By a hill in the woods

Alex stared at the creature as it landed, inwards surprised it had worked. As it retreated to the trees, Alex straightened his back proudly. He had cleared the first encounter and had proved himself. He was now too high on adrenaline to notice the shift in atmosphere. He waited a second to catch his breath before he called out: "Was that it?! Was all that waiting for nothing?!" He tilted his head and displayed his neck. This was normally body language of submission amongst wolves, but Alex used it tauntingly ("come and get me"). He then added "At least tell me your name before you leave, demon!"

Alex no longer had any intention of sleeping tonight. He could go on for two nights without sleep, as long as he ate properly. And his hunt earlier today had been successful. Alex had gauged his 'guest' and deemed himself stronger, but significantly slower. He could not escape the fiend on foot, that was a fact. (Not that he had anywhere to run.) If it was to be a battle, Alex preferred one of endurance over one of speed. He positioned himself in the middle of the clearing, and awaited the guest's reply. His natural senses might be dulled by adrenaline, but his presence was stronger than ever. He was not only ready to fight for dominance, he was ready to kill for it.

Alex had been careful to avoid the antlers, and had probably been out of reach of the wendigo's teeth. But if he had been scratched by its claws, these scratches were by now all healed, so the blood scent would be minimal.

Alex did not turn to look in the direction of the voice, he could not see anything further than a few meters away anyway. He just listened, gauging the distance the voice had moved during the time it didn't speak. Again, to himself, he confirmed that he was severely outdone in terms of speed, and now he added sneaking to the list.

With a loud voice, he said: "So you do talk." he relaxed his stance slightly and continued: "My name is Alexander, and I consider myself human. What are you, then, and what brought you to my humble residence?" His mocking tone was gone, but his presence remained in full force.

'A wendy-what?' Alex thought. "Never heard of your kind." he said. "What are you hunting? I'm still pretty new in this area, but I am a hunter. I might just know where to find what you're looking for." Alex didn't reply to the last comment. He was busy trying to figure out what his guest was thinking. It had lunged at him like a starved animal, there was something desperate and firece in that. But now it calmly approached and conversed with him. What was its plan? Alex couldn't figure it out. There was no pattern here that he knew. 'by hell, he stinks!' Alex thought to himself.

He hoped that his initial question would lead to a comfortable answer. "I would offer you a seat and a snack, but after all, you did charge at me out of nowhere." He grinned, now breathing through his mouth. Alex still gripped his knife, and was not afraid to use it, should his guest suddenly leap at him again.

Alex could not help but get a little irritated at his guest's casual behaviour. Alex knew himself that he was not fast enough to reach the stinkin' monster, even at this distance, but that was no reason to act so cocky. It was invading his territory after all.

Alex had expected an answer like that. He was oddly calmed by the fact that it was not a predator of predators he was dealing with, but one of humans. It was still disgusting to him, but at least it was natural. Humans were not fit to be at the top of the chain, Alex had always thought that.

"Beggars can't be choosers" Alex grinned, implying he was not an option on the menu. "You look like you could do well to lower your standards, pal. You're just skin and bones." Alex refrained from adding a comment on taking a bath, the stench was terrible.

Alex raised an eyebrow. 'What kind of evolutionary failure led to a permanent starvation?' he thought. But then he remembered that magic is a thing. "I'm warning you, if you get any closer you'll get hurt." He said as the wendigo stepped closer. "If you don't want to talk, there's nothing for you here, unless you stick around until sunrise. There are a few birds that I am more than willing to part with." Alex was gettin uneasy. Not so much by the presence of the wendigo, but that its stench completely drowned any other scents. Alex was now limited to his hearing to warn him of additional intruders. He really hoped these things did not hunt in packs.