Unicorn Sacrifices

by Setlu Vairst

  ***

  It was only a single shaft of sunlight entering the dark cave that made Shane awaken and face the happenings of a foreboding day. He yawned and stretched, his very actions concealing other noises in the distance and then, as he became still, his ears heard many sounds in the distance even though his ears did not want to.

  ‘Human shouts and screams! Many, many of them! And the screams of hundreds of beasts in great agony!’

  Shane startled, shaking his head, the message was clear and was reaching his fast awakening brain. ‘The battle must have commenced!’

  Nudging the unicorn in the belly, he tried franticly to awaken Flack but there was no response. In fact, there was no movement at all that Shane could perceive. Fresh panic seized Shane. In the semi-darkness of the cave, he nuzzled Flack once again but still he could not get a response.

  ‘I cannot hear the unicorn breathing!’

  Leaping to his feet, he began sniffing around the body of the unicorn. There was a slightly different odour emanating from the unicorn and he felt, with his nose, a huge, damp lump along Flack’s flank. To Shane, it smelt of ruptured and putrid skin; of puss and blood. Shane tried to work out what had happened. ‘Obviously, during the night, Flack’s ‘deformities’ must have burst. The skin has ruptured, causing the unicorn to bleed to death. Flack is dead! The unicorn is dead!’ Shane could not believe it. He had known that the unicorn was not well but for fate to have him taken away now when he needed him the most was just too cruel. And then he thought of how lucky the unicorn was. ‘Flack has escaped being butchered by the humans, something that I know that I will not be able to avoid for very long.’

  Shane cried out a long, mournful howl, reverberating around the cave and escaping from the opening and out into the gully.

  Deep anger caused his neck to bristle and then, slowly and deliberately, he stalked from the cave. The sunlight, momentarily, blinded him. His eyes adjusted and he gazed down and along the gulley.

  Lying in the distance, he could make out the bloodied bodies of the Lions, the Tigers, the Puma’s, the Leopards and all the other members of the big cat family that had tried to thwart the human’s movement into Essilon. The big agile cats were agile no more. Bloodied and misshapen, they littered the ground like scattered leaves from at tree in the autumn time. ‘All of these giant fighters, the hunters in the animal world, had been the main defence of Essilon. These were some of the ones whose duty had been to stop the humans, to destroy the humans but, sadly, they had failed.'

  Lying amongst the red-stained bodies, Shane could see the multitude of humans that they had managed to slay before the human numbers had proved too much and they were slain themselves. A smell came wafting along on the breeze and dived, violently, into Shane’s nostrils. He tried to blow it out but the odour refused to go. The smell was very familiar to Shane, who had spent his life in a human camp; it was the smell of an animal being roasted over one of the dreaded human fires.

  Shane suddenly bolted forward, running in a frenzy of hate and anger as he ran down into the gulley and began racing towards the fallen beasts of Essilon. Beyond the initial dead beasts that he had seen there now loomed a new picture of horror. There were thousands of beasts lying dead across the rocky expanse that led up to the ridge that held the way onto the Essilon plane. The whole of the area was bathed in red, the blood of the fallen beasts and of the humans that they had been able to kill before being killed themselves.

  Stopping for a moment, Shane’s eyes scanned the landscape of death and mutilation, trying to find any sign of movement. There was none and so, satisfied that there were no humans moving amongst the dead, he began running forward once again.

  Weaving in and out of the bodies of dead Tigers, Leopards, Lions, Buffalo, and other beasts that he could no longer identify, he turned to his right, running up the steep climb that would lead him up toward the ledge that held the vegetation and the path to the Essilon plane. The stones underfoot rolling from beneath him, Shane leapt towards higher ground each time the small avalanche seemed determined to cause him to fall or drag him back. He had strength and energy in abundance and was pleased that he was climbing the steep slope far faster than the previous day.

  ‘What will I find up here? Are all of the beasts already dead? Am I the last survivor?’

  Seeing the slope to the ledge ahead of him, Shane powered his legs and leapt upwards in leaps and bounds, trusting his instincts as his paws made contact with the loose rocks and then, in a final flurry of a light dust shower, he leapt onto the ledge itself.

  Holding still, he looked around the area, seeing a number of dead beasts not too far from him and, further in the distance, moving toward the natural tunnel that led onto the Essilon plane itself, he saw movement. For a moment, he had hoped that he would see the clear sign of triumphant beasts coming out from the plane of Essilon but, in an instant, he knew the movements were not made by any of the beasts from the plane.

  A few humans were walking around in the distance, slowly moving toward the gap in the mountain that would take them down onto the great plane of Essilon, where all of the defenceless beasts waited in the hope of a ‘Chosen One’ arriving to save them.

  A plume of smoke was rising to his left and he could clearly smell the roasted carcass of an animal. He had seen this many times before in the human camp and had accepted it as a way of life and that the only reason he was never eaten by the humans was because he was useful to them. His mind leapt to his mother. ‘What has happened to her? Did she leave the human camp and seek out Essilon? Did the humans slay her because she was an animal and did not wish to risk her turning upon them?’ Shane’s eyes began watering. ‘My mother was old. She could do them no harm…’

  The scene of smoke from a fire that had obviously been used to provide the flesh of a beast as food for some band of humans now filled him with disgust. ‘How is it that the humans can do these kinds of things? Is it a sign of greater intelligence?’

