Dark Territory

by A. C. Cobble

  He hitched his pack, the one they had just purchased in the small town. It was heavy, but not heavy enough. They didn’t have enough food to make it all of the way and they’d just spent the last of their coin. Somewhere, somehow, they needed to secure more supplies.

  “Worried?” asked Amelie.

  He shrugged. “I suppose I am, but I don’t think there’s much we can do about it.”

  “We can move forward.”

  “That,” he agreed, “is true.”

  Ahead of them, the trees thinned out and the road continued into an open field. Rocks, moss, and bracken filled the space. It was topped with a layer of snow. Not the deep stuff they’d dealt with in the Wilds, but enough to make travel uncomfortable. In the open, a steady wind blew flurries that danced in the air. In the distance, through the swirling cloud, Ben could see the forest resumed. A bell’s walk if they kept up a steady pace.

  “Make it back to the trees where we can find firewood then stop for the night?” he suggested.

  “Sure,” Amelie agreed. She hugged herself tightly. “This place is depressing.”

  Ben grinned at her. “We’ve been through worse.”

  “That is true,” she acknowledged. “Still, I’ll be glad when we get back into the forest. I don’t like being out in the open.”

  Ben nodded. Within the forest, there was a sense of comfort. Hunters, mages, and anyone else would have a difficult time spotting them from afar. Out in the open, with snow on the ground, a child could track them.

  Stark grey sky hung overhead, promising more snow. Although unpleasant, fresh snow would fill their footprints. Outside in the depth of winter and wishing for more snow, Ben shook his head and trudged onward.

  A bell later, at the far end of the clearing, he spotted a rock formation several hundred paces before the forest resumed.

  “Should we climb that and take a look around?”

  Amelie glanced up at the bleak sky. Nightfall came early during winter in the north.

  “You climb and I’ll go ahead to start making camp.” She held out a hand and he slung the pack off his back. “You think a fire is okay out here?”

  “Why not?” he replied. “We haven’t seen anyone since we left the town. Everyone there already knows we headed east.”

  Amelie started off toward the tree line and Ben scrambled up the rock pile. Compared to the butte they’d climbed in the Wilds, this was nothing. Only three man-heights tall, he made it up in heartbeats. In the clear area though, three man-heights were enough to give him a better picture of their surroundings.

  Ahead, thick forest resumed and stretched as far as he could see. The highroad bored into it and then quickly vanished. The road was the only sign of civilization.

  Above the forest, far in the distance, he could see the foothills of a mountain range south and east, the same mountains he grew up in. On the other side was Farview. It felt close, but he knew it was far. The mountains rose high and there were no accessible passes anywhere near Farview. It would take a month to circle the range and get home. Or what used to be home.

  To the north, he could see the clearing continued out of sight. It was like some giant had reached down from the sky and scooped a hole in the forest. Likely, it was the results of a decades’ old forest fire. They happened sometimes in the summer when the dry wood was lying around waiting for a spark.

  A cold wind blew through, reminding him it wasn’t anywhere near summer. He pulled his cloak tight and looked for Amelie. He saw a flicker of light at the edge of the trees. She’d gotten the fire started already. He was glad. It was going to be a cold night.

  He started to climb back down and paused, frowning. On the road, he thought he’d seen movement. He peered hard, trying to see anything in the dim twilight.

  Again, between two clumps of bracken, he saw movement at least half a bell behind them. As he pinpointed the source, he could tell there were dark figures hiking down the road. He kept looking, struggling to differentiate between the black landscape and the pair of black shapes.

  Swallowing hard, he lurched forward and half-climbed, half-jumped to the ground. Two black shapes. The hunters in the small town had been wearing black armor. In the low light, he couldn’t be sure it was them, but who else would it be?

  Unencumbered by a pack, he took off running down the snow-covered road. He had to get Amelie and they had to move fast. He burst into the firelight and kicked a wave of frozen dirt and snow onto the small campfire.

  Amelie jumped up, cursing. “What are you doing?” she demanded.

