The deer gazed back at him, unblinking, steam rolling from its nostrils like fog. It seemed to consider him silently as the darkness became a void, the only light in the world emanating from those awful antlers.
But then it tilted its head back and let loose a screech of warning, the sound thin, reedy, and clattering like stones.

He loathed the sound, both for giving away his position and for its ear splitting quality. He tried skirting around the tree trunk he'd been pressed against, all while focusing on the position of the strange deer.

She opened her mouth to answer when the woods behind them began to move. The trees rustled urgently, the ground beneath them shaking. Roo turned her head towards the noise, horror in her voice. "Run. Run! Back the way we came!"

She picked up her skirt and hurried forward, grabbing his hand as she passed him. "We're about to be--"
And then came a bellow. Roo blanched, running faster as the trees behind them began to topple over.

"Tell me what's out here." He insisted as they made their mad dash through the trees.

She didn't get to. At that moment, the trees beside her burst forth, erupting into splinters with a reluctant groan. Out of the dark bounded a creature weeping viscera, red with blood and screaming. It towered over the two of them and that was when Giovanni realized that it wasn't one creature, but two - beneath the rider was a warhorse, spitting and kicking and chuffing with bloodlust. They surged forward, heading directly towards the pair.

Giovanni jerked immediately to the side, yanking the Lumanlisc along as he made an attempt to evade their attacker's pursuit. Losing them in the thick copse of trees would be their best bet, as there was no way either of them were going to win in a straight-up foot race against a horse.

It was all he could do in the moment to throw his hands out in front of him to catch himself against the forest floor. What the hell? That was the strangest bomb he'd ever seen, if that's even what it was.

"What was that?" Giovanni hissed from a prone position just a few feet away.

She looked up at him, brushing leaves out of her hair, and reached out to take his hand. It took moment to muster the energy to stand. "Nightriders. They're persistent. And there'll be more of them. I was supposed to lead them to Rhea, but..."