The Finale is Here: The Beast of the Forest
The last chapter is finally here...
Hi, everyone!
First off, Happy New Year! A new year means new stories.
However, every beginning requires an ending, so here it is: the finale of The Beast of the Forest!
Thank you to everyone who has supported and enjoyed the series. I hope it’s been fun!
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Again, thank you so much for following along. Please enjoy the finale!
The stream sounded like a rainstorm as it rushed by. It seemed like it was rising and getting stronger, or at least that was how it felt to Jimmy.
The heat of the day had suddenly evaporated. Darker colours were being folded into the canvas backdrop of the afternoon sky. Dark oranges, violets, and hot coal reds. A cool breeze stirred the forest like a teaspoon in a teacup.
For all the chaos and all the danger, everyone by the stream – man and beast alike – remained remarkably still. The young beast that had jumped at Jimmy was still locked in a prowling stance that made it look like it might pounce at any moment. It was trying hard to maintain its ferocity. The adult beast, on the other side of the stream along with the other young one, was not as desperate to show off its strength. It already knew that it didn’t need to prove anything.
Leo knew that Jimmy’s parents would be rushing after them the moment they heard the beast’s initial roar. He was certain of it. It was just a matter of how long it was going to take them to find them. In the meantime for those on the shore, all they could do was stall. For that reason, Leo opted to try and calm things down.
“We all just have to take it easy, ok,” he told Jimmy and Henry quietly.
He hunched over and dropped his shoulders, trying to look smaller than he actually was.
Jimmy locked eyes with the young beast that had pounced on him earlier. The beast was staring Jimmy down, transfixed and determined. The young beast chomped at the air and Jimmy couldn’t help but flinch.
On the other side of them, the other young beast broke ranks with its parent and chomped at the air as well, similarly aggravated. The young beasts – one and then the other – each made a roar of their own, nowhere near as loud and far raspier, but still fierce enough to send a shiver down your spine. This then provoked the parent to snap its teeth and growl at its undisciplined little ones who were clearly pushing it.
With each passing second, the young beasts were becoming increasingly agitated, eager to launch. Leo saw a familiar frustration in the parent beast as they tried to wrangle their growly and yappy little ones. Funnily enough, in a strange way, Leo even found himself empathising with the parent beast. He had definitely been there himself.
As tensions rose, the young beasts clawed slowly closer and closer. Jimmy, Leo, and Henry were huddled close together. Leo and Henry were trying to tuck Jimmy away, to hide him.
Jimmy then heard a sudden roar come from the forest, except it wasn’t just one voice’s roar – it was a chorus. The toughness of the young beasts briefly disappeared. All eyes turned to the forest, to the sight of the townsfolk. Out they came from the trees in one big clump, like a rolling boulder of bodies, yelling and screaming and making all the noise they could possibly make.
The effect was immediate. The young beasts turned as quickly as their necks would allow and bolted. The beast by the stream leapt behind its parent and hid itself away, all of its courage blown away like dust in a sharp breeze. The other young one made a run for the treeline back the way it came. However, as it went to disappear into the arms of the forest, it was met by a very different embrace instead.
Another new party had entered the arena. The fleeing young beast had been ensnared in a ground level net. The moment it made contact it let out a terrible yelp. The bandits immediately leapt from behind the trees and went on to wrap the beast up tightly in their net, scrambling like ants trying to take down a caterpillar. Once they managed to tangle up the beast, they then held on with all their might as the captured young creature flailed about like a fish out of water.
The parent beast’s response was equally immediate. It leapt across the last of the stream as if stepping across a puddle and planted itself on the shore in front of the bandits – its other youngling following along just behind. It were as if the other humans had disappeared off the face of the earth. They weren’t of any concern anymore.
The townsfolk took the opportunity and flooded around Jimmy, Leo, and Henry. Jimmy’s parents hugged him close and checked him for any wounds.
The reunion was interrupted as the parent beast let out a roar that made the whole world vibrate. If the previous big roar had been a gong, then this one was a crash of the thunder.
Jimmy heard a ringing in his ears afterwards.
Still, the bandits held their ground, at least for now.
Their hands were shaking as they grasped the net. The young beast inside had settled down, perhaps scared by the roar as well.
Henry stepped forward from the crowd of townsfolk.
“Let it go, Arthur!” he called out. “Don’t be fools!”
The twin bandits holding the net looked at each other and were both on the exact same page. Suddenly, in the same moment, they each let go of the net and ran away into the forest.
Arthur had to hold the net even tighter now, grunting and growling as he did. It was just him and the old man bandit now.
Standing on the shore, the parent beast focused its attention on the old man. The beast broadened its snarl, revealing its teeth. Perhaps the old man saw sense in the reflection of the beast’s sword-like incisors. The next second he let go of the net too and scrambled for the shadows.
And now only Arthur remained.
The parent beast took one long, slow step forward, taking its time, allowing Arthur to squirm.
Finally, Arthur let go.
The young beast wriggled its way free from the net and ran to be by its parent’s side.
Silently, the family turned away from them all and crossed the stream. Everyone left on the shore watched as the family of beasts returned to their forest.
It was all over.
There on the shore of the stream, Henry was forgiven by Leo and Jimmy. His bandit days were done.
And so Jimmy had lost his bet with his friends… the beasts of the forest were alive and well.
In Leo, the townsfolk gained a new friend and neighbour. They all returned home and Leo took over the watermill in town that had burnt down many years ago. Over the next week, the whole town worked together to rebuild it and get it running.
Just like that, Leo was part of something again. He had a family again.