Keeping my face smooth, I nodded my understanding. Had the situation been reversed, I most likely would have reacted in a similar way. “Thank you for allowing us to stay the night,” I added.
He gave a tight nod before bustling away, disappearing into the kitchen. Two filled plates arrived just as Brant sat down. When the serving girl had gone, I told him what Davin had said. He grumbled about rude boorish people, but he did not, as I feared he might, make a fuss about it.
The boiled eggs were as big as my hand and I sat wondering what bird they had come from. I waved one of the serving girls over. She came reluctantly, but when I asked her about the eggs, she gave a throaty laugh. “They are not from a bird. They are from Ghe, our pet lizard.”
I could not stop the grimace that spread across my face, but she only gave another laugh and strode away. The eggs did not taste strange, but the thought of eating an egg from a lizard simply did not sound right to me. I looked up to see amusement flicker across Brant’s face, but it was gone as quickly as it had come.
The moment we cleared our plates of food, Davin came swirling in as though he had been watching and waiting for us to finish. He picked the dishes up. “Fair travels to you gentleman.” He stood waiting.
I lifted my eyebrows at Brant, but we silently stood up and made our way out. As promised, our horses were ready for us when we stepped out. Riding away, I looked back and saw Davin and Melit standing at the door of the inn. She was shaking her head while he talked frantically.
We stopped at a market before we left the village and stocked up on dried meat, cheese, bread and some vegetables. Even there though, we received a few angry glances. Word had clearly spread. It was a relief to leave the village behind.
Once we reached the north road again, I took out a map that Moma had given me. By my best guess, we had roughly three days of travelling left before reaching Medirea.
As the day went by, the terrain around us changed. We came clear of the forest and were surrounded by open fields. Beautiful wild flowers grew in a wild array of colours. I wished that I could show Lilana this. She would love it. Thinking of her made me long for home prompting me to forcefully turn my attention elsewhere.
In the distance, I could see mountains looming. After a whole day of travelling, though, they did not even appear to be any closer at all. We kept travelling well past dark, but when Balder stumbled over some unseen object for the second time, we stopped and set up camp. It felt strange sleeping out in the open away from the forest, but at least this way we should have fair warning if something tried to sneak up on us. We took turns keeping watch again, but the night went by uneventfully.
The next morning, the sun was not yet fully up when we set off. There were menacing clouds over the mountains promising wet weather to come. As the day passed, the clouds thickened and soon there was not even a hint of blue left in the sky.
It was only mid-afternoon, but it already seemed dark with only the occasional lightning flash to light things up. The horses were becoming nervous and when an ear splitting thunder clap crashed across the sky we both had our hands full to keep them from bolting. Then the rain came.
There was absolutely no cover to be had. Not a single tree in sight and the mountains were still sitting out of reach on the horizon. We kept going for as long as possible, because we knew the only thing waiting for us when we stopped was a miserable wet night spent without a fire to warm us.
After just a few minutes in the rain, we were soaked through. It felt like I was wet to the bone. The night was pitch black, the clouds hiding any sign of the moon and the roar from the downpour was deafening. I kept telling myself that surely, this could not continue for much longer, but clearly, it could.
There were some large stones not far away from the road so we sat on them. It was a choice between sitting in mud and sitting on a hard rock. We sat hunched in on ourselves, too miserable to even attempt conversation. We had hobbled the horses to prevent them from running away in fear of the storm. They were snorting, their eyes large and frightened. I could hardly see Brant even though he was only sitting a couple of feet away from me. He was muttering to himself about the life of a beggar.
Abruptly, there was a noise like a wet blanket slapping the ground and he gave a low grunt. I flew up on my feet and in a heartbeat had focused my Navitas and drawn Sunder.
I dimly saw him topple off the rock and splashing into a puddle on the ground. Wildly I looked around, but it was still hard to make out anything beyond a couple of feet away. Too late, I saw a blur of something moving with incredible speed towards me. I slashed with Sunder, but not in time. A flash of pain raced across my thigh and I could feel the warm trickle of blood running down my leg.
A moment later, lightning struck and in that second of illumination, I saw four figures moving around me. For an instant, I thought they were children, but their proportions were all wrong. Their arms seemed too long for their bodies and they had a thick layer of hair covering them from head to toe.
One of the creatures gave a sharp squeal that was answered by a short burst of howls from the other three. I suddenly realised that Markai had not come when I reached for Navitas. I tried calling for her, making my call as urgent as I possibly could. Still, she did not come. Brant had not moved nor made a sound since he fell. I kept scanning around trying to catch a glimpse of movement. Even with Navitas, I could see frustratingly little.
Briefly, I thought I saw them forming a circle around me. I turned slowly trying to look for any of them approaching. Another lighting flash and this time it was exactly when I needed it.
One was coming towards me at a loping run. I spun in a tight circle swinging Sunder in an arc around me. The blade sliced through it, nearly cutting it in half. As I completed my turn, there was another nearly upon me. It had jumped and was flying through the air towards me. Two very human like hands with claws that looked like knifes and a maw with vicious teeth were closing in on me. I thrust Sunder towards it, impaling it completely then hurriedly shoved it off my blade.
