by Robe
“Faster,” he said to his strange companions. “They are returning.”
Sure enough, the sounds of bounding feet could be heard and then grew louder until the Raugen were in sight. They howled as they spotted the slow moving group of people and then, with chomping teeth, sprinted toward their prey. The Raugen knew well that if they were to catch a group of people in this part of the forest, an all-out race was the only way to do it. Many past pursuits which ended with Veese outsmarting them had stuck to their memory. The seven remaining Raugen were present, angry two members of their pack had been slain. Elorat had already chewed through his binds.
Veese sighed as he watched the beasts approaching. He pointed ahead through the trees. “When you reach the three-trunk tree, you have gone too far. Turn around and look up. You will see my camp.”
With that, he dashed back the way he had come, shouting to the Raugen by name as he ran free of the thicker trees. The Raugen, knowing Veese was an easier catch away from the trees, split up. Four of them raced after Veese, the taste of vengeance on their tongues, and three stayed the path to attack the weakened group of people.
“Obeon, I know you want a piece of me!” Veese shouted to one of the Raugen still headed toward the others. “Come get me, you stupid animal!” Obeon, one of the larger Raugen, veered away from the other two and joined the hunt for Veese, snarling and sputtering as he did. Veese darted through the trees, negotiating the distance he had before the Raugen would be on him and he would have to climb into the canopy.
Veese aimed to distract the Raugen for as long as he could, giving his companions the best chance at making it to the camp. Once the Raugen realized that chasing him was in vain, they would turn back to the others. The closer they drew to Veese, the more his instincts told him to jump up into the trees for safety, but he kept running, his legs growing tired and sore. When he felt the hot breath of a Raugen behind him, he knew he had waited as long as he could and propelled himself up into the air at the first suitable branch he came by. His hands gripped the wood, and he quickly swung his legs up away from the snapping jaws below. Panting, he looked down to see the Raugen snarling, their eyes rolling back in rage.
“No, not your smartest decision yet,” Veese said to them. “When will you ever learn that chasing-” Veese was interrupted by a cracking sound coming from down the branch, and he braced himself for the fall.
With a final snap, the branch came loose, and Veese plunged for what felt to him like an eternity before he hit the ground. Luckily, the Raugen had already begun to turn away, and they had to spin on their feet to see what had happened. Veese got up and dashed again, right past Obeon, who barked furiously as Veese skirted him. Stumbling clumsily over what might as well have been everything, Veese barely managed to maintain his balance. His legs nearly refused to obey him in their exhaustion. He looked up for another tree to leap to, and upon glimpsing a suitable escape, he pushed off the ground pitifully. Even considering his exhausted state, it was a weak jump, and Veese marveled to himself as he continued ascending until the branch was in his range. He grabbed it and tried to swing his legs to safety but instead felt searing pain as both rows of Obeon’s teeth dug into his right ankle.
Veese cried out and almost lost his grip on the branch, but by another miracle, he managed to hold on to the limb. Obeon released Veese’s leg in an attempt at a second bite, but the forester pulled free of the beast’s jaws and dragged himself onto the tree branch.
He looked at his leg and sighed; his ankle was wounded badly, with five tooth marks on one side of his leg and four on the other. Like water from a gentle creek, blood poured from the holes freely, and Veese was soon unable to even make out the torn skin as it was flooded in red. He removed his cloak and cut a section of it away with his pocket knife, and then he tied it around his injury, wincing at the throbbing pain emanating from it. With every pulse of his heart came a wave of agony as the veins around the injury strained.
Below, the Raugen were sent into a frenzy at their first taste of Veese’s blood. They stood up on two legs and dug their front claws into the tree their prey rested in, but they had no way of scaling the bark. Veese decided it was for the better that the Raugen were too concerned with him to turn back and rejoin the hunt for the other people. He waited and nursed his wound, and the sun began to set as the Raugen finally gave up and skulked away.
