She looked up at Erik, eyebrows raised. “How many did you bring with you?”
He held up two fingers.
That can’t be right. The noise that surged and ebbed from the courtyard had to be a fight with dozens of men. “Are you sure?”
Erik looked confused as well, but he nodded. “Positive, but it doesn’t matter. We have to leave. Now.”
“And just how are we suppose to do that?” she asked, perplexed.
He pointed.
Her gaze followed his finger to a place beyond the edge of the roof.
The curtain wall followed the river on this side of the Keep, and a bend of the rushing water below had forced the wall to snake back to a point that was marginally closer to the building. Marginally.
Oh, Eos, she thought. Aloud, she asked, “What are you proposing we do?”
He chuckled in answer.
“You’re insane. I can’t possibly make that jump.”
“I believe you can.”
Sacha let out a small laugh that, even to her ears, sounded a trifle desperate. “And what makes you think that?”
“You have no other choice,” Erik said. He gently turned her face so their eyes met.
She felt the butterflies in her belly scatter just a little.
“You can do this.” He smiled. “I know you can.”
“Stop. Curse your hides!” a voice cried out from above. The guard stood in silhouette against the predawn sky. He was wrestling his crossbow from its sling, which was attached to his back, as he continued to pour epithets down the tile at the fleeing pair.
“Go!” Erik shouted and shoved her shoulder roughly with one hand while snatching another blade from his brace of knives.
Sacha took one hesitant step along the walk, watching him.
Erik threw the knife, and the guard ducked as it spun uselessly into the purpling sky. In his haste to dodge, the guard slipped and fell. His crossbow clattered on the tile and fired. The bolt hissed through the air and clipped the merlon behind her, spraying stone chips into the air.
Sacha leapt into motion. The guard’s scattered curses faded as she ran. The wind in her ears and the pounding of her feet began to eclipse all other sounds as the edge drew nearer.
Time slowed at the instant her boot scraped on the last stone and she launched into the air. She thought of Rylan: the delicate feel of the baby’s face, the clean, fresh smell of her skin when she had been bathed, and the adoring look in her huge sapphire eyes. Sacha hoped Teacher would shelter her child from all of this madness.
She crashed into the stone path of the curtain wall, time rushing back to normal. Fiery pain seared up from her ankles and knees. She dropped into a clumsy roll that fetched up against one of the stone merlons overlooking the river below. She barked an incredulous laugh and turned back to look for signs of her rescuer.
Erik took flight from the roof. The elf appeared born to fly, and he sailed from the wall, arms and legs extended and reaching forward.
She realized with a sudden lurch that he would land almost exactly at the spot where she lay. She attempted to crawl to her feet, but pain from her right leg and ankle threatened to drop her in the midst of her dodge. Clutching the merlon, she managed to haul herself out of the way.
The elf landed behind her with a thud and rustle, rolling smoothly to his feet next to her.
Sacha felt his hands slide under her arms and he helped her to her feet, then put her arm over his shoulder. She tested her foot on the hard walkway and found the ankle too sensitive for her to walk on.
“Quickly now,” Erik said as he started to rush her along the wall-walk.
She limped along with his help, but they were moving too slowly.
Bolts were hissing through the air behind them as they scrambled forward, but then there were two solid thunks, like a cleaver shearing into a thick ham. Erik shuddered twice and grunted in pain.
No!
Erik stumbled and they suddenly found themselves slumped into the gaps between the merlons.
Sacha attempted to pull him upright and her hand made contact with the feathered shafts of two bolts embedded deeply into Erik’s back. She looked up and saw the three guards standing on the edge.
Two of them were bent over, reloading their weapons, as the third continued to scream at them to stop.
Tears welled in her eyes as she looked back at Erik. “No, you can’t die. Not you too.”
“Go. Run.” His voice was weak and blood stained the corners of his mouth. He tried to push her with one hand through the gap, but there was no strength.
“Not without you.” She took a stronger hold of the elf and leaned backward. Together they rolled off the wall, plummeting into the river below.
