"Cyrus said that light would attract the forest's monsters."
"I don't care," Rik said. "I'm gonna go crazy if I can't see anything." He lit the end of his staff before Garet could protest. The dim orange glow cast shadows upon the trees.
"Let's hope you didn't just get us killed," Garet said.
They followed the staff's light, winding between tightly packed trees. The forest no longer seemed quite as dangerous, but Rik remained alert, peering into the shadows and ignoring his aching head.
For the most part, Rik and Garet didn't talk, and when they did, they spoke softly. This left Rik with a lot of time to think.
How many close calls could he survive before his luck ran out? Could he accompany Markus and Nadia all the way to Warrick's Palace, where they were almost certain to die? No matter how much he wanted to be a hero, he was fond of life. There were so many things he still wanted to do.
He knew the others had been upset with him because of his sour mood lately, but after enduring so much, he had every right to be angry. It seemed like a lifetime ago that he'd escaped Crayden with his adventurous spirit intact. Now, when he looked back on how he used to be, he barely recognized himself. But was this a good change?
Could he abandon Markus and Nadia when they needed him most?
A distant growl distracted Rik from his thoughts. He turned his staff toward the sound, but Garet grabbed his hand, pointing the staff the other direction.
"Turn out the light, Rik."
Rik did so, and darkness flooded the forest. Darkness that felt worse than any prison, like someone was smothering him with a blanket.
The growl sounded again. Closer. Rik's heart pounded as he peered into the darkness, trying in vain to see shadowy movement.
Another growl. Off to their right. Rik's body tensed, and he wished he could light the staff again, though he knew it would be suicide. Legs trembling, he grabbed Garet for support. Garet said nothing, standing firmly, apparently mastering his fear.
Soon growls came from every direction, accompanied by snapping twigs and crunching leaves. Could the monsters smell Rik and Garet?
"I don't like this," Rik whispered, chest tight. The growls became louder and louder, the footsteps thicker and heavier. Even in the darkness, Rik thought he saw movement. He felt like screaming, like running away in panic.
Something slammed into Garet, who fell away from Rik's reach. Garet grunted and hit the ground with a heavy thud as the beast atop him snarled.
Rik lit his staff. In the dim orange light, he saw a beast roughly the size of a wolf and covered in brown fur. It had a mouth and claws like a bear, and it was tearing at Garet's chest.
Rik sent a jet of fire at the monster. It shrieked and rolled to the side, allowing Garet to get to his feet. In the spell's glow, Garet plunged his sword through the monster's side. It roared in pain, then stopped moving.
But the brief battle had attracted the attention of other beasts. Soon they were upon Rik and Garet, shrieking and snarling, their putrid stench filling the air. Rik sent jet after jet of fire at the creatures, and they recoiled. With the small fires burning, Rik and Garet could see all their attackers now. Garet moved in a swift dance, using his many weapons to fend off every monster that lunged at him. He fought beautifully, as if it were artwork.
Rik launched jets of fire in every direction. Soon he'd struck nearly every beast, killing some, gravely injuring others. Drenched in sweat, he crouched low to the ground. His head pounded, and he felt like throwing up.
"Maybe they'll think better of attacking us now," Garet said in a pained voice.
Rik fought against his dizziness. "You hurt?"
"A few scratches. Nothing to worry about, I hope. Let's pray they don't get infected."
"Maybe we can find some herbs," Rik said.
"I'm not sure I'd trust anything we find in this forest."
"It can't hurt to search," Rik said, lighting his staff again. Garet gave him a warning look.
They spent a long time examining nearby trees. At last, Garet stopped beside one, pulled off some leaves, and inspected them carefully. "These look right, but I can't be sure."
Rik turned the light of the staff on Garet's scratched arm. Blood had trickled from the deep scratches, painting his arm in rivers of red.
"You have to do something," Rik said.
