The Hungering Saga Complete

by Heath Pfaff

A murmur of stunned shock ran through the pavilion around me. A collective intake of breath sounded from those nearest me, and the others whispered and began to talk excitedly amongst themselves.

  ". . . felled the unstoppable . . ."

  ". . . a drake slayer."

  ". . . he looks like he might die."

  ". . . legends will be written . . ."

  I was uncomfortable with the sudden attention. I wished that Ethaniel had simply left me to rest, though I know he had only said what he did in an attempt to secure my place of healing. I feared that, instead, his proclamation would bring more curiosity than peace. I slumped back onto the bedroll and closed my eyes. I did not feel that I could sleep, but I could at least ignore the world for a time while my body worked its magic.

  "Is Malice alright?" I asked, as I heard Ethaniel turning to depart. He stopped and turned back to me.

  "She was when last I saw her. She fights like she is driven by demons. You needn't worry about her, she is as capable as any soldier on the battlefield today. Rest yourself." He responded, and then he turned once more, and ducked out of the tent. I was alone, but for the curious people all levying for a position to get a better look at me.

  I kept my eyes closed, and did my best to pretend that I was alone and, to those around me, asleep. It was difficult, though, since my ears brought to me every whisper, and every sound of someone creeping closer to look at me. . . . legend . . . hero . . . drake slayer. They repeated these things over and over again, as though it were a mantra by which they might gain some strength to face the enemy that lurked not far beyond the tent in which they lay. I liked none of the things they said about me. I was a soldier. The only thing that made me different from those around me was the power which had fallen into my lap. I had never done anything to earn my strength and speed. I had been lucky - or unlucky - depending upon the perspective.

  My body burned as it healed, my limbs streaking with pain as bone and tendon regenerated and strengthened. Being able to feel every nuance of healing was an experience I was sure few could relate to. Bone, as it stitches back together, gives off a terrible dull throbbing, and muscles tingle as they repair over extension. Flesh itches as it puckers closed, and itches more deeply as the layers within bind back together. Healing could truly be an unpleasant experience.

  I couldn't be certain how much time passed, but when I re-opened my eyes, I was greeted by a deep darkness. All about me figures huddled, many watching me intently. I had heard them moving about, even with my eyes closed, but I had not anticipated there would be so many of them. As I sat up, a wave of awe passed through them.

  "He's moving!" One exclaimed.

  "The drake slayer lives!" Another said. Other murmurs followed as the people watched me with bated breath.

  I was at a loss for how to respond, so I simply got to my feet and stretched. My body was sore, my freshly healed wounds still aching slightly with my movements. Some of that muscle, I reminded myself, was only a few minutes old. After carefully appraising my flexibility, and the strength of my limbs, I judged myself ready. The damage was mostly healed. I was in good enough condition to fight again. I gave silent thanks to Kye, for without her I would have been dead many times over. Her eyes had served me well.

  I decided it was necessary to address the assembled crowd, mostly injured soldiers and medics who had stopped to watch me between tasks.

  "I need a sword." I said to those around me, for I did not intend to charge back out onto the battlefield unarmed, though my claws were significant weapons on their own. I hoped that one of those men around me would be able to point me in the direction of some supplies. What I got instead, was quite surprising.

  Men and women alike, all warriors, drew their swords from their scabbards and offered them up to me, hilt first, many bowing to one knee as they did so. Once more I found myself at a loss for what to do.

  "I can't promise I will be able to return the weapon. I've had a great deal of misfortune with keeping swords." I added, expecting at least a few of those around me to take their blades back, but not a single one did. Every sword belonging to a fighter with the strength to do so had been drawn and offered to me. It was now upon me to choose one sword among the many, and attempt to smooth over any hard feelings that might rise from my choice. All eyes watched me. I considered my options.

