“Normally not ‘till the next summer,” Soren said. Kaiden looked at Soren with a strange expression until he realized he had spoken his last thoughts aloud.
“Very strange behavior,” Kaiden mused. They had hunted the beast for three days now. Three days on the strangest trail he’d ever tracked. “Attacking a man. Hiding the corpse in a tree. Something this large would not need to protect its prey from other animals by pulling it up a tree.” Kaiden shook his head. He didn’t know why he was going on like this, maybe Soren could make some sense of it all. “It just doesn’t make any sense. Sometimes it acts like a cat, sometimes like a bear. It’s too big for any snowcat I’ve ever encountered, maybe bigger than any bear. Walks on four legs. Sometimes two.” Kaiden thought he was beginning to sound foolish. It was almost as if he were describing something from children’s nightmares. Stories he’d heard as a young boy. Stories used to scare Flenn and him into listening to their parents. He hadn’t lost sleep over those stories in years. Tonight he thought he might be lucky to get any sleep at all. Scourges, boogeymen, vyrs, banshees. Silly. It had to be the darkness weighing down on him, stimulating his imagination.
The wind whipped through the camp.
Kaiden laughed out loud. “Scourges!”
Soren did not laugh, falling even more silent.
Finally he spoke. “The Scourge. Maybe. That I do not know.” His voice was low, almost soft, an echo of the wind. “I have seen this once before.” He looked Kaiden straight in the eyes. “When I was a boy.” He was speaking deliberately. Pausing between sentences to collect his thoughts. “Only one other who saw what I did lived to tell the story. All thought him mad. Mad with the loss of blood. With the loss of his arm. The village thought he’d filled my young mind with nightmares. He died days after.”
Kaiden hadn’t expected Soren to take him seriously, yet Soren did. A scourge? Of course it wasn’t, but what was it? Soren somehow knew. Kaiden was certain of that. At this point Kaiden would believe near anything. Wanted to believe anything. Wanted an explanation.
Soren continued, “It followed two men from this camp to Azmark. It returned here when the men did. They fled from here. We should not have stayed.”
Kaiden knew Soren was the best tracker among them, but he still wondered how Soren could know all this. Maybe he’d noticed the tracks closer to Azmark and he just waited until now to voice his opinion. Still, when he spoke it was not to question him about why he would think such a thing.
“We have six men, and dogs. Not to mention fire. No animal will harm us. If the men have fled we are safe.” Kaiden had never heard Soren talk this way. Too many grown men acting crazy, believing in fairy tales. As if to mock Kaiden’s words the wind blew more forcefully, bending branches and driving snow.
“This is no animal,” Soren whispered.
“Then what?” Kaiden asked.
Bo leaped to his feet. Fras and Gray were at his side. Gray growled at the darkness.
Kaiden felt uneasy, something or someone was out there, watching them. Soren drew his sword. Kaiden gripped his spear, searching the darkness. Something was out there.
“Wake up!” Kaiden yelled. The horses, sensing something amiss, stamped their hooves, backing further into the make shift stable. Donell and Biv were up and calming the horses. Kaiden yelled again. “Get Up!”
Ralf and Lester joined Soren and Kaiden. The four men stood with their backs to the fire. A circle of men, dogs and steel, they watched the night. Shadows danced across the trees. The crackle of the fire and growls of the dogs were drowned by the wind.
Mic was under the lean-to, his soft fur rising slowly in the rhythm of a deep sleep. Slowly the dog rose, eyes focused on nothing, pointed into the night. Mic made no sound and trotted off into the darkness.
Donell screamed at the dog, “Mic! To me! Mic, heel!”
Mic disappeared into the blackness. His foot steps padded softly up the hill, leaving tracks in the snow that were easy to follow. The men yelled to him. The night answered with a howling of the wind. Snow blew savagely through the camp, blinding the men with driving fierceness.
Donell started to run after Mic. Soren grabbed him by the arm in a vise grip. Soren shook him. “NO!”
A high pitched yelp pierced the night. The gusts of wind died suddenly. Gone as fast as they began, leaving not even a breeze. Donell tried to pull free from Soren.
“No,” Soren said. He used a calmer voice this time. “There is nothing you can do.”
