Page 4 - Wild Times in Coalpass

Elayne needed no further encouragement than Harlea’s gruff voice. Tipping her head forwards, she placed the shield at her front and fell backwards. As she hit the ground, she used the momentum to bounce backwards into a semi-controlled roll and spun around to keep the bag facing somewhat forward.

The boy came after her, soaring through the air in front of her and spraying blood high into the air as the shattered remains of his arms reached out towards her. Elayne held her bag out to meet him but he never landed.

A whoosh of air and sickening crunch announced Harlea’s axe from the side of the house. The axe head collected the boy in the air, cleaving deep into his stomach before smashing him into the top of the fence. The boy threatened to flip all the way over the top of the fence but Harlea wrenched him back, with his left axe striking second and digging deep into the boy’s side. Before the boy could react, Harlea spun him into the side of the house with a wet thud as the axes and body stuck fast against the house’s wooden wall.

Elayne leapt back up onto her feet, checked behind herself to find nothing in the backyard but Fiona waiting patiently, and then stepped back in to help Harlea kill the Wild monster.

Not that he needed any assistance, it turned out. Harlea ripped both of his axes out of the wall, causing the boy’s shattered remains to crumple onto the floor in front of him as he stepped back to the safety of the side of the house.

The boy twitched as he lay there, his torso rendered open and his right arm nearly completely torn off from the recent assault. Harlea dropped his left axe onto the boy’s spine for good measure, snapping his neck clean in two for good measure.

“Ah, ow.” Harlea flicked the blood off of his hand, “Some bullshit, being boiling hot.”

Elayne waited for Harlea to shift past her and she gave the boy’s quivering corpse a final look before she chased after the other two. Neither Fiona nor Harlea had waited, heading for a gap in the fenceline on the other side of the yard and Elayne was quick to follow.

Through the entire backyard, a long wry grass had come to dominate everything else. Elayne kept to the path that Harlea had made but checked back to ensure the boy hadn’t somehow gotten up again.

Speed was their friend and Elayne hurried to catch up to Fiona again as she jumped through the space in the stone fence. Using the time to check her bag, Elayne found only a single pocket had been really affected by the boy’s blood, with whatever had been inside either dissolved away or fallen out as she had run. It was hard to care really, given the fact Elayne couldn’t even remember what she had packed in the tiny exterior pocket. Her left hand went to her dagger’s scabbard and she fiddled with its latch. The ease with which it opened was some small mercy for her and she reached in and tossed the bolts behind her as she forced her way to the fenceline.

The gap was large enough for her to simply hop through, with no fuss as she cleared the rubble at her feet with ease. The next backyard was similarly overgrown with the tall grass allowing Harlea to more easily hide at the edge of the next house. The house was an older abode, more similar to the river houses that Elayne had heard of when she’d been told of the south, many years ago. Standing on long, sturdy stilts, the wooden panelled house loomed in the darkness, with a single set of stairs leading up to its backdoor. A blanket of ivy ate at the left side of the house and slowly climbed up to the roof, engulfing a lot of the stilts, crates, chairs that cluttered the lower section of the house but there was no sign of anything Wilded in the entire yard.

As if in response to her thought, several shrieks and screams broke through the heavy quiet around Elayne, echoing through the dull red night but undoubtedly from the paved front yard of the house they’d just left behind.

Elayne worked hard to race to her friends, stopping only when she slid to a stop at the base of the staircase. The back door was five steps up the stairs and hung slightly ajar.

Harlea was next to her with a grim look on his face as he wiped off what blood he could off from his beard. With his little red handkerchief he ran his fingers through his chin hair and let out a huff as he ripped out little chunks of viscera as he went. Disgusted he flicked the blood onto the ground next to them and offered the handkerchief to Elayne.

Elayne happily refused, swivelling her bag around once more to produce an old bandage she’d packed in a side pocket, just in case. As she worked the bandage over her face and through her hair, she reached into the main compartment and retrieved her dagger once more. Fitting it into its scabbard, Elayne felt comfort in having it back where it should be but rued the loss of her crossbow after only using it for a single shot.

