by Jeff Inlo
The creature lacked the intelligence to pinpoint the sensation, but it was reminded of the moment it crossed over from the dark realm. It was a suffocating blankness, a stirring absence of reality. It was very much a sensation the creature wished to avoid.
Initially, the shag backed away from the intruder. The lingering cloud of peril surrounding the invader removed the monster's instinct to defend its territory, but only temporarily. As the beast retreated toward its den, its small mind swam with an even greater influence; a desire for dominance.
The shag could not fully comprehend the scope of the aura around Linda. It found it repulsive, even terrifying, but it was not ready to concede to a simple sensation. While it normally acted more on instinct than on critical considerations, the choice it faced became surprisingly clear. It could run from the strange trespasser or it could assert its claim over the territory.
Ultimately, the creature decided to turn around. It had fought off too many intruders to simply skulk back into its den. The shag stalked toward the sound of harsh curses with renewed courage.
#
Ryson went first to the Borderline Inn. He was disappointed to hear that Linda had not shown up for work, even concerned, but not completely surprised. He recalled her previous state of emotional detachment. If she had remained in such a condition, skipping work would have been understandable. He would have even suggested it.
He rushed to their home, expecting to find her there, wondering if she was still lying in bed. He passed through the front door hoping she would rush to him with joy in her eyes as she had done so many times in the past.
Nothing.
There was no sign of trouble. Everything in their home remained in order. Linda simply wasn't there. There was no note, no indication at all of where she might have gone.
His concern began to grow. He wanted to find her as soon as possible, and to that end, it was imperative to get more information. After his last conversation with Sy, Ryson wasn't sure it was the best idea to see the guard captain, but based on the circumstances, it was the only place to go.
Ryson didn't always appreciate the level of control in Burbon—the level at which the town guard maintained order and the reciprocating attitude of its citizens—but there were times it worked to his advantage. Ryson might have enjoyed the freedom of spirit that allowed him to race off into the hills for days at a time, but the rest of the town's citizens normally restrained any great urges of wild independence. Burbon thrived on order, it embraced it. Unusual behavior was noted immediately. If something was going on in Burbon, Sy would know about it.
After sprinting to the center of town, Ryson knocked on the guard headquarters door and waited respectfully to be allowed to enter. Despite his growing distress, he patiently asked to see the guard captain as opposed to simply rushing into his office. He was very happy to see Sy come out to greet him, until he heard what the guard captain had to say.
"I'm glad you're here," the captain revealed. "I heard you just came through the gate and I was about to send someone out to get you."
"I was looking for Linda," Ryson revealed. "I thought you might know where she is. She's not at work, and..."
"We don't know where she is," Sy interrupted with a strained tone. Knowing the delver would want as much detailed information as possible, he continued quickly. "She walked out the western gate after you left for Connel. She was on foot and wasn't carrying any supplies. We thought she would be back quickly, but she hasn't returned."
"What?!"
"I know. It doesn't make any sense."
It was beyond not making sense for the delver, and Ryson grasped for reason.
"Was there anyone with her?"
"No, she was alone."
"Did you send someone out after her?"
"Of course I did. I have guards on horseback still out on patrol. There's no sign of her." Sy could see the panic growing in the eyes of the delver and he did his best to lessen Ryson's greatest fears. "I've had the patrols report back at standard intervals. There also isn't any sign that she was attacked. We've found nothing that would indicate she's been harmed. The road is empty."
The additional news did little to ease the delver's near incapacitating dread. With sheer force of will, he fought off the confusion and anxiety, shut out the shocking fear. He considered what he knew, reviewed the facts in his mind, and questions requiring answers flowed from his lips.
"She just walked out the western gate? Where was the guard? Didn't anyone try to stop her?"
Sy explained everything he learned from the report of the guard at the gate. As the captain expected, none of it satisfied the delver.
"She went into the forest?!" Ryson exclaimed. He couldn't believe it. The entire situation altered from unbelievable to unforgivable, and he was ready to blame everyone. "And you let her go?!"
The question wasn't a surprise to the captain. It was his first reaction as well, but he kept the sentiment to himself. He had went over the details with the gate guard when he received the first report. He wondered if he would have done anything differently if he had been there himself.
"My soldier didn't want her to go. He did everything to persuade her, but she insisted. There was nothing he could do."
"He should have stopped her!" Ryson insisted.
Sy understood Ryson's outburst, but he defended his guard.
"What could he have done? Arrested her?"
Ryson boiled with anger but couldn't afford wasting any more time. Arguing with the captain was irrelevant. All he could think of was Linda... alone in the forest. He raced from the office and toward the western gate.
As Sy watched the delver leave, he considered his options. In the end, he allowed the delver to leave Burbon without interference. If there was anyone within the town's borders that could find and help Linda, it was Ryson. He would let the delver do what Ryson did best, and prepare to help him if necessary.
The captain sent a message to the guards to step up their patrols outside the gates and be prepared to assist Ryson if any request was made. It was all he could do.
