by Taki Drake
I took a few seconds to string the bow and took stock of the fight. The one enemy that I had stabbed in the neck was flailing around in attempts to dislodge my jaw-locked canine companion. The ineffective blows loosened my sword, and it fell to the ground unnoticed.
As the Thing continued to twist and slap at the dog, the creature’s skin finally ripped free, and the animal slid down the back of the monster, leaving bloody claw tracks to mark his passage.
Taking advantage of my opponent’s divided attention, I sank a war arrow into its arm. The monster bellowed again and clambered to its feet. Overwhelmed with confusion and pain, the Thing was in full retreat, thinking only of getting away. The large black and white dog pressed its attack, herding the now terrified creature toward the wall.
Willow ran to grab the shortsword from where it had dropped. Charging back to the building on which I stood, she shouted to get my attention and flung the shortsword in front of me, to clatter on the slate tiles of the roof.
Slinging my bow over my shoulder, I charged along the length of the roof, grabbing my shortsword along the way and quickly slamming it into its sheath. I vaulted across the gap to the next house closer to the cow pen, landing on my feet and moving to a better position to deal with the remaining monster.
Looking down from the rooftop, I could see that the second monster had broken through the south edge of the cattle corral in its efforts to grab its prey. Apparently, the shock of its advance had caught the animals off guard. I could see the cows milling around, trying to stay as far away from the flat-footed, confused-looking monster as possible. Many of the goats were hidden, but a trapped small cluster of baby goats was protected by outward-facing and aggressive-looking Billy goats in the far corner.
Even though most of the herding dogs had been caught sleeping, in the dim light of the evening, I could see that a whirling tornado of different sized canines was harassing the giant monster. Even knowing that this was the smaller of the two Things, I was amazed that the dogs appeared fearless in their attacks.
The sheer number of animals that darted in and out attempting to bite or claw the attacking creature must have confused it. The much smaller animals had backed the monster against a section of the corral fence, pinning it in place. One particular animal, oversized and covered with corded hair, kept leaping up at the Thing, trying to rescue the frightened cow that was clutched to the monster’s chest.
Reaching a position that offered me a clear shot at the creature, I almost shot but held my arrow as the dogs’ attack changed, and they rushed the monster in unison. Its confusion and the power of the joint attack frightened the Thing into taking a step backward, which was a mistake.
The length of broken fencing that had scattered when the creature had first crashed through the cow corral proved to be its downfall. Stepping backward without looking, the startled monster lost its footing and tripped. Collapsing onto its knees, the pain of the impact further demoralized the creature, and when the largest dogs followed normal pack behavior by lunging for the Thing’s face, it screamed in sheer panic and dropped the cow as it flung its arms over his face and eyes.
The creature flailed around with his arms blindly, attempting to bat the much smaller animals away from its body. Several of the dogs were sent flying through the air, yelping in pain, but none stayed down. Exhibiting impressive courage for so small of an animal, each one of them scrambled to its feet and move back to the attack.
I saw that the momentary hesitation in its movement gave me a perfect shot at the Thing’s shoulder, and I fired one of my heavy-duty war shafts. The missile flew perfectly, penetrating the creature’s skin and muscle all the way to the fletching. My reward was another bellow of fear and pain, but I did not wait to see the result of my shot. Instead, I quickly nocked another arrow and sent it along the same path to reinforce the damage.
The second shot penetrated the shoulder within inches of the first one. From the high pitched shriek, the pain of the injury was intense, and the Thing scrambled to its feet in total panic. Stumbling over the loose fence rails on the ground, the creature began to lumber away from the corral, heading toward the stockade wall.
While a few of the dogs remained to guard the herd, the majority continued to harass the fleeing creature every step of the way. By the time the monster had traveled a couple of hundred feet, the larger, more aggressive dogs were carrying out the attacks. They were joined by one small white terrier that appeared not to understand how badly his size was outclassed.
A few hundred feet from the wall, the pack of dogs harassing the smaller Thing was joined by my canine battle companion. The big dog’s attack coordinated with the others and cause the fleeing creature to crash back down on the ground again.
The milling flood of dogs made it impossible for me to get a clear shot, and I was not willing to kill one of my allies, so I ran to the corner of the building I was standing upon and grabbed the roof drainage pipe. Using that to control my slide to the ground, I took off at a dead run toward the downed creature.
Dropping my bow and quiver, I drew my shortsword and join the dogs in attacking. Working like a well-practiced team, we kept the creature from gaining its feet and continued to cause damage.
Cries and shrieks, moans, and massive flailing arms of our opponent met the snarls and growls, teeth and claws of the village force. As the dogs focused the creature’s attention away from me, I dove toward the head of the monster and sliced down with all my strength.
Even though a last-minute jerk of its head made my kill shot go awry, the power of my strike sliced the creature’s ear cleanly from its head. The power and pitch of the monsters scream of pain almost sent me to my knees, and actually stunned two of the dogs.
