by Njord Kane
Sven hit the ground hard and dropped his ax. He nearly tumbled over the cliff when he hit the ground. The wind was now knocked out of him and he struggled to get up, but was unable.
He must have broken a few bones when he hit the ground. Pain radiated all through his body placing him on the edge of falling unconscious. He tried to call out for help, but was only able to spit out blood as he slumped on the ground.
The dead walker clinched its fists and angrily roared at Sven as he struggled on the ground. Rowan was able to get to his feet and looked around for a weapon. A rock, a big stick, anything he could use as a weapon.
The dead walker was infuriated. It stomped over to where Sven was laying on the ground, broken and in terrible pain. It briefly looked down at him and then grabbed Sven by the chest and leg. It picked him up and lifted him up above its head while letting out a ferocious roar before it threw Sven's broken body over the side of the cliff.
Sven couldn't even scream.
Rowan was unarmed and there was nothing he could do. He could see that the ax he embedded into the back of the creature was still burning it. After it hurled Sven over the cliff, the creature continued struggling trying to reach the ax and pull it out from its back.
Rowan knew he wouldn't be able to take the creature out. He managed to wound it, but that was pure luck and he no longer had a weapon anyways.
He took one last look at Bjord's lifeless broken body on the ground and then turned towards the clearing in the brush they originally came through and ran for his life.
He charged through the partially cut branches as if they weren't even there. Pushing through the brush in a desperate fury to escape the deadly wrath of the dead walker.
As he passing through the thickest part of the brush, he heard the beast roar behind him. It noticed him fleeing. Just as Rowan passed through and reached the other side where they tracked the sheep, he heard the beast howl again and then start charging through the brush after him.
Rowan looked around in every direction trying to decide what to do. If he ran down the path they came up, the beast would surely catch up to him and run him down.
He looked through the hole in the bushes where the sheep had ran over the cliff and decided to crawl through it in an attempt to hide. He quickly crawled through, scrapping himself by the broken branches as reached the other side. By time he got to the other side where the cliff was, he heard the dead walker growling on the other side where he had just been seconds ago.
It would have easily overcome him if he'd ran down the trail.
The dead walker didn't continued down the pass chasing after him as Rowan had hoped it would. It knew he'd gone through the bush to hide. Rowan knew he would have to do something quick. But what? He was cornered at the edge of a steep cliff with no where to go.
Thinking quickly, he realized he still had the rope slung over his shoulders. He removed the rope and took hold of one end. He looked for something to tie the end of the rope on. If he could secure the end of the rope, maybe he lower himself down the side of the cliff to escape the creature.
Rowan searched for something sturdy to tie the rope to and decided on the base of a bush that appeared to be deeply rooted.
The creature was getting closer, but was struggling to get through the hole.
Rowan's hands were shaking as he tied the knot and secured it to the base of the bush stump. He then quickly tossed the other end down the side of the cliff.
He could hear the dead walker starting to tear its way through the bushes towards him. It was coming after him and would reach him any second. There was no time to waste. It was do or die.
Having no other choice, Rowan began climbing down the rope over the side of the cliff.
As he lowered himself down he heard the dead walker roaring. He looked up and seen it looking down at him, towering over the edge of the cliff with a broken bush hanging off it where it had tore its way through the brush.
Rowan began climbing down the rope even quicker in his desperate attempt to escape. He didn't even know if the rope was long enough to reach the bottom or not, but he had nowhere else to go.
The creature grunted as it reached down and grabbed the rope. Rowan felt the rope being pulled up and seen the creature was hauling him up.
He began sliding down the rope in a desperate attempt gain distance between him and the creature. His hands burned from the friction of the rope as he loosened his grip to slide down it.
Looking down, Rowan noticed a ledge on the side of the cliff and tightened his grip on the rope, stopping his slid. The friction burn cause Rowan to wince in pain bu the managed to stop himself.
He began trying swing himself towards the side of the cliff and was almost able to reach a root that was sticking out of the side of the cliff above the ledge. He felt the rope being tugged and being pulled up ferociously.
The creature was going to pull him up if he didn't do something now.
Burning his hands even more, he slid down the rope even further only to discovered that he was now at the end of the rope and couldn't go down any further.
The creature kept pulling the rope up.
Rowan would have to make a desperate lunge for the root that hanging from the side of that cliff. He swung hard one last time before he felt the rope being pulled up again. Rowan let go of the rope as he swung towards the cliff side and tried to grab the protruding tree root.
Despite his best effort, he fell short of the tree root and crashed hard into the face of the cliff wall.
Rowan then fell from the side and down onto the lower cliff ledge. Luckily he didn't fall to his death, but he was still too high up and fell hard on the ledge's rocky surface. When he landed on the ledge, he dropped so hard that he managed to hit his head on a rock.
The world went black as Rowan was knocked unconscious.