Kesh scrambled on all fours across the rough ground.
It was almost as if the damned thing was after him personally. Every direction he went after being thrown from Hogg’s back, the cursed monster had followed, chewing through armored men as it went. He had been fortunate to have been so close to Qual when they crashed to the ground. The fall had knocked the goblin senseless, leaving Kesh relatively unharmed. More importantly, it appeared his human scent had rubbed all over the stunned little thug. Kesh believed that was the only reason why he had gotten as far as he had. The savage creature had torn Qual apart, ignoring the spears and swords the soldiers used to stab its heavy coat. After rending the goblin to shreds, it had then continued to scour the ground like a wolf in search of its prey, falling on anyone in its path.
Kesh had watched in horror as the beast’s pursuit of him began anew after tearing each group apart. He had fled behind trees, into some of the buildings, and even into groups of men, only to be followed each time. Most of the men who could, fled in every direction.
A group of ten idiots had just engaged the creature, and Kesh turned away from the maelstrom of tearing flesh. He scanned the area desperately for a place to hide. There!
A great spotted sow was squirming out of a gap in the gate of its pigpen. The partial body of a soldier had crashed into the wooden enclosure and pushed open the door enough for the creature to escape. Squealing and grunting, the animal fled with several smaller piglets screaming in her wake.
Kesh cast a hurried look back at the beast and the three men who still remained out of the ten who had challenged it just moments before. The beast was turned away from him, and Kesh sprinted for the low wall and buried himself in filth. He gagged several times but managed to keep the contents of his stomach down. He crawled forward on his belly to the overturned trough and slid below it. He shoveled desperately at the mud and filth around him, attempting to conceal any part of his body that wasn’t completely covered by the trough.
Outside, the sounds of death faded and an eerie quiet replaced them.
Kesh waited in silent terror for the creature to reemerge. In the stillness, his eyes caught a glimpse of a small crack in the trough that was outlined by a thin line of morning light. The coming of day eased his panicked mind and he began to hope the impossible nightmare was over.
Then there was a noise.
Kesh bit his tongue to keep from screaming and he felt his bowels release in fright. He knew that sound.
He could vividly imagine the long, sharp nails of the beast as they dragged across the cobbled ground of the courtyard. The long, gnarled hands of the beast would be touching the ground where Kesh had crouched, watching its performance, then they would drag along each step he took to the pigpen. Clicking and sliding across the ground until they clutched the edge of the pen, and then... Then, the horrible head would follow the claws to peer over the fence.
Hiding there in the filth, the chancellor came to realize he had never, in his entire life, truly wanted to unsee any event or thing—until this night. Oh, he had thought he had seen horrible things in the past, but not truly. The thing that hunted him this night was an abomination. Even though he had seen the creature several times, the only thing he could remember, the only thing burned into his
mind’s eye, the only thing he truly wanted to unsee, was the beast’s haunting face. It was the skinned head of a demon, rippling with folds of rage across its brow and muzzle. Two sets of canines, over half a foot long, dominated its crater-sized maw, with razor-sharp shards of bone filling the rest. The worst, though, were the eyes. Blazing, red orbs of hatred that would devour a man’s sanity if he gazed at them for too long.
He raised his head, daring to peek, and immediately wished he hadn’t.
The monster swayed back and forth near the pen, snorting at the rank air. On all fours, the beast was almost the height of a large man, and it was broad, possibly as wide at the shoulder as it was tall. Its front “legs” were more like massive arms, which ended in giant clawed hands. Blood and gore covered almost every inch of the creature’s shaggy coat, plastering it back in large clumps and dripping from twists in the fur. The creature had been focused on sniffing the spot where Kesh had entered the pen, but now, it scanned the fenced area with those horrible, fiery eyes.
Kesh shuttered and gave a silent prayer to Eos. Not now. I know I have a greater purpose. Please don’t let me die now, like this. He clamped down harder on his tongue to prevent a whimper from escaping.