The contraption had been a new purchase and one that she’d need to practise for hours at the training ground to get semi-accurate with. For little effect, it seemed as she had abandoned it as soon as she’d gotten into a fight. Elayne gave her head a final run with the bandage and brought it back in front of her to see. She’d wished that she hadn’t have bothered as soon as she saw just how much of the boy’s blood was on her.

Ignoring the gentle gnawing sizzle in her hair and the regular scratching that plagued the back of her mind, Elayne returned the ok gesture back to Harlea as he watched her.

Before she could question who was going to go up the stairs first, Elayne watched as Harlea did his best to creep up the first two stairs. Cringing slightly, she heard the first step creak beneath his weight and watched as concern swept over his face.

Immediately abandoning what little stealth he had, Harlea hopped up the stairs and waved Elayne and Fiona to follow him up as he positioned himself near the door. Elayne prodded Fiona forward and checked the yard behind them for any movement. Nothing had moved through the fence gap just yet but Elayne could hear more commotion over the way, muted and dull as the sounds in Coalpass were.

“El!” Harlea whispered from the top of the stairs but watched over the fence from his higher vantage point.

Elayne caught up with Fiona quickly as they raced up the stairs, Fiona peeling to the right to join Harlea and Elayne taking the lead as she hit the door at speed.

Two steps into the house, Elayne was hit from the side by something heavy. Her right wrist was snatched out of her control and smacked into the side of the entryway. As she went to balance herself, she was hip checked and pinned in by someone else. Elayne twisted against the wall and came face to face with a very unimpressed Areli with his hands up ready to strike her, “The hells happened out there?”

Elayne said nothing, instead shooting him a dirty look as she pushed past the hallway and into the house’s cramped dusty living room.

There was much to the inside of the house, with little more than a table, a few chairs, and a dusty old wardrobe between the two doors that lead to other rooms. The whole place was quite musty but it had the benefit of not being overrun with Wildfolk. Taking up a spot by the table, Elayne checked the three windows in the room to find the one on the far left slightly ajar.

Harlea followed through the door next, stepped over towards her while Areli followed silently behind and moved into one of the rooms in the front of the house.

Fiona came through close behind, stopping to look in Areli’s direction before she shuffled over to crouch between Elayne and the window on the right side of the house. Elayne dropped her bag by the table and then went to join Fiona for a quick look outside.

There were five people that they could see at the neighbour’s house: two in the backyard and three around the front. The thick fog obscured much of the detail of the Wildfolk, giving them a red hue as they stumbled around. Four of their bodies matched the similar broken, scaly body of the little boy that had attacked Elayne while the other’s body was much larger, so swollen and engorged that he couldn’t fit through the house’s front gate.

A slight squeak of the floorboard a few steps to Elayne’s side forced her into action. Twisting around, she kept her sword in guard as she came face to face with a meek-looking Harlea.

“Harlea, my bag is out there,” Fiona interjected as she turned around to face them both.

Harlea winced and stepped closer towards them before he whispered his response, “Ok, is the compass in it?”

“No, it’s here. But my bag has my other bijous, torches, and other gear,” Fiona pulled out several bijous from one of her right pocket, “I have three fire bijous and four botane left on me but nothing else. And my dagger, I guess.”

“Shit, ok. That isn’t great news.”

Elayne made space for Harlea to check out the window, an offer that he quickly took her up on, as he whispered, “We continue. We can’t stay here for long, so drop your bags and we focus on the node.”

Elayne and Fiona nodded in unison and left Harlea to keep watch at the window. Elayne slid the bag off of her shoulder and opened up its main compartment again as she followed close behind Fiona.

“Got any bijous in there?” Fiona whispered as she placed her two daggers, the compass, and a collection of bijous on the table.

“Sadly no. Just the standard stuff, torches and rope and pitons, just in case. However,” Elayne paused to rummage through her bag, rifling deep in her bag for her quarry. Tutting as she looked over the outside of her bags, Elayne worked her hand deep in the bottom of her bag until she found the familiar shape of her sling and its corresponding stone pouch.

Pulling them out, she offered them to Fiona, “I do have these if you want them?”

“Elayne, you are a pearl.” Fiona grinned as she took the stone pouch, giving it a shake before taking the sling.

