The Hungering Saga Complete

by Heath Pfaff

  "Lowin, we have to run!" A hand on my shoulder, I swung about and raised a clawed hand with the intent to strike out at whatever had dared come so close to me. Two green eyes stared at me, and there was a hint of fear in them. The words had cracked the haze, but it was that look of fear that shattered it entirely.

  "Malice." I whispered her name.

  "Run, now!" Ethaniel's voice roared, rumbling with the power of "the voice."

  I dropped my clawed hand, and reached out towards Malice, though she shied away from me, fear still in her eyes.

  "Run." I said, an echo of what everyone else had said, and she turned from me and dashed away. I fell in beside her, Ethaniel in front of us, and we all ran with all that we were worth, pushing ourselves to the extent that our bodies would allow us to move. Somehow we had cut through the enemy line. I had not thought it possible, but we were free again, for a time.

  I had nearly struck Malice, and not merely a harmless hit but a blow that could have severely injured, even may have killed her. I had been so close. Inside my heart a winter wind blew and the dark creature reveled in my blood lust. Kill them all. Kill everything. It's mind whispered at mine, pushing me, tempting me with its primal lust for murder. I drove it back down inside of me, terrified of that darkness, and, in truth, terrified of myself.

  Was I becoming the monster I had always feared I might? We ran on in silence, chasing the dawn. I knew not what the others were thinking, but my thoughts had turned dark. What had become of me? I wondered. I would need to talk to Malice and Ethaniel. I hoped that Malice would forgive me, but that look of fear I had seen on her face haunted me. Malice had been my companion for a long time, and never once had I seen her wear such an expression aimed toward me.

  I remembered the blood spraying from her back, and my gaze turned to her once again. The wound had been minor. With her healing power it was probably already sealed and well on its way to vanishing, but at the time, in the heat of battle. . . The darkness within me howled in pleasure, and I shivered at the bitter chill that welled up from inside me.

  We swam through the dark woods, twisting and spinning amidst the trees and dense ground coverings. The footing was precarious. The pace was dangerous, but we did not dare slow down again. We stopped only once to check our map, and the conversation was sparse. Ethaniel and Malice watched me the entire time, as though I might shed my skin and turn into one of the Hungering at any moment. Ethaniel spoke to me only once, and Malice held her silence.

  "Don't drop your sword again. There are no extra provisions where we're headed." He said, and handed me my weapon, my forged king's steel sword. I had carried multiple version of the weapon over the years. They were good blades, but far from indestructible. I hadn't seen him do so, but Ethaniel must have picked it up after I had abandoned it in the fight with the Hungering. I took it from him and sheathed it in the empty scabbard at my side. I noticed as I took the weapon that the fur of my forearms and hands was still matted with the blood of Hungering warriors; yet another grim reminder of my loss of control.

  Ethaniel stared at me for a time, as if he expected an outburst of some type, but I had nothing more to offer. I felt cold inside, and tired. I knew I should talk to him about what had happened on the battlefield in the valley, but I couldn't bring myself to say anything about that terrible lust that had driven my frenzy. I felt that I did not understand the experience well enough to explain it to someone else. I had lost control of some part of myself, something that was less me and more the Fell Beast.

  I cast my gaze on Malice, and she turned her head away from me, not meeting my eyes. My heart fell. What did I have left if Malice couldn't stand to look at me? What more reason was there for me to go on in the world if I had nothing left for which to strive? Those were foolish thoughts, I realized as soon as I had them. Whether Malice, Ethaniel, or anyone else had any interest in me, I still had a purpose. I would keep fighting until I couldn't any longer. If nothing else, that much, at least, I could give to the world my daughter would have to grow up in.

  We began to run once more, the trees flashing by, the sky above the only real way to navigate through the confusing mess of branches and brambles. The hours wore upon us. Every moment we expected another attack, yet the night rolled on without event, and then the dawn was upon us. For some, that would have meant a time to rest, but we were not in a position to slow down, let alone stop. We had a destination to reach, and we would press on until we reached it.

  We traveled until Ethaniel pulled us up sharp with a raised fist. Malice and I ground to a halt, churning up dirt and stone, as the double-sighted Knight looked out over the land before us. In our path lay a treeless clearing blanketed in snow, which stretched almost as far as the eye could see across the landscape, meeting the horizon with a barely visible tree line where the open field met the forest once more.

  "Deadfalls." The horned Knight said. His gray eyes were distant. "Follow me very closely. Step where I step, and nowhere else. There are deep pits dug all throughout this clearing. They have been prepared sometime since yesterday. I checked this area last night and these traps were not here. There is... something... in them. . ." His voice trailed off. He seemed to be concentrating.

  "I can't see it. The stone in this area must be blocking it. I can't see far beneath the ground, and I can't see beyond this field. I can tell where the hole entrances are, though. That will have to be enough. Stay close." With those words, he turned away from us and gazed out over the expanse of white.

