by Dan O'Brien
Their cries came again.
This time, one of them whimpered. Uthen and Maian dashed deeper into the forest, their eyes turning away from whatever pursued them. They closed their minds as well to the sounds that came in the night.
*
Xeno turned in the snow, his boots digging deep as the creature lunged. He brought his blade around to meet the leaping form. The weight of the creature slammed against his body and he fell into the frigid snow, his face feeling the cold touch of the ground. The creature was perched upon his chest, its vicious claws digging through his chainmail.
Xeno struggled to free himself beneath the shadow beast. The creature craned its neck down and the warrior could see its long gaping snout with rows upon rows of jagged teeth. A strong, thick neck cascaded back into the bulk of its frame. The eyes were pure white and the ears almost non-existent upon the beige-colored head. Its claws were curled like talons, with legs that were long and elegant like a wildcat.
Xeno swung his blade at the flank of the creature, and it screamed like it was dying. He was on his feet again, the glint of his blade bright in the moonlight. Two more sets of white pupils reflected in the distance as the wounded one melted back into the darkness. They were backing up, trying to draw the warrior into the darkness.
The attack came from the side as another of the creatures leapt. Claws lodged into the unprotected portion of the chainmail underneath the arm. Xeno yelled in pain as the force of the blow drove him to the ground again. He rolled through the drifts of snow, trails of blood following him as he fell.
He laid there for a moment, feeling a sick sensation in the pit of his stomach. Turning on his side, he vomited. He wiped it away from his mouth as he rose to his feet. The creatures circled him, licking their jaws and watching with their crystal eyes.
“Come on, attack me,” roared Xeno as he charged forward. The wind against his face woke him from the wave of nausea that gripped him as he stood still. He rooted himself in the snow and then leapt into the air as high as his body could muster.
Coming down hard on the creature’s skull, the resounding crack drew a strangled whimper from the creature as it fell on its side. Shaking violently for a moment, it moved no more.
The other beasts backed off and growled.
The warrior watched their retreat and looked over his shoulder, the hurried steps of Uthen and Maian obvious in the snow. He didn’t consider it a moment longer. His feet were moving under him, sending him crashing into the woods with the three remaining beasts at his heels.
*
Maian darted out ahead of Uthen.
Her smaller, fleet-footed frame carried her much faster than Uthen managed, his lumbering steps falling behind her with each step taken. He dodged past a tree and felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise as the woods behind him echoed with the crashing footfalls of a nightmarish noise.
The blur of Maian seemed more and more distant. He could see only flashes of her in the distance. Breathing out, he knew the crashing was gaining on him.
“Maian,” he yelled.
His voice shook the trees, making the snow shiver and fall to the ground, joining their brothers and sisters. She stopped in the distance and glanced all around, her face a mosaic of panic when she could not see Uthen.
“Uthen, where are you?” she called back.
A tremor in her voice revealed her fright.
“Behind you. Can you see anything ahead?”
“No, the woods open farther ahead, but beyond that it is all gray and white.” she responded, her footfalls coming back toward Uthen.
“Keep going, something pursues us still.”
The howling came again, this time in threes.
Uthen crashed through the foliage, prompting Maian to do the same. They ran hard. The ragged breathing of something was only steps behind them. Soon, they found that they could go no farther. They emerged from the forest and slid to a halt in the slippery snow at the foot of a drop-off. The winds beneath them howled in the desolate canyon.
“What do we do now?” queried Maian desperately as her cloak whipped in the wind. The dirty tendrils were plastered against her youthful frame. Uthen looked from the darkened canyons that were to their back to the crashing sounds that charged toward them in a horrific haste.
“Draw your weapon.”
“Draw my weapon?” whispered Maian to herself, and then did so. The bow looked monstrous in her nimble fingers, and the quiver upon her back exposed the tail ends of a score of arrows.
Uthen held his monumental blade tightly in his hands as the crashing grew louder and louder, drawing a chill down his spine.
