Empyreal (The Earthborn Series Book 1)

by Spencer Helsel

“I said I yield! I submit! Do not slay me!”

  She blinked, shaking her head. “I—I’m not going to kill you.” Which was ironic with what she held against his neck. “You surrender?”

  “I surrender!” The centaur nodded. “I implore you not to kill me!”

  “Dani!” Nathaniel called. He and the others were climbing the tangled roots to get onto the log. “Come on! They’re coming!”

  Dani glanced back at her prisoner, withdrawing the knife. “I won’t kill you. Do you promise not to shoot at us once we’re on the log?”

  “We cannot.” The centaur Pholos told her. “We are bound by our rules of engagement. If we cannot retrieve you, we cannot fire upon you.”

  “Good.” She sheathed the knife, rising carefully in case he made a move. “There’s another centaur, Nessus; he’s upriver near the cliffs, between two trees next to a large boulder shaped like an egg. Do you think you can find him?”

  The Hellion nodded. “Yes.”

  “Swear you will go get him and I will spare your life.”

  “I swear.”

  “Good.” And she took off running.

  More centaurs were coming. A lot more. She could hear the stampede. She reached the roots and began to climb. Nathaniel waited at the top.

  “Go!” she told him. “They won’t shoot you if you’re over the river!”

  He followed orders and ran. She climbed using the roots to the top. When she finally reached it and pulled herself over, she glanced back. More centaurs arrived; at least a dozen. They took aim but she was already moving across the fallen trunk. And true to his word, Pholos and his companions did not fire.

  Below her, the diamond-like water rushed. Dani crossed to the opposite shore and jumped. It was high, but she landed easily. Dink, Bouden and Nathaniel were waiting.

  “We made it!” Dink exclaimed. Across the river to the centaurs, he yelled, “Suck it glue factories!”

  Dani punched him, hard.

  “Ow! Hey! What, you’re the only one who can crack jokes?”

  “Only if they’re funny and not completely offensive. They’re on our team, remember? Be nicer.”

  He thought about it, then nodded. “Okay, okay. Sorry! I didn’t mean that, Your Horsinesses!”

  The centaurs made a gesture that, though Dani didn’t know it, probably meant something close to the middle finger. They helped their brothers up, ignoring the four of them.

  “So we made it.” Nathaniel beamed, looking into the woods behind them. “Now what?”

  “We keep going,” she said, “toward whatever makes the roaring noises.”

  And just like that, their high spirits disappeared.

  ______________________

  The woods were quieter. They stuck close to the riverline, keeping it visible, but below the rapids the water calmed. It followed in wide, open flats that made little or no noise. Instead, the chirping of birds and crickets accompanied their walk.

  “So, Bouden,” she said, making conversation in the unnerving quiet, “you’ve read a lot. Got any idea what might be down here?”

  He shook his head. “No. It must be something natural to the Vale.”

  “Like?”

  “There’s tons of stuff.” He murmured, gripping his saber tightly. “All kinds of things live here. I wouldn’t be surprised to run into something more monstrous.”

  “Awesome. I love surprises.” Pause. “Not.”

  After the excitement with the centaurs, it was kind of a boring walk. And the silence was unnerving. You couldn’t anticipate silence.

  Once in a while they spotted things; squirrels the size of house cats, a beaver making its home along the shoreline that yelled in a clearly human voice, “Buzz off!”

  Talking beavers. What else did this forest have?

  Something in the water poked its head out just offshore. Dani almost didn’t spot it because the creature was made from the water itself; a woman with long hair made of churning water. She smiled before disappearing into the surface again without leaving a ripple.

  A water elemental. An undine.

  Overhead, a flock of bright, crimson-red birds flew in formation. The air around them shimmered like asphalt under the hot sun.

  “Phoenixes.” Bouden said. “Fire-birds.”

  “Wow.” The flock was majestic. Each one of them was bigger than an eagle and made of oranges, reds and purples, with white feather plumage around their heads.

  “Supposedly they create heat waves when they pass over in flocks like that.”