There was an angry squeal from another one, which was extremely fortunate for me as it alerted me to its exact position. I spun to my left, swung Sunder up over my head and, using Navitas to strengthen the blow, brought it down with as much force as I could in a chopping motion. Vaguely, I was aware of blue swirling mist around me and around Sunder.
It cut through bone and tissue as if it was butter, severing one of its arms. It howled; a dreadful sound that made shivers run down my spine. I had not yet straightened from the attack when I felt a blaze of pain running diagonally down my back from my right shoulder.
I gritted my teeth against the pain and turned to face my last attacker. It was standing not far from me, snarling, menacing teeth bare. It gave a harsh barking sound and launched itself towards me. It was coming from my right, but at the last moment, it darted to my left. I took a quick step back and swung Sunder. It sunk into the creature’s side, but not before it had managed to sink its claws into me one last time scratching down the left side of my face.
Lighting flashed again and I looked around to make sure there were no more to come. I sank down to the muddy ground. My breath was coming hoarsely and when I put a hand to my face it came away bloody.
Another crack in the sky and lighting lit the area around me. My breath caught and I could not help but groan. Seven more of the creatures were stalking closer!
They were about sixty feet or so away, but they had me surrounded. My heart was pounding in my throat. Even with Navitas focused, I would be able to fight them all. My head was already starting to swim a bit from exertion and blood loss.
I looked over to where Brant must be lying, but I could not see any movement. I was on my own. My stomach lurched. Was I alone? I fumbled through my pockets, sending a silent prayer to whoever may be listening. I smiled maniacally when my hand found its round shape. I pulled out the sentinel. ‘We come when summoned, but bearer be aware, we come but once.’ The inscription ran thro
ugh my thoughts, but the question was, how do I use it? In the dim light, I could not even make out the engraving on its surface.
Lighting flashed again and it revealed that they were nearly upon me. Not knowing what else I could do, I closed my eyes and focused my Navitas into the small disc. It became warm in my hand and I looked down at it. The blue mist was swirling around my hands and the sentinel seemed to be drawing it in.
Suddenly, it was as hot as an ember from the fire; it scalded my hands and I dropped it reflexively. Except, it did not fall. It floated in the air, still drawing the blue mist from me toward itself.
It started emanating light, dull at first, but becoming brighter and brighter until I covered my eyes over to shield them from it. Then, abruptly, it was gone and when I opened my eyes, I was surrounded. Ten men stood in a circle with me in the middle, their backs to me and they each had drawn a long sword with a slightly curved blade.
I could no longer see my attackers, but I could hear them, they were screeching one to the other. Suddenly, the fighting started. It was chaos and I could not make much of anything out. When I tried to rise, one of the men turned to me and ordered me to stay where I was.
Knowing I was well outnumbered by both the attackers and the new arrivals, I reluctantly obeyed. I did not like standing there uselessly while these men, seemingly, defended me. I still did not know if Brant was well and surprisingly, I was worried about him.
All I could see was blades flashing every now and again and vague shapes moving about. The attackers kept up their screeching until the last one went still and the fighting stopped. A massive cheer erupted from the men. They all started walking back towards me.
One particularly large man was leading the rest. When he drew nearer, I recognised him. “Grer?” How could this be? Perhaps the sentinel did not work after all, but then, where did they come from?
His bellowing laugh rumbled out in the quiet night. “Ay, Kadin. I see ye got yesself in another spot of bother here. Good thing ye gave tha call, those things were vicious.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “You are of the Fae? Why did you not say anything when I met you last?”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Ye did not ask, boy. Tha was just coincidence to have met ye then; I was investigating the movements of the Dyrrendrel and some other Dark Creatures tha had been spotted about. I did not even know ye would hold our sentinel then.”
The others had drawn near and were standing around us. They all had the same look about them. Not only in physical size and build, but also, their faces all bore the same look of a warrior.
I squinted in the dark to make our more of their features. “Thank you for coming. I would surely have died had you not.”
I could see a few of them nod in acceptance, but it was Grer who spoke once more. “Our debt is repaid. The sentinel is now annulled. We are once more free.” He bowed, mimicked by the rest, before he continued, “May yer sword stay sharp and yer heart sure.”
A light was shining from behind them and growing brighter. I squinted against it until I relented and shut my eyes tightly. When I opened them again, they were all gone. I shook my head in amazement. I found the sentinel lying at my feet. It had burn marks across its surface, it felt…empty.
I painfully made my way over to where Brant was still lying face down and was relieved to hear that he was breathing. In the dim light, I tried to see where he was injured. As I was looking him over he groaned and his eyes fluttered open.
His hand went up to his head and I saw he had large scratch marks down his head and neck. That must have been quite a blow. “Brant, can you hear me? Are you alright?”
He rolled over onto his back and grunted. “What…...was that?”
I shook my head. “No idea, but I think they are all dead.” I heard a low squawking sound. I jumped up and looked around fiercely, but did not see anything coming at us. There was another almost strangled noise and I walked carefully over to where it had come from.