  Hearing the sounds of human voices behind him, Shane realised that some must be approaching the climb up to this ledge. Keeping low, he charged forward, dashing between the larger rocks to try to ensure that he kept out of sight as much as possible from any backward glances by the humans ahead of him.

  He knew that he did not have a plan and that his only immediate goal was to reach the animals on the Essilon plane. ‘Even if they do not want me, I know where I should be on this day,’ he thought, resolutely.

  Further on, the amount of grass increased as did the bushes. He could see the path that he and Flack had taken the previous day but he now felt it would be too dangerous. It was the only area that was clear of the thicker vegetation and bushes and it would provide him less cover.

  ‘What!’ he exclaimed to himself, pulling himself to a halt. Before him lay a patch of brown, wet looking ground and, in it, he could see the slime covered hand of a human poking out and upwards. ‘Quicksand,’ he realised, and then thought how fortunate both he and Flack had been when they had deviated from the path and moved towards the blue covered mountain walls that lined this place.

  ‘That is why the path is marked by the lines of bushes. It is a safe way through this area!’ Sounds drifted toward him and, instinctively, he crouched low and held himself there. With his eyes peering upward, trying to see above the tall grass that stood in his path beyond the quicksand and human hand, he had to raise his head a little before he saw the movements of humans further ahead. They were slowly and tentatively moving amongst the trees, obviously aware of the dangers around them.

  ‘At least the humans here are occupied fully. That will lessen the chances of them seeing me as they will be more interested in the ground immediately around them. I must keep away from the humans and try not to let them see me as I make my way towards the mountain tunnel.’

  Remaining still, Shane used his ears and nose to help him locate any other humans that were nearby. It was difficult. The air was filled the scents of blood and death and his ears
could easily hear the faint rustling of the plants around him but could not hear the clear sounds of the humans. They were moving slowly and appeared to be talking in whispers. ‘Perhaps the humans believe that there are other beasts waiting to attack them. I wonder if there are?’

  And then, just as if to prove it true, a human began running wildly ahead of him and the sound terrified him totally as he realised that the human appeared to be running in his direction. Before Shane could decide which direction he should choose to run in, he caught sight of the human above the grass a little ahead of him. It was a red-clothed human and he was screaming loudly with his arms flailing wildly and, as Shane tensed for a fight, he began to become aware of another sound. It was the buzzing sounds made by many angry bees.

  The eyes of the human widened as he saw the face of Shane ahead of him and it was obvious to Shane that he thought that he would have to contend with a dog attacking him as well as the bees and the human tried to stop running, his head looking around for help that did not appear to be coming. Bursting through the grass, the human looked stupefied for a moment as he realised that he was plunging downwards and, as the human fell down into the quicksand, he saw the look of real fear draw itself over the human’s already tortured features.

  Ignoring the attentions of the attacking bees, the human tried to turn around, trying to pull himself toward the side of the quicksand pit, but the long grass simply ripped away from its loose anchorage point in the wet soil.

  Moving backwards slowly, Shane pushed himself back into a clump of bushes that were there, trying to hide himself from the sight of any other humans who should come this way. No other humans came and, as Shane stared at the face of the screaming human, seeing the red lumps that were all over his face and neck, he saw that the small cloud of bees rose into the air, away from the human, and then darted off in the direction that they had came from.

  The human continued to struggle and Shane just lay still, watching the human as, little by little, he was dragged down into the wet, squelching sand.

  The human’s eyes were upon Shane as his head slowly sank from sight. His hands were stretched upwards, clawing at the sky as if gripping a cloud was now his only way out of the sandpit ands them, slowly, the arms sank a little lower and the hands went limp.

  The droning of the bees intensified a little way away and then another human began to scream and shout and Shane knew that the human would be racing through the vegetation, trying to get away from the pursuit of the bees and their stings.

  A movement to his right caused him to look down and Shane was surprised to see a line of black scorpions moving past him, walking around the sandpit and moving deeper into the vegetation ahead of him. They barely made a sound and Shane knew that it would be the humans who made a sound when then encountered the scorpions. Feeling that the humans would be occupied with defending themselves, Shane thought that now would be a good time to make a break for the tunnel that led to Essilon. ‘If I am fast and keep away from the humans then there is a good chance that I will be able to get through them.’ But then, as Shane tried to decide the best direction to move in, he heard a sound from somewhere behind him. It was a strange sound that he had never heard before but something told him that what made it was big.

  Holding still and hardly daring to breath, he found his eyes focused on the hands in the sandpit as he tried to force himself not to flinch or make any movement. The sound grew louder and louder, coming closer and closer toward him, almost sounding like something was racing through the vegetation behind him and then the sound stopped suddenly, leaving an eerie silence in the air around him.

  The sound began again and the way that the vegetation broke as something passed through it seemed to suggest to Shane that, ‘Whatever it is, it is now moving slower but it is still heading in my direction.’

  Shane was preparing himself to bolt from his cover amidst the bushes and race to his left, around the sandpit, when he felt the mass of something heavy begin moving along somewhere to his right and very close. Suddenly, with a cracking and breaking of small branches, Shane jumped up and spun to his left, crouched and ready to attack, when he saw a sight that almost made his heart stop beating.