  “Anything else in this forest I should know about?” she smirked.

  “Probably. A lot of supernatural creatures live in Empyrean; some of them are Hellions, others are just natural.”

  “And those?” Nathaniel pointed.

  A pack of deer grazed on the grass and tree bark ahead. A few poked their mouths into the river, lapping up the glassy water. But not only were each of these deer about the size of a moose, each stag had a single antler made of intricate branches protruding from the top of their skulls. The antlers were ornate; curved, flowing, some so long that the deer could probably scratch its rear end by tilting its head back.

  “Bouden? You’re the expert.” Dani nudged him. “What are they?”

  He frowned. “I think…I think they’re keresh.”

  “Keresh?”

  “One-horned deer.”

  “Anything special about them?”

  He shrugged. “They’re sacred to a forest near Rome, I think. They’re totally harmless, though.”

  “Oh good. I really wouldn’t want to be eaten alive by cannibalistic deer.”

  Bouden chuckled. “Point of interest, there are cannibalistic horses out there. They’re called—”

  Dani held up her hand. “I don’t want to know.”

  They approached the deer cautiously, admiring how beautiful the creatures’ honey-colored coats looked; clean, silky to the touch. The deer didn’t shrink away or try to run. As Dani approached the nearest stag with a horn long enough to hang ten coats on, it watched her with a tranquil expression. It chewed the grass between its teeth, regarding her with about as much care as one of its own.

  She placed her hand gently on its side. The deer never flinched.

  “They’re so calm.” Dink marveled. “It’s like they don’t fear anything.”

  “Yeah.” Nathaniel pressed his ear against the side of a faun, a baby by keresh standards but normal adultdeer size. “This is so cool. Look how easy going they are.”

  Bouden, however, didn’t join in. He mumbled to himself, “Don’t fear anything…”

  “I know, right?” Dani gushed, rubbing its fur. “Amazing.”

  “I thought I read something about keresh.” His frowned deepened, trying to remember. “I remembered something from what I read…”

  Dani stroked its hide, the pelt smooth to the touch. “Hey there, big guy.” She said to it. “I bet you’re—oh wow!”

  The deer’s powerful hind legs kicked off, darting sideways fast enough to cover the distance from her to the other side of the clearing in seconds and then off into the woods.

  “Fast for something not predatory.”

  More deer took off. Their heads snapped up, alert, and then the entire herd dashed through the trees.

  “Wonder where they’re going in such a hurry.”

  “Such a hurry…” Bouden repeated to himself. Then, snapping his fingers, he realized what he was trying to remember. “Oh my God!”

  “What is it?” Dani asked.

  “Run!”

  “What? Why?”

  “Just run!”

  To their left, something crashed through the trees. It wasn’t a tranquil wind. Heavy footfalls, slow at first but now faster, shook the ground beneath their feet. The water rippled in the river. Then tree trunks started breaking.

  “Run!” Bouden screamed.

  Something roared. The sound shook Dani’s teeth.

  He grabbed Dani’s and Nathaniel’s arm
s, shoving them toward the nearest tree. “Dink! Hide!” he warned.

  He was way ahead of them. He slid like a baseball player into home behind a large boulder. Dani and Bouden leapt behind one of the large trees along the shore. It was all-too-familiar to their fight with the centaurs.

  But what came rumbling out of the woods was definitely not a centaur.

  Dani’s first thought was ‘lion.’ The big cat had the same mane of long black and gold hair, the same dusky brown color, same slinking walk of a lion as it padded from the trees. But this lion was over two stories tall from paw to head. Its feet were as wide as monster truck tires. When it opened its mouth they all would have been able to fit inside it; something she didn’t want to try.

  It let loose another roar.

  “What the hell is that?” Dani hissed softly.

  “Shh!” Bouden warned.

  The Godzillasized cat meandered slowly to the water’s edge. Slowly, the lion lowered its huge maw to the river’s surface and lapped in loud, long pulls.

  What the hell was this thing?

  It drank. No one spoke. They didn’t want to give it any reason to look their way.