3
“Do you think he made it?” Joan asked as she looked out over the Cursed Forest. They had narrowly evaded the pursuing Raugen and climbed safely into Veese’s tree house, but hours had passed without any sign of the hermit. The sky grew darker and then completely black, leading the group into night as they waited high within the confines of Veese’s camp. Not long after that, the creatures led away by Veese had returned. One of them, much to the dismay of the group, had bloody jaws.
“He seemed quite capable, probably managed to outsmart the beasts,” Dalk said.
“I’m sure he made it. He knew this place like the back of his hand,” Auric said. “He saved us all, both by drawing those things away and showing us his hideout.”
The camp was more or less a house built within the branches of a massive, sturdy tree. It was deceptively old; although extremely well-kept, the rot in some of the more superficial supports in the structure gave away its age. There was everything from food to weapons lining the walls and shelves of the hut, but the party had resolved not to use Veese’s goods until he returned. Quietly, they sat and waited for their savior to arrive.
“How long do you suppose they’re going to hang around out there?” Reon spoke, leaning out of the wooden doorframe entrance to look at the seven creatures circling the tree camp below.
“Could be a long while,” Dalk said. “I’m sure it isn’t very often they sight prey in such large quantities.”
The Raugen that had not been fooled by Veese’s diversion had caught up to the fleeing group, forcing them to turn and fight. Dalk had taken the front once again to defend the others, but as one of the beasts managed to get past him, Ziem unleashed another inexplicable shock of electricity, frightening the pair of monsters off.
Ziem sat on the wooden floor of the camp, looking at his hands. At his command, small sparks danced across his fingers.
“So, is anyone going to comment on the fact that Ziem is a human stormcloud?” Reon asked, glancing down at Ziem as the tiny lightning leapt from finger to finger.
“You keep catching fire,” Dalk said in response. “Is that a regular occurance for you?”
“It must have had something to do with that flash of light back at the ruins,” Auric considered.
“Maybe Veese knows,” Joan suggested.
“No, I don’t think so,” Auric replied. “He was just as confused as the rest of us when it happened.”
Ziem stood, cringing and holding his injured side as he did.
“Be careful,” Joan said, gripping his arm to balance him. “You don’t want to make that any worse than it is. You need to see someone about it as soon as we get back to Rode.”
“Back to Rode without game again?” Reon asked. “My uncle is going to kill me.”
“I think if you tell him what we’ve just seen, he’ll let you off this time,” Auric said.
“Sure as the sun will rise in the morning, you’ve never met my uncle,” Reon replied.
“I can’t go back to Rode. I still haven’t found who I was sent to bring back,” Dalk said. “Although at this point, I see his traveling to the Cursed Forest doesn’t bode well.”
“Speaking of ill tidings,” Reon said, “what in the New World are those things? They look almost… human.”
“Veese knew of them. They must be native here,” Auric said.
“Not only did he know them, he seemed to care for them,” Dalk said.
“Weird,” Reon said.
“If you lived alone with only those creatures for company, I’m guessing you would grow attached to them, too,” Joan replied. “I know I would.”
“She’s right,” Auric said, “but why does he live out here anyway?”
None of the group could answer his question, and the silence that followed left them all puzzling. The night grew older and the Raugen remained vigilant, watching and waiting below the tree. A chill swept over the forest, and the group moved closer together for warmth. Reon fell asleep while sitting in one of the home-made looking chairs placed in the camp. The other group members looked at him enviously; their eyelids drooped, but the creatures below made them too nervous to sleep. As the night thickened and the cold grew more intense, the silence was ended by Joan shivering and exclaiming.
“Aren’t you freezing?” she asked Ziem, whom she sat beside. He shrugged, but he quietly and subtly slid closer to her.
“I can see my breath,” Auric said, watching the white cloud puff from between his lips and pulling his cloak around him more tightly.