  It was the head of a snake but it was not like any snake that he had had ever seen. The huge head that stared at him from slightly above his height was almost the size of his whole body.

  ‘An Anaconda,’ Shane thought, trying to determine what kind of creature he was facing.

  Remaining still, Shane watched the snakes gigantic head hold steady for a few moments as he observed the olive green background overlaid with black blotches along the side of the body that he could see. The head was narrow compared to the rest of the body, with distinctive orange-yellow striping on either side. The eyes were set high on the head and seemed to be analyzing him.

  The snake flicked a huge tongue into the air briefly and then, satisfied with what it had found, the giant head began to retreat back through the bushes. Almost immediately, Shane heard the continued progress of the huge snake as it continued on its journey past him.

  ‘Obviously, it is searching for human prey,’ Shane thought, feeling relieved as he realized that his heart had been beating wildly.

  Through the bushes, he could see the olive green skin sliding swiftly and almost silently past him. When the snake stopped for a moment, Shane realised that it was hard to see it as the black patches that ran the length of its body added to its camouflage and it was only when the snake continued forward again that he was able to clearly see it moving once more.

  Deciding that it would be wise for him to remain where he was for a little while, Shane thought, ‘The Anaconda is a large creature and the time when it attacks the humans would be the best time for me to continue forward. The size of the creature will ensure that the humans cannot murder it swiftly and while they are occupied I may be able to make good progress.’

  When Shane could no longer hear the sound of the snake moving through the vegetation, Shane became aware of the sounds of the bees again and then, after a few moments, there was the sound of another human shouting and screaming. Hearing no sounds of the human racing through the vegetation because they were too distant, he was aware when the human suddenly stopped shouting. Shane imagined that the human had run into another quicksand trap, though he could not be sure. ‘The stings of bees of wasps can be poisonous and so the human may have died that death.’

  There came other shouts from the humans in the area, sounds of them communicating and, even though he could not understand their words because they appeared muffled, he was sure that they were planning at ways in which to defend themselves.

  Silence appeared to return to the area and so, hoping to find a good position from which to begin his rush toward the Essilon tunnel, Shane turned and headed to the left of the quicksand pit, avoiding following the path that the giant snake had taken. ‘I have no doubt that the snake will be trying to locate the nearest humans and so that would be an area that is best avoided.’

  Crouching low and moving through the tall grass, he was sickened when he came across the body of a horse. There were arrows in its sides and much blood had drained from its mouth, leaving a black patch that ran from the creature’s teeth to the ground. The top of the head was bloodied and it appeared to have had a leg broken.

  Shaking his head, Shane knew that there would be many more animal casualties that he would see this day. ‘I only hope that I am there to take the life of just one of these evil humans. They are butchers! They are murderers!’

  As if fresh in his senses, the smell of death and blood seemed to overwhelm him; making him feel sick inside, and Shane simply shook his head slowly and made his way around the dead horse. ‘Flack is indeed fortunate to have died the way he did as he has avoided the vileness of a death that is brought about the humans.’

  Raising his head a little, he searched the area ahead and to his left and right. There were a few humans that he could see, all of them movi
ng slowly towards the entrance to the Essilon plane and all seeming to be preoccupied with where they were walking.

  Grateful that the perils of the area were keeping the humans attention, Shane decided that the path would be his quickest route, ‘Otherwise, I will have to travel slowly through the vegetation in case I should run into the quicksand or any other traps which have been put in place to catch the humans.’

  Moving further to his left, Shane maintained a low posture and would pause behind each bush, listening for sounds of danger in the nearby vicinity.

  A distant scream from a human made him smile for a moment and then, the roar of a great beast followed by much shouting of humans, brought home to him the fact that another creature had died at the hands of the humans. He could not tell what kind of creature the humans had killed but he was pleased that he did not here the cheering and laughing that the humans normally did at such an event. ‘The humans are scared because there are many dangers here for them. I must be careful, for the humans will no doubt be wary of anything that moves that is not their own.’

  Suddenly, a huge trumpeting sound took his attention, making him instantly lift his head and look ahead of him. ‘It’s an Elephant,’ he thought in awe, as he saw the size of a beast that he had only ever been told about before.

  The elephant appeared to be stomping on the ground, slowly turning in small circles, and Shane realised that there must be a human beneath the weight of the beast. Other humans came running toward the elephant, firing arrows and throwing spears and, as it looked as though the elephant was beginning to slow, the was a violent eruption of green that began to obscure one of the humans who was firing arrows at the elephant.

  Realising that it was the anaconda, Shane could only stare in bewilderment as the huge snake coiled around the human, dragging him downwards and out of sight. Although the other humans continued to shout and fire their weapons, the human held by the anaconda made no sounds at all and then, suddenly, the other humans were racing away from the scene and, watching them flee, Shane was startled to see the anaconda leap through the air, taking down another human. The elephant, still with arrows and one spear protruding from its body, began rushing forward a little and then began stomping its huge feet upon the ground once again.

  Immediately, Shane thought it must have been the first human that had been grabbed by the giant snake. ‘The snake is not eating its prey; it is simply damaging them enough that the elephant can finish off the life of the human. Are they working together, or is the elephant making best of the opportunities that it has been given?’

