at him. His round, little ears were so cute. His black nose, shiny and adorable. I hadn’t really had time to appreciate this magnificent creature with all the questing and kidnapping. What would he do if I booped his nose?
The bear dragged himself up and shuffled in front of me, every step thundering through the forest. He hesitated, partially shifting, but his fur sprang forth again. Ward grumbled, but the Hoki decided Ward’s form for us. Jaws slathered in blood I didn't want to know the source of. She pawed the leaf litter and charged. Ward shifted fully back to his bear, swatted her with a paw that encompassed her whole body and sent her to the ground in a plume of leaves and branches. He stepped forward and the Hoki finally got the message. She scrambled up and took off with her husband and babies. Ward let out a deafening roar for good measure and turned back to me.
