by Heath Pfaff
"Kyeia?" I asked, keeping my voice quiet, as though afraid to make any more noise after the loudness of the moment just passed. My heart was racing with adrenaline from the accident. I say "accident," because at that moment that is what I believed had happened, I didn't know any better. Kyeia was the only pleasant aspect of my experience so far, and I was concerned for her. As my hand touched her arm, she began to stir quietly. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "Are you alright? Can you stand?" I asked, offering her my hand as she started to shift her weight around to get up. Noticing me seemingly for the first the time, she reached for her hood quickly and pulled it down about her face. It had slipped up a little, exposing the tip of her nose and a bit of her cheek, but not much else. For the first time I wondered if she was somehow disfigured beneath her mantle. It didn't really matter, I realized, and there were more important concerns to address. She reached out to take my hand and I helped her to her feet. She seemed dazed, as though she were looking about for something, or someone.
"I don't know where Tempest is, but I think I can climb out the other door and pull you out from there." I said, not certain what else to do. She didn't reply aloud, but nodded her head in agreement.
I reached my hands above me, unfastening the locking clasp, and pushing out. It took me two pushes to move the door. The force of the impact had twisted the frame of the carriage and caused it to stick. As the door screeched opened, the sound of screaming animals returned - I had not heard them since the carriage had first begun to crash. I looked to Kyeia once more before starting my ascent through the door above me. She seemed frightened, and that in turn struck fear into my own heart. I thought she might be concerned for Tempest, though I felt certain the Black-Eyed Devil would not be killed so easily.
The climb out of the carriage would have been easier if I'd been in better physical condition, but a life spent writing and managing books had not shaped me into a fit, agile climber. With some effort I made my way clear of the wreckage and pulled myself on to what had once been the right side of our transport. Without bothering to look around, I popped my head back into the carriage and extended an arm down to Kyeia. She stepped forward and reached her hand out to grip mine without bothering to look up at me. Again I wondered what could possibly be beneath her hood that she wished to hide from me so badly that even in an emergency she kept her hood pulled low, her eyes cast down. I put the thought aside for the time being and lifted her through the door in the carriage. She was lighter than I thought she would be which I was grateful for. If I hadn't embarrassed myself enough during the climb out, I had been quite worried I would finish the job when I struggled to pull her from the overturned carriage. I was far from vain, but I still didn't wish to appear a weakling in front of the white cloaked girl after having already shown fear and weakness previously. Once she was pulled free, I took my first look at the carnage left by the accident.
The contraption that had so comfortably housed us throughout our trip was in terrible condition, though it was probably not beyond repair however it would never be seen as a luxurious transport again. Having gauged our most immediate surroundings, I began to scan the roadway we had passed over for some sign of Tempest or the carriage driver. It took only a moment for me to judge the road clear to the point at which we'd separated from the beasts of burden, nearly 200 yards away from where we now stood. Three war-sows, giant boars each the sizes of two draft horses abreast, were laying scattered across the road. The screams of one still filled the air, screeching in pain and fear. The other two were conspicuously quiet. It seemed to me that not moments before I had heard two of them. Amidst the massive beasts a black figure was moving, but it was hard to distinguish from our vantage point on our broken conveyance.
"I think Tempest is alright." I began to say, but I only got so far as "Tempest" before Kyeia, standing at my side, interrupted me.
"That is not Tempest." Even as she spoke, the black figure walked over to the third war-sow and proceeded to rip the creature's head from its body with very little effort. Before it had approached the giant pig, I hadn't properly judged the size of this monster I'd taken to be Tempest wrapped in his shifting cloak. This thing was much larger than the Black-Eyed Devil we'd ridden with. I was about to ask who- or what- it was, but Kyeia spoke before I could get the words out. "Shao Geok - The Walking Death."