  "Who among you has lost family to the Hungering?" I asked, and almost as one the entire group raised their voices. I should have expected the reaction, but it was still disheartening. So many lives had been lost, and so many other lives had been affected forever. It was then that my eyes chanced upon a man at the back of the pack of onlookers. He laid upon the cold ground, clutching his gut, a pool of blood forming around him. His knuckles were clenched tightly around the hilt of a sword.

  I walked towards him, and the crowd parted around me. I bent down, and the man looked up at me. His eyes were clouded, his face red and contorted with pain. He was lingering very death.

  "Drake slayer, please, take my sword. I have lost my family, as have many of these people, but I do not need mine any longer." He said, and blood formed on his lips. I gently picked him up, and though his knuckles had been holding so tightly around the hilt of his blade, his strength faltered and the sword clattered to the ground. I carried him to the place I had been resting while I healed and laid him down as gently as I could.

  "I will carry your sword, but what is your name? I will make sure it lives on past this battle." I told him, and I meant it. He was young. I guessed him to be younger than myself, but his face was hard, his features weary and worn. The least I could offer him in exchange for his weapon was a chance at some semblance of immortality.

  "I am Uin Delmor, husband of the fallen warrior-maiden Levia Delmor, and father of the fallen son, Casint Delmor." He answered, a smile upon his lips. "I'll forgive you if you don't remember my name." He told me. "It is not very memorable."

  ". . . but I wouldn't forgive myself." I told him before standing up once more, walking to his fallen sword, and picking up the blade. It was not a grand weapon, but it was well cared for. The leather bindings of the hilt were supple and well kept, and the blade was sharp, the nicks worked out. The steel wasn't king's grade, but it had a good heft to it. Those around me had gone quiet. I turned to address them one last time.

  "I must go now. Rest, and heal well, so that you might fight again." I told them. The words seemed to lack power, but the assembled men and women smiled and clapped as I walked from the medical pavilion towards the sounds of war that were far too close at hand. I gained speed as I traveled, first walking, then running, then flashing forward in a streak, the world slowing about me as my body quickened. Uin, Levia, and Casint Delmor. Uin's sword would taste a good deal of Hungering blood that day, I decided. It would do nothing to ease the loss felt by the living for the dead, but it would be a type of grim justice.

  I shot through the front line like an arrow, my borrowed sword cutting a definitive path through those foolish enough to stand before me. The new blade was heavier than the old, a side effect of the less pure common steel, but the added weight was barely noticeable to the muscles of my powerful arms. It did, however, give my blade extra momentum on the attack. I found that the new sword cut through armor far easier than the lighter king's steel, though it took longer to change direction in mid-swing. The trade-off was worth it. The heavier blade allowed me to cut through the enemy quicker than ever before.

  Eight of the massive drakes still remained scattered along the battlefield. One additional beast had fallen in the hours since I'd been injured. That, at least, was something to be happy about. I hoped that it had been taken down easier than the one I killed. I wondered, not for the first time, if there was some method for killing the monsters that I was not aware of. My technique, while effective, had been dangerous, and full of potential failure. A glowing blue light caught my eye on the horizon.

  Far into the battlefield, atop one of the black drakes, a figure sheathed
in blue light shimmered. I began to move in that direction. I knew what I was seeing, but I had not clearly seen such a creature since my ship had been sunk into the icy ocean many years before. It was one of the Hungering's spell casters. They were evil creatures that could rain down fire with the force of their will. They could also control the winds, and, I'd heard, they controlled the might of the black drakes as well.

  Tairyk had called it a "Blue," and that was as good a name as any. As I had with the black drake before, I decided with a singularity of purpose, that I would kill this Hungering magician. I set my course and cut a path through the Hungering that stood in my way. I had to pass by two of the massive drakes on my route through the battlefield, and each time I did, the trek became more difficult. Arrows rained down all around the terrible behemoths, fired by the Hungering upon their back. They were anticipating me this time, firing massive volleys of arrows ahead of me and trying to predict my course. My speed kept me alive, but even then it was no easy task.