Ryson bolted past the guards at the western gate and down the road towards the edge of Dark Spruce. As he ran, he scanned the numerous tracks in the dirt. It was a myriad of wagon wheel trails, as well as soldier and horse tracks all mashed together.
Still, finding Linda's initial trail was not difficult for him, not for a delver. He could still catch a faint trace of her scent and he quickly found the tracks in the dirt road that led into the forest. He followed them with a flicker of growing hope, but when they turned off down a small trail, Ryson felt as if his heart was going to explode.
His gaze followed her tracks deeper into the forest. He understood why the guards didn't find her. There was no sane reason for her to make that turn. And since she did, there was probably very little they could do to save her.
Could he save her?
He wouldn't answer the question in his mind. He couldn't. The obvious answer was too painful. He had explored that section of the woods many times. He knew the dangers. He could avoid them. He was a delver. But what chance did Linda have?
#
The shag stepped directly up to the female and looked her over with a mix of feelings. On instinct alone, it wanted nothing more than to grab her, snap her spine, and bring her back to its den. She was much larger than a goblin and would serve to feed the monster for several meals.
Confusion, however, initially overrode the beast's more basic instinct. It continued to sense the strange aura around the human, an emanation that served as a warning. The radiating field puzzled the shag. Not quite a glow or a cloud of smoke, it could not be seen by the eyes, but its existence could not be denied. It was like a shroud of minute dust particles that avoided detection even in a sunbeam.
The unique and intangible covering didn't necessarily protect the potential prey, like some magical suit of armor, but it cast a shadow of admonition. It was almost as if the human had been claimed, much like the
territory the shag protected, and the female had been marked in such a way that predators would recognize.
Once more the beast considered turning away, but the aura slowly began to fade. Portions of a small cloud continued to float around the woman, but that was dissipating as well.
As it did, the shag sensed yet another perplexing attribute. It could not dismiss the absence of magic within the human, yet it seemed as if a very small pocket of strange energy existed within the woman's center. The immunity could not be ignored, and while it angered the beast, the entire situation left the monster bewildered.
Beyond the magical immunity, there was the action of the prey herself. The shag could not comprehend why the human dared to defy it. It expected the female to attempt to flee or cower in fear. She did neither. The woman stared at the shag with contempt, daring the beast to attack her.
And contempt was exactly what Linda felt. She locked her gaze upon the eyes of the hairy beast before her. She sneered at it even as the beast towered over her. There was fear deep in her consciousness at facing such a monstrosity, but it was completely submerged in boiling anger. So much so that she did not waver in her stance. Her back remained straight and her knees stable. She kept her arms at her side, but her hands were clenched into tight fists.
"Well?" she growled.
The shag growled back in response... not a roar, but a subtle snarl.
"Is that supposed to scare me?" Linda demanded.
Her head pounded, the pulse of her blood thumped against her skull. All of existence around her narrowed into tunnel vision of the shag. Everything else faded into a seething desire to strike out at the creature.
And she did.
Her right hand came up quickly and she threw a straight punch into the center of the beast's chest.
The shag felt no pain, but it actually stepped back in apparent amazement.
Linda took not one, but two steps closer, reducing the distance that was initially between them. She had to bend her head back to look up into the creature's eyes.
"What's the matter?" she demanded in an even more vicious growl. "Don't you know what to do?"
She didn't strike the shag again. In fact, she dropped her hands back to her sides. She left herself completely vulnerable, but she never, not for one instant, believed the beast would lash out against her. She didn't know why—she could not feel anything other than the anger and could not see anything beyond the shag in front of her—but she remained absolutely certain the monster would not dare attack. Logically, she should have expected to be killed in an instant, but logic could not break through the crowded emotions at the center of her being.
"I'm not moving!" she declared. "We can stand here all day if that's what you want. We can stand here forever. Why not?"
The shag stared down at her for only a moment more, uncertain of what to do until it sensed yet another invader. It smelled, heard and saw the new presence all at once—it could not miss it—and despite the shag's own size and strength, it knew it was outmatched.
The hairy beast turned and ran back to its den, climbed deep into the shadows. It would not exit for several days, unwilling to risk a conflict with a being of colossal physical power and even greater strength of spirit.
Linda sneered at the fleeing shag's back, cursed at it for cowardice. She almost followed it, would have been willing to enter the monster's den, but her fuming rage kept her frozen in place. She visibly shook as she shouted a string of profanities.
Eventually, she, too, noticed the rustling behind her, heard the heavy footfalls over her tirade. She didn't turn to face the striking thumps of a giant's steps or to see small trees shoved gingerly aside to make room for the titanic form. Instead, she stared off into the distance, her gaze following the shag's path of unceremonious retreat.
The cliff behemoth did not seem fazed by the torrent of obscenities streaming from Linda's mouth, though he would never indulge in such hostile comments himself. He ignored the outburst and instead looked to the trail of the shag to ensure that it had left. Certain that the beast was long gone, the giant turned its gentle gaze onto Linda.
