Journeyman

by Heather Atkinson

  “Fuck,” yelled Damon, kicking over a chair in the empty dining room. “Where is he?”

  “I’ve had enough of this,” said Raven. “Let’s kick open the bedroom doors.”

  “Seriously?” Aidan and Damon said unison. This was so far from her usual caution that it shocked them.

  “I’m pissed off with this too,” she said before putting her boot to the door of the only downstairs bedroom, which swung open with a loud crack.

  “Great,” said Damon, hurrying for the stairs. “I’ll check upstairs.”

  Aidan decided to stick close to his wife, not wanting to let her out of his sight after Silas had attacked her.

  They strode inside and began searching the room.

  “That’s One Eye’s coat,” exclaimed Raven with triumph, indicating the jacket hanging on the back of the door. She flung open the wardrobe and frowned. “Shit, these aren’t his clothes. They’re not the sort of thing he’d wear.”

  From above came a loud thud as Damon kicked in one of the bedroom doors.

  Aidan dragged a backpack out from under the bed. “This is his though, I’ve seen it in the hallway at his house.”

  “Yes it is. It looks like it’s taken a bit of a battering.”

  They delved inside, producing a few miscellaneous items that could have belonged to anyone.

  “It’s not enough confirmation,” said Raven. She picked up the books on local history that were sat on the bedside cabinet and flicked through them. “This is one of his,” she exclaimed triumphantly. “It was a gift from Damon, he wrote a message to One Eye on the first page,” she said, holding the book open to reveal Damon’s huge curly handwriting.

  “Doesn’t mean it’s One Eye’s room though. He could have loaned the book to someone.”

  “You’re right,” she sighed, replacing the book.

  The door burst open to reveal Damon standing there clutching a white woollen coat. “Saskia’s here.”

  “Yes, that does look like hers but we can’t know for sure…,” began Raven.

  “Believe me, that’s her stuff in the room upstairs. Who else has knee high white leather boots and hunting magazines on their bedside cabinet? And this is her coat, she wears it everywhere, even when it’s hot.”

  “You’re right,” smiled Raven. “Which means One Eye called her in.”

  “That’s Dad’s backpack,” cried Damon, jabbing a finger at it. “They’re staying here.”

  “Yes but where the hell are they?” said Raven. “They’re not at the bonfire with the rest of the village.”

  “Maybe they decided it was time to face off against Silas?” said Aidan. “Now would be the perfect time when the villagers are distracted by that bonfire. And there’s only one place they could do that without alerting everyone.”

  “The forest,” said Raven.

  All three of them raced out of the B&B, scanning the trees.

  “That forest is huge,” said Damon. “They could be anywhere.”

  “Let’s just listen,” said Aidan.

  They all went silent, straining to hear.

  “Nothing,” sighed Damon.

  “Wait,” said Raven. “What was that?” she added pointing off to the right. “I saw a flash.”

  They both looked to where she indicated.

  “I don’t see anything,” said Damon.

  “Wait,” she replied.

  Her heart sank when it didn’t happen again. She took the small pair of binoculars out of her coat pocket and scanned the tree line.

  “Anything?” said Aidan.

  “No, it’s too dark…wait. There’s smoke, I think.”

  “One of Dad’s smoke devices?” said Damon.

  The three of them looked at each other before racing off towards the trees.

  CHAPTER 26

  “Where the hell are we going?” said Luke.

  “Just keep moving,” said One Eye determinedly as the three of them raced through the trees.

  “One Eye,” they heard Silas roar.

  “What are you doing?” said Saskia when he came to a standstill.

  “Facing him.”

  “But you can’t…”

  “I can, no argument but you two need to draw the others off.”

  Without giving them time to respond, One Eye yelled, “Silas.”

  In response a bellow of rage echoed through the forest, followed by the snapping of twigs and the thud of feet.

  “He’s coming,” One Eye told his friends. “Draw the others off.”