Garet used a knife to split the thick leaves down the middle. Inside was a thick white substance, which Garet squeezed onto his wounds, grimacing. "Well, this certainly feels right. Maybe it's just the darkness and the monsters that are unnatural."
"Let's hope so," Rik said. "After all, we gotta eat something."
"I think I see an apple tree over there."
Rik went over to the tree and grabbed a few apples. It looked and felt like a normal apple. After a deep breath, he took a bite. It tasted sweet and juicy—no hint of anything unusual. He had no idea how apples could grow without sunlight, though. This place was bizarre.
"I think they're fine," he said, mouth full.
"Good. I'd rather not starve in here." Garet grabbed an apple himself and took a bite. "Yeah, seems all right."
"At least this place ain't completely terrible."
A momentary flash of light, blinding in its intensity, illuminated the forest.
"Not sure I'd say that," Garet replied.
* * * * *
Markus felt as though he were walking in a daze. Rik couldn't be dead. He'd always been so full of life.
They traveled by the light of their compasses. Jakob led the way with his keen eyes, making sure the others stayed close. Thus far, they'd heard a few growls, but nothing had threatened them.
The darkness closed in around Markus, suffocating. He'd walked in the Crayden Forest at night, but it had never been anything like this. The fear. The uncertainty. The feeling of walking in circles.
"Markus, you've been quiet," Nadia said, brushing his shoulder with her hand.
"I've been thinking about Rik. He didn't deserve to die like that."
"No one does," Nadia said. "But we have to move on. It's what Rik would want."
"Don't forget about Garet," Jakob said. "He gave up his life trying to save your friend. In all my life, I don't think I've met a better man. He didn't deserve that either."
"We knew this would be difficult," Alana said. "We have to accept loss as inevitable."
Markus hated it, but he knew she was right. "I just wish things could be different."
"Wishing doesn't do anyone any good," Jakob said. "We've gotta move on."
A distant growl sounded, and Markus's heart leapt. He peered into the darkness, forgetting for a moment that he couldn't see anything.
Another growl. Closer. Nadia tensed beside him, and he could sense the others' fear. No one knew what lurked in this forest, not even Cyrus. What kind of insanity had made them think this was possible?
Soon steps sounded, and the growls became louder than ever. A foul stench filled the air.
Everyone remained quiet, and Markus prayed that the monsters would leave them alone. He didn't know if he believed in God, but he'd take any help he could get.
Growl after growl sounded, growing louder and more terrifying. Markus trembled, using a tree for support. How could they fight something they couldn't see? Cyrus had told them not to use their staffs.
By the sound of it, dozens of monsters had surrounded them—far too many to fight off, even if Alana did use her staff.
Then a blinding white light filled the forest. Markus closed his eyes against the glare, bright spots swimming in his vision. The beasts let out hideous shrieks, then fell silent.
"What the hell was that?" Markus whispered, light dancing in his vision.
"I have no idea," Nadia said, "but it seems to have taken care of the monsters."
"Almost like someone's protecting us," Markus said.
Jakob cleared his throat. "We might've just been lucky."
"It does seem kinda strange, though," Markus said.
"First, there was Rik's injury. What're the chances that we'd find someone with this mysterious fruit that could heal him? Then there was the tornado on the plains, and the Hunters saving us from the wolves. In the Oasis Outpost, we were seconds from execution. In the desert, the scorpions showed up just in time to save us from that giant snake. And now this. Doesn't it seem oddly coincidental?"
"It certainly sounds improbable," Alana said, "but we can't depend on anything. After all, nothing stepped in to save Rik and Garet from the river."
Markus felt as if someone had punched him in the gut. "You're right."
They traveled in awkward silence through a forest that seemed empty apart from birds calling up in the trees. That should have been comforting, but instead it felt ominous.
For the rest of what he thought was a day, the tense silence lingered. They also saw a few more of those blinding flashes, which led Markus to doubt his theory. Maybe they were random.
They traveled for days, weaving through the darkness. Alana wanted to light her staff, but with Jakob to guide them, she didn't need to.