  The humans were scattering wildly and Shane could see about six of them running when one suddenly dropped from sight and vanished amidst the long grass and vegetation. He could not tell what had felled that particular human. ‘Is it another creature or is it simply the quicksand?’

  There was obvious fear coming from the humans, as their shouts denoted panic. The elephant moved to another location and began stomping upon the ground once again and then, off to Shane’s right, he thought that he caught a glimpse of olive-green flashing out but, when he turned to look properly, there was nothing to be seen amongst. ‘But there does appear to be another human missing from that group.’

  The elephant continued to bellow its cries and the humans continued their shouts. Gathering themselves, they once again began to fire arrows toward the elephant, making the huge beast roar in pain and anger. Flack wanted to run and try to help the beasts but he knew that he was no match for the arrows that the humans fired. ‘I would be struck down before I could be upon one of them.’

  Throughout the area, he could see that other humans were moving into view, each of them moving toward the elephant and the cries of the other humans. A large group of about twelve humans began moving in from his left, heading slowly and cautiously toward the fighting with the elephant.

  ‘It is good that they cannot race so easily to the others of their kind. They are wary of the quicksand that is around them.’

  Suddenly, the slow approaching and cautious group began to run and scream and he could see that one of them seemed to be struggling with his leg, running only a short distance before falling out of sight and into the long grass. Shane was sure that the loud cries he now heard were coming from where the human had fell, but he could not be sure. There was a lot of shouting and screaming going on around him and he was sure that the sounds were even coming from areas in which he had not seen any humans. ‘Perhaps there were humans in hiding and they are now exposed because of attacks by the insects, maybe even the scorpions.’

  Turning towards the elephant and the snake again, he was surprised to see one of the big cats leaping through the air. ‘I think it is a lion,’ he thought, as a blur of light brown descended on a human and the two vanished from sight amongst the long grass. Human screams were coming from many places and, for a brief moment, Shane had belief that, ‘The beasts will win this day.’

  From somewhere not too distant, Shane heard the buzzing of the wasps or bees and then, frighteningly and not too far ahead of him, a human leap into view, running wildly, his arms flailing in the air, dropping his spear as he raced to escape the attention of the small swarm. The swarm chased him and he continued to run until he fell from sight and his shouting stopped.

  More shouts from humans erupted from the far left and, turning his head, Shane saw another group of the red-clothe humans and was confused by the sight of them carrying torches. Flames licked from the dry grass and oil covered sticks that they each carried and, as Shane first thought, ‘Why would they need light at this time of day?’ he realised that they were using them as protection from the bees and wasps.

  With their arms waving all around them, they were keeping the majority of the swarm at bay. It was obvious that many of the flying insects would be burnt and killed as they tried to set themselves upon the flesh of the humans.

  Shane had never been saddened by the death of insects before but now, right here, for those that were dying as they tried to attack the humans, he felt very saddened, his mind instantly recalling the strange bee that had spoken to him.

  The humans began a slow run forward, keen to get close to where the elephant, anaconda, and lion were attacking the few remaining humans of the other group and then, to Shane’s delight, the lead human fell from sight, making the following humans come to a halt. They appeared to watch the ground ahead of them for a few moments before moving forward once again, taking a path away from the ground in front of them.

  ‘Quicksand,’ thought Shane, moving forward slowly, hoping that his slow movements would not easily be detected amongst the fighting activities that were going on around him.

  Taking his chances, Shane began moving quickly in the direction of the path. ‘I wonder why the humans did not stay upon the path?’ and then, thinking about the horde of humans that would have come charging through, he realised that they would have been spread wide as they advanced across this area.

  Slowly, the humans became aware of him but most of the humans seemed content to totally ignore him, probably seeing a single dog as being of no concern to them. Reaching the path, Shane turned to his right, almost losing his footing as he scrambled to increase his speed. Shane had hopes that this wild dash of his would be too quick for the humans to be bothered with and, as he would be trying to avoid humans, they would not see him as a threat and would, hopefully, continue fighting with the more dangerous creatures in the area.

  A few humans threw stones from a distance and twice arrows were shot in his direction. Shane managed to avoid them and kept on going. He was determined to join the remaining beasts for the final battle in this war against the evil humans.

  Around him, he could hear the trumpeting of the elephant, the roar of the lion as it raced to take down another victim and the brief cries of a human that was caught in the grip of the anaconda. The humans were shouting amongst themselves, but were more communicating with each other, trying to assist each other in what must be d
one to defeat the animals around them.

  Leaping suddenly, Shane barely cleared the body of a human that had a dead cheetah lying across him. The flash of blood that flew past below him revealed how ferocious their battle had been.

  There were a number of humans off to his left, moving among the trees, and Shane was pleased to see that none had their heads turned in his direction but then, seeing them moving into a open area, he drew himself to a halt, crouching low, remaining perfectly still in case any of the humans should choose to look in his direction.

  Keeping his head below the level of the grass and small bushes near him, Shane concentrated on listening for any sounds nearby that would indicate danger. Everywhere around him there was a deathly silence and the only sounds he heard were those of the elephant and anaconda somewhere ahead of him and to his right; even the shouting humans seemed to have all gone quiet.

