by Andrew Day
“Well, if we’re all finished with our precious bath-time and once more smell of roses, I would appreciate it if you all got your lazy arses moving. Unless you’d like to wash your hair as well, Wells?”
“No, Sergeant.”
“Then let’s go. Brant! If I have to come over there, anything not covered by your trousers is getting cut off! You hear me? Brant?”
There was silence. The group exchanged glances. Caellix unslung her new bow and strung an arrow as she crept towards the tree Brant was behind. Holly, Dogbreath and Serrel spread out behind her, their weapons ready.
Then there was the sound of... Serrel wasn’t sure. It was a kind of huffing growl, but somewhat familiar. It made him think of the last harvest festival he had attended. He had an image of a huge cage, and a mouthy showman asking for a copper to see...
He realised what it was just as Brant came tearing into view.
“LEG IT!” Brant screamed, his face an image of pure terror.
Behind him came a huge wall of brown fur, charging through the forest at top speed. It sped right past Brant, bowling him over carelessly with one huge shoulder as it went by. The others all dove to the side as the giant bear charged onwards through their ranks, not even bothering to swerve around them.
Serrel rolled across the ground, then sat up. He saw the bear continue on its way, its huge body pushing aside everything in its path as it sprinted through the forest.
Holly followed its progress with an arrow aimed at its departing rear end. “What the hell was that?” she asked in shock.
“Bear,” Serrel replied simply.
“A big bear,” finished Caellix. “Brant?”
Brant lifted his head from the ground and looked at them. “Ye gods,” he said.
“You all right?”
“I think so.” He looked himself over. “Let’s just say it was a good thing I had already relieved myself. Otherwise, things might have gotten messy.”
He laughed. Dogbreath and Holly joined in, just out of pure relief. Serrel and Caellix didn’t so much as smile. They both watched the back of the bear disappearing into the distance. Then they looked at each other, and together, sharing an unspoken feeling, glanced backwards along its path.
“A full grown bear defending its territory could have ripped Brant apart,” Caellix said.
“It wasn’t attacking,” Serrel said. “It was running.”
“Very good, Fresh Meat. The question is: what would scare a bear like that so badly?”
Serrel stared into the forest. In the distance, he saw something move. There was the sound of a multitude of frantically flapping wings, as a tree full of birds suddenly took to the skies in fright. A huge owl swept over their heads without slowing, followed by several squawking crows. Serrel didn’t move his gaze from the forest. He saw movement again, and a flash of green.
“Sergeant, you remember those prints you found yesterday?” he said aloud. “I think whatever made them just found us.”
“Let’s not give it reason to come after us,” said Caellix. “You lot, shut it!” she snapped at the others. “Get up. We’re going. Now!”
Everyone fell quiet at the sound of Caellix’s tone. Dogbreath and Holly yanked Brant to his feet, and everyone quickly followed after the sergeant as she dashed away through the forest.
They moved carefully at first, not wanting to attract the thing’s attention. From behind them came the crack of a tree branch, and the sound of heavy steps. At this Caellix ran faster, forgoing stealth to just keep them ahead of whatever was now pursuing them.
“What is it?” Holly asked as they ran.
“Something that can scare the shit out of half the forest,” Caellix replied.
As if to illustrate this, Serrel glanced to his left, and saw a stag with giant antlers bounding through the forest alongside them. It barely even glanced at them. It just kept going, terrified.
Then some overtook the stag. Serrel didn’t get a good look at it. He only saw a grey blur that overtook the stag easily. But it ignored the animal entirely. The stag took advantage off this, and peeled off at a tangent, putting as much distance as it could between it and this new creature.
Caellix stopped suddenly. She stared straight ahead.
“What is it?” asked Holly.
“It’s in front of us. Damn it’s fast.”
“It’s still behind us,” said Brant pointed out.
Serrel glanced back, and saw another flash of movement in the undergrowth.
“Shit,” said Caellix. “There’s more than one. This way. Move!”