“Nothing?!” Donell asked in disbelief. “It is just a beast. It will bleed well enough.”
He jerked free from Soren, but made not further movements. The darkness pressed in on them as they peered out into the night.
“MIC!” The night answered with silence.
Kaiden felt unnerved. He knew he must do something. Finally he spoke. “Biv, Lester, stay with the horses. The rest of you, make some torches. Soren, Donell, stay close to me,” If Soren knew what this was, Kaiden wanted him close by. Donell might do something foolish. Kaiden wanted him on a short reign.
“This might not be the wisest thing.” Soren offered to Kaiden. “There is much that is unseen in the night.”
“Whatever is out there is close. Close enough for us to kill. I want an end to this.” Kaiden leveled his gaze at Soren. Soren met the stare and did not blink. He showed no fear, no emotion at all. The man would do as he was told, even if he did not like it.
With torches in one hand and spears in the other the four men trudged up the hill in the direction Mic had gone. Bo and Gray led the way. Soren’s sword was out, his spear strapped across his back. Kaiden’s hand longed for his own sword hilt. Only he knew that was foolishness, spears were better for bears. Better for snowcats too. If he hadn’t needed to hold his torch with one hand he would have his long bow out.
They traveled about fifty spans when Ralf spotted blood. Patches of it in the snow. The dog tracks ended, but there were other tracks. Enormous tracks. Kaiden’s eyes followed the tracks to where they disappeared into the night, leading to the Rocky Hills. There was no sign of Mic, just the blood.
“What in the name of the Seven Clans...” Ralf didn’t finish.
Kaiden knew what Ralf was thinking. It was what they all were thinking. Kaiden had never seen such large tracks. Any beast wanting to protect its kill would have dragged it off. There should have been drag marks in the snow, yet there were none. What could have carried off a full grown wolfhound?
Bo and Gray growled. They did not like this. The growls were angry and did nothing to calm Kaiden.
“It went this way.” Donell pointed up the hill. He was moving, and the dogs were quickly following him. Kaiden knew they were acting in haste, but he followed anyway, as anxious as Donell to catch their quarry while it was still close.
Ralf stood, staring at the snow. Kaiden looked back at him, motioning him to follow. Ralf moved with a start and was soon at Kaiden’s side. The group labored through the deep snow, moving slowly. Traveling up hill didn’t help.
Ralf spoke with a soft voice in Kaiden’s ear. “There was no fight. Not even a struggle.”
Kaiden nodded. They were playing a dangerous game with a dangerous quarry. An unknown quarry.
They were moving too far from camp. This thing moved much faster than they did and unless it stopped they wouldn’t catch it tonight. They pressed on anyway. The wind began again, blowing down off the mountains, warning them to turn back. Unnatural, Kaiden thought. They trudged on, further and further up the mountain side. Kaiden squinted his eyes, straining to see through the driving snow. Visibility was quickly diminishing, but he could see well enough to follow the tracks to a thick crop of trees just ahead. The forest was beyond that, anything could be in there. Kaiden hesitated a bit, but Donell kept moving.
“Stop.” Soren sounded irritated. “Not in there. It will have the advantage. We must fight it in the open.”
“I’m not planning on fighting it,” Donell spat. “I’m planning on kill
ing it.” Irritation showed in his voice too. “If you hadn’t have stopped me earlier, maybe we would be done with this business by now. Go back to camp then. I’ll bring you the pelt.”
“Soren is right, Donell.” Kaiden let this go too far. They all should have returned to camp a half league ago.
“It’s probably just inside those trees,” Donell protested. “The dogs will corner it, or tree it, and we’ll kill the thing.”
“It has heard us coming,” Soren said. “If it is just inside those trees it is waiting for us.”
“All the better.” Donell kept moving forward.
Fool, thought Kaiden. “Wait!”
Donell was at the edge of the trees already. The dogs were with him. His shoulders sank in a sigh, even he would not ignore a direct order.
Soren was at Donell’s side in a few strides. Ignoring Donell, Soren kept his eyes on the trees. His body was tense, ready to move. Kaiden and Ralf joined them a little more slowly. Ralf studied the tracks in the snow, puzzled over them.
