The Rule of the Forest

The forest was dark. All too dark for the typical meddling of fun-loving animals. Yet, if the darkness could speak, it would not. To make sound would be to give away position. To give away position would be to change status. To change status would be to shift from hunter to hunted.

Yet, in even in the deafening stillness, a single creature approached the watering hole with what most would call arrogant indifference. Moving from the forest cover, it casually crawled, or perhaps slithered, to the water’s edge. With minimal cover, the quarter moon was just bright enough to illuminate the outline of the quadruped.

A typical observer would consider it to be of reptilian appearance. It had two large, oval eyes, that glistened with a bronze hue. Its body was sleek, lizard-like, with a thick tail that was used both for balance as well as thrashing. Horizontally, it was the length of three men and was likely the weight of six. Its triangular scales were a dark green and black hue. Perfect for both camouflage and ambush.

Suddenly, without warning, the creature tilted its barbed head to the side, as if equally listening to the water and monitoring the sky. Its right eye darted upward, scanning both its backside as well as the open canopy above. At the same moment the left eye dashed down, scanning the water’s surface for signs of movement. After many moments of silence, seeming satisfied, it flicked out a thin black tongue and began to taste the water.

Before the creature finished drinking, a single bubble, then another, sluggishly rose from the middle of the watering hole. The bubbles were silent, for the darkness did not speak. It wasn’t until the third bubble that both its eyes spun, fixated on the center of the pond.

The creature was an ambush predator, by nature, and was not accustomed to being caught unaware. It was at that moment its dominance would be tested. In the still of the night, it neglected the rule of the forest…. to make a sound was to give away position. To give away position would be to change status.

At that moment the hunter…became the hunted.