by Matt Heppe
Orlos wanted to run. He wanted to hide, but there was nothing he could do. He marched with the others to the back of the temple where a dark stairwell called him down into the depths of the mountain.
Please, please don’t make me go down there!
Sheer terror gripped him. Orlos started down the stairs. He couldn’t see in the inky darkness. And then he struck something. He had to go forward, but some unmoving object blocked his progress. Orlos tore at the obstacle, trying to break through.
“Help me!” he shouted. “Help me!”
Chapter Nine
The day after Ayja’s discovery of the attack, the hillfolk and townspeople had held a funeral for Mellor’s two children. Nearly all the hill families were there, as were a good number of townspeople. Weapons were very evident, and there had been many a curious glance at the home and barn.
After the funeral the animals had been placed on their own pyre and the home and barn closed up. Maybe someday a new family would move in, but Ayja couldn’t imagine it happening any time soon.
For two days the militia and hill families scoured the mountain ridges in search of the monsters that had massacred Mellor’s family. All to no avail. Whoever, or whatever they were, they’d left no trace.
On the third day after the attack, Ayja was in the yard when she saw two horsemen approaching. One was the sheriff, Timon, on his old, black warhorse. The other rode a roan destrier. He wore a half blue, half yellow tabard. Too late, she realized what that meant—an inquisitor. She swallowed back her fear. Cam had warned her that this day might come.
Ayja took a deep breath. Cam was out checking on a neighbor and wouldn’t be back for some time. She couldn’t hide or run. She’d have to handle the inquisitor alone.
“Hail, Ayja,” Timon said as he rode closer.
She curtseyed, even though she wore men’s clothing as she often did when she was working. Cam’s spear, well, hers now, rested against the front door of the house, just a few strides away.
“Who’s this?” the inquisitor asked. He was a young man with a close trimmed beard. He wore an aketon, and besides his sheathed sword, he had a club stuck through his belt. A blue shield with the yellow lamp of the inquisitors painted upon it hung from his saddle.
“This is young Ayja, niece of Cam. She’s the one who made the discovery.” Timon faced her and said, “Ayja, this is the Inquisitor Yevin.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Ayja said, keeping her language as common as possible.
Yevin nodded at her. “I wish to investigate the attack. And I wish to see the remains of the creature you destroyed.”
“I was hoping Cam would be here,” Timon said. “Where is he?”
“He’s off visiting another farm. He’ll be back before dark.”
Timon frowned. “I have business I must attend to. Lord Vainor will arrive in town later today.”
“Is the site of the attack near?” Yevin asked.
“Not far,” Timon said. “You have plenty of time to make it there and back to town before dark. I would ordinarily not suggest it, but Ayja is quite capable. Perhaps—”
“I don’t think Cam would approve me going off alone with a man,” she said. There was nothing she wanted less than to spend time with an inquisitor. One slip of the tongue, one mistake, and her life would be in great danger. Not from this one inquisitor but from those he would bring back.
“Come now, I’m an inquisitor. I’m in pursuit of a task of utmost importance. You’ll take me where I need to go.”
Ayja bowed her head. “Please, sir, it is most inappropriate.”
“Yes, inquisitor,” he corrected with a scoff. “I’m no lord. And who are you to talk of appropriate behavior? You’re wearing men’s clothing.” He gave her a sour look.
“Of course, inquisitor,” she said. For a young man, he was certainly full of himself.
“I’ll take my leave, then,” Timon said to the inquisitor. He faced Ayja. “You and Cam should truly think about moving down into town. It’s much safer there.”
Ayja smiled. “You know uncle Cam. He’s not one for crowds.”
Timon shook his head. “Not exactly going to get crowds in town.” He waved and then departed.
“You have a horse?” Yevin.
“The path isn’t a good one for horses. I can go as fast on foot.”
“Come along then,” he said.
“Let me get some water and my spear.”
