"So, what are we looking for?" Harriet asked as they walked huddled behind Hagrid, being careful not to step on prickly flowers jutting out of the soil or to trip on the overgrown roots of the trees that overshadowed them.
"Notin' much, jus' have some Unicorns dead." Hagrid explained, shining his lamp this way and that so it lit up the forest around them.
'Ah, yes, the most natural of occurrences.' Anos cursed as he followed, with Harriet to his right.
There was a mist in the air, thick with the cold and damp and the smell of something different than what anyone should be used to. Hagrid's lamp was enhanced to shine brighter than any made by Muggles but its light still didn't go past more than 20 steps from their group; the forest seemed to seep and soak the very light from the air.
So they walked closely behind him, Hagrid in the front and Fang at the very back with Simon, who seemed the most at ease in the environment.
"You, been in one of these before?" Hagrid asked looking behind him and everyone in the group knew he was asking Simon, their friend who seemed to be angrily hopping on the trail more than walking meekly or stoically like the rest of them.
"Of course, my dad threw me in one of these when I was small. Visited me a lot to make sure I was okay of course but it was a bitch to get through walking in the dark at first." Simon answered, loudly and without care, the forest seemed to swallow the sound too because it appeared more natural than boastful.
"Language, Belmont." Alucard said walking besides Maxwell, both being on the opposite end behavior wise; Maxwell seemed to be curling into himself while Alucard walked with poise, looking straight into the dark with care.
"Me an' my Da used to do that too!" Hagrid answered, ignoring Simon's cursing as he jovially continued into a story "Put small me right beside him and had me walk circles in the forest to lose weight." Hagrid said, slapping on his belly as if lamenting how that turned out.
"I knew me way around these parts before I was all of yer age, could walk right up to a Hippogriff and ruffle its feathers." Hagrid said with pride as Alucard shook his head.
"You could does not mean you should Hagrid." Alucard said and the words went ignored.
"Of course, net. But they never hurt anyone, jus' ask ol' Anos over here." Hagrid said with a booming laugh, the crossbow in his hand quivering alongside.
"When did you 'ruffle' a Hypogriff's feathers?" Simon asked behind Anos.
"What's a Hypogriff?" Harriet and Maxwell asked in turn.
"I did not 'ruffle' any Hippogriff feathers, I… simply bit one, when I was a baby." Anos explained, scorning the topic of conversation.
"And where exactly did you bite this creature?" Alucard asked with a knowing smile.
"On it's arse of course." Hagrid answered before Anos could, taking away the uncomfortable feeling around the group before beginning to explain what a Hippogriff was as they continued to walk.
For a time it could even be thought that they had less of a punishment and more of a walk in the forest, but the deeper they went the darker and heavier the forest seemed to turn, it's trees tall and beautiful in the day twisting into thorns jutting into the sky while the creatures that seemed fantastical from sound turned into groaning things that lurked beneath the shadow of the trees.
It was only when they found the first trail of blood that the group truly knew what they were in for.
Hagrid had been making them follow the trail as normal, Anos for some time had thought there was no method to it at all and they were simply searching for a horse in a magical forest.
Then he slowly took notice of the path they were walking on now without realising, with crushed stone spread across it so their boots didn't slip on it compared to the rest of the forest soil which seemed to have still being damp from the rainfall of yesterday, then there were trees clearly marked and diverging paths.
It was some time into their journey when Hagrid stopped and told them to quieten down and stay behind him, then slowly walked over away from the trailed path they had been following into the forest proper, hoisting his crossbow and pointing it at the ground with steady hands, as all of them followed him.
No one spoke until they found the small puddle of blood but when they did all of them gasped or winced.
There a small otherwise unremarkable clearing was lit up by the liquid spread across it, silvery blue under the moonlight and smelling so heavy that Anos felt as if he'll choke on just the scent while Alucard was holding onto his stomach in both disgust and control.
"Unicorn blood." Hagrid spoke, and Maxwell and Harriet finally understood.
He went over and bent down to touch it, putting his forefingers in it before looking at the other parts of the clearing.
Anos and Alucard both stepped back from the clearing but Simon was right behind Hagrid as he pointed out the other areas of the clearing.
"There, broken branches and hoof marks in the soil." Simon pointed out and for a moment Anos was confused; he could see hoof marks of course but there were no broken branches.
Alucard, still scratching at his neck pointed upwards with his forefinger and Anos noticed a part of a tree's trunk several feet up from the ground, shattered and hanging on by splinters; it was the work of the unicorn's horn that did it.
"Yes, be wit' me now, don' go nowhere." Hagrid herded them together again, making them follow with Alucard, Anos and Fang now being the most unwilling participants in this.
No one had mentioned the small silvers of blood scattered across the clearing or splattered on the trees, or the skid marks on the trees, those that could see it already knew what it meant or could guess. The unicorn wasn't alive for much longer after making its way here.
Anos hadn't pointed it out of course, he was too busy not vomiting alongside Alucard and wondering if the scent of the unicorn's blood would ever leave his memory, probably not.