“First point of order, we need to figure out where the node is,” Harlea approached the table and leant on one of the chairs. He scooped up the compass from the table and inspected its latch suspiciously.

Fiona waited with her hand out until he returned it to her, before deftly flicking the latch open to reveal the compass’ housing. Looking at the compass, Fiona tutted as she walked into the front left room of the house, head down and absorbed in the compass’ direction.

Elayne followed quickly with Harlea in hot pursuit, entering the small study filled with garden plants and wooden ornaments. Fiona stood to the side of the window, the compass in her outstretched hand as she carefully orientated it until it came to a stop.

“Fiona, maybe don’t stand next to the window.” Elayne tried to request nicely as she dropped into the left side of Fiona. She knew how the rest of the crew felt about her insistence on risk multipliers but, in a place like this, she couldn’t help herself.

Fiona looked up at her, pursed her lips and then dropped into a crouch, “Good point.”

Elayne slowly crept over to join her, the noises of the screeching Wildfolk outside only increasing as she huddled close to the bottom of the window.

The compass pointed directly out of the window and into the middle of the town.

“So the compass points to the magical energy?” Elayne knew the answer but felt compelled to ask, given how absurd it was.

“It’s a magical compass,” Fiona responded quietly as she adjusted the compass, “so it tells us where the node is.”

“It’s pointing over the river, I’d say.” Harlea joined them as he ran his fingers through his beard.

“Hm, maybe, slightly to the left?” Fiona proposed as she moved the compass slightly towards Elayne, “It’s hard to say.”

The compass hovered and swayed slightly while Elayne watched. She’d heard of the Wild Magic compasses but never seen one until that morning. Now she had seen it, it was fairly underwhelming.

“Well, ahh. There was a dock down the bottom of the village. We could see if we can get a boat and then use it to get a better reading on the river?” Elayne offered freely.

With a long, disapproving hiss, Areli’s voice appeared from behind her, “I would rather skin my left nut and dip it in lemon juice than go out on the water in Wild Lands.”

Elayne leapt up and crashed into the drapes in front of her. A few steps away, Areli sat crouched with a wry grin on his face.

“Telli’s Kindness, Areli, let me know when you are next to me!” Elayne said as she scowled at him and then looked at Fiona and Harlea as they focussed on the compass.

“Hmm, I agree with Areli,” Fiona responded, “we should go across the bridge and then leave from the southern gate if we can’t find the node. Rest up and go for it tomorrow if we have to.”

“Tomorrow or in a few days.” Harlea agreed somberly as he met Elayne’s eyes with a gentle smile.

Elayne murmured back half-heartedly while Fiona whispered as quietly as possible that it had to be tomorrow. Elayne wasn’t sure about what she meant but she knew for a fact that she was never going to suggest an idea to the group again.

“Bridge it is.” Harlea concluded and opened his backpack, “No rest and we go out the window. Gear up with anything you need and we leave in five.”

At Harlea’s orders, everyone split up without another word. Elayne moved to the desk, pulled the chair out quietly, and placed her bag on the desktop. From her bag came her rope, pitons, water, breakfast and several t-shirts she wouldn’t be needing. She unhooked her buckler from the outside of the bag and checked its wooden handle. She was glad she elected for the buckler instead of her normal shield, moving fast had been even more important than she’d anticipated. Returning to her bag, she kept her bandages, needle, thread, her extra dagger and then she picked up her rope and stuffed it back in on the off chance they could need it. Her second dagger went at the top of the mess in her bag and she squeezed the rope down to get more space at the top of the bag before pulling the bag’s string tight once more.

She ran her hands over the outer pockets, checking her extra bandage, travel jerky, and soap before she was interrupted by Harlea standing next to her.

In his hands were several bandages, an axe, and a lint box from his supplies, “Mind if I add to yours?”

Elayne looked at him incredulously, “What about your bag?”

“I only need these things,” Harlea said as he offered her the items, “and look how well you have packed yours.”

Elayne rolled her eyes and took the axe off of him, “Just put them in.”

Harlea tossed the bandages and lint box on top of the rope in her bag and grinned sheepishly as he made room for Areli behind him.