The howling in the distance intensified.
A dark form crested the line of the woods and Maian let loose an arrow, the singing path of the tip silenced quickly by a slice of a sword. The glint of the blade was a flash as it splintered the shaft.
Uthen uttered a massive cry as he charged forward upon seeing the parry of the girl’s arrow. His blade was raised high above his head, poised to strike the figure in the darkness. The shrouded figure parried away Uthen’s lunge and turned his sword upon the tripped soldier, holding it at his throat.
“Uthen, there is no need to attack me. Why have you stopped moving?” spoke the voice from the shadow.
As it leaned forward, the blood-spattered features of Xeno were clear. Uthen was upon his feet quickly and Maian ran forward, her eyes filled with tears. Her hands shook terribly beneath the grip of the bow.
“We thought you were something else, the beasts we heard in the distance,” replied Uthen as he dusted the snow from his pants and replaced his blade in its sheath.
“They still pursue us, three, perhaps more. They are strong and feral. We must find shelter, an advantage.”
“There is a cliff. We are trapped,” shrieked Maian in complete horror.
The panting of the beasts was deafening now. Their claws slammed into trees that blocked their path. Fierce grunts hung eerily on the cold winds, haunting the trio as they stood before the cliff. They broke free of the tree line and charged forward, their bodies covered in burrs and packed snow. As they licked their lips, they made their way toward the fearful faces of their prey. Xeno turned his back to the charging beasts and peered over the cliff.
His body felt the pressure of the winds drawing him into the gaping mouth of the canyon. He reached along his waistline and pulled at the exposed piece of rope there, pulling the length through his clenched fist until he had a heavy coil. He wrapped an end around the base of one of the winter-worn trees, tying it off with the efficiency of a ranger.
He motioned for Maian to come to him.
“Wrap this around your waist,” he called over the roar of the canyon winds. She did so, her eyes squinting against the gales. As she tied it off, Xeno drew his sword and turned his back to her. “Jump now.”
“Jump? I’ll be killed.”
“Scale down the face of the canyon, there is an end to it. We have to get away from these creatures as quickly as possible.”
“But…”
“There is no time for argument. You must do as I say, now go.” Xeno charged forward and Maian looked once more before scaling down the frozen cliff, the coil of rope dangling above her as she lowered herself into the abyss below.
Uthen looked back and saw Maian disappear from view. He turned away from the charge of the creatures, not seeing as one leapt high into the air and slammed its outstretched claw into his side. Making him slide across the snow-packed ground, he ended up in a sitting position against the trunk of a tree. Xeno was at his side immediately, his sword hanging in his left hand as he placed the other upon Uthen’s shoulder.
“Are you alright?” called Xeno as he kept one eye on the pacing creatures. Their faces were hidden in the shadow of the moonlight. Emitting low, guttural sounds, they recognized Xeno’s scent.
“Why did you let the girl go?” replied Uthen weakly.
“She would not have survived this figh
t I am afraid.”
“I….”
“Can you get up?”
“Yes.”
Uthen rose to his feet slowly, his massive arm holding his weight as he found his balance. Reaching down to retrieve his blade from the ice-packed ground, he brandished it at the snarling beasts. Xeno nodded at him, and then returned his attention to the roving beasts. His feet edged forward in concentric movements, sword extended away from his body.
Uthen mirrored Xeno’s posture, emulating it as he moved alongside his traveling companion. The beasts leapt, retracting theirs claws that dripped with snow and specks of flesh from previous kills.
Xeno’s blade flashed out with the skill of a practiced hand and removed the mangled claw from the creature’s body. It reeled back, howling in frustration and pain.
The creature fell to one side as it tried to even out its balance and Xeno capitalized, his legs churning in the cold as he used the fallen creature as a springboard. Leaping at the second creature, he tore a gash across its demonic skull. The fissure spit blood and tissue, staining the white ground of their battle site.
