In the night, Shora woke to the sounds of something large moving across her land. She expected it was the elephant, but remembered that he always slept through the night. Her campsite was in the deepest part of the forest. The sound of branches snapping under heavy feet drew closer.

She clambered out of her makeshift cot and quietly climbed to the top of the hill next to her campsite. She spotted the intruder quickly. It was unlike any animal she'd ever seen. In fact, it was unique. No two chimeras were the same. It had the head of a canine scavenger, a short powerful muzzle and neck. Its ears and hide reminded her of the hyena that were scattered around the south of their mountain. From there, any hint of a doglike build changed. It had a powerful chest and long arms, with functional hands with double thumbs and long claws. Javad had described something called an ape with a build like that. Its large arms could reach all the way to the ground, but it also had four canine legs for dedicated movement.

It didn't see her yet, but was sniffing the air, gradually creeping closer to her campsite. Shora might consider herself a proud orc, but she wasn't fully grown. She avoided contact with the creature as long as possible.

The creature wasn't in a rush, but it was only a matter of time till it found her camp. Her camp was surrounded by thick forest, but the surrounding lands were barren and without cover. She couldn't get completely clear. Shora had prepared her campsite to defend it from hostile creatures. The dark orcs had learned much about simple traps during the war with Qismat, and her brother had taught her as well. 

She'd rigged up a few swinging spear traps that relied on tension for their movement. If the trap was disturbed, the spear was on a pivot and would swing towards the one who'd tripped it. She'd told Javad about these traps, and they were in a location that he wouldn't walk through anyway. But now she led the chimera towards them.

The first had a good effect as it went off, spiking the chimera through the shoulder. But its brute strength was such that it snapped the shaft of the spear, pulling the rest out of its arm easily. Blood stained its fur as it ripped the barb through its skin. Now it was enraged, and Shora scrambled towards the second trap. It followed her scent with a powerful sense of smell.

The furious beast walked easily into it. But it was alerted to an enemy now. Strong hands caught the spear as it swung towards its face. The great beast strained against the force of the trap. She'd made it well. Once the initial impact was spent, the hyena-gorilla wrenched the spear out of the trap. The thick tree limbs of the trap snapped against its strength.

Shora had one more trap left and a few wooden javelins on her back. The chimera had crashed through the deepest parts of her little woods. There weren't many more places to hide. She could outpace it in dense brush, but feared its speed in open terrain. She decided to make a stand. Her brother had told her tales about the chimeras. He'd told her about many kinds of creature. The most efficient ways to kill them. She'd learned much about how to kill an armed and armored human, though she'd never used it.

But his advice on chimeras was simple. Run. Avoid a fight. Use a distraction, then run, and failing that, blind it and run. He'd described chimeras sliced or impaled many times without dying. Only by somehow piercing the brain, or a serious wound or multiple wounds through immensely strong ribs and into their heart would put them down for good. Her brother didn't repeat himself often, but he told her to run many times.

She couldn't run and didn't expect to get a spear through its chest or through its thick skull. She'd bet her life on Uzgar's third plan. Her last trap wouldn't inflict serious damage, if any. It would provide a distraction. While its arms were busy fending off the trap, she'd hurl a javelin into one eye, then lunge in to blind its second one with her steel spear, a beautiful weapon her brother gave her. From there, she'd escape from a blinded chimera.

The creature followed her on all six limbs, its grasping hand setting off the final trap's mechanism. It reared up to stop the pivoting spear. One large hand went up to meet it. Shora was gleeful, her traps were sturdy. One hand alone couldn't stop it, even from such a beast. The creature surged to the side as that hand slapped the side of the spear viciously. It forced it to the side and ducked out of the way.

The first stage of Shora's ambush was foiled, but she hurled her first javelin anyway, from beside it, an angle it didn't expect. She was skilled and already close. The wooden, barbed point cut through the hyena's large eye at an angle. Blood and goo flowed down its face. It reached up and ripped the barbed tip free, compounding the damage. It howled in pain, a low-pitched, mournful yowling.

Shora didn't wait for her enemy to recover. She threw a second javelin, piercing it in the lower neck. The hyena growled again, in shock and surprise, but with a rekindled fury. It snapped the javelin in half with its brutish arm, leaving the rest embedded. It spun towards her in the next moment. Its remaining eye fixed on her at last, its pupils dilated as it pulsed fury out with every breath. It raised both arms, close to its face like a pugilist. Shora had been waiting for it to turn and launched her javelin at its last eye.

Both arms closed around its face, the javelin struck deeply into its meaty forearm. It didn't even bother removing the weapon, charging towards her with a growl.

Shora had been planning to strike for its second eye in melee, but stopping that furious charge here wasn't gonna happen. She was fast. She'd wear it out first. The lanky she-orc spun on her heel and darted towards the thickest parts of her woods. The chimera bent or snapped anything that got in its way. She only kept ahead of it because of this. But her little sanctuary was being torn up fast. She kept running for nearly an hour, but in the end, she was exhausted first. Her little home had been trashed, no areas of dense brush remained.

It was a boulder sailing past her head that finally compelled her to stop. She spun on her heel. The apelike hyena had a second huge stone raised over its head. But Shora had one javelin left, and seized on the opportunity quickly. She hurled the weapon and lunged towards the creature with her steel spear in her left hand. The wooden projectile pierced its gut. The hyena-gorilla dropped the boulder, grabbing for the injury with one hand and swinging a bone-crushing fist towards Shora with the other.

Striking in quick succession, she pierced the creature's wrist several times with her steel spear, circling around this injured hand on the side of its remaining eye. It swung a vicious backhand towards her. She leaned out of the way, striking at her target on the rebound of her evasive motion. But not the hand again, but at its eye. Mid-attack, the hyena couldn't protect its face. The razor-sharp spear tip destroyed its vision.

Shora backed away. Despite her success, the chimera was still alive. Now was the time to make the most of it. She meant to put as much distance between her and the wounded hybrid beast, avoiding anything that would make excess noise. She expected another round of mournful howling from the animal or blind, furious thrashing. Instead, it went silent, lowering its snout to the ground. Its nostrils sniffed furiously, purposefully. Completely blind, it pivoted around, directly towards her.