by AC Cobble
“Six of them!” exclaimed Renfro. “Do you think they got them all?”
“No,” answered Saala. “The men that were stationed here wouldn’t have fallen to just six demons. You saw the carnage outside. They were quickly overrun by a large swarm. It looks like they were able to slow them down in here and took some with them, but no one survived this.”
Suddenly, Lady Towaal shot ahead and knelt down next to one body. The man had taken a raking wound across his face but the sword next to him was stained in purple blood. He hadn’t gone down easy. Ben watched as she slid out her tiny belt knife and cut open the man’s shirt. It was glued to his chest with sticky blood. When she got his shirt open, she cut a cord and pulled out a small silver amulet. She pocketed it before Ben got a good look at it. He had no doubt though it was the artifact she had been looking for.
“Are we good?” Rhys was shifting his feet impatiently and looking towards the door. “It will be dark soon and we don’t want to be in this place when the sun goes down.”
“Yes,” she replied, “let’s get out of here and put as much distance as we can before we stop. I hope everyone is prepared to walk tonight.”
They didn’t need any convincing. A hot bath and a night under a roof had sounded nice before they got there but no one wanted to spend another minute in that butcher shop.
As they exited the mess hall, they heard an enraged animalistic shriek behind them.
“Out, now!” shouted Saala. He spun to cover the door as they all rushed into the square.
Ben glanced over his shoulder and saw a squat black shape charging across the floor of the mess. Saala slammed the door and kept backing up into the clear. “It will be through that in no time. Stay behind and give me room.”
Suddenly, Ben heard a crash and turned to see Renfro on his back with a corpse at his feet. Ben was about to bend to pull him up when he saw a thin black mass gliding down from the roof of the barracks across the square. “There, behind us!”
“I got it, everyone stay close. Do not break out of the group,” demanded Rhys as he swooped in between the fallen Renfro and the demon.
Ben yanked Renfro back upright and heard the first demon burst through the mess door. Saala was waiting and pounced on it before it could get it’s bearings. His two handed falchion cleaved into the neck of the demon, spurting a fountain of purple blood that he danced back from. The thing took another step then collapsed to the ground motionless.
“Bloody hell,” yelled Rhys. Three more demons were gliding down on delicate wings from the roof of the barracks. Saala flew past the group to assist as Rhys engaged the first demon. This one was taller than the first that came through the mess, near the same height as Ben, but it was thin and didn’t seem to have the strength of the other as Rhys swiped a taloned hand aside and stabbed his long sword into it’s chest. He kicked it back off his blade and he and Saala spread out to meet the three new arrivals.
The demons attacked quickly but with no coordination and no thought of strategy. One charged at Rhys and two came towards Saala.
Rhys jumped forward and Saala flowed to his left, taking one of his demons head on while the second turned at the last second and crashed into the first. The first demon turned and snarled at the second and Saala took the opportunity to lunge forward, slicing into it’s throat.
Rhys charged directly at his demon. It did not seem to expect his tactic and kept coming. He slashed it across the face. It stumbled backwards and Rhys dropped to one knee, pivoting to swing behind him and cut across the back of the legs of Saala’s second demon. Rhys continued the motion and spun around to slice open his demon’s abdomen, spraying a horrific tangle of white and purple guts across the square.
Saala stepped forward and neatly lopped the head off of the remaining demon as it dropped, crippled from Rhys’ attack behind it.
Before anyone could celebrate the victory, Meredith screamed for help and they saw she had stepped away from the group and was facing across the square towards a charging demon. It was a short squat one and had a single wickedly curved horn. It was bounding in huge leaps across the square towards her and she only had her belt knife as defense.
Ben started to sprint towards her but knew he was too far away to get there before the demon. Suddenly, a dark shape whizzed by from behind him in a blur and sank into the demon’s gaping maw as it reached the height of one of it’s leaps. Ben’s heart soared when he saw the wire wrapped hilt of Rhys’ long knife. The demon’s momentum kept it going though and it smashed into Meredith, sending her flying to the ground, the heavy black shape landing on top of her.
