Crown of Vengeance fie-1

by Stephen Zimmer

  Lee turned his head and saw that Ryan still had his arrow notched. He was shaking his head from side to side as Lee’s eyes met his, confirming Lee’s suspicions.

  Another commotion started to Lee’s right, and he broke his eyes away from Ryan to rivet upon the sight of two more of the winged steeds trying to land through the trees a short distance away. They were coming down through a small opening in the trees, barely wide enough for the expansive wingspan of the flying creatures.

  A huge blur of movement froze Lee’s heart a second later. Some manner of creature leaped off of the ground, lunging towards the landing entities. Its momentum hurled its bulk into one of the winged creatures.

  Another flashing shape raced in from the other side, as yet another beast came into view, bounding across the forest floor at an incredible speed. Leaping at the last instant, it extended its body as it hurtled towards the second winged steed and slammed into it.

  The mass of winged steeds, riders, and their four-legged assailants tumbled in a whirlwind of desperate struggle to the ground. The first beast made quick work of one winged steed, clamping its wide jaws down upon the other’s throat, tearing it out with a powerful wrench of its muscular neck. Righting itself, jaws soaked in blood, the creature sprang at the slain steed’s rider, who had been badly injured in the fall.

  Lee winced. The rider did not have a chance to defend itself, before submerging under a torrent of slashing claws and long fangs driven by powerful jaws.

  Just a few feet to the right of the first melee, the rider of the second winged steed hurriedly freed itself from the saddle of its stricken mount. It raised a sword-like weapon up, and shouted out a spirited war cry. Shaking in rage, the non-human warrior charged the second of the attacking beasts, which had found the throat of the rider’s steed. The beast jerked its head free, spraying flesh and blood from the mortal wound that it had just delivered.

  The heavy blade whipped down with great force, lodging deep into the back of the creature, and eliciting a terrible howl of pain. With a powerful yank, the brawny fighter quickly freed the great blade.

  It was about to attempt a second blow, lifting the weapon upward when yet another of the attacking beasts enveloped the warrior from behind. The rider disappeared behind the body of its fallen steed, as the assailant’s momentum and size propelled the warrior to the ground.

  Lee saw the beast open its broad jaws wide to display a horrific array of large, sharp teeth, snarling balefully right before its head plunged down out of sight. The outcries of the warrior underneath the creature were abruptly silenced.

  Hearing a high-pitched whine, Lee turned his head and saw that the beast that had been wounded by the large blade was not dead. Pulling itself forward across the ground on its paws, it strove painstakingly towards a nearby tree, to get away from the unobstructed opening to the sky.

  As Lee watched, an arrow streaked down through the hole in the canopy, punching through the beast’s skull and instantaneously rendering it still. Just a moment later, an anguished, rage-filled cry filled the air, coming from above the area where the arrow had just sped through.

  Looking back, Lee then noticed that the other bow-equipped rider had vacated its position in the wake of its comrade’s slaying. Not hesitating a moment longer, he reached back for Erin, clutching her arm and yelling, “Come on! Now! Move it fast!”

  Erin appeared to be shocked out of her stupor, putting an effort into rising up as she responded to Lee’s directive. Springing forward, the two broke out from the base of the tree. They swiftly covered the short distance over to their other two companions. Ryan and Lynn rose up from their crouches as they reached them.

  “Get ready, I don’t know what’s down here with us now,” Lee said quickly. “Some kind of beast, and there’s more than one, and they are very close!”

  His heart could not have beaten faster, a thundering piston in his chest as a sweat started to break out. The fearsome creatures that had slain the riders and steeds were among the nearby trees. The concern over the unknown archer that had come to their help was swiftly forgotten in the aftermath of his dizzying fear of the beasts.

  They were huge, fast predators, and they were anything but solitary. Lee could not assume anything less than that they were a kind of pack hunter, able to work in concert with each other. The situation facing Lee and the others had become even more perilous, with threats both above and below.

  “Did you see them?” Lee asked, casting a glance at Ryan.