"Do you recognize me?"
"Of course," Linda barked, barely acknowledging the colossal form next to her. She didn't move at first, but rather kept staring off at the trail the shag had taken. When she realized the beast would not return, she finally turned her venom unjustifiably upon the cliff behemoth.
"You think I'm an idiot?" she accused with a sneer.
"Not at all," the titan responded almost cheerfully but remained clearly concerned with Linda's well-being.
"You're Dzeb," Linda offered, as if to prove herself superior to the cliff dweller. "You're the cliff behemoth that keeps showing up around... Ryson."
She almost couldn't say the delver's name, and when she did, she appeared repulsed by it.
"It's not only the delver I care about, but you as well," Dzeb admitted.
Linda scoffed at the concern, tossed it aside like some old, heavy sweater on a very warm day.
"Why aren't you in the mountains?"
"I was concerned about you."
"I don't need your concern," Linda said, and then actually spat on the ground as if the thought left a bad taste in her mouth.
"You have it anyway."
"Shouldn't you be praying to Godson or something like that?"
"I can do both."
"Good for you."
A silence fell between them, but neither seemed to mind.
Dzeb looked about the forest, smiled at the birds and squirrels that chirped happily at his presence. Many appeared in plain sight, as if the simple existence of the cliff behemoth in their forest was a blessed event for them to enjoy.
Linda's mind was still filled with foreign fury. The anger burned inside her, but she had no real target for her animosity. She had left Burbon, and for the most part, discarded thoughts of her husband. Her rage remained, but it was growing more unfocused by the moment.
The only distraction was the peaceful cliff behemoth next to her, and eventually she grew irritated at his silence.
"Well?" she finally demanded.
"Well what?"
"Don't you have something to say to me?"
Dzeb contemplated the question and offered an honest response.
"Not necessarily. I don't mind just standing here with you."
"What if I don't plan on standing here?"
"That would be fine," Dzeb said calmly. "Where do you intend on going next?"
"Why do you care?"
"Because I do."
Linda released a frustrated sigh.
"It's none of your business!"
"I apologize if I'm intruding."
"I don't need your apologies, either."
Dzeb did not respond this time. The mighty cliff behemoth just smiled at Linda, his calm blue eyes revealed a deep peace within.
The expression of contentment irritated Linda even more.
"Don't you have something better to do?"
"No."
"Well, maybe I'll change my mind and just stand here for days on end," Linda growled, as if to annoy the cliff behemoth with her stubbornness.
"Then I will stand with you."
"I don't need your protection."
"From the way you dealt with the shag, I can see that. But if it's not necessary to offer you protection, at least I can offer you companionship."
"That's another thing I don't need."
"But I do. Hopefully, you will humor me."
"I find nothing humorous about you."
"I could try to tell a joke," Dzeb offered
"Don't," Linda snarled.
"Very well."
Deciding that standing motionless beside the cliff behemoth was simply too frustrating, Linda pressed on once more through the forest. She didn't follow the trail of the shag, but rather turned slightly to her right and chose a random path through the trees.
Dzeb gave her plenty of space, but then began to follow h
er as if guarding her flank. After a few steps, he made sure she would accept his presence.
"Do you mind if I walk with you?"
"What do I care?"
Dzeb smiled again, satisfied with the arrangement. He followed Linda through the forest. Every now and again, he would have to press smaller trees aside to fit through a passage, but he did so with great care, creating just enough room for him to get by. He ignored Linda's continued cursing as she pushed through the brush, but he took the time to acknowledge the birds and squirrels that seemed to follow them along. While the number of animals they encountered in their path grew, not a single dark creature dared to come near.
Chapter 23
Ryson followed Linda's tracks through Dark Spruce Forest as immeasurable panic blurred his thoughts. He tried to focus, keep his mind on the task before him, but he couldn't dampen the raging fear that was born from a simple reality. His wife was alone in Dark Spruce Forest, and that was probably a death sentence.
He tried to keep the ponderous despair from crushing his spirit, tried to hold to hope. He forced himself to envision finding her alive just behind the next section of brush, but each time he found only empty ground, a prevailing dread rushed back into his consciousness. Flashes of horrible images kept reaching in from the corners of his mind. He tried to beat them back, cursed his own lack of faith, but the thought of losing his wife was not something he could easily discard like a piece of stale bread. It was a driving fear that strangled every other possible concern.
To add to his ever expanding anxiety, he couldn't understand her movements. Her tracks revealed a determined march, as well as a complete disregard for her surroundings. There was no hesitation, no backtracking. Every step was made with conviction and it appeared she chose the most difficult path she could find.
It was easy for him to follow. He was a delver and the deep woods could not dissuade him from moving forward or even slow his progress. Where Linda stormed angrily through the forest, he glided swiftly over the uneven grounds. He faced no obstacle he could not overcome, but the path left him bewildered.