Around the same time, Faye was tossed out of the running carriage roughly.
“…Faye!!”
As she rolled down the muddy surface of the ground, Faye could hear Ann’s worried voice that was getting further and further away.
The muddy ground wasn’t soft in every part. There were some small stones mixed in. Plus, the speed of the carriage that she was thrown from, Faye’s clothes were quickly dirty with some parts torn. Let’s not mention the wound she suffered, and the dirt she got…
As it was raining downpour at that time, Faye’s small body was immediately hit by the cold rain water.
The combination of the rough sensation she felt out of a sudden caused her to shudder.
Although she hit some rough surfaces from time to time, the ropes that tied her arms and legs didn’t come undone. They were that thick.
Even so, the first thing that Faye did was to stand up with great efforts because she knew she couldn’t lie around on the street, lest she’d get run over by another carriage.
It wasn’t like she didn’t want to cry at all, she wanted to cry due to the fear and the harsh environment she was suddenly exposed to. However, speaking from her experiences living in the slum all alone, she knew that if she just sat and cried, it won’t change anything and that she’d just waste the energy she could use to survive.
She was all alone again, and every moment was important to fight for survival. She had learned that there was no one to save her.
No…
Only Ann saved her before, but…
Right… Now’s my turn to save her!!
Determined, although she was injured and bound by the ropes, she hopped from the street towards where the trees would be able to protect her from the downpour.
The first thing she tried to do was to find anything that was sharp and sturdy enough to wear the ropes tying her limbs.
Be it rock, twig, etc…
Perhaps already loose or damaged from her hopping around, the ropes on her legs were successfully broken by her efforts and she finally could revert back to her bird self rather than becoming a hopping bunny.
As she was trying to find something that could help her unbind the ropes on her arms, she felt her body shivering from the cold. By this time, she was already soaked wet.
“Cold…,” her teeth chattered as she muttered her complaints, but she still tried to grind away the ropes on her arms.
The rain was still pouring so hard, and there was only the sound of rain and her grinding the ropes on the surface of a big, rough rock.
Then, amidst the nature sound, she suddenly heard a faint growl.
Faye’s eyes widened as she turned around to survey her surroundings. Again, the rain made it harder for her to scan her surroundings, but she managed to catch a sight of a pair of red eyes that were looking at her.
“…!!” Noticing that she was being targeted as a prey, Faye ceased to try grinding the ropes and decided to run as quickly as she could.
Sure enough, the monster that was hiding in the bushes noticed that its target was already making a run from it, so it didn’t bother hiding its presence and jumped out to chase after Faye.
Faye didn’t know why the monster decided to give her a chase amidst the downpour. Perhaps it was really hungry, perhaps it was unaffected by the rain, perhaps it was enticed by the smell of blood dripping from her wounds, or maybe it was the combination of all three.
With her arms bound, she couldn’t really do anything to fight back. Her wings were as bound as her arms were, so she couldn’t try to fly. The rain also would make it harder for her to try flying. She had never attempted to fly again even after having her wings grow after being taken in by Ann. But in this desperate state, she’d try and do it anyway if she could, because there was no other choice.
For now, though, she only hoped she could run away from the monster.
But when she tried to slightly turn around, she still saw the monster devoutly chasing after her with a fast speed and she almost cried looking at its ferocious fangs, saliva dripping down from its open mouth.
The monster itself was the size of a wolf, but with the appearance of a tiger’s, with very long fangs and four small horns.
Though her feet hurt from running barefeet on the rough surface and her wounds still open, she didn’t really feel any pain due to the adrenaline and fear.
She could only continue to run, run, and run…
Until she realized she had run into a dead end.
“Groaaar!!”
The monster’s roar was approaching.
Faye turned around to try and find another way out, but she realized that she was too late.
The monster already arrived in front of her.
It stopped right in front of her and the two looked at each other, not moving.
Faye’s eyes flickered, wondering what would be the best course of action.
Try and run pass the monster?
But won’t she get caught before she successfully left?
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At the end, she didn’t need to decide as the monster decided to make the first move as it leaped towards Faye.
Seeing the figure of the monster about to pounce on her, Faye could only reflexively close her eyes and turned her face away.
Ann-sama, sorry I can’t do anything to help you…
Please be safe…
She quickly said her prayers as she readied herself for the pain that would come her way, but…
“RAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!!”
Suddenly, the monster let out a high-pitched howl, and no pain was coming Faye’s way.
Next, she heard a thud and it was then that she decided to open her eyes to see what was happening.
The scenery before her made her eyes turn wide.
A small pink figure was hanging on the monster’s neck with its all.
“Birdie!!” Faye called out to the familiar figure.
Since Birdie was biting ferociously on the monster’s neck with her sharp teeth inside her beak, she could only look at Faye instead of chirping back in response.
The monster struggled a lot to wring Birdie away, and eventually Birdie gave away as she let go of her bite and fly away from the monster’s retaliation.
“Chirp!” She chirped as she swooped back down and attacked the monster with her sharp claws.
The monster stopped struggling and was now looking at Birdie intently, growling angrily.
“Grrr…”
In return, Birdie flew and spread her wings widely, looking down at the monster menacingly, without any voice.
Then, suddenly, Birdie opened her beak to show a row of sharp teeth and flew away at the monster.
Seeing this, the monster seemed to be caught off guard and the monster’s reflex was to run away with its bleeding neck.
Perhaps the bite was too painful that the monster decided it wasn’t worth it going through all the troubles just to eat a small prey, so the monster decided to not pursue them anymore and continue to make a run, away from Faye and Birdie.
“Birdie…!” Faye called out again to the small pink bird who was unexpectedly brave and strong enough to chase away a monster that overwhelmed her.
At this moment, Faye wished she had a beak and claws as sharp as Birdie, so she could fight back against such a monster and not be as defenseless as she was right now.
Birdie turned around and chirped at Faye, “Chirp!”
Then, she bit and scratched the ropes tying Faye’s arms until Faye was finally free.
“Thank you, Birdie!”
The tension finally left her body as she hugged the small pink furball in her sore arms.
At this moment, she felt the energy leaving her legs, making them as weak as jelly as she fell to the ground, kneeling on it.
Because the adrenaline had left her, she finally felt all the pain from the wounds she had sustained. Her legs were sore, her arms hurt, her body felt like it was burning due to small scratches here and there, and her forehead was throbbing in pain.
When she touched it, there was a red stain, indicating that her forehead had bled.
She tried to spread her wings only to find it was hard and painful. Probably she had broken her wings when she was rolling down the ground with the wings being tightly bound.
Then, she felt colder than before.
As she felt the uncomfortable sensation all over her body, she felt that she was so weak and without power.
Her eyelids grew heavier.
Her arms that held Birdie lost all their power as she finally collapsed to the ground and slowly closed her eyes…
It won’t hurt to sleep for a little while here, right…?
Faye’s mind thought, but she couldn’t really think straight in this situation…