  “Someone’s coming,” he explained breathlessly. “They’re half a bell away. We have to move.” He kicked again at the fire.

  “Are you sure?” she asked. “Maybe it has nothing to do with us.”

  “There are two of them. I can’t see any details that far away, but I think they’re wearing black.”

  “Oh, damn,” muttered Amelie. She scrambled around the campfire, stuffing supplies into the pack.

  Ben kept trying to put out the fire.

  Amelie grabbed his arm and dragged him away. “It’s too late for that,” she said. “In the snow, it’s obvious we’ve been here.”

  With a groan, he realized she was right.

  Together, they fled into the forest. Branches whipped by as they ran. Without discussing it, they were both certain it was the two hunters on the road. They were coming for them. Sanctuary, Coalition, it didn’t matter. Plenty of people were willing to pay a bounty for their heads.

  Under the leafless branches of the trees, night had already fallen. The snow-covered road was barely lit by moonlight. Ben glanced behind them and cursed. Their tracks in the snow were clearly visible, even in the dark.

  Amelie saw his look and asked, “Do you think we can outrun them?”

  Ben thought furiously while they ran.

  “Maybe, maybe not,” he responded between breaths. “Once they get to the fire, they’ll see we kept moving. We have to assume they’ll realize we saw them. Then, it’s a race of stamina. They know we are somewhere ahead. We know they are back there. If we can keep moving, we have a chance.”

  “We had our first real meal this afternoon after five days of barely eating,” challenged Amelie, already huffing and puffing from the run. “We’ve been sleeping outside every night since we left Northport. We’re weak and we’re tired. Ben, they’ll catch us.”

  She was right, he realized. Already, they were slowing down. The hunters had looked well-rested and healthy. If they were staying out here in the middle of nowhere hoping to find Ben and Amelie, then they would never stop now that they’d found their quarry.

  “Okay, let’s slow down,” he suggested. “Unless they start running when they get to the campsite, we have half a bell head start. They won’t catch up right away. We have a little time to think.”

  Amelie gratefully slowed to a walk.

  “Is there something you can do with magic?” he asked. “Hide our footprints?”

  She shook her head and sighed. “I don’t think that will work. To cover the tracks, I’d have to blow snow back over them. I could do that in our immediate area, but I don’t think I could work it past twenty or thirty paces. That won’t help us.”

  Ben looked around, searching for a solution. In the stories, they were always able to do something clever. In the stories, they would find a branch to drag behind them, but it was winter, and the branches had no leaves.

  “We could hide,” suggested Amelie. “I can obscure the tracks near us. I could make it harder to find our exact location.”

  Ben shook his head. “We’re thinking about this wrong. They are professional hunters. If we run, if we hide, they will find us. That’s what they do. We have to fight. Instead of using your magic to try and escape, we use it to attack. They’re coming for us and we know that. We can use that. We can find the right spot and set an ambush for them.”

  “I don’t know,” replied Amelie nervously. “You said it. They are professionals.
You saw their weapons. I’m certain they know how to use them. It’s too risky, Ben.”

  “I don’t think we have a choice, Amelie. It’s just like that first swarm in the Wilds. We knew they were coming so we picked the location and fought them on our terms.”

  “Grunt died,” she scoffed.

  Ben winced. “That was against demons. A lot of demons. These are people. We can beat them. We have to. We can try tonight, or we can try later when we’re worn down from the run.”

  Scowling, Amelie reluctantly agreed. “Where is our spot?”

  “That depends,” answered Ben, “on what you can do. Can you make an explosion like you did back in Northport? We could throw something at them and blow them up.”

  She shook her head. “That only worked because there was such a high level of energy. Those iron balls were heavy and flew hundreds of paces at exceptional speed before impacting abruptly. They had incredible force. Mass multiplied by acceleration. I had a lot to work with.”

  “What does that mean?” queried Ben, his gaze restlessly flitting about the dark woods, looking for anywhere they could use to gain an advantage.

