Scene Four: The Stranger
...Of Act One: Enter Ryoku
In the eyes of Ryoku Dragontalen, we are in
The Old Forest, in the world of Harohto.
It is morning
On November 6th, 2017.
"Hey, this kid's been out for days. You think he's dead or something?"
An unfamiliar voice was speaking. A girl. Somewhere in the darkness, I could hear her. A warm hand touched my chest. "It has only been two days, Sira. He has a heartbeat. A pulse. He will wake, and hopefully soon. With all the water he swallowed, this is yet the luckiest outcome."
"Whatever, I didn't ask for specifics, Will. Do I look like a doctor to you?"
"Not at all." The sarcasm in Will's voice brought a smile to my face as I inched back into awareness.
"Good news, you're not blind. Don't need to be a doctor to tell you that." She made an irritated noise. "Hey, I think he's waking up. Or dreaming. Do Defenders dream?"
I groaned, and my eyelids finally fluttered open. It was dark, but I could almost taste the coming dawn in the air. There was a chill to the air, but I was wrapped up in a sleeping roll that kept most of it at bay. Branches of trees high above rustled in a gentle breeze, bringing down the scent of pine that I'd grown quite familiar with. I couldn't detect a hint of the rain from last I was awake.
"Does he always look this dumb, or did too much water get in his brain?"
I averted my attention to the two figures kneeling before me. Will looked in disarray, his wavy brown hair tangled with twigs and grass. Little scratches lined his face, and he was unshaven. He looked to have ploughed through a jungle.
The second figure was new. Sira, Will called her. A girl, balancing on the balls of her boots with her arms, bare but for a pair of thick black bracers, crossed over her knees. The look of her made me quickly try to sort myself out; trying to improve my impression on this girl, if that was at all possible. Locks of scarlet hair fell across her face, mostly parted at the brow and kept shoulder-length, and a pair of matching blood-red eyes looked at me in a bored way. For such a sharp, angular face and stubborn chin, she had a cute nose and a dip to her pursed lips that drew my eye. Already I was noticing her figure, dressed in a black sleeveless shirt with a high neck and pants that fit a daunting figure nicely. I spotted the handle of a rather large sword over her back.
"No, he always has," Will joked, drawing an immediately look of ire from me. Still, his smile was worried. "How do you feel, friend?"
"I don't know, that's a pretty vacant expression if you ask me," Sira said bluntly. "I've seen addled cats and dogs with the same look about them. Can you speak, kid?"
"Urk," I replied, and found pleasure in the small grin appearing on her face. "Looks like I can."
"Show-off," she murmured. "Not everyone can string two words together, let alone four."
Now she drew a smile from me. So she was funny. Around then, though, I started to recall the events leading up to my unconsciousness. "What happened back there? With the river, and that... that thing?"
I tried to prop myself up onto my elbows, but the act proved quite difficult. My muscles felt horribly strained, and I nearly fell back hard. Will caught me and lowered me gently. "Careful, friend. Your body will be in quite bad shape. You came close to drowning in that river."
"Seems like you boys got on the wrong end of that thing," Sira remarked, sitting down properly. "Talk in the village calls it the Keeper of the Old Forest, though I think it's a little inflated. Just some monster of the woods that's gotten all riled up. That's how you came upon me." She pumped a lazy fist in the air. "Army of one, versus one pissed-off Keeper."
"You were hunting it by yourself?" I asked. "Why was it after us? We didn't do anything to harm the woods!"
I noticed Will's glance, and an image flashed across my mind. The arrows embedded in the tree.
Sira shrugged. "Probably the raiders set up in the north end of the woods, though that's pretty far from where you guys ran awry of it. Either way, it scattered after I pulled you outta the river. You're lucky as all hell. One more gulp, and you'd be fish food. Still, that's preferable to if that thing decided to finish the job."
I regarded her with shock. "Wait, you saved me?"
Sira smirked – it was an attractive look. "Well, I was around. Saw you go down. You were close enough to the severing point that you went straight in – a nosedive. Willy-boy got to shore safely, but you were halfway downstream before he could even turn around. Lucky for you, I've seen my fair share of storms. Cutting down that river was no easy feat, but I got you before you hit the falls."
I was stunned. She did look cut out for it. I noted a definitive curve to her shoulders, developed muscles on her forearms and thighs. On top of that, she was pretty. There was definitely some dark accent to her lashes and the corners of her eyes, making her scarlet glare that much more attractive.