She turned right and ran. The others sped along behind her. Serrel was suddenly so glad for all the running he had been forced to do during training. He managed to keep pace with the others easily. But Dhulrael was having trouble. His breathing was getting louder and louder, and he was obviously struggling.
Suddenly the elf tripped over, and dropped face first to the ground. Serrel slid to a halt and stumbled back to him.
“Get up!” he yelled at the elf, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him desperately to his feet.
Dhulrael groaned and forced himself forwards. “I hate this forest!” he hissed in pain.
He was limping, and Serrel had to help him along. They moved painfully slowly. When Serrel glanced back, he saw the creature charging with impossible speed towards them.
And then Caellix pushed him aside and stepped in front of him, bow raised. She fired. The arrow tore through the air, its aim perfect. But the grey blur seemed to twitch its head at the last moment, and the arrow missed by mere inches.
“Get behind me,” Caellix ordered.
“Sergeant-”
“Don’t argue, Fresh Meat!”
She strung another arrow, and fired again. Again, the creature dodged without breaking stride. Behind him, Serrel heard the sound of other bowstrings cracking, and someone cursing. Multiple footsteps charged at them.
Caellix pulled an axe from her belt. “Fresh Meat, run!”
Without thinking Serrel thrust his staff around Caellix, and threw up a shield. The creature pounced, and then with a flash of blinding green light it bounced off the shield in mid air.
“I think it would be better,” said Serrel, “if you all got behind me.”
Serrel raised his staff upright, and expanded his shield into a large dome than encircled the entire group. Its bottom-most edge hit the forest floor, just as two more creatures erupted from the tree line and slammed into them. The impacts sent shudders through his staff and nearly shook it from his grasp.
“Get closer!” Serrel snapped at the others. “Come on, close up, now!”
“Do it!” ordered Caellix.
Serrel felt the group press closer together. A warm body was breathing heavily against his back, and there was something furry pressed against his leg, growling fearfully. All of them tried to ignore the fact that they were closer to Dogbreath than anyone generally wanted to be.
Outside the shield, three large monsters paced back and forth warily.
“What the hell are those things?” Holly breathed.
“No idea,” replied Caellix. “Pointy?”
“I have never seen, nor heard of such a thing existing in Elsbareth,” said Dhulrael. “They do not belong here.”
“Swell,” said Holly.
When they had been moving, Serrel had thought maybe the creatures had been some sort of oversized wolf. Considering all the other things he’d seen in the Faelands, that wouldn’t have been completely unreasonable. Now that he could see them close up, he could see they were indeed vaguely wolf shaped, with long sleek bodies that stood as high as Serrel’s chest, and long snouts full of sharp teeth. That was about it though. Each creature had six legs, with each leg ending in two long, opposable digits that were tipped with wicked, sharp claws. Instead of fur, they had a thick, grey, scaly-looking hide with short, bristle-like hairs sprouting sporadically from its surface. Thick, bony spikes lined down the vertebrae, growing larger down th
e middle of the creatures’ backs, and shrinking as they reached the end of their tails.
But the heads were the worse. They had six eyes, two facing forwards, and two on either side of the head, which probably gave the creatures a great field of view. Like every other freakish thing the Hounds had come across, the creatures’ eyes glowed green, and stared at the trapped group with blatant intelligence. When the creature closest to Serrel stared at him, and snarled, Serrel got a good look at the long mandibles that ran along the creature’s snouts.
They seemed to Serrel almost to be like some kind of giant insect that had been shaped into the forms of wolves. That concept was just plain wrong for so many different reasons.
“Well,” Caellix said in his ear, conversationally. “So far so good, Fresh Meat. Out of curiosity, what was the next part of your plan?”
“To be honest, I hadn’t really thought that far past the saving our lives bit. You’re welcome by the way.”
“You haven’t technically saved my life yet,” Caellix had to point out. “How long can you keep this spell up?”