A shiver ran down my spine, colder than the one that I had felt upon first seeing Tempest. The creature's attention turned from the dead pig and as it faced us it seemed to slump down off its legs onto all four of its limbs, shifting from bipedal movement to a swifter quadruped-like gait. It was coming for us. There was a terrible grace in its dash between the now dead war-sows and the place where Kyeia and I stood. As it grew closer I could see that its whole body was covered in a mat of thick black hair and that its forelimbs, though like arms ending in viciously clawed hands, seemed specifically purposed to function as well as an extra set of legs. The creature's great head was adorned by large, pointed ears and a protruding snout, upturned in the fashion of a pig. It was a creature whose appearance only spoke to me of one purpose: tracking and killing. Its eyes were wide spaced but forward facing, giving it an excellent ability to judge depth of field, an apex predator. I had little time to notice anything else about it, because by that time it was nearly upon us.
My legs quivered and I wanted to turn and run, but some part of my being screamed that I couldn't leave my companion behind. I suppose I owed her nothing, but I knew that I would never forgive myself for such an act of cowardice. It was one thing to run away when only your own life hung in the balance, it was another entirely to do so when someone else was depending on you. I scanned the carriage around me, looking for something to use as a weapon but there was nothing useful within easy reach. The distance between ourselves and the Shao Geok was closing alarmingly fast. I did the only thing I could think of: I stepped in front of Kyeia, interposing my body between her and the charging monstrosity. I knew that what I was doing was futile after having seen how the creature had so easily dispatched the war-sow, but I had no other choice. It would rip through me and into her without even slowing its charge.
"Get back into the carriage!" I yelled, the words coming at the exact same moment the thought occurred to me. Kyeia scrambled and began to haul on the door which had closed after we exited. It was partially stuck again and our time was up. The gap between ourselves and certain death had been closed in a matter of seconds. The thing was so close that I could hear its deep, thunderous breaths as it wrested them from the air. I did something foolish then; well, at least I tried to do something foolish. I don't know what notion overcame me, but I found myself sailing through the air, leaping towards the creature with all of my might. I was coming closer and closer to the beast, getting so close that I could even smell the fetid odor of its coarse, dark fur. There was a dim fire in its eyes, a malevolent intelligence burning within them that I hadn't expected to see. It was a monster, but not simply a dumb beast. It raised a clawed hand to strike me in what would certainly be a killing blow. I closed my eyes, hoping that with my insane leap I might have bought Kyeia enough time to get back inside the carriage and to safety, and then I felt the hit.
It wasn't as I'd expected it to be. The impact came from the opposite side than the creature's strike should have, and sent me flying backwards and away from my intended target. I hit the ground hard, skidding to a stop on my right arm and side. I felt the fabric of my clothes, never meant for such abuse, shred and peel away even as the skin on that side of my body followed suit. My eyes opened and I sat up, dazed, looking for the wound that should have been fatally carved into my flesh but found nothing. In fact, though my right side hurt terribly from where I'd slid along the ground, I was remarkably unscathed. I discovered the reason why that was when I refocused my attention on where the creature now stood. Tempest was standing in front of it, his back to me, so that I could only see the vaguely churning outline of his shape as he faced off against the monst
er. The Walking Death seemed rebuked, despite outweighing the Black-Eyed Devil by nearly double. I noticed that there were areas of gray fabric showing through Tempest's cloak, probably a result of the carriage crash, but otherwise he seemed as steady and powerful as ever. As I watched, the Shao Geok raised a brutal clawed fist to strike its opponent down. There was a blur of motion from Tempest and in one smooth movement the raised forepaw of the monster fell to the ground, severed cleanly at the elbow. I hadn't even seen the flash of Tempest's weapon, his motion was so swift. Had my teeth not been clenched in fear, my jaw would have dropped open in shock. The now maimed monster turned and began to run away, moving much more slowly with its missing fore-limb. I felt certain that Tempest would chase it down and kill it with his inhuman speed, but he simply turned away from the creature and walked over to me, looking down at me with his impassive black eyes. This was the first time I'd ever seen Tempest up close, in good light, and strangely my eyes were drawn to the feet beneath the bottom ruffle of his cloak. I expected leather boots, maybe the flash of steel armor, but what I saw shocked me: the paws of an exceedingly large wolf. I blinked, clearing my eyes of the dust from the road, but when I opened them again I was still seeing the same thing. Tempest wasn't human. He wasn't even remotely close to human.