  ‘But when you cannot hear the humans,’ thought Shane, ‘that normally means that they are up to something, planning something…’

  A dark patch caught his eye and then, turning to his left, Shane saw a dark mass slowly emerging from the grass on that side of him. What looked to be a patch of creeping blood, turned out to be thousands of ants going on a determined march. Seeing that they were heading away from him, heading up along the left side of the path, Shane turned to peer into the grass where they were emerging from, and he shuddered as he saw the grotesque white skull of a human smiling immobile back at him. The rest of the human’s body appeared to be dark and then, as it seemed to move, Shane realised that the army of ants were abandoning it and moving on to seek other prey.

  Fearful of the creatures, due to his proximity to them, Shane ran forward, keeping to the right of the ants and remained crouching low as he ran blindly through the grass and bushes until he was sure that he had left them some distance behind.

  Hearing the sounds of human voices that appeared to be near, he halted, motionless, while listening to see if his movement had been detected. The sounds of the humans were moving slowly away to his right and so, in order to remain hidden, Shane decided to move off into the thicker grass to his left, moving cautiously because he could not be sure what may be laying that direction.

  The smell of blood was heavy in the air and much of the grass that he moved through was soaked in drying blood. He came across a human lying face down but he could not be sure what had killed him and then, beyond the dead human he found another dead human, lying on his back with his sightless eyes staring up into the sky. Continuing forward, moving wide of the bodies, Shane then came across the body of a lion. A spear through its neck pointed lazily towards a low horizon. There was much blood on the body of the lion. ‘And there is much blood on your claws,’ thought Shane, ‘and I am sure that you did much damage to the humans before they killed you.’

  Just beyond the lion, Shane was shocked to come up against a huge grey rise and it was only when he was moving around it that he recognised it as the body of an elephant. Stopping to look at the head of the beast, he saw that there were many, many arrows and spears stuck in it body. One of its enormous tusks had been broken close to the mouth itself. Its eyes were closed and it looked almost as though it were simply asleep; though Shane knew that that was certainly not the case.

  Moving past the elephant, he stopped for a moment to look at the torn and bloodied arm of a human. It lay amongst a group of yellow flowers, destroying the beauty the flowers themselves tried to give to the world.

  About to move forward, through a clump of long grass, Shane stopped when he heard a strange sound. He recognised the sound, though it appeared to be multiplied many times over. Pushing his head slowly through the grass, he was shocked to see the ground suddenly fall away from him, revealing a pit within which were hundreds of small black and red snakes. Their bodies writhed and twisted over the forms of at least four human figures. None of the humans were moving; they were simply lying there in the pit and staring upwards with bulging eyes and bloated looking features.

  Backing up, Shane retreated back towards the dead elephant and then chose another direction to move in, though he ensured that as well as crouching low, he also keep his movements extremely slow and balanced. The smell of blood, human and beast, was very strong through this area and the bloodied grass and broken and flattened bushes spoke volumes of the battles that had taken place here. There were human spears, some with blood upon them, some broken with the deadly end missing, and Shane could only wonder which beast had taken the brute force of the weapon.

  There were many bodies littering the area but Shane chose to go around them, always averting his eyes from the murderous scenes, seeing his own mortality in every dead creature that he came across. He had believed that if he could reach the Essilon plane and join with the Armada of the Beasts then he would be virtually indestructible but now, after seeing the powerful beasts that had already been slain by the humans, he no longer had the confidence to believe that he would survive the setting of the sun of this day. ‘But a chance to find my family is more than I could wish for,’ thought Shane, trying to bolster his personal need for survival.

  He was fast becoming sickened by the smell of death that was all around him, though he was grateful that he could no longer smell the burning carcass that some of the humans had most probably feasted upon.

  Stopping suddenly, because he heard a sound just ahead of him, he froze, his nose checking the air for scents but leaving him confused by the multitude of odours in the air. ‘Is it human or beast,’ he asked himself, tensing his muscles and preparing himself to race off, and hoping that the direction he chose would not lead him into one of the traps.

  The noise had stopped but now, as he listened, he heard it again. Something heavy was moving slowly just ahead of him. Remaining crouched low, he was hoping that, whatever it was, it would simply move away. ‘Perhaps it is the same anaconda again, or another one?’

  Suddenly, with a finality of breaking twigs, the bush just ahead to his right was sliced down the centre as a huge clawed paw came into view. Startling Shane, he recovered quickly realising that it was the paw of a grizzly bear. There came then a low moan, throaty and pained. The huge bloodied claw now rested slightly off the ground, supported by the thick lower branches of the bush and, as Shane stared, he saw fresh blood dripping from what were once pure white claws. There came no further sounds and the massive paw remained still and so, knowing that he had nothing to fear, Shane edged forward slowly, moving around the bush and pushing himself forward on trembling legs, as he sought to see the beast that lay just ahead of him.

  A long glistening snout was visible through the grass on his right and, as he saw it, he saw the great head flinch as the bear became of aware of movement close to it. Shane froze, watching the dark eyes that studied him through the grass stems, watching the eyelids close slowly and then being forced open again quickly.