Areli said nothing as he handed his own assortment of miscellaneous items to her, before taking off back into the loungeroom without another word. After closing her eyes and counting to three, Elayne went about organising her bag to accommodate for the new items and then went about attaching Harlea’s axe to the shock rope that zig-zagged the outside of her bag. Once the axe was tied off, she tossed the bag over her shoulder, weaved both arms through the straps, and ignored the fact that the bag weighed roughly the same as before.

Moving into the living room again, Elayne followed Harlea as he moved to the window on the far side of the room. Now sitting open, the window waited for her. Areli hovered in front of the window, facing towards the backyard with his bow now in his hands as he waited.

Harlea was quick to join Areli, squeezing himself through the window and mumbling something to Areli as he passed.

Elayne was next in line to go through the window, checking out the little roof of the woodshed that Areli and Harlea were standing on before she committed. Choosing to wait for Harlea to jump off the shed’s roof, Elayne took the buckler off of its belt loop and tapped it lightly on the windowsill. It was a nice little buckler, wooden base but a steel coating that had survived more than its fair share of beatings. She’d had it since her bodyguarding days and had become an unlikely favourite of her weapons.

She took a deep breath in and traversed through the window as Harlea jumped out into the yard once more. Landing heavily on the grass, Harlea lurched several steps forward, well clear of the woolshed and the wayward firewood that spilled out on the ground below them. As he regained his composure, he gave a thumbs up to Areli standing guard and made off to the wooden picket fence that separated the property from a long woodline.

Areli nodded back at him, then gestured back to Elayne for her to go next. The wooden panels of the roof made little noise as she stepped out to the edge of the shed.  Even if it had, the rising clamour from the other side of the house was far more concerning to Elayne as she jumped as far as she could.

She hit the ground nicely and broke out into a jog as she joined Harlea. Not to be outdone, he had already made it to the fence and hit it without slowing down. As he collided with the fence, his hands wrapped around two of the posts as he went, ripping them out of the ground on his way through. Before he hit the treeline ahead of him, he tossed the section of fence to his left but gave no look back to the others as he disappeared.

Elayne’s eyes searched the gloomy treeline as she sprinted towards it, disconcerted by how much darker it was than any other part of the town. They’d seen the trees on the map, running from the wall to the bridge but the forest was far more dense than it had any right to be.

Elayne slowed down and was relieved to see Fiona on her way out of the window and Areli still keeping guard. Once they were down, they could go in and find Harlea together. Going fast was only a benefit if they all stayed together.

Going slow would be a problem as well, Elayne remembered as she spotted a Wildfolk already scaling the stone fence on the opposite side of the property. Between the large stilts that held up the house, she could see the Wildfolk stuck halfway over the wall, struggling to work his long limbs over the fairly tall fence. Catching her eye, he let out a long clicking noise from his mouth as he forced his way into the property.

Dry swallowing, Elayne ignored him and searched the backyard for any more monsters moving through the fog. The fog made it hard to see much beyond blobs at the back of the yard but she could only make out the single Wildfolk moving towards her, his long legs folding and trying to get under him as he pulled himself under the house.

“Come on, through the trees.” Fiona ordered as she swept past her with her sling and bijou in hand.

“Yep, coming.” Elayne answered as she loitered halfway between the house and the fence. The trees were veiled in darkness, their oppressive stature sucking in the moonlight and mist that covered the town. Elayne frowned as she watched Fiona sprint forwards to disappear into the windbreak.

The bridge was close. Elayne knew it, she’d seen it when they’d come in and it had to be only a handful of metres away from where she stood now. The facts mattered little in the face of the somber, eerie forest ahead of her that stretched much further than what it should.

With a shudder, Elayne turned back to find Areli gone as well. Not on the woodshed, nor in the surrounding yard, he had disappeared without a sound. With the other three gone, Elayne was left with the Wilded man who had already worked his way through half of the house’s stilts.

Stepping out onto the dirt trail that separated trees from the property, Elayne gave up on trying to spot Areli quickly. If he’d gone into the house again, he would know what he was doing and if he had gone into hiding, there was no way she was going to spot him. By the time she looked back at the trees, she only caught the briefest glimpse of Fiona as she disappeared into the shadows of the thick oak trees and overgrown bushes.