Hagrid was quieter afterwards, much quieter than could be expected of a man his size but then again the forest seemed absurdly large to fit with Hagrid's giant blood so much so that Hagrid moved naturally in it, pointing with his lamp and looking back at regular times to check if they were all there or not.
There were a thousand more smells and sounds now, and none of them human. The forest's mist seemed to pool around the group with only Hagrid's lamp or the creature's eyes piercing through it and after a while they begun to travel holding their hands together, except Hagrid who was so large that they were certain they weren't going to lose him.
There were occasional splatters of unicorn blood to give rise to disgust and more than one sound of something growling just beyond their sight, but whatever demons and monsters were in the forest they did not show themselves in front of Hagrid.
They walked for minutes more before they finally found the unicorn or well a piece of it at the least.
Hagrid stopped in front of a tree, with unicorn blood pooling all the way beneath it, silvery blue and shining with luster as he pointed his lamplight on it
*Drip*
Anos heard the sound of something hitting the puddle and then he looked up, his gaze trailing all the way on the tree with its silver marks up to a thick branch where something sat. Gnawing at a silvery leg that was surely the Unicorn's.
Anos could not speak, not even when Alucard holding his hand asked him what was wrong and shook him, not even when Hagrid also noticed the dripping sounds and pointed both his crossbow and lamplight upwards, straight at the creature's hollow hideous face.
"Scraaa?" The creature almost seemed confused at being interrupted in its meal, stopping to look down at them, its white boned beak dripping silver with Unicorn blood.
It raised its head back entirely then,giving a glimpse of its antlered self, the hollow pits where its eyes should be seemed to light up as it looked at them in turn, ending with Anos and Alucard that were at the back of the group.
*Thwack*
A bolt went straight through the creature's face, breaking bone and coming out on the other side to seal shut its jaw so they never heard the howl of rage the creature had.
Fang was barking now, and the forest seemed to spin as the creature drew itself to its full height, creaking the tree's branch as it threw the unicorn's silvery leg at the group so it landed with a thud right in front of Anos, giving him an ample view of where a long jaw with blunt teeth had bit and chewed on flesh, bones giving way to dripping marrow so he could have a full smell of the leg that the creature had been feasting on.
They didn't notice Hagrid fumbling to reload his crossbow, they didn't notice when one or all of them screamed, they did notice when one of them ran away and in a panic the others followed, scattering as Anos heard the creature making its way down from the tree.
'Harriet.' Anos thought, catching a glimpse of her running and following behind her, quickly outpacing her and grabbing her by her collar before holding her as he ran faster than he had ever done in his life.
There were so many sounds, so many smells, he could gather the creature's loud and long steps, could hear its antlers breaking the branches of the trees, could smell the moss and the dirt of the trail, the two heartbeats in his chest and could hear Harriet sobbing in surprise against him as he held her.
More than anything Anos could feel the cursed energy seeping into his body, roaring to life at his command and making it so he ran faster than any human or creature his age ever should, there was so much strength in him that Harriet weighted less than a feather to him as he hopped awkwardly to jump over tree roots or rocks.
The creature was faster still, and Anos didn't have to move his head backwards to see it galloping towards him and Harriet, following their every movement like a skilled hound, its antlers almost a crown as it moved in between the moonlight that bled through the forest's roof.
Anos ran faster, used every breath and prayed to every god, mage, king he knew as he ran and Harriet was so scared and confused that she didn't do anything but sob and hold onto him even as her glasses fell down and were crushed to shards beneath the creature's hooves.
They would not outpace it though, its moss-filled and treelike limbs were long and it seemed to meld into the forest, giving glimpses of itself only to Anos with its amber colored eyes locked into a black abyss that was its forehead.
Cursing, Anos folded his fingers and tried to speak… only to almost gag at the amount of senses that hit his tongue, he faltered and nearly fell into a tree but managed to float himself and Harriet up at the last second.
The creature was so close that Anos could feel it's claws at his back, ready to rip and tear him to shreds, he couldn't think of anything but the unicorn's leg, the sight of it's blood and bone, it's marrow and it's flesh marked and broken into for a feast.
'Shikigami' Anos said with a voice he didn't recognise as his own for a moment and his shadow split and out from it appeared three giant wolves that were his and Harriet's companions, slamming straight into the creature, so Sif tore a chunk out of the creature's outstretched hand that was about to claw at his master.
Anos couldn't even look back as he ran, faster and faster and faster still, he could occasionally hear and feel his companions giving battle, the pain that tore sharply at him whenever Set or Sif were hit by the creature, Midnight had no such connection that transferred pain so Harriet just quietly tried to ask him where everyone was.
"Safe, we'll be safe." Anos said, now feeling suddenly like the world was pulling him downwards, bearing down on him all at once.
Harriet said nothing else as he huffed and cursed his way through the forest before finally making his way into a clearing, a large one where the trees stood guard all around in a circle, seemingly safe from any outsider entering.
Anos noticed the silvery puddles in the clearing a moment too late.