  “It means we need something really heavy to go really fast. Throwing a pine cone at them isn’t going to do anything.”

  “Can you shock them or do the icicle trick that Towaal did?”

  Frustrated, Amelie responded, “No. I don’t know exactly how she did that and we don’t have time to figure it out. Even if I did have the knowledge, I don’t have the power. Towaal has been refining her will for decades, maybe centuries. She’s a lot stronger than I am.”

  “I have an idea,” stated Ben. “Come on. Let’s hurry forward and find a clear area. Open space will be better.”

  ***

  “Are you sure this will work?” muttered Amelie.

  “Do you have a better idea?” challenged Ben.

  They were crouched behind a thicket of trees and peering into a small clearing. It was lit by the moon. Behind the trees and in the dark, he and Amelie would be invisible.

  Half a bell earlier, they’d walked through the clearing, leaving obvious tracks. They circled back around within the trees and hid, waiting. He hoped the hunters would follow the tracks, unsuspecting that he and Amelie were hiding behind them.

  They didn’t have to wait long.

  Silently, the black-clad pair appeared out of the woods and strode into the clearing. They moved at a steady, ground-eating pace, but they were alert. Both their heads were constantly turning, scanning the far tree line and looking for signs of an attack. Their hands hovered near their weapons.

  Ben and Amelie froze. His breath caught when the man looked their way. The pair kept moving though, unable to see Ben and Amelie in the cover of the forest.

  When the hunters were halfway across the clearing, Ben placed a hand on Amelie’s shoulder. He rose, longsword steady in his hands. He stepped into the open with Amelie right behind him. Just like before when they’d fought the demons in Northport, the sound of a powerful wind was growing in his head.

  Quietly, he and Amelie moved into the clearing. He drew his hand back and swept it forward, releasing the wind. A blast of cold air crashed in front of them, kicking up snow and obscuring the pair of hunters. Just before the pair was hidden in the snow cloud, Ben saw them stagger forward like they’d been hit from behind.

  On the opposite edge of the clearing, the sounds of running feet filled the air. Amelie, frowning in concentration, followed Ben after the hunters. She was maintaining the sounds, somehow displacing the noise of their own feet to the other side of the clearing.

  Ben charged into the settling snow, looking on the ground where he hoped the hunters would be lying, tumbled and confused. Instead, he saw their backs. Both of them, standing tall, were peering toward the sounds Amelie was making with her magic. The man held his heavy battle axe and the woman had her two short swords. They were poised, waiting. Good enough, thought Ben. They were looking the wrong way, thinking the attack would come from there. He raised his sword to strike.

  At the last second, the man turned, twirling his battle axe effortlessly. It caught Ben’s thrust, diverting it from a clean stab to the man’s spine into a glancing blow off his shoulder. The battle axe continued the spin and the man whipped the butt around, crashing it into Ben’s skull. His head snapped to the side. He stumbled away, blinking rapidly to clear the burst of colors in his vision.

  Amelie’s attack went slightly better. She thrust her rapier into the back of the woman’s head, avoiding the armor which covered her neck. The rapier impacted cleanly with the woman’s skull and she fell forward. Amelie followed, hacking furiously at leather armor-clad legs as the huntress dropped and tried to scramble away.

  Amelie’s blow had stunned the woman, but it glanced off the bone without penetrating. It didn’t kill her. The huntress flopped onto her side and kicked out with her legs, catching a surprised Amelie and sweeping her legs from under her. Amelie landed heavily next to the woman. The huntress rolled over and straddled Ben’s fallen friend. She punched down with the hilt of a short sword and caught Amelie in the face.

  Ben didn’t have time to watch his friend’s fight. The man was quickly advancing, his huge battle axe still spinning in front of him. Ben staggered back, trying to give himself room and time. His head throbbed where the butt of the axe struck him. He felt a warm trickle down the side of his face where blood leaked from broken skin.