It was time to go. She willed herself to move, fear locking her knees as she stumbled backwards and turned to run. The trees didn’t move. Despite the gentle breeze in town and even her friends running somewhere in the thick of it, every branch was suspended in a deathly silence as they waited for her.  The disquiet didn’t hold a candle to the nightmares behind her when push came to shove but they were enough to make her reconsider.

Turning to her right, she followed the dirt path that ran perpendicular to the woods and found the road quickly racing to meet her. Her footsteps made no sound as she sprinted, the sound swallowed up by the forest just as much as they were overpowered by the screeches behind her.

After several more steps, it became clear to her that there was no way she was going through the forest. Around made just as much sense and with nothing out on the road that she could see, she’d happily take the long way round.

As she hit the cobblestones at the edge of the road, she was relieved to find the stretched Wilded man was long behind, still struggling through the undersection of the house. The forest fell aside on her left, revealing the rather unsurprising revelation of more Wildfolk for Elayne to worry about.

There were several dotted along the edge of the riverbank, with three blocking her way in front of the bridge. Another Wilded man, far larger than the rest lumbered away from her midway on the bridge.

The larger one was a future her problem, Elayne decided, with the three others giving her little option but to fight her way through them.

The closest to her was an elderly woman; her body hunched over her walking stick as she stumbled along. A swirling black cloud hung over her head, with a thin strand of obsidian spiralling down to connect to the thick shawl that hung over her shoulders. A slight buzzing hummed in her ear, growing louder as the cloud condensed and began to vibrate angrily.

Elayne raised her shield and went to slowly close the distance between them. The woman’s head whipped around to stare at Elayne, letting loose a sinister cackle as she turned to face Elayne. The old lady’s mouth moved silently as she whispered into her shawl. In response, the shawl rose up from her shoulders to join the cloud above her, forming an everlarger, shifting mass of darkness.

Seeing the swarm gave Elayne pause. The other two figures had noticed her as well, one a man with stretched out limbs and an extended snout stretching his face far out front and the other a small girl whose skin shimmered in the moonlight and waved happily to her. Pushing into three of them was risky, especially with no idea where her friends were but running wasn’t an option either.

Nor was waiting, she realised a few seconds too late. The cloud of tiny black insects weaved around the back of the woman before shooting towards her at a space that gave Elayne very little time to react. She brought her shield up to her face but could do nothing else as the hundreds of insects crashed into her. The force overwhelmed her, compelling her several steps back as she tried to keep her face covered. The low drone of the insects roared in her ears as the fear choked her. Wiping the insects away from her face did little to dissuade them and she screamed as they dug into her skin.

It took another two steps before Elayne hit something solid behind her. At just the right height to hit the back of her knees, she could do little to stop herself from flipping head over ass over the object to hit the floor head first.

Her fall was met with a crack of thunder and a violent grinding noise right next to her. Elayne flinched away, dragging herself back from the insects to find a chubby little girl next to her on all fours. In a flash, the girl bounced back up onto her feet and let out another booming, thunderous laugh.

Elayne’s vision swam as the cacophony of noise rocked her where she lay. Fighting through the agony, she dragged herself back up to her knees as she rubbed the edge of her buckler on her face. The steel edge was brutal on her skin but went some way in ripping the insects out of her face.

A pace away, the girl smiled pleasantly at her, green teeth and greasy yellow skin glistening in the pale light. The swarm corkscrewed and twisted above the girl’s head as the old woman and man continued to stalk towards Elayne.

Striking first, Elayne jabbed her sword at the girl’s chest but found no purchase as the little girl ducked low to avoid its tip. In retaliation, the girl closed in on her, collecting Elayne in the right temple as she glided on top of the grass.

Elayne reached up with her left hand, abandoning her buckler as she felt the girl’s hand grip a  handful of her hair. Yanking the hair hard, the little girl let out a deep booming giggle at Elayne’s scream.

Her left hand slapped against the girl’s forearm but she got no traction. Not only was hitting the girl’s pudgy little bicep like slapping cold iron, the oily substance that coated her skin gave Elayne nothing to hold onto.