  Ryan nodded rapidly, almost shaking.

  “Keep your eyes out, and keep your bow up!” Lee said, his eyes sweeping the forest floor, expecting at any moment to see the long-legged, tall forms of the creatures. The visions in his mind centered upon their crushingly powerful, deadly jaws.

  Bows in hand, Lee and Ryan faced in opposite directions, Lynn peering out warily out from between them. Erin, wide-eyed and beyond fright, trembled as she stared out from where she was pressed against the massive tree trunk.

  “Yell if you see anything, any movements at all,” Lee called out, taking a brief moment to look above him.

  Fortunately, it appeared that the riders and their winged steeds were long gone. Yet their absence gave him little comfort, as the causes for it were still lurking somewhere within the shadows beneath the surrounding trees.

  Lee, Ryan, Erin, and Lynn kept their places for several tense moments, not so much as moving a muscle. Sweaty hands clasped weapons, as they all anxiously awaited what Lee believed to be an inevitable, terrible fate. The sweat made his skin feel clammy, and an oppressive weight formed in the air. It felt as if the forest was encroaching in upon Lee, confining his group as the sense of threat coiled about them.

  The seconds passed as if they were hours, the cries of the sky riders long since faded into the distance. The day was ebbing, and it would not be all that much longer before night fell. It was overwhelming enough even being able to see far into the woods. Lee did not want to consider what it would be like with the woods shrouded in the black of night.

  Slowly, he began to take into account other elements, as his mind forced its way through the paralysis of his terror. Calling to mind the unknown being whose arrows had brought down two winged steeds, Lee kept an eye out for the archer, hoping that the individual was some kind of ally. The unknown benefactor was their only real chance at resolving their dilemma, likely being one who knew the immediate woods, and might know more about the nature of the beasts within them.

  Lee knew that he and his companions were all at the mercy of sheer chance. He needed no argument to realize that they stood little to no chance against creatures that had made such short work of large winged steeds and well-armed warriors alike.

  Lee spared a moment to look over to Erin. Now that she was removed from the necessity of moving positions, the fears were clearly gathering her into their consuming embrace once again. The young woman was shaking, frightened to a nearly hysterical level in the wake of the spectacle that had violently played out before all of their eyes.

  “Come on,” Lee said gently, mustering steadiness into his voice. He felt compassion for her raw terror, as he was far from immune to its touch himself. “You are going to need to stay focused, and hold a weapon. Where is your dagger?”

  Erin did not respond, her eyes staring off into the forest. Her eyes rotated to the left, looked down a little, and abruptly widened.

  Lee felt that his heart would stop, fearing that she had just sighted one of the menacing beasts. He followed her revealing glance with trepidation, steeling himself for the sight that would be unveiled to his eyes.

  His nerves relaxed slightly, and he let a breath loose as there was no beast to be found. Erin had indicated the dagger, which was lying on the ground several paces away.

  Lee was not about to chance another foray out into the open. He already felt a little foolish and reckless for having taken the risk of running with Erin over to join the others. He had taken full notice of the blinding spee
d that the forest creatures possessed, and knew that predators were often quite attuned to sudden movements.

  “Keep your bow ready, and shoot any damn thing that moves,” Lee muttered to Ryan.

  Ryan shot Lee a nervous grin. His voice was strained. “Like we have another plan?”

  Lee forced a smile, his nerves on the extreme edge as well. “No, I guess we don’t.”

  They both almost shot their arrows haphazardly, when a loud voice shattered the heavy stillness permeating the trees.

  “Strangers to this forest, hold your arrows!” called a deep voice, from just a short distance away.

  To Lee, the voice came from a hidden place that was uncomfortably close. None of the four could see the speaker of the words, though their eyes raced as they hurriedly cast looks all around the encompassing shadows and trees.

  At the very least, Lee knew that the voice came from no beast. Rather, it sounded like the voice of a man.

  “I am the one who felled the Harraks with arrows,” the speaker continued calmly. “I am not your enemy.”