“The trail will be lost to the storm if we don’t move forward now,” Donell protested.
Soren put his fore finger to his lips, then pointed into the trees. The tracks stopped about ten spans in. “There’s blood there,” Soren whispered, pointing to the snow at the base of a tree. “In the tree,” he added, with another gesture of his finger.
Six spans up the tree, on the largest branch was a furry mass. Mic. What was left of him.
“Get him down,” Kaiden ordered.
Donell was already half way up the tree before Kaiden could rethink what he’d said. What if the creature was still in the tree? Donell was to Mic quickly and lowering his body down to Ralf before Kaiden had a chance to warn him to be careful. Soren hung back, his head on a swivel, searching.
“Come down,” Kaiden said. “The dogs aren’t showing anything is close. We’re going back to camp.”
Donell started down, then stopped and climbed again. Further up than before. He sat on a thick limb, staring into the dark twisted branches. Slowly he pulled out his long belt knife and moved from the branch he was on to the next tree, up a couple of more spans, then stopped. Kaiden realized Donell had been holding his breath when he finally let it out with a soft sigh. “Throw me a rope,” he requested.
Soren was half way up the tree and throwing Donell a rope while Kaiden was still wondering if any one had brought one from camp. The two were soon lowering something down. Another body. Human.
“Who is it?” Ralf asked.
“How should we know,” Donell answered.
Kaiden wondered how this could be turning out any worse. The body was frozen, impossible to tell how long it had been there. How it had gotten into the tree seemed to be obvious. Half the face was taken off by an enormous claw. Other parts were chewed on. The clothes, what was still there, were not Kailfen, they weren’t from the north. The hair was darker than most northerners’ too. Probably one of the men who’d made that camp. What was he doing here and how had he gotten himself killed?
Donell was at Kaiden’s side, interrupting his thoughts. “This is too big to be a snowcat and icebears almost never climb trees. Nothing is tall enough to hang it’s prey that high without climbing. What this is I don’t know.”
Kaiden nodded, agreeing with everything Donell had concluded. He had no idea what this was either, but he had a suspicion Soren did. “Let’s get back. We’ll bury this man and Mic near camp.”
No one spoke the entire way back. The wind died again and the clouds began to clear. Stars shone through the clouds and overlaying tree branches, bathing the hills in an eerie light. Kaiden looked over his shoulder. The others were on edge too, each man peering out into the night, trying to spot some unseen watcher. They approached camp and saw the fire was dying down. What were Biv and Lester doing?
“Biv?” Kaiden called out. “Lester?”
No answer. Biv’s horse was gone. The dogs were gone too. Where had the fools gone?
“Kaiden,” called Ralf. “Lester’s cloak is in his bed roll and Biv’s saddle is still here. Wherever they left to, they left fast.”
“Build up the fire.” Kaiden was fast losing patience. “Secure the camp,” he snapped. “Soren, I would speak with you.” There was no getting any sleep tonight. So much for a nice warm bed roll.
Kaiden realized his hands and feet were numb from the cold. The fire would be welcome. He retrieved fresh boots from his saddle bags. Not bringing an extra pair could mean losing your toes. He set his other pair down to dry by the fire. The wind was blowing again, he could hear it howling through the trees, and the temperature was dropping fast. Looking for Biv and Lester tonight might mean freezing to death. Those two would have to look after themselves. Fools. Where had they gotten off to?
“Soren, you know what this beast is?” It was almost an accusation rather than a question, but Kaiden felt Soren was holding back.
All the men gathered around the fire. The flames were blazing higher and hotter than necessary. Ralf built it up to ward off the night and anything lurking in it.
“I fear I do not,” answered Soren solemnly.
“You said you’d encountered this beast once before.” Kaiden didn’t want to wait for an answer. “Tell me what you know of it,” he demanded, not sure that he really wanted to know.
All eyes fixed on Soren. He did not speak immediately, but when he did it was with a low voice, speaking only to the night.
“This beast. I have heard it called a beast. It is an ancient evil. Spoken of in nightmares and old man’s tales. When I was a boy, the tales of it’s existence were old. Those who claimed to know of it were old themselves and told only stories they heard from their fathers and grandfathers. In years past they say its numbers were great. Now it lives and feeds in the shadows.”
