The Behemoth's Lair

Chapter One - The Behemoth's Rampage

The wind picked up, its whisper a deathly warning. The cold air assaulted my exposed skin, chilling me like an open-air freezer. Voices shrieked everywhere. My neck strained as I peeled my eyes upward, through a throng of branches, anticipating the invader. My heart sank as I recalled the unfathomable revelation I'd overheard earlier. "I was going to be..."

Clop! Thud! Thunk! Thump! Massive footsteps sounded, piercing my thoughts. They drew nearer amidst the villagers' lamentation as they scattered in pandemonium. The beast must know! Why else would he resort to this madness? And thence, no kindness would he spare for anyone.

Lub-dub! Lub-dub! My heart pounded.

An ear-piercing shriek shattered the night's airwaves as a medium-sized bough zipped by, almost crashing into me.

I needed to move! One look from the ogre, unhinged at last, and I'd be reclining in hell! A fleeting look around brought a temporary solution. Keeping low and already within the shadows, I avoided unnecessary attention as I hurried toward a tilted tree close to the edge of our backyard that offered meager space beneath its tilt for a small person to hide.

The shrieking intensified as a handful of people raced into the bushes some thirty feet away, behind my parents' now abandoned stilted wooden house, which loomed melancholic before me.

My heart sank to the ground as I thought of my parents. They'd been gone since the afternoon, and judging by what was happening, I knew they had failed. Remembering our plan and their last words, I knew what I had to do. My heart raced as I scanned the area behind me, anticipating my escape in that direction.

The shrieking died as the towering terrorist came into view. Standing at almost twice my height, his chest shook with each heaving breath.

Though I needed to make haste, I couldn't leave now, for if I did, I would surely be detected.

A stony missile flew toward the beast, but missed, as his eyes darted in the direction whence it came, searching for the source. The stone thrower stooped behind a gigantic cedar tree almost twenty feet away, at three o'clock, waiting with another stone in hand. The heads of a few others ducked in and out of the darkened bushes at one and twelve o'clock.

As if seeing no one, the behemoth approached the stairs of the house, which groaned and limbered as if in protest as he clambered up. Through the opened window shutters, I saw him lumber low through the kitchen and living room, before disappearing into the bedrooms and reemerging not long afterward. His voice thundered as the contents of the living room and windows deconstructed and spewed through the orifice in a sweeping rage.

"That's one sure angry blogger beast!" I heard someone say.

"Deserters!" The slinger beneath the cedar tree sounded bitter. "Now, he'll wreck everywhere."

"Think he'd do that?"

"Remember three years ago, when the brother was refused? Same difference."

"It's all because of that Whitlock girl!" Another voice reverberated through the chaos. "Tauri!"

"Her parents today tried to appeal the tribunal's verdict. But the tribunal wasn't having it. They've detained them, I hear."

I froze at the mention of my name. So they detained my parents. Plan A had failed. There was only plan B now, and so much rested upon me. I forced the bile rising into my mouth back down in my throat as my head spun. It all came down to one thing, me refusing to be the sacrificial lamb?

"Thinks she's too good!" someone commented, drawing me out of my pounding brain.

"She'll soon be Mrs. Trollfect!" came another voice.