He waved her off, and she went for her water skin. She paused inside the door. Weapons were lined against the wall. The two swords there were certainly illegal for peasants to own. As was Cam’s coat of plates. She glanced out the door, but Yevin hadn’t dismounted.
She couldn’t risk him coming into the house, so she left the weapons where they sat and quickly took her half-full water skin from where it hung on its hook by the door. She had filled it earlier, so it was still fresh at least.
Stepping back outside, she took her spear and walked for the trail to Mellor’s farm. “This way,” she said. The inquisitor didn’t move. She noticed that he had a wax tablet and stylus in his hands.
“Your name is Ayja?” he asked. “How do you spell it?”
Ayja’s stomach twisted as she told him. “Do you want to go to the farm?” she asked.
“Just a moment.” He didn’t look up. “Your uncle’s name is Cam?”
“That’s right.” She glanced down the path. “Should we be off now? We want to be back in time for you to get back to town.”
Yevin wrote on his tablet and then closed the cover before sliding it into a pannier. “Lead the way,” he said.
For a moment she’d worried that he’d continue questioning her. He probably would have if investigating the monster hadn’t been foremost on his mind. He rode behind her as she strode down the narrow trail. It made her skin crawl to know that he was behind her.
“Have you ever met an inquisitor before?” he asked.
Ayja shook her head but didn’t turn. “I was a baby when an inquisitor last visited.”
“So you’ve been registered?”
“Yes.” Or so she believed. In any case, no inquisitor had ever come back. Either Cam’s story had been believed, or her paperwork had been lost. In either case Cam had believed them safe. As long as she didn’t give her powers away.
“I’m surprised you weren’t investigated again. With your looks and being raised by your uncle.”
Ayja shrugged. A bead of sweat made its way down her back. “My mother was of Tysklander descent. I favor her. My name is Tysk as well.” It was a lie, but it was the story Cam had taught her to tell. Ayja was tall, like her father, but her looks came from her mother, and with her high cheekbones, small nose, and dark brown hair, she stuck out from typical Saladorans.
“We came from the up north when my family was killed during Akinos’s invasion,” Ayja continued. “Uncle brought me here to escape. The north was so dangerous then.”
“The Tysk are no friends of Salador,” Yevin said.
Ayja shrugged and said, “Tyskland means nothing to me. I’m a Saladoran.”
She marched on, expecting more questions, but the inquisitor remained silent. The way became rougher and sloped steeply downwards. Yevin dismounted and walked his horse behind her.
“You know how to use that spear?” he asked.
“Yes. Uncle Cam taught me. I watch the sheep, and he wanted me safe from wolves.”
“Sheriff Timon said that you killed one of the ghuls.”
“Ghuls? They have a name?”
“Yes, but we’ve never seen one, dead or alive. Only what’s left afterwards.”
“Where did you hear of them?” Ayja didn’t want to talk to the inquisitor any more than she needed to, but her curiosity drove her to ask.
“North of here, but we didn’t find anything but their victims. We want to find one of the ghuls and examine it.”
“Where did the name come from?”
“A victim who later die
d called them by that name. We don’t know why. And how was it you killed one? Grown men have been killed by them.”
“I was very lucky.”
“Hmm. You’ll take me to its body after we visit the farm.”
Ayja glanced over her shoulder. “The body was burned,” she said. “I don’t think there’s anything to see.”
“Burned? How was that?”
“I had a campfire. The… the ghul fell into it when I stabbed him.”
“That was lucky for you. Still, I’d like to see what remains there are.”
He would see that there was no campfire. Cam had been up there and others as well. Ayja hadn’t asked what they’d done with the body. Had they cremated the corpse? Or buried it under a cairn? It surely wasn’t still just lying out in the open. Maybe she could go up during the night and light a campfire. It would be easy enough to make the site fit her story. Unless someone else goes up with us. Someone who’s been there and knows that there was no campfire.