  The mystery of the unseen archer revealed slightly, Lee suddenly feared for the man, especially if he was a stranger as well.

  “There are beasts out there! Beasts that killed some of the winged animals, and their riders,” Lee shouted into the forest, “It is dangerous! They are very close!”

  “Beasts?” The voice seemed to carry amusement, much to the abject surprise of Lee. There was not a trace of worry at Lee’s pronouncement within the tone of the other. “Oh, those beasts. Nothing to fear from them. They are not your enemies either. They were your defenders. You already know they fought to help you.”

  A stunned expression crossed the faces of Lee, Lynn, and Ryan, and even Erin’s eyes widened at the words of the concealed speaker.

  “Come out in the open, then, if you are a friend” Lee addressed the possessor of the voice, not willing to believe how casual the individual was about the ferocious creatures that were prowling somewhere nearby.

  Slowly, out from behind the trunk of another large tree, a broad form emerged. Lee knew in his heart that the man walking into view was native to the strange world, or at least someone who had lived within it for a notably long time.

  A thick, shaggy beard, and long, unkempt dark locks covered most of the man’s head and face, and the brown tunic and trousers that he wore blended in smoothly with the hues of the trees. The man’s shoulders were of substantial width, and his thick legs and stout torso indicated great physical strength.

  His piercing blue eyes regarded them intently, alert and studious at once. A long bow was gripped in his left hand, and the hilt of a sword, sheathed and suspended from a baldric, poked up from his left side.

  “I am Gunther,” the man said in the way of introduction. “I am here with my Jaghuns… those creatures that you call… the beasts. You saw them destroy the Trogen warriors and their Harraks, who were out to slay you. Perhaps you will come to understand that my Jaghuns are your friends as well.”

  The man suddenly cupped his hands to his mouth and made a bird-like call, the sounds uncannily familiar to Lee as a realization dawned on him. He remembered hearing the distinctive calls more than once during their trek through the forest, discounting the sounds at the time as coming from simple denizens of the forest.

  He now understood that the man before him had been following them for quite some time. The notion was sobering, as Lee grasped that their own existence had depended on the woodsman’s judgement of them.

  Lee had witnessed the skill that the man had with the longbow. The woodsman could have picked off Lee and his companions one by one, with absolutely no difficulty, from the shadows of the forest.

  Four large forms suddenly came into view, as if manifesting out of shadow and brush. They trotted forward, continuing up to the man’s side. Lee and his companions were mesmerized at the sight of the beasts padding out of the foliage and into the open. The ease of Gunther’s posture with the beasts only slightly took the edge off of Lee’s renewed stress at watching the creatures emerge, their broad muzzles glistening with dark, crimson stains.

  Gunther seemed to sense their fascination with the Jaghuns, as well as their great apprehension. “The Jaghuns are my companions and friends. I have raised each of them from when they were cubs. They will do no harm to you, as long as I will it.”

  The implied warning was not lost on Lee.

  As he looked upon the huge woodsman, a look of concern then started to creep across Gunther’s face. His eyebrows narrowing together, the woodsman’s eyes cast about the woods, looking past Lee and his companions.

  “Mianta!” Gunther called out in a loud voice. His voice held a very noticeable anxiety, as he repeated the name once again. “Mianta!”

  A worrisome look encompassed the woodsman’s face, as he waited for some kind of response. Lee then remembered the fallen Jaghun that he had witnessed, the one that had suffered the back wound, and had subsequently been impaled with the arrow.

  The Jaghuns around the woodsman seemed to become distraught themselves at the woodsman’s escalating agitation, whining and slumping their heads, as their tails were tucked in. It was then that Lee fully discerned the nature of the situation, and he held his tongue.

  He did not want to be the one to bear the dire news, but his expression must have betrayed his misgivings. Gunther’s eyes bored into Lee, and he was unable to meet the woodsman’s troubled look, as his own gaze fell to the ground.