Their food supplies dwindled to nothing after perhaps a week of travel. With a choice between starvation and potential poisoning, they decided to eat the food from the forest. No one got sick, so they assumed it was safe.
Over time, the acute pain of Rik's loss faded, but a dull ache remained—a void that Markus would never fill. Even the sullen Rik of late was preferable to having no Rik at all. Whenever Markus closed his eyes, he could see Rik's bright red hair and grinning face. In the silence, he could hear one of Rik's dumb jokes, imagine their life growing up in the forest.
He wanted to cry, but he couldn't. A part of him still clung to the idea that Rik was alive, that they hadn't found him—as unlikely as that seemed. He had to cling to hope, for it was all he had. The end of their journey seemed years away.
"I feel like we'll never find our way through this forest," he said at their campsite one day as they ate red berries they'd found on nearby bushes.
"Don't think like that," Alana said. "The forest isn't endless. We have to be close."
"Wish I could be so sure," Jakob said, sounding bitter, and he had every right to be.
"I've seen maps of the Empire," Nadia said. "We're close."
"This place really isn't that bad," Alana said. "With those strange flashes of light, we've rarely had to deal with any monsters."
Markus shook his head. "I still think that's strange. This place hasn't seemed anywhere near as dangerous as it was supposed to. Now that I think about it, a whole lot of this quest has been easier than I expected. I'm not saying it's been easy, just that it hasn't been impossible. You'd think Warrick would've made it impossible to cross the Empire."
"You're forgetting a lot," Nadia said. "Remember the canyon in the desert? It runs the entire length, north to south, of the Empire. Without the staff and the knowledge of how and where to use it, crossing the canyon would be impossible. And then there's the river. Without the staff, we would have lost more of our party, possibly everyone.
"Not only that, but I don't see why Warrick would make it impossible. He never intended to stop contact between different parts of the empire, just to make it more difficult. Those he favors do get around the empire, and even as terrible as Warrick is, I know that he views himself as someone trying to make a better world. These places are simply a means to that end. They reduce the ability of the Order to organize, but they aren't meant to punish us."
"You sure about that?" Markus asked. "What about Crayden, then?"
"I still don't understand why he destroyed Crayden. It falls well outside his normal behavior. Yes, he said it was because the Order had grown too strong, but it's not as strong as it used to be. Why now?"
"I don't know," Alana said. "Maybe he's simply evil."
"Maybe," Nadia said, but she sounded uncertain.
Markus put an arm around Nadia. "He is evil. I don't care how he justifies what he does. Maybe he doesn't go around torturing people for fun, but that doesn't mean he has good goals in mind. Anyone who could destroy a city like that, killing all those innocent people, is evil in my mind. And he needs to pay for his crimes."
"Yes, he does," Nadia said, "and we're almost there. I can feel it."
The ground vibrated faintly.
"What was that?" Jakob whispered as the vibrations intensified—a rhythmic patter, like footsteps.
Markus's chest tightened. Whatever was shaking the ground was huge. He prayed that it would go away, knowing all the while that it wouldn't. Not this time.
"I think I might now what this is," Nadia said.
"What do you mean?" Markus asked.
She kept her voice low. "If we're as close to Bradenton as I think, that means this is the monster that attacks that city every night. It's said to be taller than any building."
Markus groaned. "That's not what I want to hear."
They fell silent, waiting as the ground quaked more and more fiercely. Markus had the bad feeling that it didn't matter how silent they were. A monster like this, if it came close to them, would find them. Like the other beasts of the forest, it had surely evolved to have strong night vision. Or perhaps Warrick had created it that way.
The ground trembled more violently, Markus's heart pounded a mighty drumbeat, and his legs trembled so much he could barely stand.
Tree branches cracked nearby. A fetid smell filled the air.
The next thing Markus knew, something enormous and hairy wrapped around him and lifted him from the ground. He tried to scream, but he could barely breathe.