  With that he vanished into the undergrowth. Saskia and Luke threw themselves down behind a tree as a group of figures emerged, Silas at their head. They allowed Silas to pass by while taking aim at the others. Saskia loosed a bow, which struck one of the figures in the side, pitching them into a bush. Luke shot down a second figure, scattering the rest into the trees.

  “The hunt begins,” said Saskia, blue eyes gleaming in the darkness before taking off after the fleeing figures, bow and arrow at the ready.

  “Wait,” said Luke. “We need to stick together.”

  But she’d already vanished.

  “Oh hell,” he muttered, realising he was all alone.

  He rolled when something was swung at his head. Henrik loomed over him with a machete. Luke raised the gun to fire, crying out in pain when a massive booted foot kicked it from his hand. He looked up to see another enormous slab of a man wielding a large knife. It seemed Silas had called in even more friends. How marvellous.

  As the second figure hauled him upright with a meaty fist, Luke reached for the knife he kept in the back of his belt, fingers closing around the hilt of the blade.

  “I’m going to cut you open,” said Henrik. “Pull out your insides, cook them and eat them.”

  “Let me guess,” said Luke. “With fava beans and a nice chianti?”

  Henrik’s brow furrowed. “What?”

  Luke drew the knife and slashed the man who was holding him across the side of the rib cage. With a squeal he dropped him.

  Like a cat Luke rolled, narrowly avoiding a swipe from Henrik’s machete and lashed out, catching him in the side of the thigh but it was barely a scratch and had no effect on him.

  “I will chop you up into tiny pieces worm,” roared Henrik, raising the machete.

  “Why does everyone keep calling me a worm?” exclaimed Luke, ducking to avoid another machete attack.

  Saskia had crouched down behind a tree to listen. She’d chased her quarry through the forest and she was aware she was quite a distance from Luke and One Eye but she had them cornered. She could hear their frantic breathing, smell their fear. Her lips curled into a smile. It was time to put them out of their misery.

  She peered out from behind the tree, able to make out the large dark shape lost and alone, looking left and right for his friends.

  “Mathias?” whispered the figure.

  No reply.

  She took aim, drawing back the bow, her heart thudding in her chest, adrenaline surging through her. By God she loved the hunt and it was much more interesting when it was humans. Animals were merely a food source when she was out in the snowy wilds with no shops and no other way of eating. Those innocent souls were dispatched quickly and painlessly but humans, particularly these sorts of humans, were fair game.

  She scowled when her quarry shifted and vanished behind a tree, still calling for his friends. Not so tough now he was all on his own.

  It was the whistle in the air that made Saskia duck. The arrow struck the tree where her head had been a moment ago.

  “Mathias,” she whispered, frowning at the black arrow with the red feathers. He was as skilled a hunter as herself.

  She loosed an arrow in the direction the one fired at her had come from. It missed its mark but it was close enough to make her enemy move. Spying movement, she fired a second arrow.

  “Damn,” she hissed when that too missed.

  Keeping low she ran behind another tree, pausing to listen but she could h
ear nothing, not even Mathias’s friend she’d been hunting. Where were they?

  “One Eye,” roared Silas, chasing him through the woods.

  One Eye had intended to shoot Silas the moment he’d so recklessly run at him but once again his hands had failed him. They’d started to shake so badly he’d actually dropped the gun and he’d been unable to find it in the dark. He had a couple of knives on him but they were all useless while the tremor had him in its grip. On top of that, his ankle was starting to ache. Silas had always been a slower runner than himself but thanks to his injured limb he was rapidly catching up. He’d lost his friends, he’d no idea where they were. His only chance was to hide until the tremor had passed.

  One Eye tossed another flash device behind him. This time Silas wasn’t prepared. Glancing over his shoulder One Eye saw his pursuer on his knees, hands clamped over his eyes.

  Looking around he saw the ground sloped down to the right. He limped over to the top of the slope, sat down and slid down it.