Ben kept running towards Meredith but nearly had his head ripped off by another thin black demon that dropped into the square. It flashed in the corner of his eye and he dropped into a roll just in time for the thing to soar over with grasping clawed feet where he had been a heartbeat before. He sprung up to face it and between it’s two wings saw three more shapes closing on the other girls and Lady Towaal. Saala hurled himself in between to defend them.
Renfro was to the left of Ben and scrambling to hide under a wagon but a huge slow moving monster bigger than an ox gripped his leg and easily started hauling him back out. Rhys appeared out of nowhere and began hacking at it’s back. It’s man-sized wings kept fouling his blade.
Ben didn’t have time to worry about Renfro or the girls though, his demon screamed a primordial howl and lurched towards him. In the second he had time to think, none of the forms Saala had taught prepared him for this so he slashed quickly in a steady pattern in front of him, trying to keep the blade between him and the advancing nightmare.
He had been right, the thin ones were not as strong as the short ones, but it was quick. He got in a few shallow cuts before it clamped down on his weapon with one hand and raked it’s claws across his other arm, leaving three parallel bloody gashes. Ben winced in pain but managed to twist his sword and yanked hard, pulling his weapon free and severing several taloned fingers in the process. The demon kept coming though and Ben danced back quickly to avoid another slashing attack and a bite.
“Damnit Karina!” Ben heard Rhys shout. He spared a second to look to where the ox sized demon was lying motionless. Renfro had managed to crawl back under the wagon but a new demon was digging and trying to squeeze under after him. Rhys was taking the charge of a muscular looking squat one and rolled onto his back before kicking with both feet, sending the huge flailing mass of teeth and claws flying over him and trailing a stream of purple blood from his long sword.
That second to look almost cost Ben his life and the skinny demon again caught his blade with it’s other hand and pulled him closer to it’s razor sharp teeth. Ben knew he was dead if he let go of his sword. He’d be dead too if those teeth got into him. He held his grip on the sword and struggled desperately. The creature smacked at him with it’s fingerless hand but Ben absorbed the blows. The demon wasn’t as strong as the shorter ones, but it was at least as strong as a man and it hurt. Better than those teeth sinking into this flesh though as he took another blow on the shoulder and struggled to keep his sword between him and the demon’s head.
“Karina, now! We’re going to lose them all!”
Time seemed to freeze for an instant and the hair on Ben’s neck and arms stood on end. Then there was a thunderous clap and a blaze of brilliant light and heat flashed across the square and impacted the demon in front of him. With a violent spasmodic twitch and howl, the creature flew back away from Ben taking his sword with it. He let go in a heartbeat. The leather wrapped hilt had suddenly become scalding hot.
The entire square crackled with energy as more arm thick bars of incandescent light flashed back and forth. Everywhere Ben looked, demons were jerking and flailing crazily as the lights coursed through their bodies then arced across to another one. Only seconds had passed but it seemed like half a bell before over the snapping crackle of the lightning he heard Rhys shout again, “down, everyone down now! Shit… she’s losing control.”
Ben dove to the ground and buried his head in his arms. Seconds later there was a huge pop and the feel of electricity in the air dissipated. When he finally felt safe enough to raise his head, he saw Rhys had somehow managed to cross the square and was lying on top of Lady Towaal’s prone body. Saala, Amelie and Meghan were huddled down in a corner together. The girl’s eyes were wide as saucers and even Saala seemed shaken by the display of pure violent power.
Ben rolled over and saw Renfro was curled up under the wagon still, the iron wheels smoking with heat. He looked like he was crying but he was alive. Ben looked for Meredith next. All he could see was an arm sticking out from under the demon which was still on top of her.
He struggled to his feet and stumbled towards her but realized he was too late before he got close. A large pool of dark blood, purple swirled with crimson red, was spreading from the two motionless figures.