"Are you well?" He asked in his quiet voice and I found myself once more shivering in fear, despite the fact that I didn't particularly feel that he was a threat to me any longer. There was a certain tonal quality to his voice that inspired fear in the listener. He reached out a hand to me and indirectly in that act revealed yet another sign of his inhumanity. His hand, like his feet, was that of some massive canine-like animal. It was a fur clad paw, large and powerful looking, each 'finger' ending in a sharp, metallic gray claw that looked as sharp as a razor, yet it seemed he retained the nimble dexterity of a human. I wanted to refuse to take his hand, as it inspired a primal fear and repulsion in me, but at the same time I knew as well as I've ever known anything that doing so would be neither right nor show Tempest the respect he deserved for having saved my life. So, gathering my courage, I carefully took his offered assistance and pulled myself to my feet.
As I stood, gravel fell from where it was embedded in my side, and blood trickled down my hip and soaked into the tatters of my pants. Somehow, it felt good. Just the fact that I was alive to feel the pain was enough to give me a surge of surprising vigor.
"I think I'll be alright." I told him, testing my weight on both my feet to ensure that I was still able to move comfortably and that nothing was broken. My right side burned terribly, and putting pressure on that leg seemed to cause the recently peeled side of my body to scream in revolt. It was manageable though, and I forced myself to move.
Tempest strode easily past me, walking to the carriage where he offered his arm up to Kyeia, who used the proffered limb to climb back to ground level. "We've been betrayed." She spoke the words in her normal tone of voice, but there was a weight about them that staggered me. Tempest merely nodded.
I approached them, finding myself suddenly full of questions. "What does that mean? Who has betrayed you? Did you know that creature that attacked us, is that why you didn't kill it?"
Kyeia held up a hand to stop my torrent of questions and I went quiet. Maybe it wasn't my place to ask such questions, but I felt it was my right to have an answer. "I don't know everything, Lowin. That creature that attacked us, though, is an agent of our enemy and our mission was to be carried out in secret. Only a handful of people even knew that we were on this errand."
I was confused. "Wait, if that creature was an agent of your enemy, why did Tempest let it get away? What are we going to do now?" I posed more questions, despite having not had all my first ones answered.
Kyeia lips curved in a small smile. "You always have so many questions... The creature, the Shao Geok, has a peculiar nature. They are great pack hunters, intelligent, terrible and powerful creatures. They operate by sending out scouts and then gathering information from those scouts and acting upon it. However, if one of their numbers is killed, they give off a foul smell that can travel for miles and miles on a day with even a slight breeze. Once that smell hits the air, it's only a matter of time before all the other pack members show up. However, if you only injure one of them, it will stalk off to heal the damage before rendezvousing and reporting its findings to the others. Tempest bought us some time, at least as much as he could."
I shook my head in disbelief that such a creature could exist without me ever knowing. Kyeia continued, the slight smile she'd worn now fading. "As for what we must do now, we will continue to our destination as quickly as possible on foot. It is not far, maybe another ten miles. If we are lucky, we can cover most of that distance before the rest of the Shao Geok come looking for us." The look in her eyes told me that she didn't feel that was likely. "I'm sorry about your wounds, Lowin. If we had more time I would see them properly treated, but for now you must suffer them until we reach our destination." She paused, as if carefully considering her next words. For a moment I thought she wouldn't speak at all, but she did. "What you did back there, on the carriage, was very brave. It was perhaps the most foolish thing you've ever done in your life, but it was brave." She smiled, and I found myself blushing fiercely and feeling an odd mix of pride and embarrassment.