"Uh, thank you," I stammered – it was annoyingly tough to form a coherent thought around this girl. "I think I remember. I was being pulled down by the current, everything going black, and then... Then I think I felt your hand."
For the briefest moment, I thought I saw her molten look soften, but her sharp brows quickly furrowed. "Don't be stupid," she muttered, and turned to Will. "Hey, Willy-boy. Weren't you gonna heal up this kid so we can get going? I'm not carrying him."
Will was working something with his hands, but a wry smirk painted across his lips. "You mean carry him any further? We did travel almost a day worth in the time—"
Sira cut him off with a sharp look. "Well, you weren't offering," she snarled. Her glance flitted to me in almost annoyance. "Couldn't well make camp right next to that river, could we? I mean, we could have gotten further, but the fact that you weren't moving..." She scowled. "What do you eat, anyway? Grass? I'm sure I've carried cats heavier than you."
I felt my face going red. What was I to say to this girl? How had my world turned so quickly upside-down? I mentally shook myself. Sira had a sharp tongue, but she actually saved me. There was kindness to her. She may be reluctant to show it, but it was there.
Will lifted up a small black mortar and pestle from his lap. I could see a thick bluish paste crushed up inside. "Moonwelt paste," he explained at my look. "Just a few Moonwelt herbs and water. Unfortunately, the plant is best harvested at night, which meant it took some time to find the proper dosage for the amount of water you ingested. Moonwelt is a strong natural painkiller native to Harohto. Alone, it is almost toxic. Dilution by water is necessary for the painkiller to activate." He turned to Sira. "Would you mind lifting his shirt? I must apply it over his lungs, where much of the damage took place."
She rolled her eyes. "Can't do it himself, I guess," she complained, but she knelt forward. She removed a sleeping roll from over my chest and slid my shirt up to just past my ribs. Her fingers briefly brushed against my bare skin, eliciting a response I didn't anticipate. On top of that, I could now see the dark purple bruising across my abdomen. Sira raised a brow at me, but she said nothing else as Will knelt forward, stuck two fingers in the bluish paste, and started applying it over my skin. It felt warm, and dissolved quickly into my skin after he applied it.
When he was finished, Will scraped the rest into a small jar that he stuffed into his bag. "Journeying with you, my friend, I feel the rest will be useful before long." He smirked. "All done. Allow me to go rinse my mortar and pestle, and then we can see how you are doing."
He shuffled into the woods and out of view. By the faint sound of trickling water, we remained near a source of water. I assumed it wasn't the same river.
"Think you can try standing?" Sira asked me dully, offering her hand. At my expression, she smirked. "Stuff works fast, trust me. Haven't you ever used spiritual medicine before?"
"No," I told her seriously, but I took her hand. She eased me into a grip around her forearm and supported me as I pushed myself free of the sleeping roll and steadily upward. Her other hand found my waist with unanticipated gentleness until I found myself standing, and she held onto me for a moment before gently letting go. I teetered, but I remained standing. As she stepped away, I noticed how tall Sira actually was. She might even be taller than Will!
"T-Thank you," I murmured, managing a small smile.
"Don't mention it," she replied. Her arms hung at her sides like she didn't know what to do with them. "Like, seriously. I have a rep. Imagine if all the people I bullied find out I actually help people sometimes. A fucking disaster."
She startled a laugh out of me. She was actually funny, and attractive to a startling degree. How had we come across her again? I tried to look anywhere but those challenging, fiery eyes of hers, or that definitive and teasing curve to her hips – and my gaze landed upon the small rucksack by her feet. My old bag that had gone missing after I left Kimball's shop. I pieced the last bit of the puzzle together when I saw the black kite-shaped shield slung over Sira's back across her broadsword.
"You stole my bag!" I cried out, dropping a hand to my waist – only to find my knife was absent. "What the hell?"
She looked ultimately confused until I practically pointed at the bag on the ground. "Oh, that was you?" she asked mildly. "Funny part about when I left my home. I didn't bring shit with me. Not a single gold coin. Just my sword and shield. Normally that gets me by, but I didn't anticipate coming here with all these woods and stuff." She spoke of the woods like it was a cemetery.
"That doesn't explain why you stole my bag," I muttered, lowering my hand. "Not that I had much in it, but if I wasn't with Will..."
She chuckled. "Yeah, Mister Bags there. Sixty percent more backpack than human, I hear. Well, you're luckier than me. Your bag didn't have shit in it! A sleeping roll, some dried fruit, and not even enough gold for the inn!" She scoffed, like it was my fault she had to rough it. "But yeah, Mister Bags has us set. I think he could support the village if they moved into the woods for the night."