One of the creatures was still alive. It was lying on the ground, its breathing laboured, but I kept a few paces away from it. I could see it clutching at the stump of the arm that I had severed. It held my gaze with such hate in its eyes that they looked human. Certainly intelligent. Not a mere animal.
It was still making soft chittering noises. Brant came to stand next to me. His face contorted with disgust. He drew out his dagger. “It looks like this was an organised attack. This thing looks more intelligent than an animal has right to be. Do you think we can communicate with it? Get some information out of it?”
I sucked in air through my teeth. “I do not think so. It has been making noises and I think they were communicating between themselves, but nothing intelligible.” Without another word, Brant plunged the dagger deep into the creature’s chest and drew it back out. It gave a final spasm, then went still and quiet. Coldly, Brant wiped the blade on the fur of the dead animal.
He looked around and his eyes grew round. “How many were there? How did you manage to kill them all?” I explained about the sentinel and how Grer and his men had come to our rescue.
He whistled through his teeth. “It is a shame you had need of it so early on in our journey. I am sure that it would have been very useful later on.”
I shrugged. “Without it, there would not have been a later on.” He sighed and walked away.
I knelt down with a grunt next to one of the bodies to get a closer look. As the Cha told me when he gave me the Book, it was much wiser to know your enemy. I had never seen anything like it.
Its face looked uncomfortably humanlike except its mouth was jutting forward too much and it did not have a prominent nose, but only two nostril openings. I looked at its paws and saw the claws were gone. Curious, I picked a front paw up.
I knew from the cat that lived at the inn in Predaki that claws could be retractable. I squeezed at it and gasped as five ferocious claws slid out smoothly from the tip of each finger. Each one was fully as long as the finger it came from. I carefully ran my finger down the edge of one; it was finely serrated. I shivered and let the claws retract again.
I became aware of the pain throbbing through me. The rain had finally stopped and a fine sliver of moon was even showing through the clouds. Brant was digging through his bags.
When I reached him, he looked up at me and pointing to my face said, “Is that your only injury?”
I grimaced. “I have several.” He nodded and after a moment found what he was looking for. He gave me a small tub. Opening the lid, the vile smell hit me like a fist. I sneezed, my body’s automatic response to try to rid itself of the smell.
Brant was smiling at me. “Make sure to apply a thick layer on all your injuries.” I nodded grimly. I stripped down and started applying it, trying to hold my breath as much as possible. My thigh injury was the only one I could actually see. At least it looked like a clean cut and not too deep.
The cream made it burn like a furnace and it made my eyes water. I clenched my teeth and continued to put the cream onto my face and then my back. Trying to reach to my back though was extremely painful. Brant took the pot out of my hand and started spreading the cream over the wounds I could not reach. “Thank you.” He did not reply. “Let me look at your head.”
He muttered, but nodded. I turned towards him and saw his eyes widen. I realised my mistake. With everything else going on, I had completely forgotten about my brand. He pointed at me. “What is that?”
I grimaced. “It was part of my Seeking. Actually, perhaps not. It was part of my preparation for this journey.”
He shook his head. “You are just full of secrets aren’t you?” After a moment though, he added softly. “I guess we all are.” He turned on his heel and strode away.
Now that the threat had gone, my attention turned back to Markai. Why had she not come? I tried calling to her again. Within moments, she appeared. Instantly I could feel her hackles rising. She looked around the area.
When she was certai
n there were no more attackers, she strode over to me. I could feel her concern when she saw I was injured, but the most prominent emotion was confusion. Why did you not call me?
I explained what had happened and while she listened, her concern grew. She had not even felt the slightest pull to come to me. Not when I focused my Navitas and not when I reached for her. I asked her whether she had come across this before. No. I have never heard of this happening. It is concerning. I will ask my elders. She disappeared into the night.
I walked back to the stones where we had been sitting and where my bags still were. Brant was looking at me intently. I looked at him pointedly and took out the Book.
Thankfully, the sturdy leather bag had kept it dry, although I wondered if the perdurability spells had not helped as well. I needed to know if these creatures had been some unfortunate chance attack or whether it was all connected to Rakadamon.
When he saw the Book, I could see curiosity burning in his eyes. I gave him a small nod and he sat down next to me. I started paging through it. His lips were pressed into a tight line. He muttered, “Some more than others.”
I presumed he was talking about secrets and I permitted myself a small smile. I was looking more at the illustrations to see if I could match one to the strange creatures that attacked us. His breath caught a few times while looking at the hideous monsters staring back at us from the pages.
I turned another page, but he caught it and turned back to where we had been. I looked again at the picture, but it definitively was not a match. I started saying as much to him when he held up a finger and pointed to the description on the opposite side. I noticed he was pointing to a description of the smell of this particular creature.
The heading on the page was ‘Scavenger’. The illustration showed a human like figure wearing a full-length robe. Only its hands and face was showing, but it looked like a corpse. The flesh was rotting off its body. Bones were visible on its hands and its cheek seemed to be partially gone, making his teeth and jaw clearly visible. That explains the smell then.
Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One Page 12