  “Where is Mianta? My other Jaghun?” Gunther asked, almost pleadingly, taking a couple of slow steps forward. He then queried Lee more pointedly, “Tell me now… what do you know?”

  Heavy of heart, Lee was unwilling to deceive the man that had come to their aid. He turned and gave a small gesture off to the left, where the battle had transpired with the last two riders. The body of the Jaghun, arrow lodged in its head, lay still near to one of the slain winged steeds.

  Gunther stepped forward, until he saw what Lee had indicated. His eyes widened and he broke into a full run, followed closely by the other Jaghuns. He slumped to his knees, reaching down and lifting the slain Jaghun about its forequarters. He cradled the lifeless body, as he held the creature’s head close to his chest.

  The other Jaghuns were subdued, their tails sagged down and their ears flattened as they lay upon their stomachs, close to their fallen comrade. They emitted a distinct whimpering sound, which to Lee seemed strangely like a human sob.

  Weeping bitterly, Gunther uttered loud, mournful cries that filled the forest. Lee and the others drew close together, watching the man suffer through what looked to be tremendous agony. They made no move to go any nearer to the grieving man.

  The sobs gradually lessened, until they finally became silent, but there was no change in the postures of the woodsman and his creatures. Gunther and the other Jaghuns remained in place for a very long time, during which dusk gripped the land.

  Stoically, Gunther finally arose in the dimming light and started clearing out the debris around the body of the dead Jaghun. At one point, when the soil had been bared around the corpse, he glanced toward Lee and the others.

  Listlessly, he simply said, “Help me.”

  Without exchanging another word, Lee and the others moved forward to help Gunther, as they worked together to drag the bodies of the winged steeds and fallen warriors to the sides. As large as the winged steeds were, they were not nearly as heavy as Lee had expected. Nonetheless, it took multiple individuals working together to move them.

  Seeing their arsenal of sharp teeth and large claws from a close perspective, he knew that they would have been a formidable match for the Jaghuns had it not been for the element of surprise. The musky scent of coarse fur that filled Lee’s nose was mingled with the sharper tang from their gory wounds.

  Neither Lee nor his comrades could refrain from periodically glancing in the direction of the prone Jaghuns. He did not feel any more at ease around them, not even with the woodsman i
n their direct midst. The blood of their victims was still caked around their jaws, amplifying Lee’s apprehension.

  With several grunts and heaves, he labored to pull one of the felled enemy warriors away. Looking down into the canine visage, his mind assailed him with imaginary images of the eyes suddenly snapping open, and the lips curling into a feral snarl. Lee had to keep his eyes focused above him as he lugged the body the last few feet.

  At last, a broad clearing was formed around the body of the fallen Jaghun. Lee and his companions backed away slowly, giving Gunther a wide berth now that their task was finished.

  “No worm shall gorge upon the body of my friend,” Gunther managed to stammer angrily, as he started laying dry branches and brush around the dead Jaghun. It was as if Gunther had forgotten about their very existence. “You have a good servant before you. Loyal and of honor, a triumph of Your creation. It is a loss and tragedy that such should ever fall in this world.”

  Gunther proceeded to ignite a fire, using some metal and flint that he retrieved from a leather pouch at his waist. Before long, the flames engulfed the body of the Jaghun as night settled in.

  The air was filled with the pungency of burning flesh as the Jaghun’s physical remains were consumed. The woodsman’s dark outline stood motionless before the fire, as he silently gazed into its blazing depths.

  After a little more time had passed, he turned and strode back towards Lee and the others, who had continued to remain respectfully quiet from where they observed the woodsman.

  “It is my way,” Gunther said, as if feeling the need to explain himself. “I will let no friend be put into the ground to be the food of worms. Those of the elder days of Midragard knew best.”

  His voice was choked with emotion, barely steady in its thickly bitter tone. He continued somberly, almost as if giving them orders, “We must go now, back to my dwelling. The leader of the Trogens will return in time with many more. You may trust me, or you may await the return of the Trogen leader. It is your choice… but for my part, I am going.”