  The wicked axe swept forward and Ben caught it with his longsword. The man tried to hook the axe around Ben’s weapon and yank it free, but Ben slid his blade clear. Ben’s arms rang from the force of the initial blow. The axe weighed three or four times as much as the swords he was used to meeting. He’d have to modify his style and not meet the blows directly.

  “That was a nice try, boy,” snarled the hunter. “I’ll admit you surprised me. After we spoke to you in the tavern, I thought you’d be running scared. I didn’t except you to be so bold.”

  Ben didn’t respond. He was eyeing the man, searching for weakness. He couldn’t ignore Amelie and the woman, though. The huntress was sitting on Amelie and raining blows down with the hilts of her short swords. Amelie was fighting back, trying to block the blows with her forearms and punch back when she could. It was obvious Amelie was getting the worst of it. She didn’t have the leverage to fight from that position. The swords were just long enough that it would be awkward to stab down, but if the woman were able to reverse her grip… Ben had to do something fast.

  The battle axe swooped around again and he jumped back, not meeting it with his sword this time. He could see on the hunter’s shoulder where his initial strike had sliced off a chunk of the man’s armor. It didn’t appear to be slowing him at all.

  Ben made a snap decision to change tactics and suddenly charged forward, swinging quickly at the man’s face. The hunter turned it easily with his axe. Ben was quicker to recover with his lighter weapon and struck again, this time aiming at the man’s exposed neck. Snarling, the hunter took a step back, narrowly avoiding Ben’s mage-wrought steel. The man shuffled away, bringing his axe up in a defensive position.

  It was the break Ben needed. Instead of following with another attack, he turned and sprinted toward the girls.

  “Kayla!” shouted the man in warning.

  The huntress scrambled off Amelie, lurching away from Ben. He could see blood streaming freely down Amelie’s face, but she was moving. She was still alive.

  The huntress took another staggering step and Ben was on her. He swung his longsword at her, not worrying about making a clean strike, just trying to make contact. He felt the blade sink deep, cutting through the tough leather armor the woman was wearing and into her sword arm. He heard her bone crack when his sword smashed into it.

  She flopped forward, blood splashing onto the snow. She wasn’t dead, but she wouldn’t be getting up quickly.

  Ben turned to see the man was coming fast. Amelie was lying in between them. She rolled onto
her side and thrust up with her dagger, stabbing into the man’s thigh. She caught him right behind a plate in his armor and Ben saw the tip of her blade sink into his leg.

  The hunter howled in pain then slammed the butt of his axe down on Ben’s friend. The thick haft of the axe connected with her shoulder. A thud and a sharp crack. She gasped and collapsed, gripping her shoulder.

  The man stepped over her and limped toward Ben, ignoring Amelie.

  “Kayla, you all right?” called the man, keeping his eyes on Ben.

  “I don’t think so,” choked the woman, obvious pain lacing her voice. “I’m bleeding a lot. Finish him quick,” she pleaded. “We need to get back to town.”

  “She’s going to be hard to replace,” snarled the man, limping after Ben. “You kill my woman, then I’m gonna to do a lot worse to yours. She’s going to suffer, mate.”

  “You’ve got to get through me first,” responded Ben coolly.

  The hunter leapt forward, chopping at Ben with a ferocious strike. Ben ducked to the side and felt the wind on his face as the axe breezed by a finger-length away. He counter-attacked, lashing out at the man’s side and landing a strike on his rib cage.

  The man’s sturdy armor absorbed most of the blow, but Ben saw him wince as the tip of the blade got through.

  “Mage-wrought steel,” gasped the hunter. “They didn’t warn me about that.”

  “Your armor not holding up like it should?” jeered Ben.

  “I’ve never fought a man who had a mage-wrought blade.”

  “You’ll be the first man I kill with it,” snapped Ben.

  The hunter stepped forward, attacking again. Ben parried and saw the man was hesitant to put weight on his injured leg. It didn’t stop him from attacking, though. He swung powerful blow after blow at Ben. Ben was barely avoiding the heavy axe, parrying with his sword and falling back. The hunter was aggressive, but with his injury, he was slow.