In the aftermath of the attack, Ben felt like he was in a bad dream. His companions were like ghosts, all of them moving quietly and using only gestures to communicate. They didn’t think anything survived what Lady Towaal had released, but they weren’t taking any risks either. The square was now littered with the bodies of upwards of 20 demons in addition to their victims. The charred and smoking demons added an acrid scent to the sickening charnel house odor of the human bodies.
It was a victory of sorts, that such a small party had survived an attack by a large demon swarm. When he looked into the eyes of his friends though, it didn’t feel like a victory to Ben.
They bound their wounds and the men quickly built stretchers for the unconscious Lady Towaal and for Meredith’s body. Rhys said that aside from a massive headache and a sense of lethargy for the next week, Lady Towaal would be Ok. She would likely be unconscious for another day or two though. What she had done took a lot out of her.
Meredith though never had a chance. When they rolled the demon off of her they saw it’s single horn had pierced her chest and it’s momentum had driven it deep. She was dead before she hit the ground said Saala. It was little solace to her friends. They would take her away from this place of death and find somewhere peaceful in the Sineook Valley to lay her to rest.
Sineook Valley
It was a solemn procession that made it’s way down from Snowmar Pass. They were battered both physically and emotionally.
Ben and Saala had bad looking gashes that ended up being superficial. Some thorough washing and tight binding with supplies they found in the barracks was all the care they needed. It would leave scars but nothing serious. The girls and somehow Rhys had gotten through mostly unscathed except for a few nicks and scratches. Renfro had deep lacerations on his leg and a severely sprained ankle where the demon grabbed him. Ben offered to carry his pack and he found a pair of crutches in the barracks infirmary. It was going to be a long, painful walk until they could find a safe place to rest.
Over time, Ben knew the physical wounds would heal. Emotionally though it was crushing. Amelie in particular was effected. She had known Meredith her entire life. All of them had gotten to know her well. Two months of travel makes for a lot of bonding time.
That night, they slept in a cold campsite and no one spoke except when it was necessary. The next day, Amelie started to open up to Meghan. Ben tried to give them their privacy and not overhear, but they were clustered close and no one was interested in walking away from the group.
“She was like a sister to me,” started Amelie. “I don’t have any other siblings and she was with me from when I can first remember. Her mother was one of my mother’s handmaidens and when they fell pregnant at the same time it was natural for Meredith’s mother to become my nursemaid. Meredith was raised right alongside me in the nursery and we stayed that way since. It wasn’t until we were older and started to receive different schooling that I even realized she wasn’t a Lord’s daughter.”
“Oh, her mother,” she continued sorrowfully, “when we reach a town I must write her mother to tell her what happened. She was so excited for Meredith to accompany me and see Whitehall, Venmoor, The City, all of it...”
“I’m sorry Amelie,” consoled Meghan. “She was such a sweet person and we all loved her. I can’t imagine what it is like for you.”
Later that evening after Amelie turned in, Meghan found Ben sitting alone by the fire. “I don’t know what I can say to her. It’s so horrible. We must find a place for Meredith tomorrow. Amelie will not be able to get closure until we do.”
The next morning, a groggy Lady Towaal finally awoke and Rhys suggested they wait until she recovered some before they took the road again. The nearest town was only a few bells journey so they could rest that morning and still easily make it in daylight.
Rhys called Ben over and asked him to help look for a particular bark he thought might grow in the area that could alieve some of Towaal’s discomfort.
“The rest of them couldn’t find an oak tree if it dropped an acorn on their head,” muttered Rhys.
Ben didn’t quite agree, but the thought of getting up and doing something appealed to him. They were all feeling morose, with reason, and it didn’t help to sit around and drag each other down.
“Sure Rhys, I’ll go.”
“Hold on, before we get out there I have something for you.” He went over to his pack and pulled out a long, narrow bundle. “I picked this up back at Snowmar for you. Since your’s was ruined in the lightning storm.”