  Not understanding why his legs still trembled, Shane moved forward, moving out of the grass to stand before the bear. It was lying on its back, with one arm thrown back over its head, the one that Shane had seen come crashing onto the bush. There was a dark sheen to almost all of the bear’s body and he knew that it had to be blood. He could smell beast and human blood very strongly and then, shocked, he saw something jutting out of the far side of the bear neck. It was the broken stump of a spear. The bear tried to move its head to better look at him and so, to aid it, Shane moved a little closer to the bear face, wanting to let it know that it was another beast that was near and that the bear had nothing to fear.

  With a gargling, deep throaty voice, the bear tried to speak.

  “Has the Chosen One arrived?”

  Shane did not know what to answer. ‘I do not want to tell the bear that I was one who had been cast out of Essilon. That it was I that was blamed for leading the humans here when the Chosen One had not yet arrived.’

  “There have been signs,” said Shane, wanting the bear to feel hope in what was surely his dying moments.<
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  “That… is… good,” replied the bear, his eyes remaining open and fixed upon Shane.

  Shane squirmed beneath that gaze, knowing that he had lied to the beast. ‘It is only what I would want to hear if I was in the same position as the bear,’ he thought, trying to justify his lie.

  Shane did not know what else to say and, as he struggled with that thought, he heard a branch snap behind him and then, cursing himself for allowing his vigilance to drop, he turned around to be confronted by the shape of a red-clothed human standing holding a spear. The human had his arm drew back and was ready to throw the spear as soon as Shane made a move to run.

  The bear groaned, causing the human to stretch his neck and peer towards what he had believed to be a dead bear and Shane could see the indecision in the human’s face as he tried to determine which beast should be the target of his weapon.

  Turning away from the human, Shane looked into the eyes of the bear, thinking not of himself, but thinking that, ‘It would be good if the bear could be released from his misery, but I have no doubt the human will choose me as I am uninjured.’

  Turning back to face the human, Shane watched as the human jerked his arm, threatening to throw the spear, his eyes firmly fixed upon Shane.

  Closing his eyes, Shane knew that it would be pointless to try to run because he knew how accurate the humans were with their spears, ‘Especially at this close range…’

  Suddenly, there was a roar and as Shane turned to his right, he saw the bear rolling over and climbing to its feet. The sudden movement had unnerved the human who, stepping back had tripped and went falling onto his back. As the beast got to its feet, Shane saw the human was once again standing, pulling his arm back in readiness to throw the spear and then, suddenly, the human vanished behind the fast moving shape of the bear as it leapt upon him, his shape disappearing behind the massive weight of the beast as the two went crashing to the ground. Suddenly, everything was silent. The bear lay unmoving upon the ground with the human pinned beneath his weight. An outstretched arm of the human twitched a few times and then fell still.

  Shane felt ashamed of his actions, ‘Why did I just stand by and watch? Why did I not try to attack the human myself?’

  There was no further movement from the bear, not even a slight rising that would show he was still breathing. ‘He used his last energies to protect me,’ thought Shane, feeling miserable inside, almost as if it were his own fault that the beast was now finally dead. Then, realising that there could be other humans around, Shane sniffed the air while turning and moving in the direction that the bear had been lying. ‘I would hope that the fact that the bear was alive would mean that there are no humans or traps in that direction.’

  Running quickly, he raced into the thicker, blood-soaked grass, feeling that he should be safe for a little while because there was a path in the grass where the bear had obviously dragged his body to reach the place where Shane had encountered him. Eventually, and unsurprisingly, there came a place where Shane could see the fight between the bear and humans had taken place. There were six human bodies lying strewn in the area, some of them when in one piece, most had limbs torn from their bodies, left to fall to the ground close to where the human had eventually died.

  ‘You put up a great fight, my friend,’ thought Shane as he deftly snuck through the area, seeking the longer grass that lay beyond the bodies.

  Knowing that he must be nearing the area where the blue walls on the mountain pass would begin, the place where Flack had eaten from the rock, Shane knew that he must be prepared to return to the path soon and make a final mad dash for the tunnel that led through to the Essilon plane, before he was seen and killed by an y roaming humans.

  A human suddenly jumped out in front of him, shocking his heartbeat almost from its natural rhythm. A second human then leapt out from concealment behind another large tree. The first human was already raising an arm, with his eyes twinkling in glee as he quickly balanced a spear, moving his arm into a throwing position.

  Shane had ground to a halt and was now backing away a little. He needed to run away but the only way he wanted to travel was forward. There were sure to be traps around him and he did not want to risk running into one of them. The humans were blocking his way through, smiling broadly, as if they seemed to sense his need to join the great beasts upon the plane, but they were not going to allow him an easy passage, if any passage at all. Slowly, Shane moved backwards and forwards upon his haunches, trying to give the human as little to aim at as possible. He knew that there would be more humans coming up behind him and, for the first time, he truly felt that all was lost.

  Then, in flurry of giant feathers and piercing talons, a great eagle was upon the head of one of the humans, though Shane could not determine if this was the same giant bird that had greeted them when they had first emerged from the honeycomb of tunnels. The great bird tore with savage ferocity at the humans face. Its huge wings spread out and around the humans head as if to say ‘this spectacle is mine.’ The human, in screams of agony, sank to his knees upon the ground, dropping his spear as he tried to get a grip on the bird, but a sharp beak and talons kept his hands at bay.