A wholly different kind of roar shook Kesh’s feeble sanctuary, and the horrible demon’s head snapped around just in time to be clubbed by a tremendous maul. Blood and teeth sprayed through the air, and the hairy beast was pitched into the pen to land in a thrashing, screaming fury.
Howling, the monster leaped from the mud and back into the open.
Kesh almost cried with joy as he looked across the pigpen at his savor.
Ragg, Jagger’s ogre, crouched before the pen with a savage grin of delight splitting his ugly face.
Kesh had only seen the ogre fight once before, two years past. Time had not dampened his recollection of Ragg’s savagery; it stood out in his mind like the most cherished of memories. He was surely saved. Ragg would end this monster.
Thick slabs of muscle flexed along the ogre’s body in anticipation of the battle. Far from being surprised that the monster was still alive after the deadly blow, Ragg looked excited. Hands, each the size of a man’s head, tightened around the handle of his great maul. He squeezed with such force, the aged leather creaked and groaned under his knuckle-popping grip. Ragg charged after the stunned monster with another roar filled with bloodlust.
The ogre’s second blow caught the beast in the shoulder. His overhead swing had such power, it caused bones to shatter and tore another wail of agony from the wounded demon. The beast fell to the ground, rolling in pain onto its back.
Kesh pushed his way to hands and knees, lifting the trough like a turtle shell on his shoulders. His dry voice joined with the other men who had trickled back into the courtyard to cheer their champion as he destroyed the horrible thing.
Ragg raised the mighty hammer over his head for the finishing blow. The beast’s bull-sized hind legs kicked without warning and caught the ogre in his massive gut. Ragg fell backward but rolled to his feet several yards from the monster with amazing quickness for a being so large.
The demon also scrambled to its feet in spite of its grievous wounds.
No, no, no! You should be dead! Kesh thought, shocked. If the beast could hear his thoughts, it ignored them as surely as the wounds that should have killed it. The chancellor shook his head in dismay as the two began to circle each other. The monster shouldn’t even be conscious, let alone battle-wary. The display unnerved him.
Ragg appeared not to share the chancellor’s dismay. To the contrary, it seemed his pleasure grew with the beast’s refusal to fall or flee. The ogre feigned attacks as they circled, testing for weakness, but the hairy monster reacted deftly, snapping and lunging in turn.
Then Kesh noticed the beast rolling its jaw. The missing teeth had grown back, as if they hadn’t been broken loose just moments before. Amazed, he looked at the monster’s entire body.
The shoulder, which had been hanging limply just moments before, was now bearing the weight of the beast as it pivoted and speared forward. The torn flesh had sealed itself, appearing undamaged.
The chancellor felt the cold grip of uncertainty wrap around his hope and begin to squeeze. He hunched his shoulders, and the trough slipped a little lower.
Ragg roared again in challenge and charged. He swung his hammer underhanded as he ran.
The beast jumped aside at the last possible moment and came at the ogre’s back as the tattooed giant careened by.
Ragg was waiting for him. The ogre had used the momentum of his missed swing to bring the hammer up over his head and spin himself around at the same time. As the demon’s jaws came snapping in, Ragg brought the head of the maul crashing down in a mighty two-handed blow, driving the beast to the ground. Snapping bone was audible across the courtyard.
A round of cheers surged from the men, who had continued to reappear after Ragg’s arrival. The legs of the hairy monster had apparently been rendered useless, for it dragged its body forward using only its forelegs, gouging the stones from their seating.
This time, Ragg gave the creature no respite and he hammered the hairy beast, blow after blow, crushing bone with every impact, until the ogre was out of breath and the demon ceased to move.
Kesh couldn’t take his eyes from the still beast.
Ragg staggered back from his kill with a deep laugh. A roar of triumph erupted from his lips, and he raised the hammer over his head with both hands. Around him, the soldiers who had crept from their hiding places also raised their weapons and cheered. Relief was clear on every face. They crowded around their hero and lifted their voices.
The body of the beast lay between Kesh and the group, and he watched it with a horrible premonition building in his gut.