Her hair went taut as she tried to pull away but losing her hair was low on Elayne’s lists of concerns. The insects swept over her again, barraging her yet again. Elayne swiped with her left hand over her face again as her right lashed out with her sword to score a long gash on the girl’s side.

The girl's grip loosened for a second, giving Elayne the relief she needed to find her feet. The difference in height was clear once she had started to stand up.

“Get. Off!” Elayne yelled as she headbutted the girl in the chest. Her neck cracked as the jarring impact radiated through her body, but the space it offered her allowed for her sword to maneuver to her side.

Her sword found its way to the girl’s jaw but, to Elayne’s horror, its blade slid off of the girl’s jaw and left her arm positioned high over the girl’s head and out of position. A solid punch came from underneath Elayne as the little girl’s left hand slammed into her ribs. The air rushed out from her lungs and Elayne knew well enough what a cracked rib felt like to know she was in trouble. Dropping her sword, she changed tactics.

Hand over hand, she wrapped her fingers around the girl’s wrist and held on for dear life. Her brain whirred as the pain rocked her body but she pushed it to the side, focussed on getting a good grip on the girl. Locking her hands together, she felt them stick despite the thick oil that ran over the girl’s arm. With a sharp yank, she pulled the girl to the side and was elated to find her stumble off-balance.

Two extra steps back and Elayne noted how far the other two Wildfolk were away from them. The old lady was two metres if Elayne was lucky, meaning she had less time than she wanted to gain the upper hand.

The little girl fell forwards as Elayne got her feet set and pulled her head in, the difference in size and weight giving Elayne the centre of gravity between them. Keeping a firm hold of the girl’s arm, Elayne spun the two of them in a sweeping circle until she felt the girl begin to lose her footing.

It took three rotations and a chunk full of hair before the little girl’s feet lifted off the ground with  enough speed to sate Elayne’s anger. At her arm’s full length, Elayne gave the girl one final rotation before she let her loose, tossing the girl as far towards the river as she could. The girl flew through the air, only narrowly missing the Wilded man as he limped closer but bouncing satisfyingly as she hit the ground.

The insects pulled back for a moment and Elayne tore several from her face as she scooped up her sword again. There were still two or three steps between the old woman and the malformed man and as much space between the old lady and Elayne. Slipping her bag off her right shoulder, she caught it with her left hand as it swung around her body.

The insects formed into a solid ball to Elayne’s side before rushing in at her yet again.

Elayne raised her bag up to catch what she could and ran towards them. To her left side, a flash of light heralded a surge of intense heat that ripped through the insects. The few insects that avoided the fire bounced off the side of her bag before fleeing up into the sky to avoid a ray of fire that scoured the air around them. Using the time to rip more of the small weevils that burrowed into her face, Elayne was relieved to find Fiona stepping out from the forest, soaked in blood but commanding a steady stream of fire towards the river.

The ray struck the girl straight in the chest as she got up and engulfing her in an inferno of yellow and orange flames.

With a shriek, the girl dropped to the floor, rolling through the wet grass and leaving a slick of oily fire behind her. The blaze she created around her was a dozen metres away from Elayne and no longer a threat, leaving her to turn her attention fully to the old lady.

With a shallow cloak of bugs now spinning above her head, the old lady’s torso was visible beneath the few pieces of tattered cloth that clung to her shoulder. Across her chest were hundreds of holes, each of them oozing with a thick pus with every laboured breath she attempted.  The gleam of white dotted along her corpse with the two bones of her forearms both clearly visible as they clutched onto the handle of the wooden walking stick.

Incensed, Elayne pulled her bag up to her face and charged the old lady. Keeping her sword tucked close to her side, she barrelled through the swarm of flying insects that crashed into her and body checked the lady with full force.

As Elayne’s bag met the soft frame of the woman’s shoulder, the impact was sickeningly brief. With only her frail bones and Wild magic to hold the old lady up, she crumpled under Elayne’s feet as she pushed through her.