  Then, mercilessly, the evil human’s companion sank a long spear into the great bird. Flapping its wings violently and twisting, the eagle could not break free and then, with great effort, the human twisted the stick away from the other human and rammed the stick towards the ground. The spear pierced the ground, its shaft travelling completely through the already dying eagle, pinning the bird to the ground. Then, quickly picking up a rock that was lying close by and only just avoiding the eagle’s valiant last attempts at trying to pierce him with its great beak, he brought the rock crashing down upon the eagles head. With a sickening crunch the skull collapsed and the birds frantic, fluttering stopped almost immediately.

  Looking at the scene, Shane saw the wind ruffling the eagles limp feathers, with the sun high-lighting the blood. It was a pitiful sight and then, slowly, the weight of the bird’s body began to gradually tilt the spear toward the ground, eventually halting at an angle slightly pointing upward away from the ground.

  The lack of movement from the now dead eagle brought the human to thinking back to the dog but even as he turned, rock in hand, a shape came up and at him with such ferocity that the human never ever had a chance to cry out.

  Shane’s anger had erupted, and when he had seen the human beginning to turn to face him, the anger flowed right in the direction of the human. His powerful jaws gripped the throat of the human, who tried to land a blow upon the dogs head with the rock that he still held. His arm continued to hit him but Shane hung on determinedly. Shane shook his head, as his paws tried to seek purchase on the body of the human and, as he struggled with this, the human suddenly went toppling over. The human had only landed a few glancing blows to Shane’s back before he started to topple backward to the ground, his raised arm releasing the rock that he held and, as he landed, there was a crack as the humans skull snapped as he landed on the same sharp piece of rock, his arms went limp and Shane felt the life draining from his disgusting mind.

  Letting go of the human’s throat, Shane saw the evil head fell back to hit the rock a second time with an almost sickening squelch. Looking at the terrified features of the human, Shane stared hard and angrily at the sightless pools of absolute emptiness that were once the human’s eyes.

  Beginning to feel the pain along his back brought upon him by the few blows that the human had managed to deliver, Shane began to stagger away from the area, concerned that more humans may arrive at any moment. Struggling to keep his walking straight, Shane realised that the blows from the rock had done more damage than he had first thought.

  An arrow snapped into the ground. A second arrow also missed Shane and buried itself into the eye socket of the human that Shane had killed.

  The other human, the one that the eagle had attacked, was running around the rocks, obviously sightless, falling over, and cry
ing in pain.

  Ignoring him, Shane bolted off as quickly as he could for he did not know how many more arrows were already whistling their way toward him. The sticks of death bounced from the few rocks around him or buried themselves in the soil. A whistling in the air told him they had arrived at their destinations when they were close. He knew that he would probably not hear the one that struck him. Some were very close, and he knew that he was fortunate to have turned when he had on a number of occasions, ‘Otherwise I would already be dead.’

  Ignoring his pain, Shane continued racing forward as fast as he could, dodging the flying sticks and trying to put as much distance as possible between him and the humans. There was the danger of traps amongst the grass and bushes and he had to hope that he would not stumble into any of them as he made his run to freedom. His eyes were constantly scanning the area around him, looking for a place in which he could hide for a little while. Leaping over and swerving around the bodies of the dead beasts and humans that he came across, he was eventually relieved when he no longer heard the sounds of arrows zipping through the air. ‘The humans have given up on catching me or they know that there are more of their own kind ahead of me who will try to take me down. Perhaps I could lie amongst the grass, pretending I was dead, and wait there until my pains had time to heal.’

  Shane did not believe that the humans would allow him that luxury so easily, ‘But, if I could lie beside the body of a dead beast, after rubbing my coat in the blood, perhaps it would be enough to fool the humans for a little while. It would be good for a chance to regain my strength before I joined the Armada of the Beasts…’

  The flying sticks of the humans were no longer striking the ground around him and there had been an eerie silence for a little while now and so, sure that the humans had given up their deadly pursuit for the moment, Shane allowed himself the luxury of slowing his speed, grateful that he was lessening his chance of plunging into some deadly, hidden trap. In that silence, Shane realised that he had not heard the trumpeting of the elephant or the roaring of the lion for some time and he wondering how they fared. ‘Have the humans taken them?’ he questioned himself. Then, almost in answer to his prayer, there came the sound of the elephant from somewhere far to his right. Stopping, raising his head, Shane peered across the distance, at first seeing nothing and then, catching a movement, he spied the elephant moving out from behind a small clump of trees. On the elephants back, there was the lion, which now roared a defiant snarl into the air and then, as Shane watched, he saw the lion leap from the back of the elephant and go charging through the grass. ‘Off to attack another evil human,’ thought Shane, noting that the elephant picked up speed and went off in the same direction as the lion, trumpeting loudly while swinging its massive head in the air.

  Soon, Shane was moving through longer grass and he saw, ahead of him, humans wandering through the vegetation. Spurting to the left, he went racing amongst the bushes, hoping his flight would not be seen by any of the humans and then, through pain, he suddenly found himself coming to a halt. He lay down, panting, and became aware that his back was sticky and wet. He could smell the blood and he knew that it was his own, ‘The human did more damage than I had realised or first felt,’ he sighed, feeling to be beaten before he could reach and join the Essilon Armada.