Chapter 5 - The Long Way Back
Rowan woke up to rain drops hitting him in the face. Groggy and hazy, he slowly opened his eyes and looked around. Seeing the ledge he was on, he quickly remembered where he was and what had happened.
His body ached in nearly every place.
He noticed that he was laying on the edge of the cliff's small ledge, so he carefully sat up and shifted himself back safely away from the edge. His head pounded with a throbbing pain at the back of his head and neck.
He looked around hardly able to believe he was still alive. Recapping the events of everything that had taken place, he realized what had happened when he fell and why his head hurt.
It looked like it was early morning. He'd been knocked unconscious when he landed and must have slept the rest of the day and through the night.
It was now raining lightly. He wasn't soaking wet, so it must have just started. Rowan looked up the cliff for any sign of the beast. It appeared to be gone and so was the rope he used to get down there in the first place.
He wasn't sure how he was going to get down. He survived the attack, but now can he survive the escape? Rowan looked down over the side of the small cliff, trying to figure out how exactly was he going to get down.
He noticed that on the left side of the cliff it sloped at such an angle that he might be able to climb down.
The rocks on the slope looked very loose. He'd have to be careful climbing down and keep his body close to the slope due to the steepness. It only went down like that for a short way until it became too steep to climb down. He would have to scoot across to the further end where he could try to climb down further.
Rowan scooted to the edge and carefully slid his body down the slope, hugging the side of the cliff wall with his body.
Already some small rocks were starting to tumble down from under him. He even slid slightly when some of the loose dirt on the cliff wall broke free.
He tried to dig his fingers deep into the slope to prevent sliding down any further as he continued to gingerly descend down the side.
The descent was thus far going as planned as he continued to make his way dow
n. Just as he was nearing the ledge where he had planned to shift over, a rock came loose under him and caused him to slide down.
He tried to stop himself from sliding anymore by digging his fingers into the dirt and pressing his body against the hillside. His efforts were all to no avail as he became the center of a mini rock slide that dragged him down with it.
Rowan slide down cliff's ledge and went over the side, tumbling in the air towards the ground beneath him.
As he headed toward the ground, the top of a pine tree broke his fall, but it broke as well. He tumbled into the next one which also broke. He bounced to the next and then to the next as he fell and tumbled his way to the ground through the tree. Each limb either broke from his falling on it or bent down, rolling him to the side to drop down even further.
He fell through the tree crashing limb to limb until with a loud and dull thud, Rowan finally hit the ground...hard.
He hurt from just about every place on his body as he feebly gasped for air. The wind had been knocked out of him so times on the way down he almost wasn't sure how to breathe again.
The tree had beaten him to a pulp, but it had broken his fall and saved his life. He was alive and that surprised even him.
Rowan rested on the ground for a few minutes, reflecting upon his luck on escaping the dead walker and then surviving the fall. That and the fact he couldn't move yet and was still trying to catch his breath again.
He was definitely lucky, but for how long.
After a few minutes Rowan finally rolled to his side and looked around. He was in a ravine on the mountain side. He tried to figure out which way to go.
He prided himself on having a pretty good sense of direction and he did know 'about' which way he needed to go to get back to the longhouse. But he'd never seen this place before.
Below him, he could see where the ravine led down. It was not as steep as before, although it was much more rocky.
It was different down here than it had been up where the dead walker was. There was a sense of peacefulness. He could hear the birds chirping and it didn't seem as 'dead' and strange. Plus the intense smell of rot wasn't present.
Rowan stood up and steadied himself. He was bruised and hurt everywhere, but he was still able to move on his own. Surprisingly, nothing was broken.
He began making his way down the ravine, being mindful of the loose rocks as to not stumble and hurt himself any more than he already was. He knew he needed to head West, but the ravine was taking him in a more northerly direction. He figured that once he got lower and more off the mountainside, he'd be able to better recognize where he was and be able to navigate his way back a bit better.
After walking a bit he came near to the end of the ravine where it leveled out on the hillside. Rowan began to veer his path more west.
He tried to stay as much as he could in the clearing in hopes of recognizing something that would lead his way. Unfortunately, so far nothing stood out as familiar to him.
He continued to walk and stay as westwardly as he could, trying to prevent entering the forest as much as possible. He foolishly lost his ax when he threw it at the undead thing and was unarmed. He didn't want to become prey to wolves or anything else that lived in the forest. He also heard stories of hidden things that lived in the forest, but never believed them. He always assumed that they were tales meant to keep children from straying into the woods.
He was a believer in those stories now.
At this point Rowan had been walking for most of the day and he knew he'd gone too far North. When they had initially gone up the mountain through the woods trying to find the sheep, it had only taken them a little over half a day to reach the location where the beast had been.
Rowan could tell that there was only another hour or two before the sun would set. This was not good. He had no supplies, weapons, or anything and was on the edge of a forest. He'd have to make a decision as to what to do for the night.