Uthen watched, mesmerized by Xeno’s skill and fearlessness. But as the third creature barreled down upon him, he awoke from his admiration. Thrusting his sword forward, he caught the creature as it came up on its hind legs. The point of his blade tore through the fur of its underbelly. Glancing off of the creature’s spine, it caused the creature to twist and convulse as it lost control of its body.
Uthen stepped back in revulsion.
The sickening display of the dying creature made him bring his hand to his mouth to hide his grimace. Xeno came toward the stricken Uthen, pulling the captain’s blade free of the dying creature as he did so. He handed the blade to Uthen, the blood of the creature pasted along the steel.
“Take it, you fool,” yelled Xeno.
The last remaining creature sniffed at the injured one, and then to the dying form of its brethren. It roared––a painful howl that sent shivers down Xeno’s back. Turning its lifeless eyes upon Xeno, its cold, hateful breath exhaled from its nostrils in forceful puffs. Xeno allowed the blade to fall and sink into the earth as he turned to the last remaining creature.
Uthen was on his knees, staring aimlessly into the distance. The creature slid to a stop and swung its claw forward, sharpened claws extended. Catching Xeno across the face, it made three identical lines over the right side of his cheek, just below his eye.
The force of the blow flipped Xeno through the air and onto his side, his sword flailing from his hands as he fell. The creature snarled again as it descended upon Xeno––haunches tense, head tilted in anticipation of the kill.
It yelped in pain, turning its head back toward the cliff. An arrow sung through the air and slammed through the creature’s front leg, causing it to howl in pain once again. Maian’s pale figure stepped forward through the gales, the bow held tight in her hands as she notched an arrow once more and let it loose.
This time it sailed wide as the creature dodged to the side. The creature ambled toward Maian. But the girl held strong, burying an arrow in the creature’s face.
The sockets of its eyes ran with blood.
Another arrow lodged in its opposite leg, forcing the creature to slide into the snow just seconds before impact. It growled deeply in pain. Uthen awoke from his startled state. Upon seeing Maian in trouble, he searched frantically through the snow for his blade––his hands red and frozen from the frigid touch of the snow-covered earth. The creature crawled on its side toward Maian, and she backed away. Unable to notch another arrow as one of its claws wrapped around her leg, it pulled her to the ground.
“Maian,” cried Uthen as he urgently tried to locate his blade. The depth of the snow hid it from him in his panicked state. The creature loomed over Maian as it used her leg to pull itself forward.
Tearing her flesh, the snow ran red with the wound. The creature opened its jaws, the rows upon rows of teeth glistening with saliva as it prepared to take a piece of Maian. It was quickly shut as Xeno drove his blade through its head and then deep into the earth with a splintering crunch.
Flattened and swollen, the creature’s head looked strange trapped against the snow. Maian looked at the disfigured head, watching as Xeno pulled his blade free and marched away from her into the field.
The other creature cried out in pain as Xeno drove the point of his blade into the base of its skull repeatedly, until it whimpered no more. Cleaning his blade along the coat he wore outside his chainmail, the streak of the creature’s blood shone an eerie iridescent color in the moonlight. Uthen looked at the menacing figure of Xeno from underneath a lowered, even shameful, glance. He toyed with the snow-covered length of his blade.
“I am sorry for what happened.”
“No need for apologies, the child is alright. We made it out alive. I might have expected more from a Captain of the Guards, but the beasts were something that you might not have ever faced before,” returned Xeno as he sheathed his weapon and leaned against a tree. He crossed his arms, staring far off in the distance.
“It was not the beasts that scared me,” began Uthen.
“Master Xeno,” spoke Maian as she moved forward, her bow already across her body once more. The quiver of arrows was quickly replaced beneath her pack.
“What is it, child?”
“You….”
“It was you, Xeno. The way you carry yourself, and the way you attacked those beasts, it was unnatural,” replied Uthen, his eyes straying to Maian.