“As long as I have too,” Serrel replied. “Although it would be better if that period were kept as short as possible. Dhulrael?”
“Yes, Caster?”
“Can you weave without a staff? Elves can do that, right?”
Dhulrael cleared his throat sheepishly. “I never really had the knack, I am afraid. And my staff was lost when I was captured. However, I might be able to transfer my energy to you. One moment.”
Serrel felt a hand on his shoulder, and heard Dhulrael muttering under his breath. He heard the word of power Illisolde as Dhulrael linked their auras together, then there came the faint sensation within himself, as the elf’s energy trickled into him.
“Thanks,” said Serrel. “With your energy I can probably keep this up for much longer.”
“I don’t intend to sit here forever, Fresh Meat,” said Caellix.
“Then, with all due respect, Sergeant, think of something. I’m a little preoccupied at the moment.”
He heard her sniff irritably. Out of the corner of his eye, Serrel caught sight of one of the creatures digging into the ground, hoping to slip in under the shield. Serrel twitched his staff to the right, just a fraction, and bumped the creatures snout with the shield. It jumped back with a yelp, then glared at him and snarled, its long mandibles spread wide.
His staff shook suddenly as the creature behind him clawed at his shield experimentally. The creature in front saw this, and copied the action.
“If we dropped the shield,” he asked. “You think you could kill them all?”
“No,” Caellix said flatly. “They’re fast. Faster than you’d think something that size should be. Even if we killed them all, I don’t see us escaping without casualties.”
“The elf will probably die,” said Dogbreath solemnly.
“You might die as well,” Dhulrael replied calmly.
“That’s a mean thing to say.”
Holly prodded the inside of the shield with an arrow. “I don’t suppose I can shoot through this thing?”
“No,” said Serrel. “And stop poking at it. You’re not helping.”
“If you drop it fast enough, I think I can shoot this ugly bugger in the face,” Holly said, nodded towards the creature nearest her.
“You aren’t that fast, Hol,” Brant told her.
“I’m faster than you.”
“True. But while you’re shooting that ugly bugger, this rancid bastard’s going to be eating my face off.”
“Does anyone have a problem with Brant’s face being eaten?”
“It might improve his looks, heheh,” Dogbreath chuckled.
“I’m for the plan where we don’t get our faces eaten,” said Serrel. “In fact, how about we don’t get anything eaten. How about that?”
“Everyone shut up! I’m trying to think,” snapped Caellix.
There was a brief silence.
“Well?” Serrel interrupted.
“All right... If we are where I think we are in this gods damned forest, then we need to head north east.”
“What’s there?”
“A river. Probably.”
Serrel almost objected to the “probably”. He exhaled sharply. “All right. Which way?”
Caellix glanced about. “That way. I’ll lead you.”
“All right then. I’ll make the shield bigger, so we have more room to move.”
Serrel increased the size of the barrier around them. It used more energy to keep it going, but ensured the group had plenty of space to move about. He didn’t like to think what would happen if he should trip and drop his staff. The growing barrier pressed against the creatures and pushed them away. They growled at him in irritation.
“To your left, Fresh Meat,” Caellix advised.
Serrel took a breath. “Let’s go.”
Holding his staff upright, and carrying the shield with him, Serrel walked with the group off in the direction Caellix specified. Caellix walked in front, leading them, with the others in a ring around Serrel. Dhulrael took the rear, his hand still placed on Serrel’s shoulder to maintain the energy tranfer.
The trip was slow going, with the group clustered together, and the three creatures following closely, still circling them. Caellix kept her pace slow and even, making sure they diverted around any obstacles. Even so, low branches, and occasionally one of the group, would bump the shield, which caused more energy to be used up. Even so, Serrel didn’t have any trouble maintaining the barrier, thanks to the constant flow of energy coming from Dhulrael. He wondered how long Dhulrael could keep up the link. How much energy he still had in reserve. He didn’t want to think what would happen if Dhulrael reached the Hollow. But whenever he glanced back, the elf just smiled reassuringly.