It was hard to be mad at her, and I quickly realized I didn't have much reason to. She'd saved my life, after all. A petty theft shouldn't change my opinion of her so quickly – should it?
"You sound like you left your home in a hurry," I said. "Why?"
The look in Sira's eyes immediately made me rescind my question. "Save one kid in the woods, and you gotta give your life story out?" She scoffed, annoyed. "Whatever. All you gotta know is, if you ever get the chance to go visit my homeland – don't." Then her glare alleviated, and she cast her gaze around. "The hell did Will go? Fall in the river?"
"Where is your homeland?" I asked, but my question fell to deaf ears as Will stumbled through the brush from another direction, smiling apologetically.
"Sorry about that. I did some quick scouting." He knelt down to his bag and stuffed his mortar and pestle away before shouldering the huge bag. "Pack your things. I estimate about a two-day journey from here to the Capital. If we cut through a small deer trail I located to the southwest, then we may be able to shave off that last night in the woods." Then he glanced up at me, as though noticing me for the first time. "You can stand."
I nodded. "Thanks. My mom taught me when I was little."
Sira snorted, and even Will chuckled. "Did she teach you how to navigate the woods, too?"
I smiled as I knelt to roll up my sleeping bag, and found my knife, staff, and bow set next to my bag. "No. Unfortunately, she..." I quickly realized the topic I was about to venture down with two people I'd only just met, and I quickly shut up. When I got to my feet, shouldering my bag, I didn't miss Will's lasting look. With his memory, that topic wasn't going to just die out.
When I stood, however, I noticed Sira had her bag holstered and was waiting for me. "You're coming with us?"
She shrugged. "Eh, I signed on while you were passed out." At my expression, she smirked. "Willy-boy told me about your mission as I told you mine – to hunt that damned Keeper. I don't know what happened to your squad, but one thing seems crystal: I can't do this one alone, and we can get some serious backup at the Capital."
I gave Will a look, who nodded shortly. "Forgive me. I thought that you might consider joining me on this little escapade. You would be useful with what prowess you displayed back at the inn. A little practice would not hurt, either. We can go to the Registry, get you set up as an official Defender, and maybe suit you up with some new gear. It may prove to be a valuable experience for you."
"That, and people listen when a Defender pipes up," Sira said seriously. "Maybe the Capital has some more info about this bastard. Either way, if you come up asking for an army with your Defender writ or whatever in hand, people will listen to you. Not... not an actual army, of course. Just a few hands."
"You want my help?" I asked. It was abstract, but this may be my chance to repay both of them. It could be my first job as a Defender. I had a duty I needed to carry out, but this could help me get stronger. I had no idea how strong I needed to be, but I had time.
"This became quite a personal endeavor for me," Will added, almost apologetically. His fists clenched at his side. "I do not know what became of my squad. I only hope they got to the Capital ahead of us, but we are a few days behind. The fact that none of them came across our camp..."
That sealed it for me. I pictured the faces of his squad. Oliver, who stood up for Will and I against Lancet; Leif, grinning at me in support of helping us; and Alex, who offered me his bag and related to me with his outspoken demeanor. Unfortunately, I hadn't exchanged names with the other four, but they had all been nothing if not kind to me.
"Absolutely," I told him, meeting his glance squarely. "If there's anything at all that I can do, I'd be happy to."
Will looked positively moved by my choice. "You have already exceeded my expectations," he admitted sheepishly. "I apologize that my simple guiding mission has gone so horribly awry. I know your mission must be dire, so..."
I stopped him short with a look. "I need the experience. Anyway, I was dumb to think it'd just be a journey from point A to B. More like from point A, through point S, past point W..." They didn't seem to understand my reference, so I smiled. "It's the journey. Anyway, I think I need to get stronger to do what I need to do."
"You could stand to gain some muscle," Sira teased, squeezing my arm. "Will says you did pretty okay in a bar fight in Bytold. I'd laugh, but coming from someone like this guy..." She jabbed her thumb at Will like a private joke. "I look forward to seeing just what you can do.
"Anyway," she cut herself off like avoiding any sort of compliment, and stuck out her hand. "The name's Sira Jessura. I'm an ex-knight from Orden."