  He took his first steps out onto the snowy field. Ethaniel moved quickly, accelerating with every step, despite the inherent risk in doing so. Malice followed behind him, and I followed behind her. The snow made it easier to keep in pace with the person in front. All one had to do was match print for print, keeping their feet aligned with the tracks of the person they were following. The way was dangerous, but the snow was working to our advantage. We were some distance into the field when my Fell Beast ears detected a low rumbling from somewhere below our feet.

  "What's that?" I called out, and we all stopped in place. I could still hear the deep reverberation emanating from the ground below. A breath's pace later I saw Ethaniel's ears perk up. His gray eyes shifted, changing focus. He was in deep concentration. The rumbling grew louder. Ethaniel's black eyes went wide.

  "A trap! We've been surrounded. Draw arms!" He called out, even as he drew his own weapon. The rumbling became a deafening cacophony around us as the ground at our feet ruptured. The Hungering poured out of hundreds of burrows hidden under the snow. The ground below us continued to shake and churn, and with one last great heave it seemed as if the entire world fell away beneath our feet.

  I lost sight of the others as the ground collapsed, swallowing me up like some greedy beast. The darkness of the underground fell in around me, and I found myself surrounded by black lit only by the red orbs of burning eyes. I fell hard to the ground, barely able to push my sword out far enough from my body to avoid falling on the blade. I rolled to my feet, trying to get some bearing on my surroundings, but it was difficult. The Hungering were everywhere, and with little light from above filtering down into the hole, my sight was tracking only motion. The Hungering writhed, and the rock debris and dust sifted through the air, confusing my vision.

  I felt the bone in my right shoulder crack and bend, mending what had been a broken bone, shattered in the rough landing I'd survived. The situation had been so tense I hadn't even realized it was broken. The injury knit itself back together with a searing, tingling itch that was terribly uncomfortable, but it was a sensation that I was becoming all too familiar with from my often injury.

  I wanted to call out to the others - to Malice - but I couldn't risk giving away their positions just to satisfy my own concern for their wellbeing. In the darkness there was nothing left to do but fight, and hope the others would be able to do the same. I didn't dare hesitate a moment longer. There were too many enemies around me to risk losing any more of the initiativ
e. I slowed the world about me and charged into the nearest group of writhing figures, swinging my sword in all the patterns and arcs I'd learned over the years.

  My Hungering opponents seemed not to care that they were dying by the tens. They pushed forward, washing towards me like an ocean wave battering a cliff. I was, however, not as well-grounded as a cliff. I could not stand forever against such numbers. No one person could hope to do that. Inside of me I felt a trickle of blood-hungry excitement. The lust for death and murder was clawing up out of the darkness into which I'd cast it.

  A Hungering soldier jumped onto my back, and I felt a knife pass into my lower left side, once, and then again. I growled in anger, grabbing the creature by the neck and squeezing with more force than I had known my body could muster. Muscle and bone fell apart beneath my grip, and the creature collapsed to the ground, thrashing in its death throes. By the time it had hit the dirt, I had already killed four more of the enemy, my sword carving through bodies as easily as it could cleave air.

  There were too many of them. No matter how long I fought, or how many I killed, there would always be more of them. What was worse, I couldn't hear either Malice or Ethaniel fighting. I tried to block them from my mind, to tell myself that they would be alive if I was, but that fear ate away at my composure. The murderous impulse, the hungry, insatiable lust for death, came to fill the gap left. Every strike I made brought the monster further from the darkness within me, and into the light of existence.

  I was soon fighting two battles. The battle against the Hungering seemed hopeless. They came from every side, biting, stabbing, and ripping at any piece of flesh they could get their teeth into. The battle against the Fell Beast within me was equally hopeless. I could hear the growls issuing from the monster's maw in my mind, and I could hear the same growl ripping its way through my raw throat. I couldn't stop it. All I could do was fight on, and try to keep myself ahead of the enemy, and ahead of the rising darkness inside of me.

  My sword snagged on a rock, and one of the Hungering lunged forward at me, its teeth gnashing the air. In my accelerated state, it seemed to tumble slowly through the air at me. Instinct grabbed hold of my muscles and I lunged forward, ignoring my sword, and ignoring my claws. My mouth snapped down on the creature's neck and I bit down with all the ferocity I could muster. I felt warm ichor explode into my mouth. Before I even realized what I had done, the creature fell away from me, choking on its own blood. I had to force myself to spit the piece of flesh away, though my mouth watered at the prospect of chewing it and swallowing.

  In rage, more at myself than at the enemy around me, I tore my sword free of the rock upon which it was snagged and hacked the body of the still retreating Hungering soldier to pieces. Even then, having recovered from my lust for devouring the flesh, I knew I was not taking the actions of a calm and collected swordsman. I was giving in to the violent urgings of the darkness within me. I struggled to find my calm again, pushing through the slowed world about me, killing any pair of red eyes that came too close. I was wading in a sea of blood and death, and keeping my head above it all was becoming more and more difficult. As I killed with one hand, I wiped the congealing blood from my face with the back of the other.

  Something dropped down from above me, not near me, but I caught the motion out of the corner of my eye. It fell down from the dim light over-head, and it was quickly followed by another such shape. Suddenly there were other figures all around me, dropping from the sky. I prepared myself for the onslaught of even more enemies, but then the reality of what was happening struck me. These new figures were fighting the Hungering, and passing in a wide circle around me.