The creatures began to grow impatient as time wore on. Eventually they started bumping the shield purposefully, and clawing at it. At one point, one of the creatures moved in front of the group and blocked their passage. When pushing it gently did not elicit a response, Serrel had everyone take a big, fast step forwards, and slammed the shield into the creature’s face.
That made it angry. It threw itself at the shield and attacked it furiously.
“Same to you!” Serrel snapped at it.
Without warning the creature following behind them leapt into the air and landed right on top of the shield. The sudden force transferred down into the staff, and Serrel almost had his arm yanked out of his socket as the staff was pushed down into the earth.
“Gods damn- Don’t!” he snapped as a hand reached for the staff to help. “If you touch it, the energy discharge will probably blow your hand off. Not to mention dispel my shield.”
“Oh,” said Dogbreath. “Well, now I know.”
Serrel glared up at the creature, which stood balanced above them, with all six legs splayed wide, a green glow in the air where its claws rested on the barrier. It stared down at them, almost as if to taunt them.
Serrel gasped the staff with both hands, and heaved upwards. With nothing tangible to hold on to, the creature slid right off the shield, scrabbling pointlessly for purchase as it fell to the ground. It landed upright like a cat, and then launched itself at them angrily. The other two joined in.
With no choice, Serrel stood his ground and bore the attack as best he could, staff shaking violently in his hands. For the first time, and at the worst possibly moment, he wondered at the quality of Legion-made warstaves. He hoped the enchanters had not slacked off.
Finally the creatures tired of their impotent assault, and backed off.
“Fresh Meat?” Caellix asked.
“I’m fine. Dhulrael, how are we going?”
“I am afraid I am approaching the end of my reserves,” Dhulrael said wearily. “We might want to hurry.”
“I’m going as fast as I can,” Caellix replied.
The group started off again. The creatures continued circling them, waiting for their chance.
/> “You’d think they’d lose interest by now,” said Holly.
“They came especially for us,” said Serrel. “If they were hunting, they would have gone for something easier. They ran right past that stag.”
Caellix sniffed. “Not bad, Fresh Meat,” she commented. Serrel couldn’t see her face, but he thought perhaps she wore a small smile.
“Someone sent these things after us,” Serrel continued. “Like they sent the kraken, and the sharks while we were at sea.”
Serrel felt an unexpected drop in the energy flowing into him, before Dhulrael regained control of his weaving.
“Pardon me,” said the elf. “Did you say kraken?”
“Lots of kraken,” said Holly darkly. “A whole school, or shoal, or whatever the hell they’re called.”
“It was fun,” added Brant. “Almost as much fun as this.”
“You were attacked by kraken in the Dividing Sea?” Dhulrael asked again in amazement. “But that would be... That is impossible.”
“Apparently not,” replied Caellix coldly.
“It was not a natural aggregation?”
“A what-ey what?” asked Brant.
“No, of course not,” Dhulrael said to himself. “Kraken rarely come to the Dividing Sea, even at this time of year...”
“What are you blathering about?” snapped Caellix.
“He’s saying what we already know,” said Serrel impatiently. “It wasn’t normal, and someone sent the kraken to attack us. Sergeant how far?” he asked the more important question.
“Not far. Listen.”
On the edge of his hearing, Serrel could just make out the sound of rushing water. Up ahead, the dim forest suddenly became light as the tree line inexplicably disappeared. Serrel suddenly had a bad feeling.
“What exactly was your plan again?” he asked.
“There’s a cliff up ahead, and if I’m right, it overlooks a section of the Sileril River.”
“Oh,” said Holly slowly. “Sergeant, you aren’t thinking...”
“If anyone has any better plans, now would be the time to mention it.” Caellix waited. “No? Then here’s what we do: Fresh Meat is going to walk us to the cliff edge, and we are all going to dive over the side. We swim to the other bank, and continue on our way. I trust everyone remembers how to swim?”