  By the time Silas had recovered his vision One Eye had vanished. He dragged himself to his feet and spun around in wild circles, searching for him. When he couldn’t see him he threw back his head and unleashed a bellow that caused all living things to scatter before him.

  His head snapped round at the sound of shouts and yells from behind. He would get One Eye’s friends and use them to draw him out. He turned and raced back the way he’d come, gun in hand.

  Henrik released a war cry as he picked up Luke by the front of his jumper and lifted him off his feet. Henrik’s face was badly bruised, blood leaking from the small wounds covering his body which Luke had inflicted on him with his knife. However brute strength had now overcome speed. Luke had lost his knife in the fight and although Henrik had also lost his machete his strength hadn’t depleted while Luke was exhausted.

  Too much soft living, Luke thought to himself. And now I’m going to be slaughtered by a moron in the village of the damned. What a pathetic end.

  As Henrik wrapped a huge hand around Luke’s throat he cried out with pain, releasing Luke, who was dropped to the ground. A slender back shadow came out of nowhere. The shadow fired at Henrik, who dodged the bullet and vanished into the night, a hand clamped to his arm.

  “Raven,” breathed Luke as the figure walked into a shaft of moonlight. “By God, your timing is impeccable. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Luke slowly climbed to his feet, dusting himself off.

  “You okay?”

  “Well I’m not at my best but yes, I’m fine thank you,” he said, bending to retrieve his dropped knife and gun.

  “Where’s One Eye and Saskia?”

  “How do you know Saskia’s here too?”

  “I’ll explain later. Where are they?”

  “No idea. We got split up.”

  “No,” said Raven, grabbing his arm when he raised the gun at the sound of something crashing through the undergrowth. “It’s just Damon.”

  Damon came to a halt and lowered his gun. “Oh great. What are you doing here?”

  “I came all the way here to help your father,” retorted Luke.

  “Let’s not argue now,” said Raven. “We need to find the others.” Her eyes widened. “Damon, get down.”

  Damon ducked as a shot rang out, narrowly missing the top of his head. Raven raised the gun to fire, the weapon knocked from her hand by a second figure she hadn’t realised was sneaking up on her. Luke was already tussling with another of Silas’s men, attempting to push back the knife that was being driven towards his eye. With a defiant cry Luke released the knife while rolling out of the way, the blade embedding itself in the ground. He snatched up the knife and rammed it into his assailant’s arm before retracting it and slashing his throat. He looked up to see Damon being knocked backwards several feet by Silas’s fist.

  “Where did this lot come from?” said Luke. Silas had called in even more reinforcements. Most worryingly of all, where was One Eye?

  Raven grabbed the leg of the man attacking her and twisted his ankle, snapping it, making him scream. When Silas lunged for her she ducked, turned and shoved the man she was holding at him. Silas merely pushed his own man aside, ignoring his wails of pain as he hit the ground hard.

  “Shut the fuck up,” growled Silas, kicking him in the face, knocking him out. He looked back at Raven. “This time little girl, you die.” He waited for her to reply and got annoyed when she didn’t. “Well?”

  She shrugged. “Well what?”

  “What do you say to that?”

  “Nothing. It was a stupid, boring comment.”

  “Fucking bitch,” he yelled, charging at her.

  Executing a neat spin, she brought up her leg into a roundhouse kick, catching him on the hip but was immediately thrown backwards by a punch to the arm. Damon ran at him next, managing to inflict a couple of blows on him before he was thrown down beside Raven. While they leapt to their feet, Luke ran at Silas with his dagger, determined to use his superior speed. He managed to slash his upper arm before Silas backhanded him across the face, sending him sprawling to the ground.

  Raven and Damon attacked Silas together, Raven going in low, attacking his legs while Damon concentrated on his torso but once again they found themselves thrown back. When Silas tried to go for the gun Raven had dropped Luke threw his knife, which embedded itself in the same hand at precisely the same point as the last knife he’d thrown at him.

  “That was you,” snarled Silas, tearing the knife from his hand and advancing on him.