“How can he just sit there comfortably?” Joan asked, looking at Reon. “I could never fall asleep in this chill, and it’s gotten colder and colder.”
“I don’t feel uncomfortable,” Dalk spoke, frowning as he looked at the others.
“Maybe you’ve warmer blood than we,” Auric suggested.
“I’m normally the first to complain about the cold,” Dalk said, “but I don’t feel cold at all.”
“Well, I wouldn’t be fussing about that if I were you,” Joan said.
Dalk looked at his hands and noted they weren’t flush as Joan and Auric’s were.
Snap.
The sound of a branch breaking came from just outside the tree camp, causing the group to look at one another. Dalk unsheathed his sword quietly, and they listened more intently for another noise.
They all jumped as a hand swung around the side of the entrance and gripped the edge, only to be flooded with relief a moment later as Veese’s face appeared. Auric rushed to help him through the camp doorway. He looked ready to pass out.
“You survived.” Dalk sheathed his sword and gripped Veese’s hand. “You had us worried.”
“We owe you our lives,” Auric said.
“Hey, you made it back,” Reon said, shaking off his sleep and standing up to greet their hero.
“That was a couragous thing you did back there,” Joan said. “Thank you. You saved us.”
Veese nodded to each of them in turn and then sank to the floor. He was panting and his cheeks were pink from the stinging cold. He pointed to something through the darkness. “Go to the stone fireplace… tinder and matches on the shelf beside it…start a fire,” he managed to puff out.
“Your leg,” Auric said, forgetting his chilliness and kneeling beside Veese. Blood soaked through a rag tied around his ankle. Auric removed his own cloak and put it under Veese’s foot before peeling off the cloth binding. His lower leg had been mangled, and blood was leaking from the wound as if it had just been made. Veese winced in pain as Auric redressed the injury, the stand-in healer tying a cloth around it tightly before adding another layer of cloth to protect the bite.
Joan had started a fire, and the group waited for Veese to catch his breath and warm up before barraging him with questions. In the meantime, Veese pointed to several other things around the camp: fresh food, a kettle to boil water in over the fire, and best of all, a cupboard with several thick cloaks.
“How did you make it back?” Reon asked Veese as he sipped freshly brewed tea from a mug.
“Trees,” he said. “I climbed through the treetops. It is the only safe way to get around once the Raugen know where you are.”
“Raugen?” Auric repeated.
“The creatures that have been tormenting us,” Veese clarified.
“What exactly are they?” Auric asked further.
“The Raugen were the guard family that lived within the temple long ago,” Veese said, but the confusion on the faces of his companions made him stop.
“I will start from the beginning,” he said. “This story may seem a bit farfetched to the ears of commoners, but have an open mind. You have seen more than one strange thing since you set foot in the Cursed Forest. Long ago, an Evil God descended onto our land and began purging the people with his wicked magic. He was ruthless, and he only halted when a group of champions risked everything to seal him away within the temple you saw earlier this morning. My great grandmother was one of the champions who helped end the Evil God’s reign. She decided to stay behind to watch over the temple at a distance, while one of her allies raised his family within the temple, protecting it and teaching his offspring to protect it. But the people living within the temple where the Evil God was imprisoned began to change. They grew hostile toward my ancestors and even began to shift in form. The Evil God’s magic had begun to leak out, poisoning everything it touched. The guards changed into the animalistic Raugen over a long period of time, each year growing more and more dangerous. Magic is an evil thing. It broke the will of the temple by transforming its inhabitants into horrible creatures, and the sturdy stone walls crafted to stand forever crumble beneath its touch. Even the trees grow weaker as you approach what is left of the tomb.”
The group exchanged glances. “That’s a lot to take in,” Auric said. “So you think this Evil God is the cause of everything that’s happened today?”
“You mean the flash of light and the inexplicable burst of energy from Ziem?” Veese asked.
“Bursts,” Reon corrected. “He scared the Raugen away with it a second time.”