  The ground at my feet was a mix of mud formed of blood, dirt and snow. At the speed I was running, changing directions was difficult. I picked off the Hungering as I swirled amidst them, only pausing when it was necessary to aid clumps of Lucidil's army caught in precarious situations. The battlefield had grown so expansive that there was no way to be certain where Ethaniel and Malice were, or even if they still stood and fought. I hoped that they did.

  I reached the black drake upon which the Blue was riding quickly, and from there a new challenge opened before me. I had not been the first to consider taking down the magic user. Lucidil's men gathered around the massive drake in numbers, casting steel grappling hooks at its flanks, trying to get a hold on the creature so that they might scale it. As they tried, arrows rained down upon them in ceaseless volleys, and worse, terrible blue fire that ate through armor and flesh with disturbing speed. My eyes scanned the surface of the beast, looking for a route up, and that is when I caught sight of a minuscule figure scaling the side of the hulking titan.

  The shifting cloak upon its back made it almost impossible to see, and indeed I might have missed it entirely if not for the way it occasionally jumped forward quickly, triggering the familiar trails of motion tracking that made my Uliona eyes so effective in combat.

  I couldn't see the figure's face at this distance, but there were only three Knights of Ethan on the battlefield, and Ethaniel had wings and horns and didn't wear the shifting cloak of our office. I watched the drake change stances, breathing fire down upon the soldiers foolish enough to get in front of it, and saw Malice's tiny body shift violently along the scaled armor of the black drake. My heart jumped in fear, remembering just how difficult it had been to attack the drake I'd faced, and that one had no magic user atop it. I could not let her face those dangers alone.

  I dashed forward, slipping between the ranks of Lucidil's men without touching a single one of them, little more than a shadow to those I passed. I used the same technique I had with the first drake, latching onto one of its legs and using the fast upward momentum to propel myself up the scaled surface. This time, I didn't allow myself to be thrown so far away, and I caught the creature's main body easily, falling into the rhythm of its motions so as to avoid the crush of its ever-moving scales. My eyes passed across the length of the drake's body. Malice was at the opposite end of the creature, near the rear leg on the same side as me. She was also a bit higher up its back. She would reach the top before me, and she did not know I was coming to her aid. I forced myself to climb faster.

  Malice disappeared over the top of the beast, and out of my line of sight. I fixed my mind onto the task at hand and climbed with all the skill and speed at my disposal. The shifting hand-holds slowed me more than I would have liked, but I crested the creatures back, further from its neck than I had the first, and found myself face to face with hundreds of Hungering. The blue glowing form stood in the middle of them, its attention fixed on a commotion at the other end of the monster. Malice.

  The creatures around me attacked. They moved like a solid mass of death, every tooth, claw and sword ripping through the air and seeking my flesh. I dove headfirst into the tide of enemies, sweeping wide arcs with my sword. Every pass of my blade was a sweeping wave of death. I pushed myself forward doggedly, fighting my way through the horde of enemies that struggled ceaselessly to end my life.

  The only warning I had that things had taken a turn against me was a bright streak of blue light that flashed in the air above me. Danger! A voice inside me yelled, and I dove to my left as hard and as fast as I could. I rolled across the back of the scaled beast, regaining my feet just in time to spin around and see a splash of flaming blue death splatter across the Hungering descending on the place I'd just been standing. The fire ate through the Hungering it hit, sending up wisps of black smoke as it dissolved through their armor, flesh, and bone. They died silently, with no screams or calls for help. It was an eerie sight to witness. The fire rolled harmlessly from the back of the drake and down over its side to fall upon those unlucky enough be standing below.