  Calmness took over him as he realised that to lie here hiding would only mean he died a slow, painful, and lonely death. He knew that he had to join the beast armada. He wanted to be with his own kind when death took him from his pain. Standing up, his panting heavy, he began moving through the bushes and grass, trying to get ahead of the humans who travelled the area to his left and right. It was fortunate that they were shouting and singing for it ensured that any noises he made were left un-betrayed.

  After he had gotten ahead of the few bands of or red-clothed humans and was sure he was out of sight, he burst back onto the path, ignoring his pains and then sped off in the direction that would lead him to the tunnel that would take him through to the Essilon plane. As he approached the great hole in the rock face, his heart raced wildly for he knew that he was now so very close to his goal and so, seeing no silhouettes of any humans outlined within the tunnel, he plunged into it, enjoying the darkness and feeling that, for a little time, he was hidden from the eyes of the humans.

  Within the tunnel, he was saddened to detect the bodies of many beasts and humans who had fought and died here. Wherever possible, he went around the dead though, at times, he walked upon a floor that was not made of stone and it made him cringe.

  Once pleased to be in the darkness of the tunnel, he saw the circle of light ahead of him and knew that he would be glad to be out of the tunnel quickly, for the stench of blood and death almost overwhelmed, almost making him feel as though he should just give up upon his goal.

  When he was through the tunnel, he stopped abruptly, his breath left him and he stood aghast, staring numbly at the hundreds of great beasts lying slain upon the ground before him. Occasional fires burnt amongst the carnage and the smell of smoke hung in the air, carrying within it the scent of lives lost. The sun remained high in the sky; though a few lazy clouds drifted close to it, preparing to hide from its shamed face the butchery that had occurred beneath its warm gaze.

  A strange sound came up from the Essilon plane to greet Shane. There seemed to be a monotonous tone carried in the wind and it was a moment or two before Shane realised that the distant red-clothed army of humans were chanting some death march or song, preparing to launch a final attack upon the mass of silent beasts that stood before them, trapped by the arrangement of the mountain walls around them.

  The red-clothed humans were spread out in a huge line, hundreds of humans deep in their savage thousands, and, as Shane watched he could see the human army slowly advancing towards the living beasts, which were backing away from the murderous line of humans. All of the humans had their backs to Shane, and with their red clothing they reminded Shane of all the blood he had seen spread over the grass and bushes that he had passed through to get here. But there were so many of the humans here that he could not see an easy way through them without him being seen, and this disheartened him.

  In a stunned silence, he could only watch as the advancing humans slowly and deliberately fired their arrows and threw their spears to bring the nearest beasts to agonising death. The Essilon plane was a huge square grassland, carved within a mountain range the mountains bordered three sides and the only way out was blocked by the human army.

  ‘How can it come to this? This is not a battle; this is a simple slaughter being carried out by the humans in exactly the same way as they have slaughtered many beasts before. The fact that there are so many hundreds of thousands of beasts does nothing to balance the sides in this war to the death.’

  He could see that all of the humans were down there facing the beasts; except the few who remained in the grassy area on the other side of the tunnel, all of them specifically gathered there to finish off any injured beasts and slay any others that they come across.

  Two thoughts crossed Shane’s tired mind. One was that he felt he had wasted his time in bringing Flack to Essilon. ‘I had felt so sure that Flack was going to be something special but now, for all that I can tell, Flack is dead. Dead in a cave that no human had found. Killed, but not by human hands but instead by a deformity of his own.’

  The other thought was that he should try to reach the other animals and join with them for the final battle. ‘Though it will not be a battle but, instead, it will be a slaughter.’

  Beginning to run forward, he was hoping that he would be able to dash amongst the crowded humans safely, hoping that he would be quick enough to race between their legs before any could react to his presence, and then break through to the other side and somehow manage to dodge the human weapons as he raced to join the beasts.

  His running was painful. His back hurt and from somewhere inside him he could feel the rasping of a broken bone. He tried to ignore it and co
ntinue forward, keeping low and manoeuvring himself amongst the many bodies, beast and human, that littered the ground.

  Suddenly, he stopped. A figure had caught his attention lying amidst the bodies of beasts that he was moving through. It was the shape of a dog laying quite dead upon the ground, with a bloodied mouth and with eyes staring into nothingness. Shane had not seen him for three or four seasons but he knew his brother, the oasis shape on the coat, the scent. There was no doubt he had finally caught up with Arrow.

  With huge tears, he moved his face toward his brother, “I told you that I would catch up with you one day, didn’t I?” said Shane, through burning tears and dry throat. He gently licked his brother’s face and then, as anger welled inside, as hatred surged and his mind began to scream, three arrows simultaneously slammed into him. Two hammered into his back and one plunged into his neck. The arrows jolted his body but were not enough to knock him over. Shane remained standing there in shock. He managed to think of the humans behind him. ‘I should not have forgotten they were there.’

  Then he thought of his brother beside him, his mother, his father, his family. His mind began to cloud over, memories began to fade and pain began to recede. His eyes remained fixed upon his brother, Arrow, as his body went limp and he toppled over onto his side, to lie there beside one of his family. His body gave a final twitch as blood seeped from his deadly wounds and his eyes, though open, became sightless.

  Shane was finally at rest.