by K.L. Bauman
Six people staggered cautiously from behind trees and rocks to where dozens of boulders lay atop their campground. Broken trees and dead birds littered the area. "Is everyone okay?" Volos was the first to find his voice.
Ayden looked to his companions. He wasn't the only one who'd felt the sharpness of the Razr birds' feathers. Pax had several slashes on his arms and blood was trickling against his white skin. Da'ewyn was nursing a cut on her side, and Volos had a cut on his face and an entire dagger protruding from his thigh. Ayden winced as he watched his older companion pull the dagger from his flesh. Blood trickled down Volos' leg, staining his leather pants.
Sabina's cloak was torn, but she seemed to have avoided being sliced; and Nya carried an ugly gouge across the back of her neck where reddish-gold blood oozed.
A waning moon peered over the tops of the trees, shedding light onto the gruesome scene. The bird that Ayden had killed lay in pieces on a blood soaked ground. The others that had been hit by the stones lay twisted and broken in mangled heaps of flesh and oily black feathers. Da'ewyn picked up a dagger-like feather and threw it at one of the dead birds; the dagger sliced through its feathers and sank into its body.
"Those would've been handy a few minutes ago," she muttered. Then, she gathered as many of the loose feathers as she could and carefully wrapped them in a piece of her blanket that had been torn by the falling daggers. "No point wasting these. I know how to use them if those demons come back."
Suddenly, Nya spoke earnestly to Sabina as she placed herself between her friend and the rest of the group. Ayden's heart jumped as he looked to the moon; he'd forgotten about Sabina's condition! She looked hungrily with red eyes at her companions' open wounds. Nya stepped closer to her and held up her staff in warning. Sabina looked at Nya momentarily became more like herself. "Venil men loen! Get me out of here, Nya!" she said in a strained whisper.
Nya spoke calmly to her in her language, "Keep your eyes focused on me, Sabina. Endia has already begun to hunt. Come now, away. You are safe with me. Come away."
Everyone watched as Nya calmly guided Sabina into the shadows of the trees. "C'mon. We need to bind up our wounds and stop all of this blood flowing. She'll be able to smell it from a mile away and it will drive her mad," Ayden said. No one wasted time tearing pieces of cloth from their clothes or bedding to cover their wounds.
"Why couldn't she just drink Razr blood? They're already dead, anyway," Da'ewyn asked as she tightened a piece of cloth around her waist.
"Thay're b-blood is poison. It w-would have k-kelled har," Pax explained. Ayden had to assist the sorcerer as his arms had to be completely covered with bandages.
"Well, we can't stay here for the night, can we?" Da'ewyn stated the obvious as she gazed at their mangled camp. The four companions gathered as much undestroyed materials as they could find. They weren't carrying much by the time they left the campsite.
After walking for fifteen minutes, Volos turned to Ayden and asked, "Do you think Nya and Sabina will find us?"
"Yes. Sabina will sniff us out. She's very sensitive to the smell of blood, even during the day, I think. Besides, we don't need to go far. This looks like a good spot."
They had reached an area where a large rock protruded from the side of a hill, protecting the ground below it like a giant umbrella. "I like this--nice and hidden," Da'ewyn said, stating her approval.
"Let's try getting some sleep. We'll be able to get new supplies tomorrow at Andor," Volos said and he sat down and folded his hands and lowered his head to meditate. Pax sprawled out on the ground and stared up at the rock, and Da'ewyn began making arrows out of the Razr feathers.
Ayden spoke softly to keep from disturbing Volos, "Hey, Pax. Nice job back there. You killed at least three of those hideous things."
Pax stared at Ayden for a moment and then answered, "I-I m-messed up the curse."
"So. It still helped, didn't it?"
"Y-Yah. I g-guess so," Pax replied and then set his head back down on the ground and stared again at the rock.
Ayden followed Volos' example and tried to meditate. After a few minutes, he felt calmer and stretched out onto the ground. Bits and pieces of memory invaded his dreams as he slept, but he forgot them whenever he woke.
When Ayden finally rose the next morning, he found that his bandage was soaked through and dripping. He looked at Volos and the others. "They're not healing," Volos stated. "We need to get to Andor as quickly as possible."
Trying not to panic, Ayden asked, "Don't we have any curatree sap?"
"I lost all I had when the Razr birds attacked. The only place we'll find any curatrees around here is at Andor," Volos replied.
At that moment, Nya and Sabina appeared. "Don't come near us, Sabina," Ayden warned. "Our wounds aren't healing."
"No kidding. Nya's been bleeding all night and I can't stop it. What are we going to do?" Sabina called, keeping her distance.
"Volos says there are curatrees at Andor. We have to get there as quickly as we can," Ayden shouted back.
"Let's get going," Volos said as they hurriedly gathered their few belongings and headed for Andor.
After walking for several hours, Ayden felt light headed. The sun was becoming too warm and the bugs, drawn to them by the smell of fresh blood, were worse than usual. "Volos, how much further? I'm not sure?"
Ayden's sentence faded as the world spun. He shook his head and tried to focus. He tried to see how the others were doing, but when he turned everything spun even faster and he fell to the ground. Through the sickening movement of the trees and grass around him, Ayden glimpsed his companions. Whether they were standing or falling, he was uncertain.
Ayden closed his eyes and tried to will himself not to pass out. He thought he heard a soft, masculine voice speaking to him in a language that was foreign, yet familiar. "What?" Ayden whispered weakly. He couldn't make out what the voice was saying.
"Hold on?" Ayden thought he heard. And when he could hold on no longer, he let himself slip away into darkness yet again.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Andor