Clawing the ground to get to its feet, the Thing fled in total panic. Too terrorized to do anything but run away, the monster crashed through the stockade wall. Never looking back, it kept running with a limping gait away from the source of his pain as quickly as it could.
Most of the dogs stopped at the stockade wall, although several of the large animals and the terrier continued to chase the retreating monster. My canine battle companion howled what almost sounded like a command. At the powerful sound, all the dogs, save the terrier, returned. It took two more increasingly powerful howling barks from the large black, and white dog before the terrier reluctantly turned and came back.
Gasping for breath, I tried to slow down my racing heart and take stock of the situation. Looking around, I realized that the first giant had jumped over the wooden wall as simply as I had mounted the top of the rock fence at Delman’s farm yesterday. While the first Thing had left no damage to the stockade, the second had smashed through it without even slowing down.
Even through the pounding of my heart and the rasp of my breath in my chest, I could hear the shrieks and cries of the retreating Things. Their voices faded as they disappeared into the forest beyond the fields, and the peace of the nighttime returned to the village.
Chapter 11 – Aftermath
I limped over and picked up my discarded bow and quiver, carefully checking it for damage. I could tell that people in the village had wakened, and a few of the braver of them were emerging into the village square to see what was going on. As I moved over to the crowd, I could see a few lanterns, but most of the area was dimly lit.
As I got closer, I heard them asking, “What happened?” “What was it? Did you see it?”
The noise got more intense as I got closer and the people saw me. To stop the muddled sound of many people shouting questions, I held my right hand up, and the crowd quieted.
A couple of drops hit my face as they realized that I still held my shortsword in my right hand, and some of the blood on the blade had just splattered me. I am still keyed up from the fight. I need to remember to calm down rather than snarling at people, I thought to myself.
I projected my voice to be heard over the crowd, saying, “There were two of the Things, but they are now gone. One of them
was wandering through the streets of the village and managed to grab Willow. The black and white dog and I fought it and managed to get the monster to drop Willow and then my furry battle companion, and I chased it out of the village.”
Drelba showed up by Willow’s side, quickly wrapping a blanket around the younger woman and checking her apprentice for injuries. Several other women joined the two Wisewomen, and I could see that they were questioning the younger woman closely.
I continued my narrative, raising my voice to be heard over the noise of questions that were being shouted at me again. “The other Thing grabbed a cow, but the dogs by the animals harassed it, and I shot it from the rooftops until we forced it to drop the cow. After that, it was a matter of shooting to injure it more, and eventually, I joined the dogs on the ground to hurt the Thing so badly that the creature panicked and fled.”
The large black and white dog chose that moment to trot up beside me and drop the severed ear from the monster on the ground in front of us. There was a collective gasp of horror, and the villagers closest to me flinched backward.
In the appalled silence, the shaken voice of the innkeeper could be heard, whispering, “Dear gods, it must be huge if that is its ear!”
I could feel the weight of the villagers' gaze as if it were physical pressure. Feeling besieged, all I could see around me was a wall of wide eyes filled with fear. Trying to project calm, I continued to speak, “Both of the monsters went in the same direction, so we only have one trail to follow. Although between the dogs and me, we got Willow back without major injury and prevented the cow from being stolen, just chasing the monsters out of the village is not enough.”
More doors began to open as those people still in their houses began to hear the discussion. There were several shouted questions, variations on, “Is it safe?” At the reassurance from the villagers around me, the crowd began to grow. I noticed several people moving outward to inform others of what had happened, and to check that everyone was all right.
Faren pushed to the front of the crowd next to me, motioning people to calm down before turning to me and asking, “Two of them? What are they? What do they want? What do they look like?” He finally paused for breath so that I can answer.
I could see the villagers surrounding us like of triple ring of concern. Their faces were anxious and nervous, but Faren appeared calm and controlled. Part of me noted how his demeanor helped control the situation without saying a word. I will have to remember to do that. It saves a lot of wasted energy.
“From what I can tell, the Things appear to be human, just incredibly large, as you can see from the severed ear. I would guess that the monsters want the cows for meat. Also, unless I miss my guess, the one male wanted something else,” I said, looking at Willow.
Willow flushed red with embarrassment and pulled the blanket tighter around herself. To take some pressure off of her, I added, “She was incredibly brave, getting me my bow when I needed it and not falling apart.”
I noticed several of the young men glancing at her, some of them smiling in appreciation and others thoughtful in consideration. I had to admit to myself that Willow, even splattered with blood and smudged with dust and dirt, presented a fetching view with her glorious hair spilling around her shoulders and her heightened color.
It was apparent to me that several of the young and not so young men were now seeing her in a new light. Not as the Wisewoman’s apprentice, but as a woman with her own value. I was pleased for Willow’s sake, knowing that she was seeking more in life than merely being a resource for the village.
Drelba put a comforting arm around Willow and said, “I am going to take her back home and check her injuries. I do not know how much of the blood is hers, and I do not want her to go into shock.”