“I don’t know if we’ll have time,” Ayja said. “It happened on top of the ridge.” She waved off to her right.
“We’ll make time. If not today, tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? You’ll stay?”
“You’re surprised? Creatures never seen before come out of the mountains and start killing people. Of course we’ll investigate.”
“There are more of you here?”
“Of course.”
They came off of the ridge and onto the valley floor. The farm looked just as it had a few days before, except the pyres were no longer burning. The pyre for the animals had not been sufficiently fueled, and the charred skeletons of the sheep and goats were still visible. Crows and vultures swarmed the remains, picking the burned flesh off bones.
“This is how it was when you arrived?”
“No. The windows were open. The doors as well.”
Yevin mounted and rode towards the house. Ayja walked beside him. “How did you find the bodies?” he asked.
“They were inside the house. In a loft.”
“No. I mean, in what condition did you find them?”
“The children and the animals were killed the same way. Their throats were torn out.”
“Cut?”
“No. Ripped open.” Ayja shook her head against the image. Whatever had attacked the family, the children had had enough time to be terrified.
The inquisitor dismounted at the front door and then pulled on a pair of mail reinforced gauntlets. He drew his sword and said, “Stay clear.”
Ayja took her spear in both hands as he pulled the door open. It was dark inside with the shutters closed. The only light came from the open doorway.
Yevin entered the house. “Is this how it was?” he asked as she entered.
“A few things have been moved around,” she said. “But it was much this way.”
“Throw open the shutters. I wish to see.”
Ayja gave him a dark look. It was clear he enjoyed being an inquisitor. She refrained from saying so and did as he asked. Yevin made a thorough search of the room before moving to the master bedroom.
“What are you looking for?” Ayja asked.
“Fire damage. Elementars love to use fire. I’m looking for signs of it.”
“You think elementars did this?”
“False elementars. Those who wield a corrupted version of Helna’s divine spark. Perhaps these creatures are some evil type of elementar.”
“How do you know they like fire?” she asked.
“I am an expert at finding elementars,” he said as he closely examined the edge of the kitchen table.
“You’ve found many?”
“I’ve been trained,” he said. He sheathed his sword and climbed up the ladder to the loft. “This is where the children were?”
“Yes,” she replied as he disappeared into the loft. “I don’t think it was an elementar,” she continued. “The monster that attacked me was some kind of living dead.”
“As if you would know,” came his muffled reply.
She shook her head. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Close up the windows,” he said from the top of the ladder. “I’m done in here.”
They both turned to the door as his horse let out a whinny. The whinny was followed by a distant keening scream—a sound Ayja had heard before. She charged out the door as Yevin leapt down the ladder.
The horse rolled its eyes and pulled at the rail it was tied to. Ayja turned in a circle, searching for some sign of danger. Across a pasture a young woman in a beige dress stood at the edge of the tree line. She stared in Ayja’s direction. Ayja thought it might be Seline, Nedden’s sister. Then the woman tilted her head back and let out a long, inhuman wail. To Ayja it was filled with hate.
Whoever it had once been, the pale-skinned woman was now one of them. Ayja lowered her spear and sprinted across the field. The inquisitor shouted something behind her, but Ayja ignored him. The woman stared at Ayja for a moment, and then fled into the woods.
Ayja heard pounding hoof beats, and Yevin raced by. He reached the edge of the field first, but the slope was so steep and wooded, he couldn’t find a way though.
Ayja ran past him, thinking only of catching the creature. Was it Seline? Could she be rescued? Or was she one of the living dead—a ghul?
“Stop!” Yevin shouted. “Wait.”
Ayja ignored him and ran up the hill. The woman had disappeared, but Ayja still thought she might catch her.
Yevin struggled up the slope behind Ayja. She pressed upwards. Now the mountain became so steep even she was having trouble.
Where is she? She couldn’t be that fast.