Veese nodded. “Yes, I think the Evil God has a hand in all of these occurrences. There is something I have yet to tell you. This morning, a man entered the temple. Before I could stop him, he unsealed something from within, which attacked him and assumed his form before escaping.”
“Describe this man,” Dalk said, his face suddenly suspicious.
“He was young, average height, dark hair. I couldn’t identify his gait. He was fearful from what I assumed to be an encounter with the Raugen.”
“That sounds like who I’m looking for,” Dalk sighed. “His name is Weston Revidious. He works in the College in the City of Lanair. He’s a friend of mine. His parents told me he had gotten ideas of adventure in his head, and that he had run off with College artifacts and the family horse. His father said he would be headed for the Cursed Forest. Is he still in the temple, do you know?”
“The man you are searching for is gone. I am sorry,” Veese said. “Your friend was killed.”
Dalk’s face twitched.
“I’m sorry, Dalk,” Joan said.
“More will die,” Veese continued. “As the Evil God remembers his old ways, he will raise an army to slaughter us.”
“What?” Auric said, Joan and Reon exclaiming alongside him.
“The Evil God used monsters last time, murdering a huge number of Lon Gairdas’ population. He would not have stopped if he had not been made to,” Veese said. “Now that he is free, we should expect the worst.”
“What do you propose we do?” Auric asked.
“I will follow the deity,” Veese said.
“But you said he’s a god,” Joan pointed out. “How do you expect to stop an all-powerful being?”
“If mortals stopped him once, then he can be stopped again,” Veese replied. “It was my duty to guard the temple, and in failing to do so, my new duty has been made clear to me.”
“Veese,” Auric began, “we just barely made it to the safety of your camp…”
“I have to try,” Veese said. “If I cannot find and stop him, this world will perish. There is nothing more to it.”
The other members of the group looked at each other and a few of them sighed.
“Travel to Rode with us, Veese,” Joan said. “The healer there will patch you up and you can buy supplies at the market. It’ll be a good place to start looking, anyway. Rode is closer than any other civilization. Maybe the villain is traveling there to plan.”
Veese nodded. “What of those of you who do not intend to return to Rode? Whe
re will you go?”
“I’ve been traveling the land for a long while now, looking for somewhere to settle down,” Auric said. “Perhaps the New World has a purpose for me. I’ll travel to Rode with you, Veese. I owe you my life.”
“I’ll come, too,” Ziem spoke up.
“So will I,” Dalk said, his face stony and resolute. “If this being slayed Weston, then his intentions are clear. He must not be allowed to hurt others.”
“Then it is agreed,” Auric said. “We’ll head for Rode in the morning.”
“Have you forgotten something?” Reon asked, and he pointed to the entrance of the tree camp. “The Raugen are still down there. How are we going to get past them?”
“A problem we’ll handle once we’ve had some rest,” Auric said.
The group nodded and settled in by the warmth of the fire. There was little noise so late into the night, and the group fell asleep to the crackling of the burning wood. Each of their minds raced, but in their state of exhaustion, sleep was hard to resist.
4
“They’re not taking a hint, are they?” Auric asked as Veese strung another arrow onto his bow. Just as the party had awoken and prepared to descend to the forest floor, the Raugen crept out from the shrubbery to show their teeth and snarl at the people out of their reach. Veese thought he may be able to startle the beasts by shooting arrows at them, not hitting them but landing close enough for the Raugen to feel the air whisk past. “Perhaps you should actually strike one of them. That would get the message across.”
“I would prefer not to hurt them any more than we already have. They are hostile and animalistic, but I believe some part of them is still human,” Veese replied. He let go of the arrow, and it whizzed through the air and landed in the ground next to a Raugen. The beast jumped away, but it returned to growl up at Veese and Auric.
“Hey, Ziem,” Auric said, turning to look at the youngest member of their group. “Do you think you can send some sparks down there? That seemed to do the trick before.”