  Nathaniel slapped both their arms and pointed. On the other side of the lion, Dink crouched. He was completely visible to beast if it turned its head. If he moved, it would hear him, so he did his best not to.

  “Oh my God!” She whispered. “It’ll see him!”

  “Shh!” Bouden hushed. “It’ll hear you first if you keep talking!”

  What could they do? There was no way they could kill it. The thing was ginormous. How the hell could something be that big?

  Dink tried to move, scooting backward, but there was nowhere for him to go. There was only open ground around his hiding spot. And the thing was so big, outrunning it was impossible.

  She sidled along the other side of the tree, staying low to the ground as she came around the other side. From this side, she was closer to Dink but that wasn’t any better. His boulder was near its face.

  But what else was there?

  Dani waved silently, trying to get Dink’s attention from the other side of the hind quarters. Dink crouch-walked behind the boulder. He spotted Dani. He understood what she wanted him to do. And he vehemently shook his head.

  Come on, she pleaded silently. The lion continued to drink, probably slurping up the entire river. It was distracted. Run this way.

  Dink shook his head like it would snap off his neck. Dani sighed. There wasn’t anything she could do. Dink wasn’t going to come to her.

  So she sprinted into the open and ran towards him.

  If Bouden or Nathaniel could yell at her, they would have. She sprinted past it’s back paw, avoiding the long swinging tail straight to Dink. The sound of rustling grass made the loud slurping noises stop for a second, but the lion continued to keep its head down. Then, after a pause, it continued.

  Grabbing him by the arm, she mouthed, We’re running. Follow me. Dink shook his head again, paralyzed. Run or I will smack the crap out of you, she warned.

  So they ran.

  Together the pair took off at a dead sprint. They headed towards the other side of the tree. As they ran, Dani didn’t think about the large lion. She just ran, holding Dink by the hand. Together, they sprinted. The tree was in sight. They were going to make it.

  Then she looked at the lion. And over its shoulder, the lion was looking at her.

  “Dani! Dink!”

  She had seconds. The creature was so big, she was surprised how fast it moved. The lion turned and lunged. For it, that meant it was in front of them before they made it to the trees. Luckily, it overshot and smashed into the large oak, snapping it. Nathaniel and Bouden moved from hiding. Dani and Dink skidded to a stop.

  The lion roared, which was deafening. It fell over the falling tree, tumbling in a resounding crash. Turning, Dani and Dink fled downriver in the opposite direction. Bouden and Nathaniel were after them.

  “Go! Go! Go!” they were waving, screaming.

  The lion rolled, the tree trunk falling off. It got to its feet slowly, but when it did, its massive head turned in their direction. And it let loose another powerful roar.

  Then it sprinted.

  The lion covered the ground in almost two leaps. They just made it to the tree line, dodging between two Redwood-size trunks. Screaming, the lion’s jaws opened to bite.

  Then its shoulders collided with the trunks. The beast smashed into them, jaws snapping. They could feel the force of its breath hit their backs. But they kept running.

  They kept going until the sounds of it thrashing and snapping jaws faded into the distance. And then they ran some more.

  ______________________

  “It’s called Tigris.”

  It’d been almost an hour since they heard the creature. Even then, they didn’t stop until their legs gave out. Everyone was exhausted. They took a rest on the edge of the river where they found the water pure as drinking from a bottle. So then they downed it faster than the lion.

  “ That was definitely not a tiger.” Dink told Bouden. “That was a lion.”

  “No, they call it that because it was summoned to Rome by a rabbi.” He said. “They named it Tigris since, well, the Tigris River. It lives in a mythical forest no one can find. I guess that’s the Vale.”

  “Just our luck.” Dani grumbled.

  Bouden shrugged. “It hunts and eats keresh. They’re faster than anything except the Tigris. I guess they’re its main source of food.”

  “That and Novices.” Dani joked, then the awful thought sunk in. “Do you think the others weren’t as lucky as us?”

  No one wanted to think about it.