Xeno nodded slowly, not bringing his eyes up from the ground. “You were very brave to come back, Maian. It would be best if next time you listened to my instructions. They were made with your safety in mind.”
“I know that, Master Xeno. I just was scared to go all the way down the cliff alone,” replied Maian as she moved closer to Uthen and looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes.
Xeno nodded and moved forward, peering over the cliff. The length of rope was buried in the snow. He grasped it in his gloved hands and turned it over and over, his eyes shut tight.
His grip emitted a strangled sound.
“We must make it to the Tower before we encounter anything else that might threaten to overtake us. The mountain pass to the east carves a course directly to the dark gates. That is where we must go. This cliff is only the beginning.”
“Xeno, what if we cannot defeat the Widow?” queried Uthen as he approached the edge, Maian at his side. She hugged herself, not because of the cold that surrounded them, but from the chill that attacked her from within.
“We must make it to the gates. I will go first and then Maian. Uthen you will bring up the rear, do not swing too far away from the face of the cliff.” Xeno gripped the end of the rope and ran toward the edge of the cliff, eliciting gasps from both Uthen and Maian.
He leapt.
His body drifted far out into the canyon as the arc of his jump carried him back toward the face of the rocky cliff. Uthen and Maian watched Xeno lower himself quickly, his body already hidden by the shadow of the mist and drifts of snow that covered the rocky face. They made their way slowly, knowing that Xeno would reach the bottom far before them. It was a thought that comforted them in a strange way.
8
X
eno walked ahead of Uthen and Maian. His head was tucked deep beneath the hood and cowl of his cloak as the bitter gales attacked his mortal frame. The winds pushed them toward the edge of the ravine that wound its way up from the canyon bottom toward the Tower to the east.
Uthen held the child close, her much smaller frame feeling the effects of the torrents that threatened to push them from their course. Xeno moved through the storm like water sluicing through dirt, carving a jagged, rugged path. Maian lowered her head against the white wall that had erected itself just ahead of their progression. It seemed as if it would never move.
“Xeno,” called Uthen over the storm. He didn’t stop or even acknowledge the soldier. “Xeno,”
he called again, this time cupping his hands to amplify his voice.
Xeno paused for a moment.
His head cocked slightly, though his face was not visible. Moving forward again, his body disappeared just beyond the curve of the path as it slithered around the face of the mountain pass. Uthen’s face darkened and he looked down at the fear on Maian’s face. Moving faster through the drifts of the snow, she pulled her cloak tighter around her body, unable to see the bluish hue her face had taken on.
He kicked the snow away frantically.
Pulling Maian along, Uthen wanted so desperately to catch up to the fleeting image of Xeno. As he rounded the corner, the soldier almost ran into the warrior, his hooded figure an obstruction in their path. Xeno remained there, his face hidden and his body rigid against the storm.
“Xeno, I was calling to you,” spoke Uthen.
“I heard you.”
“Then why didn’t you acknowledge me?”
Maian shivered beside Uthen and looked around worriedly. The sudden appearance of Xeno was a warning in her mind. Xeno raised his gloved hand to his mouth and turned his haggard features to Uthen, a single finger pressed against his lips.
“We are being hunted.”
“Hunted?” queried Uthen.
Dumbfounded, he looked around inquisitively.
“What?” was Maian’s shrieking response, to which Xeno wrapped his gloved hand around her mouth, stifling whatever might have come next.
“Quiet, you must not allow whatever follows to realize that we have noticed its presence,” reasoned Xeno. He lifted his hand from her face when she nodded her head shakily in agreement.
“What in the name of Exodus is it?” asked Uthen.
Pulling beneath the overhang of the ridge, they momentarily escaped the torrential gales that continued to threaten their journey. Xeno shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes to the ledge just immediately above them. The three remained in silence in anticipation of anything. Over the howling of the wind they could barely make out the crunching footfalls of something.