Stones clattered down from a gap in the rocks above. It seemed impossible that the woman could have climbed so quickly. If only Yevin wasn’t there, Ayja could have used her magic to leap up the steep slope. She’d have to climb it instead.
“Wait!” Yevin shouted. “Where are you going?”
“I think she went up there.”
“Did you know her? That cry wasn’t human.”
“The monster I fought made the same noise.” Ayja started up the rock face but wasn’t sure she could make it with her spear. She had to know if it was Seline. If it was, it meant…it meant that the others might have been turned as well. Mellor’s entire family could be ghuls.
Ayja abandoned her spear and continued climbing. The inquisitor was behind her, fighting to keep up, burdened by his armor and sword. Ayja pulled herself over the cliff face. There were more trees up here. And more directions where someone could run. There was no sign of the woman.
“What were you thinking?” Yevin asked as he stepped up beside her.
“What do you mean?”
“You think so little of these creatures that you throw yourself at them?”
Ayja frowned. “I….”
What had she been thinking? She hadn’t thought at all. She’d just charged. What if there had been more of them? What if the one she saw hadn’t run but had attacked?
“I…I thought it might be my friend. It looked like one of the people who lived in the house.”
“Who was it?”
“The eldest daughter, Seline. She’s a few years younger than me.”
Yevin’s eyes slowly swept the forest. “The two youngest children were killed. I assume the rest of the family has turned into ghuls. I want to see one.”
“I don’t think you do. They’re terrible.”
“If they are so terrible, maybe you should have shown more sense and not rushed one. You could have been killed.”
Ayja bowed her head in an attempt to look contrite. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“We’ll go back. I’d like to see the remains of the one you killed.”
“I doubt there’s anything there.”
“We will check.”
If they went up to the Hunter’s Cave, it was certain they would get back after dark and Yevin would demand to stay for the night. She thought of the weapons
by the front door, and the books Cam used to teach her to read. What would the inquisitor think? Would he try to arrest them? Or investigate further?
They went back to Mellor’s cottage and closed it up before heading for the trail to Ayja’s home. They had just made the trailhead when a distant keening cry echoed off of the mountains.
Ayja and Yevin stopped and scanned the valley for any sign of the creature. Just when they gave up there were two more calls. The hair stood up on Ayja’s arms. How many were out there? If they were attacked, she would certainly have to use her elementar magic.
“We should go back,” Ayja said, not faking the anxiety in her voice.
“Where is that bravery you had when you charged before?”
“You were right. It wasn’t smart of me.” What had she been thinking? She hadn’t been thinking at all. Part of her had wondered if the creature was her friend Seline, but another part of her had been ready—had wanted—a fight.
Yevin sat on horseback, looking over the valley. “I want to know what they are.”
Ayja didn’t say anything, still caught up in her thoughts. Did she want to see them? To know that it was her friend Nedden and his family, turned into terrible half dead monsters? Or was it something else?
Yevin glanced at Ayja and said, “Not just the two of us. I’ll bring back the rest of my lance. Lead the way.” He motioned to the steep trail toward Ayja’s house.
The forest was quiet. Ayja wasn’t certain if it was any different than any other time or if she was just more aware of it. A bird trilled in the distance. A squirrel scurried up a tree at their approach. But still, it seemed different.
It’s just my mind playing with me.
There was no sight or sound of the creatures. She kept expecting one of their keening cries, but it never came. Yevin’s horse seemed calm as he led it up the slope. Despite all the signs, she had a crawling feeling that the monsters were near.
The further they went from Mellor’s farm, the less she worried about the monsters, and the more she worried about the inquisitor. What would she say if he went in their home and saw the weapons there?
She felt a moment of fear when they came into sight of the farm, and she saw that the barn door was open. Had the monsters already arrived? Then Cam strode out of the barn, a javelin in his hands. He wasn’t wearing his sword, which was strange, as he had worn it every day since Ayja’s fight. He seemed unconcerned that Ayja had an inquisitor with her.