Ben took the bundle and slowly unwrapped it to reveal a sword. The weapon was plain and unadorned, just like his old weapon, but he could feel the quality was far superior.
Saala was peering over at them. “Venmoor steel?”
“Yes,” answered Rhys. “Best forged steel you can find, in Alcott at least.”
“Best steel in the world many say,” Saala responded with a quizzical look. “Although, maybe I’m not as familiar with some of the places you are.”
Rhys shrugged. “It’s good steel. Better than that stuff you were using before, Ben. In fighting or any endeavor I suppose, you’re only as good as your tools.”
“That is true,” agreed Saala. “Snowmar’s Captain I presume?”
“Yeah, figured he didn’t need it anymore.”
Saala gestured for the sword and Ben handed it to him. He spun it through a series of forms then handed it back, hilt first. Ben wondered if he had a moral objection to taking the weapon. Saala could be funny like that.
Saala nodded. “Good find by Rhys. Well balanced and just the right size and weight. Ben, try to take care of this one. We practiced holding on to it in a fight but I can’t help you if you run into any other Ladies in their bath.”
The joke was too early, but Ben understood what Saala was trying to do. Meredith’s death was a tragedy. There was nothing they could do to fix it now. The world was a dangerous place and they needed to move on.
Later that morning, they put Meredith to rest. Rhys and Ben stumbled across an aspen grove half a league from the road and thought it was the perfect spot. It was on a hillside overlooking the length of the valley and far enough from the road that she would not be disturbed. The men quickly dug a shallow grave and they all spoke a few short words.
That afternoon they made it to Eastside, the first town at the head of Sineook Valley. A subdued Lady Towaal agreed they would stop for a few days before continuing on through the Valley to the Venmoor River. She was still recovering from the energies she’d released at Snowmar and even the half day of travel seemed to wear her out. Renfro was also struggling. He kept up on his crutches but a few days rest was needed for his ankle to heal.
Briefly, they discussed spending another night on the road but realized it was critical news of what happened got to the right people. All of the demons that attacked were dead but there could be more lurking in the mountains. Until a full sweep of the area was made it was too big of a risk to other travelers to delay.
Ben was surprised as they approached Eastside. He wasn’t familiar with th
e town from the stories and had expected it to be a small waystation similar to Murdoch’s. When they saw it, it was nearly large enough to be called a city. Saala explained that Eastside was a critical point of commerce. Nearly all of Whitehall and much of the Blood Bay’s agricultural products were supplied from Sineook Valley. Any freight from the Valley had to pass through Eastside on the way to Snowmar Pass.
The Lords of Eastside had built it into a decent sized trading hub. They built warehouses and silos to keep goods until they were needed to replenish the stores in Whitehall. Space was at a premium in the port city so Eastside made a natural staging location. Eastside also had natural defenses and little need to maintain a standing army. With mountains surrounding the Valley on the north and south, Whitehall to the east and the length of Sineook to the west, it would be impossible for enemies to make a direct assault on the place.
For that reason, the actual keep of Eastside was relatively small for a community it’s size. The bulk of the buildings spread out from it with no protective walls. It reminded Ben of an overgrown Farview.
When they made it to the outskirts of town there weren’t even any guards and they had to progress all the way to the keep before finding arms men with Foley’s livery. Amelie took the lead, “Lady Amelie to see Lord Foley. Please send a man to let him know I’m here immediately. We have urgent news about Snowmar Station and must speak without delay.”
“Lady Amelie? I’m sorry miss, but I’m not familiar with you. Are you a Lady from Whitehall? Coming from the Conclave I suppose. How is that…”
“Sir! Maybe I should have spoken more strongly. Snowmar Station has fallen and every man there is dead. Send someone to alert Lord Foley!” she barked.
Suddenly, the guardhouse burst into activity. It was like Amelie kicked an anthill.
“Dead! How can that be?”
“Wait, did she say Snowmar Station?”