Forest Guardians Chronicles: A Matter of Humanity by Beth Roose (smart ebook reader TXT) 📗

car. She immediately pressed the lock button. She looked up and the woman’s face was pressed into the driver side window. Her face looked like a snake with too large fangs that were dripping with a substance. Bev turned the key, put the car in reverse and pressed the foot pedal down. Before she knew it the woman was in front of her. She slipped the car in drive and almost ran her over getting away. She looked over her shoulder as the woman still stood there motionless. Bev sped away not looking back.

6

The Darkness Of Death

Zonga approached Tas and Vue near Bev’s farm and asked them what they were doing. Vue roared at Zonga. He reached back, pulled an arrow from his quiver, put it in his bow and pointed at Vue. It happened almost in a blink of an eye.  The sunlight hit the silver tip arrow exactly right and almost blinded both Vue and Tas. They turned their heads and then turned back with roars. “Do not think I will not kill you both. Remember I can shapeshift into dogmen which can and will destroy you both by shredding you into little pieces.” Tas leaned within inches of the silver tip arrow. He gave out a roar and his fangs dripped. Tas reached down and pulled Zonga forward. Tas made a grave error in doing this. Zonga had a firm hold on his bow and arrow. The forward pull of Zonga sent the arrow tip into his abdomen and as he was attempting to pull Zonga up to his face the arrow sliced him all the way up into his chest. Tas then realized what happened and dropped Zonga back to the ground. Zonga was still holding his bow and arrow and he looked at the long slice in Tas. He was bleeding heavily. Tas fell over and Vue knelt down to tend to Tas. Zonga realized this would be his only time to escape so he shapeshifted into a blue heron with its powerful wings and lifted off to get away before Vue could react. Vue looked up at Zonga as he shapeshifted and decided he needed to save Tas. He looked down at Tas and told him to lay still. He would gather the herbs and leaves to heal his wounds. Tas ran into the meadow from the tree line. He pulled up by the root as many dandelions as he could find. He ran back into the tree line to Tas. He quickly and efficiently stripped the top off the dandelions and then pushed the root down into the 7-inch-long wound from the silver tipped arrow. He hoped there was no poison on the tip of the arrow. He finished and told Tas he was going to gather sassafras bark and leaves. Sassafras was in abundance in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It only took him about 4 minutes to gather what was needed for the wound. He ran as fast as he could back to Tas. He seemed to be resting better now. Vue could tell the dandelion roots pain killer was working. He began putting the sassafras leaves into the wound, then laying the bark on top. He let Tas know he would be back as soon as he had enough vine gathered to tie it around him to secure the wound dressing. Before Tas could answer Vue was already halfway down the game trail. As he gathered vines he was deep in thought wondering how he would be able to carry out the plan without Tas. There would be no way that his wound would be healed enough in four days to carry out the plan. He wondered who else in the tribe could be trusted to help. He could not imagine anyone else betraying Cleg or the Tribe. He had to help Tas, then he would go see the Woman shapeshifter. She would have an answer.  Vue felt he had enough vines to wrap Tas and move him to their secret hiding place in an abandoned shed deep in the woods. He ran back to Tas and moved fast, wrapping him. The most difficult task was sitting up and then standing. The cord held nice and Tas and Vue were ready for the long walk ahead. The trick would be not to be seen along the way.

It took Vue and Tas almost three hours to get to the abandoned shed. Vue thought that it usually took about 40 minutes to walk at a leisurely pace. He was afraid Tas would not make it to the shed. Miraculously he did. He helped Tas to lay down in the bedding they had made. Tas laid back and closed his eyes. Vue asked if he was OK, however, he did not respond. Vue assumed it was the combination of the sassafras and the dandelions doing their job. Vue looked at his friend and thought he might find Tas dead when he came back and would have to bury Tas. Vue decided to find juniper berries for the wound. He heard that they had healing powers, too.  Vue ran at the door to the closest juniper. There he found an abundance of berries. Vue picked till his hand was overflowing with berries. He ran as fast as he could back to Tas. When he walked through the door over to Tas he could see he was breathing. Tas was still sleeping. He put the juniper berries in the wound. Tas did not stir. Vue was worried.

Vue knew he had to find the Woman shapeshifter. He ran faster than he had ever. He pushed himself because he knew it was at least 16 miles. Along the way, at about the halfway point, he had to stop. A group of humans on their bikes was close. The bike path was at least two miles of what he had to run along. He had to have a plan. He decided that he would step out on