Artwork by ArtOfVenus, vignette below!

page 6 and vignette at the WordPress link

Evie scouts the northern woods for a troublesome ogre. But there are other creatures besides ogres lurking in the forest!

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A flash of bright orange low to the ground caught my eye and startled me as I rounded a tree.  I stopped short as my attention was drawn to a gaping maw full of huge teeth on the face of the strange creature.  It sniffed the air and snorted, and a tongue poked out from behind the teeth. 

It looked like a round orange blob on two short legs, a blob with beady eyes and a stubby snout above the rows of teeth that captured my attention.  It was eyeing me, but for some reason it wasn’t moving to attack.

‘A squig,’ I thought.  I’d only seen pictures in the bestiary before, I’d never seen one in the flesh.  They were said to be voracious little monsters that would eat anything available.  But they could also be domesticated, to an extent, and used by other creatures as mounts.

Only with that thought did my eyes travel upward to see an even smaller creature riding atop the squig.  Green and wrinkly with glassy little beads for eyes, he wore a tiny horned helmet and brandished a little toy crossbow.  He looked like a goblin, only miniature sized.  

“Stop roight there, ‘uumie!” A high pitched voice rang out.

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This is page 6 of a full Evie story in collaboration with ArtOfVenus.

If you enjoyed, go give ArtOfVenus a look on his DA page or other links, and he’s worthy of your subscription budget at Patreon and/or SubscribeStar.

And watch for more with Evie soon!

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Artwork by ArtOfVenus, vignette below!

page 5 and vignette at the WordPress link

Evie scouts the northern woods for a troublesome ogre. But there are other creatures besides ogres lurking in the forest!

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One thing for certain was that if a large ogre was strolling along obliviously in these woods, I’d be able to see it quite a ways away.  I’d be able to carefully track it, watch and learn from its movements, and determine how to set a trap for it.

If I was lucky, an ogre might even be oblivious enough to my presence that I’d be able to sneak up closely on it and deal with it on my own instead of having to come back later with assistance.  I might be able to sneak up to it to snare it, or catch it by surprise in an ambush.

Besides, even if the ogre did suddenly see me, it would likely underestimate me…after all, why would an ogre have anything to fear from a much smaller and solitary human?

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This is page 5 of a full Evie story in collaboration with ArtOfVenus.

If you enjoyed, go give ArtOfVenus a look on his DA page or other links, and he’s worthy of your subscription budget at Patreon and/or SubscribeStar.

And watch for more with Evie soon!

~~~~~~

Artwork by ArtOfVenus, vignette below!

page 4 and vignette at the WordPress link

Evie scouts the northern woods for a troublesome ogre. But there are other creatures besides ogres lurking in the forest!

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I remembered one of the hunting lessons of my youth—that snow on the ground made hunting and tracking easier.  Fresh snow enabled a hunter to see dark shapes moving against the white background.  A new snowfall also made newer tracks stand out from older ones.  

The improved visibility helped both hunter and prey, but the advantage now shifted to the hunter.  Soft snow could absorb footfalls, and it muffled sounds…it was easier for a smaller, more mobile hunter to quietly approach a larger prey.

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This is page 4 of a full Evie story in collaboration with ArtOfVenus.

If you enjoyed, go give ArtOfVenus a look on his DA page or other links, and he’s worthy of your subscription budget at Patreon and/or SubscribeStar.

And watch for more with Evie soon!

~~~~~~

Artwork by ArtOfVenus, vignette below!

page 3 and vignette at the WordPress link

Evie scouts the northern woods for a troublesome ogre. But there are other creatures besides ogres lurking in the forest!

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Then little flashes of white falling from high in the trees caught my eye.  It was snowing!  It had been so long since I’d been this far north—I hadn’t seen snow for a couple years, at least.  

And it was so pretty!  It looked so surreal and beautiful falling through the branches.  I found myself wandering through the trees with my head tilted up and my eyes on the falling flakes.  It was mesmerizing to see the little clusters of white swirling about.  

Even better, it was settling on the ground, filling in between the blades of scrub grass and beginning to cover the low brush.  Everything was becoming fresh and new…and so was my attitude.  

I decided to press on.  Experience told me the snow might help me complete my mission faster.  At worst, I knew I could find a sheltered area to make a fire and spend the night in the valley.

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This is page 3 of a full Evie story in collaboration with ArtOfVenus.

If you enjoyed, go give ArtOfVenus a look on his DA page or other links, and he’s worthy of your subscription budget at Patreon and/or SubscribeStar.

And watch for more with Evie soon!

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