  Once sufficiently hydrated, the four of them continued downriver. Nathaniel lost his sword, which meant they were a weapon down, but they hadn’t been very useful, anyway. They stayed near the water but now much more wary of cover in case something more awful waited for them.

  Near death experiences seemed to be a part of Dani’s life now; wraiths, the Elders, centaurs, dinosaur-sized lions. As the four of them made their way farther downriver, the Vale Bridge now in sight, she hoped the remaining part of the journey would be easier. What else could possibly be waiting for them in this valley?

  Apparently, werewolves.

  Chapter Seventeen

  They spotted them as they rounded a bend towards a tall stone bridge support and they all dropped into cover.

  “You have got to be kidding me.” Dink cursed, checking from behind a shrub. “Werewolves?”

  They gathered along the bank of the river in the shade of the bridge. The bridge support began at the shoreline and extended out into the water; algae covered a base wide enough to park several cars across. Surrounding it and using it as a camp, about six wolfmen milled about; shaggy grey fur, long snouts, pricked up ears, and pale eyes. Their lower bodies were covered in thick, disheveled fur tucked into chainmail and forest-colored tunics.

  “Werewolves aren’t real.” Bouden muttered. “And shut up. You know dogs have a good sense of hearing and smell, right?”

  “If they aren’t werewolves, then what the hell are they?” Dink whispered.

  “Cynocephali.” Dani answered. “Dogmen.”

  Bouden looked surprised she knew the term. “How did you know?”

  “One hit on me in a bar, once.”

  Bouden didn’t even ask. “They’re the origins of the some of the myths about werewolves, though they’re born that way; not transformed. They’re not lycanthropes.”

  “Lycan-what?”

  “Shapeshifters. Cynocephali come in two distinct clans: houndlings and wolflings—the hound clan and the wolf clan.”

  “And someone brought a pack of wolves to play.” Dink muttered. “Have I mentioned I’m a cat person?”

  The wolfmen walked about aimlessly. They reminded Dani of dogs in a park; sniffing the air, sniffing one another, scampering around with their armor. They looked almost playful if they weren’t
dressed for battle and had vicious looking teeth.

  “Are they Hellions?” Dani asked Bouden.

  “Sometimes, but I’ve heard stories. Wolflings are definitely not herbivores.”

  She shrugged. “Then maybe if we can’t get passed them, they just capture us.”

  “Uh, guys…” Nathaniel pointed.

  It took a second to see where he was pointing, but just as he did one of the cynocephali scampered away playfully from its cohorts. It knelt and picked up an animal leg from a bloody carcass lying nearby. And though she thought it might be some kind of dead deer or a keresh, when the animal raised the bloody meat to its mouth, she saw that it wore what remained of brown trousers and a boot.

  The rest of the body was difficult to recognize as a Novice.

  Bouden swore. “Lumme! They freaking ate someone!”

  “Still think they’re on our side?” Nathaniel asked her.

  She tried not to throw up.

  There were six of them; taller than Dogmund from the bar, muscular and deadly looking. Their ears pricked up at the slightest sound from the woods and thankfully, they were too far away to be noticed.

  The only way through, though, was through them and they were outnumbered.

  “We find a new way around.” Nathaniel suggested. “We go through the woods.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Dink said sarcastically, “we just go trudging through the woods with animals that have super hearing.”

  “You could shoot them.” Dani suggested. “You have the bow.”

  “I can’t hit them with all that armor on unless I’m lucky.” He said with a shake of his head. “And I’m not that lucky.”

  “What about the ones that explode into bindings?”

  “The centaur arrows?” he checked. “I’ve got four left.”

  “Leaving two of them untied if he’s lucky enough to hit with all four spot on.” Bouden said with no enthusiasm.

  “I did say I was unlucky.” Dink said once more.

  “Well, we need to get around them.” Dani told them. “I’m open to ideas.”

  “And I have one.” Said a voice from behind them. They turned.

  Andreas looked like hell.

  ______________________

  They doubled back so they could be out of earshot. Dani had never thought cannibalistic dog-creatures would be preferable to a human being, but Andreas made that a reality.