  They ran on all fours, but lurched up onto their rear legs to attack, striking with the clawed hands at the end of their powerful arms. At first there were only a few of them, but more and more descended from the spot of light high above me, tumbling through the darkness with surprising grace to land amidst the throngs of Hungering. In the dim light, I finally recognized the forms - they were Shao Geok. A wave of profound relief washed over my entire being, a sensation that I had certainly never thought I would feel at their presence before.

  I couldn't be certain from where they had come, but it was obvious they were fighting with me, and not against me. My hold on the darkness within me strengthened, and I fought the enemies around me with a renewed vigor.

  The battle waged for what felt like hours, but finally the Hungering force was decimated. Only the Shao Geok and I remained in the darkness of the subterranean cave system. I was weary, but alive. My wounds, the many cuts and bruises, as well as the deep knife marks in my side, were already stitched back together. My broken shoulder, as well, did not ache in the slightest. It had held up for the full course of the battle. After the Shao Geok had joined the fight, I had taken far fewer hits.

  "Where are the other Knights?" I asked one of the Shao Geok, it looked at me blankly. There was no understanding on its features. I knew that it wasn't because it was a stupid creature, but merely because it didn't speak my language. I felt panic as I looked about me for any sign of Malice or Ethaniel, and found none. They had been standing only a few feet from me when the ground collapsed. I ran through the darkness, searching the bodies on the ground, trying to make out the shapes as well as possible in the deep black of the pit, but I could not find my companions amidst the dead, nor amidst the still living forms of the Shao Geok.

  As I was running, a hand shot out and grabbed my ankle, and stopped me in my tracks. I felt the cold moist skin of one of the Hungering against my furred flesh, and my immediate reaction was to draw my sword. The creature, however, was dying, and I was in no mood for any more killing. I sheathed my weapon. It stared up at me with eyes that shone only dimly the palest red.

  "Cast the vessel into the fire, draw it free, and cast it in once more. This is how we make it strong." It spoke, the words not accented at all, though they were faltering, coming between ragged gasps of breath. I could only gape at it in stunned silence. I had not known the Hungering could speak, and certainly hadn't thought they could speak my language. At that moment, having delivered its message, the creature's eyes flickered from red to darkness. Between that short moment between life and death, it seemed that they almost certainly shone a vivid blue.

  A thousand questions poured into my mind at that time, and I would have thousands more if I'd been given a few hours to think, but I would of course not have such an opportunity. "Cast the vessel into the fire. . ." Its voice had been strange, light and almost serene as it faltered.

  I stared at the corpse for a time, lost in thought. They could speak our language, and they could speak it clearly. What did that mean? What had its dying words meant? It had grabbed my ankle, and it seemed to be speaking with a purpose, but what purpose? A clawed hand grabbed my shoulder and I spun, hand on hilt. It was one of the Shao Geok. There was no challenge in its eyes.

  I forced my hand away from my sword hilt. The Shao Geok pointed upwards, towards the spot of light high above.

  "Others." It said, its voice a growl in its throat. "Above." It added after a moment. Relief rushed over me. By "others" I hoped that it meant Ethaniel and Malice.

  "Malice, Ethaniel?" I asked, hoping for clarification before getting my hopes too high.

  "Horns. Greened light." The Shao Geok made a gesture for horns on his head when he said "horns," and pointed to his eyes when he said "greened light." If that wasn't a description of Malice and Ethaniel, then I wasn't sure what was.

  "Thank you." I said, though the Shao Geok didn't seem to care for the nicety one way or the other. He simply turned and walked off into the dark. He joined the others in collecting the bodies of the fallen Hungering. For what purpose, I didn't want to know, but I could guess.

  I made my way to one of the walls of the pit into which I'd fallen. They were steep, but also roughly textured. Someone without my advantages might have trouble climbing them, but I didn't foresee any difficulty. I leaped high and pierced the w
all with the lethal tips of my claws. Scaling the wall wasn't difficult, even though my body was tired from constantly running, and the long hours of fighting. I'd been in worse condition before. At the top, I was greeted with an encouraging sight.

  The Shao Geok, as well as other members of Lucidil's army, were filing into the clearing, filtering through the tree line. They didn't seem to march in any particular order, but they made for a fearsome sight. There were Uliona warriors, truly a rare sight, and warbands of clans of man not normally associated with the king, as well as some of the other, rarer, races of our land, many I did not even know by name. They were all men and women who had come to fight under Lucidil when he was scheming to take the crown from the king. It was somehow heartening to see them joined with the king's men to fight the threat of the Hungering, even if they only served because Lucidil was now the king.

  If they could come together to battle a common enemy, was there hope that someday they might live together under a flag of peace? Had the Hungering done for the people what generations of kings had never achieved? Only time would tell, I knew. My eyes scanned across the busy clearing, looking for Malice and Ethaniel. In truth, though, it was more for Malice that I searched than Ethaniel. She found me before I could find her.