I wasn't sure what to make of the white cloaked woman. Sometimes she seemed so much older than me but other times she seemed to be younger than I was, her youthful voice and slight body making her seem at least a year or two my junior. There was a deep sense of wisdom about her, and an inexplicable sense of sadness. She was an unknown quantity, but not an unpleasant one.
"Come," she said, turning away from Tempest and I and starting down the road which until just recently we'd been traveling in luxury. "We can talk more as we go but we shouldn't waste any more time here."
I fell in at her side and Tempest took up position just behind us, though he would occasionally stride beyond us as if trying to cover both angles to the best of his ability. For a time I watched him move, graceful, almost seeming to float across the ground rather than walk upon it.
"He is very quiet." I said to Kyeia, looking to make conversation. I didn't dare breach some topics, but I couldn't think of anything else to talk about. The Black-Eyed Devil held my curiosity. Before he walked into the library and took me from my job, I'd only ever heard of them in stories shared around campfires and in legends. They were said to be fearsome half-man, half-beast warriors, fighting for (or against depending on the story) the King. They were alleged to be the offspring of human couplings with legendary monsters, and having now seen one up close I was inclined to believe the old stories more than I had before. I understood the basics of procreation, having seen animals rut, but with no actual experience I knew little else; It seemed simple enough to me that a man who was part beast must have been born of both a man and a beast.
"He is quiet because he knows the effect his voice has on you." The white cloaked woman replied.
My spine stiffened at that, and I forced my shoulders to broaden. I had no intention of being taken for a weakling. I told her so. "I am not a coward."
She laughed, her voice a beautiful titter of bells. "I didn't mean to imply that you were, Lowin. His voice has that effect on most humans. It is one of Tempest's many abilities."
"Oh..." I replied dumbly, not quite sure what to make of that piece of information. If Tempest's voice struck fear into my heart, why didn't it have the same effect on Kyeia? I asked her.
She smiled and then shrugged her shoulders. "I imagine you'll know in time." I sensed that she meant no ill will with her answer, but it still raised my ire. Patience had never been one of my greater assets and waiting for answers in a situation where my life had been entirely turned on end was difficult. I knew there was little to be done though, and bit my tongue.
Kyeia seemed to sense my irritation and added, "I would tell you more if I could, but there are certain things I am forbidden
to speak of freely. Knowledge, they say, is the sharpest sword. Those who lead us..." and by 'us' I gathered she meant Tempest and herself. Whether or not she implied that I too was under the thumb of her leader, I did not know. "...do not wish to give you too sharp a sword before they show you how they'd like it held."
"Can you tell me anymore about them?" I asked, and then clarified. "...the people whose orders you follow?"
"I'm afraid there is very little I'm allowed to tell you." There was sincerity in her voice, and I could sense she did want to tell me something more, and that it was something important. It seemed to me as though there was a weight in the air between her and me, and that she alone held the key to moving it away. However, she was either unwilling or unable to do so - I suspected the latter. "We live a hard life, but I think we are doing well." There was conviction in her voice, but it was wavering. Was that part of the secret she was hiding? I didn't know, but I wanted to.
After that we walked on in silence for a time, keeping a fast pace though I was sure Tempest had to restrain himself to maintain a speed more appropriate for Kyeia and I. In truth, I was slowing us all down far more than I would have liked to because of my injuries. The damage I'd taken along the right side of my body was beginning to burn and throb in an unsettling manner. I knew little of wounds, or how to treat them, but I had a strong feeling that the radiating pain and heat coming from mine were not a desirable trait. By the time we had traveled five miles, I found myself staggering every few steps, struggling to maintain a clear focus on the road ahead. The land seemed to churn beneath me, and my feet felt numb, as though they were unable to send me proper information on my orientation.