“Old man’s tales is right,” sneered Donell. “We are hearing an old man now and this is one of his tales.”
Ralf was not amused. “Shut your mouth. You’ve seen the same things we have. You still think this is a bear?”
“Both of you shut your mouths,” rumbled Kaiden. “I don’t recall inviting either of you into this conversation.” He turned to Soren, “Continue. And no stories for children. I want to know what you know. Something that will help us. I don’t need another lesson on the superstitions of our ancestors.”
“What I know may seem to be superstitious.” Soren’s voice remained unchanged. There was a distant look in his eye. “It will bleed. I do not know if it will die.”
“What foolishness is this?” Donell interjected.
Soren ignored the interruption. “It comes with the wind. It owns the night.”
“I’m going to bed,” Donell said.
“Sleep is a danger,” Soren warned. “It comes in your nightmares, walking like a man, pursuing like a bear, feeding like a pack of wolves. It flies on the wind. An ancient enemy of man.”
“You speak of fairy tales, of legends we have all heard,” mocked Ralf. “Do not let this night’s strange events cloud your judgment.”
Kaiden didn’t know what to make of Soren’s rambling. He sounded half mad. Nightmares, beasts from legend.
“My judgment is clear.” Soren snapped. He was facing the group again. The warning he’d just given Donell, he was now giving to them all. “As Kaiden said. I have encountered this demon before. When I was a boy.” He gave challenging stares to his companions. “We were trapped in the mountains in an early storm, and we took shelter in a cave. One by one it drew the men into the storm. We tried to destroy it to our detriment. Finally we fled. It pursued. Hunted us. Slovk the Hammer swore he would find me safely home. He did so by sacrificing his own life. We fought the beast. Wounded it. Again we fled. Slovk returned me to the home of my fathers and died the next day.”
Kaiden knew there was more. “This ‘demon.’ What would you call it? A scourge?” Scourges were beasts from legend. The clerics told of how the scourges would come to punish those who had been untrue or unfaithfu
l. Stories to scare children into obedience. “What did the clerics think of your story?”
“The clerics remained silent when I told my story. They and the two oldest men in the village were the only ones who did not mock me or dismiss what I said. The clerics held a constant watch with Slovk until he died. Years later a cleric questioned me in private. He wanted a detailed description. He also wanted to know if it was a scourge.”
“Well, was it?” questioned Ralf.
“I don not know what to call it. Macman, the eldest of our village called it vyr.”
Donell didn’t even try to hide his amusement. “Vyr? Might as well believe in dragons.” He roared with laughter.
“Jest if you will, Donell,” Ralf said. “The clerics say many things walked these mountains before man came here. Some say further north strange beasts can still be found.”
“He’s not talking about strange beasts. He is talking about wraiths and demons.” Donell shook his head. “If it bleeds, I’ll kill it!” He stormed off to the lean-to.
“As I said,” Soren went on, “it does bleed. We should be able to kill it. If it is a vyr it will die easily enough. Or so said Macman. If it is a scourge...?”
“It is just a beast, driven off the mountains by the harsh weather,” Kaiden insisted, wanting to believe his own words, but only half able. “We will kill it tomorrow and bring it’s carcass back to Azmark. We’ll have stories to tell our grandchildren and they will be able to call us crazy old men.” Kaiden hoped it was so. The clerics believed in scourges, that eventually there would be one specific scourge. The Scourge, it was called, come to punish the north for their misdeeds. Vyr, if they ever existed, were supposed to be extinct. No one even really knew what they were, only that old men believed in them. It was all foolishness. Donell was right, might as well believe in dragons. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to exercise some caution. Now if Biv and Lester would return from wherever they’d gotten off to Kaiden might be able to salvage this expedition. So far he’d only lost one dog, and that was an acceptable loss. Biv and Lester were not. What had gotten into them? What had gotten into Mic? Kaiden wrapped up in his cloak and tried to rest next to the fire. He hoped Biv and Lester found shelter from the cold. The temperature of this night was the killing kind. Suddenly the wind stopped dead. The hours before dawn passed slow.
Haven Keep (Book 1) Page 10