  The Blue had turned it focus on me. Hungering warriors immediately began to pursue me once the blue fire had left the area. I shifted my momentum and began a mad dash for the back of the drake, knowing it was only a matter of time before another lick of that terrible flame fell down upon me. The world lit blue once more, and this time I had to break my momentum and fling myself backwards, into the waiting mass of Hungering, to avoid it. The Blue had aimed in front of me. Hungering teeth bit at me, and their weapons sought my flesh. I managed to deflect a number of blows, but many others hit their marks. There were too many, and I was far too out of position to counter their attacks. I twisted in place, driving my sword between myself and the horde of enemies. It served to stave them off partially, but there were so many of them that they seemed to ooze around my weapons edge, each attempting to rend and destroy any part of me they encountered. What was worse, I knew that it was only a matter of moments before another wave of flames came down upon my head. I had nowhere left to go.

  Quite suddenly Malice was at my side. Her sword joined mine, and the Hungering, who had an instant before been on the verge of overwhelming me, were falling back. Malice's sword spun and cut with a finesse that was somewhat akin to art. The Hungering died in waves, but in a moment the blue flame lit the sky again.

  Malice and I dove in the same direction, forward, through the mass of Hungering, and towards the blue figure that they protected. We didn't need to communicate verbally, because we both knew what needed to be done. Blue fire splashed in the place where we'd been, some of it searing the end of my cloak. The Hungering forces surged onto us, every single enemy atop the drake's back attempting to hold us in one place long enough for their blue-glowing magic user to burn us away. We, however, would not be held.

  Inside of me, in the darkness of my heart and mind, the Fell Beast pushed himself forward. He was hungry. I pushed against him, forcing myself to remain calm in the face of the enemy. It was difficult, but I managed. I did not want Malice to see that side of me ever again. I didn't want to see her eyes filled with fear while looking at me. I fought the Hungering with my sword, and I fought the Fell Beast within me with what resolve I could muster.

  Malice carved a path, and I dived through it, clearing it further so that she might follow me. Once there, it was my turn to cut ahead. We continued this, breaking to a side when we needed to avoid the blue fire, and made our way towards the ethereal-seeming blue figure before us. When finally we reached it, the Hungering troops atop the drake lay dead, and we stood facing the strangely empty eyes of the magic user, only the three of us still alive.

  He was taller than the other Hungering, with eyes that shone the same shade of red, despite the blue glow that seemed to cling to the rest of him. There was malevolence in his red eyes, but at the same time they seemed distant. It was like looking into the eyes of a well-crafted puppet. The emotion the puppet master had placed there was present, but at
the same time, it seemed clear that there was no real life inside the shell that stood before me, dangerous though it was. I wasn't sure what to make of that impression of emptiness, but I knew that I wasn't in the proper place or time to think too much on the subject.

  We stalked closer to the Blue, and it watched us dispassionately, not apparently worried despite the fact that its minions lay dead in the hundreds around it. I saw Malice ready her sword out of the corner of my eye, and I followed suit. We would go as one.

  Malice charged. I charged as well, pushing forward and letting the world slow around me. Blue light exploded all around us. The error of our move was immediately obvious.

  The Hungering magic user had summoned the blue fire down upon its own head, knowing that we would charge in to kill it. The fire was sizzling down towards us, and we were directly underneath it. The Fell Beast in me screamed in frustration, an instinctual rage filling its lungs. I did not give in to its desire to flee. I could have, but I refused. Instead, I dove hard to my right, towards Malice, who was further under the rain of blue fire than I was. I struck her hard, pulling my cloak over us both with my left arm and throwing us out and away from the fire. I shielded her with my body as best I could.

  In the darkness, under my cloak, I could see the look of terror on Malice's face as she realized too late what was happening. We slid across the back of the drake, carried by the momentum of my impact with Malice. Our view was hidden by my cloak. I felt a terrible pain ripping deep into my left arm. With my right, I grabbed Malice by the front of her cloak. Her arms reached up for me, trying to grab me and stop me from doing what she knew I was about to do, but there wasn't time for that. I forced myself faster, faster even then she could move. My heart sped up, the world slowed down. I flung Malice with all the strength I could muster, and clawed my way after her.