“Drelba,” I commented quickly. “She should be okay. Willow got grabbed, but after we got her loose, she helped me in the fight. Your apprentice even tossed me my sword after the Thing had bloodied it. I believe that is the blood you see on her.”
Motioning to Drelba to come closer and turning to Faren, I sheathed my sword finally and said, “It seems to me that we need to check on the people whose houses were damaged by the monster and get someone to check on the cows and goats.”
Faren answered, “Not a problem. I can organize that. What else?”
“Part of the corral was destroyed by the second Thing before I could get to it. The dogs did an amazing job of keeping the animals controlled and keeping the monsters from getting their paws on anything after the first cow. However, it is possible that some of the animals need healing, and I am sure some of them have escaped.”
Laughing, Faren told me, “Between checking on the people and animals, I believe the villagers will be pretty busy for the next hour or two.”
Immediately, Drelba said, “I will get set up to treat any injuries if Faren can organize the people to do the searches.” At Faren’s nod of agreement, the Wisewoman gathered in Willow and several of the other women and took off at a fast walk toward her house.
Faren started barking out directions, getting some of the farmers to go check on the beasts and others to gather materials to repair the corral. Two other men that I had met the day before briefly began to organize several of their friends to join them in checking the damaged houses. Pausing in his wave of organizing activity, Faren asked, “What are you going to do?”
I answered, “I believe that we need to track the Things, at least until we understand the direction that they were moving. They should not come back for a while because they got hurt, in some cases, badly. That will make them stay away from us until their hunger overcomes their memory.”
Faren grimaced, saying, “We tried that after a couple of the previous attacks. We were not good enough at tracking to follow them, and they moved too fast for us to catch up. Until you fought them, we thought there was only one, and we did not even know what they looked like. So you have already done more than we could.”
Something subconscious told me that tracking them was essential and that it could not wait. Bowing to the force of that intuition, I said, “I think that we just have to track them long enough to see what direction they are traveling. We also need to get some idea of how badly they were injured. I would like to take three people with me, two for support and one who can run quickly to act as my messenger.”
Chapter 12 – Posse Organization
The area around us grew very quiet as the villagers heard that I was going to go after the Things. Glancing up, I could see expressions of fear on most of their faces. Realizing that these were farmers and shop owners, not warriors, I almost volunteered to go by myself. Before I could get sound out, Jedrek, the village blacksmith, stepped forward and said, “I cannot use a sword, but if you do not mind a big man with a hammer, I will go with you.”
Before I could respond, an older man with the tan skin of a farmer stepped up beside the blacksmith and smiled at me. Glancing around the crowd, he said quietly, “If something happens to me, I have four sons that are around the farm. I cannot manage a sword either, but I swing a mean scythe, and I would be proud to go with you.”
An older woman, with braided hair wrapped around her head in a crown, put both hands over her mouth and her eyes filled with moisture. I was impressed when she did not say a word but noticed how her eyes gazed at the man in pride and worry as he stuck a work-worn hand out to shake mine, saying, “My name is Marek.”
I had my two warriors, even if they were not conventional. The fact that they had volunteered and also had a stake in the safety of the village went a long way in my book. Opening my mouth, I responded, “Thank you. I do not plan on engaging with our enemy unless they are down and easy to kill. However, it is always safer to travel with a battle brother at your side. For this effort, we are brothers.”
The blacksmith grinned, a broad infectious expression of joy as he said, “I have always wanted brothers! It would be a welcome change from five sisters.”
“Jedrek!
You just make sure that you come back so we can nag you to death about how reckless you are!” The woman that ran up to the blacksmith and flung her arms around him in a quick, hard hug bore a startling resemblance to the smaller, feminine version of the man, complete with the same bright grin.
Laughing, I added, “We will just follow their trail for a bit. A mile or two at most. However, it would be stupid to go too far without a bigger force, especially in the dark. Once we have checked to make sure that the injuries were not disabling them and that we see a direction for their travel, we will return.”
“While you get ready, I will pack you up some food and water to take with you. That way, if you are out longer than you think you are going to be, you have something to eat and drink.” It was Kaz, the proprietor of the small village inn that spoke up. Without another word, he and his wife hurried off to prepare packs for us.
I turned to go back to Drelba’s home to grab the rest of my equipment and finish getting dressed when a young man seemed to pop up in front of me so abruptly that I almost struck him down in sheer surprise.
He was young, fourteen or fifteen years old at most, with a skinny frame and patched clothing. His green eyes wide with fear, the young man said, “I could be your runner. I am the fastest person in the foot races, not only in this village but in all of the nearby ones.”
Taken aback by his youth, I tried to give the boy an out saying, “I am sure you are fast, but it is not likely that your parents will give you permission to go. This is dangerous, and if you have to run back to the village with a message, you will be on your own.”
An undefinable expression appeared briefly on his face before he said in a very even tone, “I have no parents. I am an orphan, and the village supplies me with food and clothing. I owe everyone here, and this would allow me to pay them back for some of the care they have given me these years.”