The momentum kept Elayne moving, forcing her far closer to the third Wildfolk than she had anticipated. His arm swooped up from his side and arced towards her as came into his range. Twisting to the side, Elayne caught his hand with her bag but had little control as his claws dug into its front. She knew better than to keep the bag, letting him keep it as he swept past her. This time, she kept her feet as she spun around. Three steps out and Elayne ended up next to the start of the bridge but positioned with the Wilded man between her and Fiona.

At his feet, the old lady’s corpse twisted and contorted, ripping the thin skin as her body compacted in on itself on a blanket of dead insects.

The man swayed amongst them, his face swaying from side to side from the weight of his giant, elongated jaw. His arms stretched all the way down to the floor and brushed along the grass as he slowly moved towards Fiona.

He let out a gurgled groan as his teeth gnashed along the sides of his mouth. Each one of the glowing white teeth were serrated and far too large to be contained within the limits of his mouth. With each step, his snout swept from side to side, leaving a dripping trail of blood from the edges of his mouth.

Scales ran along his arms and legs, disappearing beneath his tattered shirt and shorts. Elayne stepped in, watching his gait as he closed in on Fiona and biding her time to strike. Bijou in hand, Fiona stepped far back and shot Elayne a panicked look, “Elayne, I’m not heading back into the trees!”

Elayne closed the distance at her behest. Watching the man’s balance swinging so wildly, she had more than enough opportunity to strike if she could get into range. At the very edge of his range, she hovered, patiently waiting to find her time to swoop in.

As she went in for a stab into his side, a blur of movement swept from his waist and whizzed up past her head. Leaning backwards, Elayne’s sword flicked up along his side as she dodged his monstrously large hands. On each of his fingers were long talons, drenched in blood as they swept past her just before the man’s snout appeared. At chest height, he snapped at her with his gaping maw twisting to try and catch her arm.

Training took over before instinct had the chance. Elayne moved inwards, collecting the man in the armpit with her shoulder as she evaded his razorsharp teeth in the process. Her sword came back quickly and she rammed it into the side of his neck with what strength she could muster, feeling the slight pressure build before the tip of the blade inevitably tore through the skin.

Feeling the sword sink deep into the man came as an unpleasant relief. She’d not killed that many before, remembering each of them vividly when she went to sleep. Killing this creature was far easier as she felt no guilt ridding the world of the corrupted soul of a man long dead.  Ducking underneath the man’s arm once more, Elayne’s left hand grabbed the back of the man’s shirt as her right forced the sword deeper still. As she pulled him to the right, she jostled her sword back out of his neck, severing what she could as she went.

With no inclination of his coming fall, the man landed hard on the ground with his snout bearing the brunt of the impact. The teeth tore into the soft parts of his cheeks and a spray of gore followed in its wake. Filled with adrenaline and numb to the horror, Elayne didn’t let it delay her killing blow.

Her right boot connect with his shoulder blade as she stomped down on him and her sword followed quickly after, driving into the back of his neck. She hit the spine straight on but with her full body weight behind it, her blade went deep into the back of the man’s skull.

In the bloody, flaming wreckage of the clearing, there was no solace to be found for Elayne or Fiona. The screams of the little girl cut through the malaise that dogged their every step and the only way for them to go was forward.

“Alright, let’s go.” Elayne said as she ripped her blade free again. Cleaning her blade on the back of the man, she took stock of the situation as she waited for Fiona.

Ten metres down the bridge, the last of the four monsters waited for them. Larger by far than the others, he was far larger than any human should have been. His back was bulbous as clusters of spikes grew from his back and a cape of blood followed him as he stumbled away.

Trailing behind the large monster was a body, completely limp and dwarfed by the gigantic figure of the man that carried them.

“Nice work, El.” Fiona said as she appeared by Elayne’s side. The only damage that Elayne could see was a network of  small cuts scoring her face and arms.

“What happened?” Elayne asked, pausing to let Fiona catch up.

“Nothing.” Fiona waved off her concern, “You didn’t go through the trees though, did you?”

“No, I did not.”

Fiona nodded and spat out a clump of blood, “Good choice.”

“Mmm,” Elayne responded, relieved in her choice, “Should we wait for the other two or continue on?”

Fiona reached into her pocket and stepped forward onto the bridge, “No sense waiting for Areli. And that’s Harlea up there.”