Additionally, he didn't feel very safe, not because of the wolves that he was sure would be coming out for their nightly hunt, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. He felt it all day.
As he ventured further, he spotted a hollow in the ground under a tree. It would serve as a good place to hide during the night and offered some protection. At least he believed it would. He figured that he could crawl in and close it off with some branches to conceal it.
Rowan set to work immediately while he still had light to work in. He first checked the hallow to make sure nothing else was in there. There was always the chance that it was the home of some kind of wildlife and the last thing he wanted to do was crawl in and have a pack of animals angry and attacking him.
He picked up a rock and threw it into the hole and listened.
Nothing.
It was too dark in the hole for him to see inside. So he picked up another rock and threw it in.
Nothing.
He grew more confident that the hole was probably unoccupied. Rowan picked up a dead branch and put one end inside of it and shook it around in hopes of disturbing and running out anything inside. He wanted to make certain it was empty before he actually crawled in it himself.
Still nothing.
Satisfied that the hole was probably empty, he crawled inside of it.
First he slowly lowered in his legs, hoping nothing would bite them. Then he lowered the rest of his body down and entered the hallow. Once inside the hole he felt around in the hole with his hands for anything.
It was empty and he felt confident of it now. This will serve as his hide-away for the night.
He climbed back out of the hole and gathered some brush to hide the hollow's opening while he occupied it for the night. The dead limb he used to see if anything was in the hole, he'd keep with him as a club. Just in case he had to defend himself inside the hole.
He set up brush in front the hole to conceal it. After that he secured himself inside the hollow for the night. He finished securing his hide-away just in time before he ran out of sunlight. Rowan laid in the hole facing the opening and clinched the dead limb. It wasn't long before his exhausted, bruised body had overcome him and he fell asleep.
Chapter 6 - An Interesting Night
Rowan woke up to the sound of rustling leaves. The sound was comes from somewhere near him outside of the hole. He opened his eyes and looked out into the darkness trying to see what was out there. While his eyes were still slowly adjusting, he heard the sound of leaves crunching from a foot step.
Something was definitely something out there.
He heard more leaves rustling and heavy foot steps outside in the darkness. His heart began to pound at the thought that it might be the dead walker looking for him. He had no where to go. His hide-away for the night had now become his trap.
However. he didn't smell the nauseating dead rotting flesh smell as he did before when the dead walker was near.
There was a smell though, but this smell was different. It smelled of rancid dried sweat and dirt. It was more of a 'nasty-dirty' smell than a 'rancid-rotten' smell. It most likely wasn't the dead walker, but what was it?
Rowan was still clinching onto his stick and peering into the darkness outside of his hole. He could hear it, but couldn't see what it was. He started moving forward in order to sneak a peek outside of the hole to see what was out there making the noise. As he crept forward, he heard it snort as it continued taking heavily steps outside.
It was definitely something big, he could also feel the ground slightly shake with each step it took. Rowan's curiosity outweighed his cautiousness. He had to see what was outside of the hole.
Just as he was about the scoot forward to peer outside of the hole, he heard something softly whisper behind him say, "don't."
Rowan paused for a second. Although a bit stunned, he wasn't sure he'd actually heard anything.
"Don't move. Don't make a sound or it will find you and kill you," he heard it whisper again in the darkness behind him.
/> Horror crawled through Rowan when he realized the whispering was coming from inside the hole behind him. Whoever or whatever was whispering to him was in the hole with him, concealed in the darkness.
Just before he was about to turn to look and try to see what was behind him talking, he sees the thing outside walk past the opening of the hollow he was in.
Whatever it was, it was huge. Rowan was only able to see the lower parts of its legs from just above the knees down in the darkness. It had to be at least three times taller than a tall man, maybe more. He could see that it had huge hairy feet and hairy legs.
It must be a giant, Rowan thought. He'd never seen a man that big in his life. He heard the stories of giants and of the gods battling them. It was believed that they were all extinct, killed in god's wars against the giants. Occasionally there was rumor of someone seeing one. But those reports were usually after several horns of mead and never taken seriously.
The ground slightly shook as it walked past Rowan's hidden hallow. He could only sit there in the darkness of his hole fearfully hoping that it didn't find him. But something was in the hole with him. Whatever was in the hole with him wasn't threatening him, but he couldn't be sure if he was actually safe or not from it.
For the moment, the large man-like beast outside of the hole seemed to be a greater of the dangers to him. He didn't know what to do, but he figured his chances were better if he just stayed in the hole and remain quiet.
Rowan sat quietly hidden in the hollow as he listened to the large thing outside slowly walk away into the distance.
It was then when he heard whomever occupied the hollow with him say, "I think it's gone now."
Rowan was scared. He knew that no other human being would have been able to fit in the hole with him. At least not without laying on him or being real close next to him. Either way, he felt nobody next to him. Whatever it was, it was very small.