The motionless form of the demon twitched.
Cheers of “Ragg!” were chanted louder as more soldiers found the courage to come out of hiding and take up the call. They joined the circle that had formed around the ogre, who gloated in his victory, pumping his fists into the air in rhythm with the chant.
Kesh found words of warning forming on his lips, but his body knew better than his mind, and no sound came forth.
Gaps in the monster’s sides filled once more as bone and muscle mended itself. A shudder quivered through every hair of the beast, and the giant chest swelled with an intake of breath.
Kesh slowly lowered himself back into the mire, dropping his shell back into place, unable and unwilling to speak.
Inside of his cocoon of wood and filth, Kesh clapped his hands over his ears, and drew his knees up to his chest. His eyes were glued to the sliver of growing light. He watched, almost against his will, as the cheering celebration began to move off, with Ragg in the center, pumping his huge hands into the air and thumping himself on the chest. Not once did the fools look back.
The demon rose to its feet.
Screams filled the air for what seemed the hundredth time in the past few hours. Shredded bodies flew as the beast ripped through the wall of men to get at Ragg.
The screams gave the ogre just enough time to turn and catch the charging monster as it flung the last body aside and leapt into the air with claws extended.
Kesh pressed his face feverishly to the damp wood as he watched the struggle, silently cheering and hoping the ogre would still be his savior.
The giant maul clattered to the ground as the ogre abandoned it to wrap his scarred arms around the beast, trapping its flailing limbs to its sides. Heavy tendons flexed and dense muscles rolled under the ogre’s thick skin as he squeezed. He buried his head into the creature’s neck and began to tear out large chunks of fur and flesh with his large square teeth.
Kesh was horrified to see that the creature, standing at its full height, was even taller than Ragg. They appeared to be matched in strength and mass, as neither was able to force the other more than a staggering step or two in any direction.
One of the demon’s hairy arms slipped free, an
d the clawed fingers of its gnarly hand plunged into the thick flesh of the ogre’s side. Dark blood welled immediately as deep furrows blossomed behind the hand that had drawn around the ogre’s flank.
Ragg stopped his gnawing to scream in pain.
Then the enraged beast struck in earnest. The neck of the creature was preternaturally flexible, and massive jaws clamped down on the ogre’s exposed head. Ragg’s entire skull disappeared into the slavering maw.
The ogre immediately released its bear hug to grab handfuls of hair on either side of the monster’s head.
Freed from the crushing hug, the beast’s limbs flashed into a blur of motion. The demon never released Ragg’s head as its arms raked at the ogre’s shoulders, chest, and belly without mercy. Muscle, bone, and entrails rained down in a storm of blood. Ragg’s hands sagged away from the muzzle that bit into his head as his knees buckled in defeat.
Kesh let out a whimper of dread as he watched his champion die.
The demon continued to shake the ogre’s head savagely, like one of Lord Banlor’s hunting dogs after it had caught a fox. Ragg’s massive body flopped uselessly, flinging blood over the frozen, horror-stricken men, rousing a prudent few into flight. Finally, with a sickening tear, the ogre’s head came free of its lifeless body.
Kesh averted his gaze just before the head was devoured, but his wooden shell was no match for the crunching and smacking noises that vividly narrated the deed. Unable to stop himself, he vomited.
Cries of alarm and terror rang through the courtyard once again as the beast turned on the living with a roar.
Kesh tried not to weep, afraid the action would reveal his presence. He just had to remain still and not run. Do not run, he repeated to himself, even as other men screamed in panic.
Kesh prayed it would be enough to distract the monster and lead it away from his hiding place. He wasn’t ready to die. Please, Eos, save me.
Jagger tapped an index finger against his stubbled chin as he looked through one of the broken windows, down into the courtyard. The creature had left, but he could still hear its barks and howls fading into the distance. He might never come to know what that creature was, and to be honest, he hoped he would never see its like again.
Dark Fate: The Gathering (The Dark Fate Chronicles Book 1) Page 30