Chapter 53: The Monster
Rik had lost all sense of time. The forest was a never-ending sea of black, illuminated only by the dim orange light of his staff. The longer he walked, the more trapped he felt.
Those strange flashes of light had kept the monsters away, but Rik and Garet remained alert. Garet's injuries had not become infected, and Rik's head no longer hurt with every movement.
A growl sounded, louder and lower than what Rik usually heard. He tensed, peering into the darkness, but saw nothing. Heart pounding, he turned to Garet.
"Get rid of the light," Garet whispered, his expression tight with worry. Rik did so and felt more trapped than ever in the total darkness. They had to have light if the monster attacked.
Leaves rustled in the distance. Twigs snapped. Another growl, louder and closer.
A branch cracked. More rustling. Heavy, threatening steps. Closer. Rik turned, looking for Garet, but could not see him in the dark.
The steps became louder and louder, and Rik couldn't take it any longer. He lit his staff.
And looked right into the monster's large eyes. It was the size of the largest bears back home, with two pairs of eyes and a mouth ringed all around by knifelike teeth. It let out another horrible growl, filling the air with its putrid breath. Rik gagged and retreated.
"I told you to keep the light off," Garet said.
Rik launched a burst of fire at the monster, but it kept coming at him. He retreated and found himself in a corner, backed against a thick cluster of trees. The monster leapt atop him.
He pushed with all his strength, fighting to keep its claws away. His staff thudded to the ground next to him, and darkness smothered him. The beast's stench was worse than ever as its claws ripped at Rik's light tunic.
Then he heard Garet's quick steps, a sword being drawn. The beast growled and rolled off Rik's chest.
Rik crawled along the ground, struggling to get his breath back. Garet was grunting. The monster was growling. Rik felt useless, scrambling in search of his staff. His chest stung, but the scratches didn't feel deep.
"Some help!" Garet shouted.
At last, Rik found his staff. He picked it up, lit it, and found the monster. Garet was dancing away from it, using trees as cover, but it was closing on him. Rik tried to think of something that might work.
He fired a jet of water at the monster, then relit his staff. This time, the monst
er shrieked, turned away from Garet, and advanced on Rik, its four eyes glowing in the staff's magical light.
Rik tried a surge of lightning, and the monster finally fell. The yellow lightning danced all around it, illuminating the dark. Rik kept the spell going, and the monster eventually stopped shrieking, stopped writhing. Sweaty and exhausted, Rik let the spell fade. Then he relit the tip of his staff, shining its light upon Garet.
"You okay?" Rik asked.
"A few scratches. How about you?"
"Same. I guess we should get moving. There could be more of those things."
They walked again, making their way by the dim glow of Rik's staff. For hours and hours, they walked. They didn't talk for fear of attracting attention, and Rik was ready to disable the light from his staff at a moment's notice.
When the ground shook, Rik turned to Garet. "You feel that?"
"Yeah, and I don't like it."
They fell silent and stopped moving, waiting for the ground to shake again. And it did, over and over in a steady rhythm. Rik fought to keep his legs steady amidst the growing tremors. He let his staff go dark and waited in the darkness as the monster came closer.
But then the steps faded into the distance. Strange.
A scream sounded somewhere off to their right, and Rik felt a mixture of relief and terror. The others were still alive, but for how long?
"We've gotta do something," Rik said, lighting his staff again.
Garet frowned in the orange light. "Not sure what we can do, but you're right."
* * * * *
Nadia thought she was going to suffocate, but then the monster released her. Her stomach lurched as she plummeted toward the ground. She closed her eyes, ready for excruciating pain, but then she landed in hot water, briefly submerging before swimming to the surface.
She looked for the others. It took her a moment to realize she could see again. Flickering orange light filled the forest and revealed the rest of the party.
"What's going on?" Markus asked.
Nadia noticed just how hot the water was, and a dreadful thought twisted her stomach. "I think the monster is cooking us."
World in Chains- The Complete Series Page 45