  “Both times,” he grinned, backing up, smile falling when he met a tree.

  “There won’t be a third,” said Silas, drawing back the knife to throw.

  Luke squeaked and closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable blade in the face but it never came. Opening one eye he saw Silas furiously fighting with Damon and Raven, both of whom he knocked over again. Spying his own knife lying on the ground - which Silas had dropped - he leapt forward to grab it.

  “Oh come on,” he cried when a foot kicked it out of his way. He turned and looked into Henrik’s bloodied, gurning face. “You know, you’re really annoying.”

  “I will squash you, insect,” he grunted, producing a machete from the back of his belt.

  “Oh how wonderful,” sighed Luke, rolling his eyes.

  Aidan stalked through the trees, the sound of fighting getting closer. Hoping it was his wife he raced forward to find not Raven but Saskia battling Mathias and a second man. She kicked the unknown man backwards and tore a small dagger from her belt to finish him but was punched in the kidneys by Mathias and she fell forward with a cry.

  When Mathias drew back his arm to plunge his own knife into her, Aidan raised the gun to fire, non-plussed when the weapon jammed. Raven’s guns never jammed. Instead he threw the useless thing at Mathias, catching him on the side of the head, causing him to stagger.

  A surprised Saskia looked up, blue eyes cutting through the darkness. “Aidan?” she frowned.

  “Deal with him,” he told her, indicating the unknown man, who was back on his feet. He turned to face Mathias, who grinned at him.

  “I hear much about what you can do,” Mathias told him. “I glad this happen. I want to fight you.”

  “Yeah, that’s great,” he said distractedly, just wanting to find his wife.

  The two men circled each other, throwing punches that both managed to avoid. Aidan wasn’t usually nervous going into a fight but he felt this man could really give him a run for his money and that was not something he was used to experiencing. Beyond his opponent he could see Saskia furiously battling.

  Mathias put his head down and charged at him. Aidan prepared himself to side-step and deliver a punch to his kidneys but at the last moment Mathias changed his course, forcing Aidan to shift his weight. Caught off balance, Mathias punched him in the ribs, sending him staggering sideways. Aidan managed to keep his balance.

  “I kill you,” roared Mathias before
charging at him again.

  One Eye remained crouched at the bottom of the small gulley he’d skidded down, listening but there was no sign of Silas. Where the hell was he?

  He took a moment to recover his breath, enjoying the night air cooling his skin. Gingerly he examined his ankle, which felt more swollen than it had been that morning.

  “Wonderful,” he sighed, feeling old and useless again. At least his hands had stopped shaking.

  The sounds of a struggle drifted to him on the air. Silas, unable to find him, must have turned back. Well he wasn’t about to sit there while Luke and Saskia bore the brunt. He was going to help.

  Hunting around, he found a large stick that had once been part of a tree limb. He used it to haul himself to his feet, the staff the perfect height for a makeshift crutch. Taking out his knife, he sharpened the thick end into a lethal point. Once that was achieved he slowly began to make his way back up the embankment with the help of his makeshift staff.

  Raven ducked, avoiding Silas’s fist. She moved behind him, swiping at his upper back with the blade, making him roar with pain. He spun around with a speed that was astonishing for a man of his size, grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her backwards.

  “Shame I don’t have time to play with you little girl,” he said, running a hand over her chest. “So pretty.”

  “You are such a dick,” she said before grabbing onto his arm with both hands and bringing up her legs, kicking him square in the chest. As he staggered backwards Damon ran at him, knocking him back into a tree. He charged at Silas again, who quickly recovered, grabbed one of his arms and twisted, forcing him to his knees with one hand while the other wrapped itself around his throat.

  Desperate to help her brother, Raven pulled the trigger for the bracelet he wore out of her pocket. The shock should be strong enough to affect Silas too. Unfortunately he spotted her holding the trigger and released Damon just as she pressed the button.

  Raven grimaced as her brother convulsed with the force of the electric shock. “Sorry,” she cringed.