I accepted her hand, and was hardly surprised when her grip practically crushed mine, but she eased it a little after a second. "I'm Ryoku Dragontalen. Defender, but I guess you know that." When she withdrew, I kept her gaze. "So Orden is your home? What does that mean?"
She looked annoyed by my question, but Will piped up. "Orden is a neighboring world to my own. Both are medieval in nature. Orden... well, it has always had more of a penchant for darkness. Their royal line is formed of established dark knights. Men who learn how to swing a sword before they learn table manners. If nothing else, it serves to profess Sira is an excellent fighter."
She looked upset while Will explained her home, but beamed at the compliment. "You bet your ass," she boasted, and tapped the handle of the sword on her back. She turned so I could see the full blade. It hung naked on her back with her black kite shield, and the entire sword was a deep shade of blood red. Altogether, the weapon was easily almost as tall as her. "Meet Sinistra. She's been my blade since I can remember. Most men would wield this with both hands, and they'd be so slow I could cleave them in two before their sword picked up momentum." She lifted it partway from the belt holding it at her shoulder to demonstrate. "Me? I can use this baby one-handed, thrice as effective as anyone with two hands."
I gazed at her incredulously. "You can swing that thing?"
"You named your weapon?" Will asked, intrigued.
"She named herself," Sira replied easily, as though it should have been obvious. "That lance looks like it means something to you. Haven't you named it?"
Will's expression soured a little. "Some weapons are too important to be named." He turned to be without batting an eye. "Shall we move on? Do recall I mentioned our timing. I would like to leave these parts by nightfall."
"And sleep in bandit territory," Sira remarked dryly. She adjusted her bag on her shoulder with her weapon and smirked at me. "You good to walk? I could stuff you in this bag if you're unsure."
I gave her what I hoped was a fiery look, and tested my legs. I couldn't help but be surprised at their mobility myself. Through our conversation, even the sharp pain in my chest had largely abated. I could hardly feel the sticky residue of the Moonwelt paste on my skin beneath my clothes.
We started out on the path. Everything seemed to work out fine. The path was easier, too. We turned out to be just off the main path, but Will quickly worked us onto a tight side trail before the sun had even fully poked out over the mountain range to the east, now cutting deeper into nature than we had yet. The path wasn't wide enough to travel abreast of each other, so Will led the way, occasionally cutting the thickest of brush aside with his gladius.
I tried to pay attention to every detail as we traveled. Keeping behind Will, he occasionally stopped to inform me of things about our surroundings. Much of the foliage was largely pine or oak, things that stood quite differently in my world. Only in the highest altitudes of our hike did the trees crowd in smaller heights, otherwise they towered over us like castles. He kept an eye on our path, and he showed me the different markings of wildlife – deer droppings and prints, rabbit prints, spots where male deer sharpened their antlers against the trees, and even pointed out a badger den from afar. Even the stalwart woodsman didn't seem eager to tangle with a badger.
Sira wasn't entirely alien to the woods, either. She only explained the odd thing now and then. She pointed out how clouds gathered around the furthest mountains, how they would eventually bring a cloud cover to us, which would cause a drop in temperature. She pointed out how the darker clouds were full of rain, but wasn't sure if we would encounter it.
Our hike brought us on a winding trip up a plateau, and the deer trail we hiked started to snake up a slope along the higher altitudes of the forest. The huge canopy of the woods made it difficult to see the full extent of it, and sometimes it blocked out the sun. We viewed a ravine in the eastern half of the woods that dipped down below sea level. Will scoped out the cliff with me, pointing out how the river – despite being invisible to us from our height – caused a slight decline in the trees along its path, and how it showed a set of falls that brought mist through the valley. While we studied it, there was a great, booming crash from below, and a few trees toppled, spraying a dust cloud that we could see from our sky view. I wanted to see what caused it, but Will whisked me away without explanation.
Atop the plateau, the trees spaced further apart, and a moss-laden rocky outcropping along the edge became our first rest stop of the day at early noon. My legs felt like jelly, and I plopped down easily on the rocks to consume a meager lunch. We shared some food between us, including some fresh berries Will had ciphered along the trail. Even Sira produced a few small, red apples she had plucked from the trees that I hadn't noticed.
Our break didn't last too long. Will explained that if we relaxed our muscles too much, the rest of the hike could be our undoing. He even had us partake in some easy stretches to keep limber over the remaining hike.
At the end of the plateau, Will pointed out something far to the north of us – the edge of the woods. It was hardly visible from where we were, but I could make out a bold stone wall far ahead, laden with fog from our current altitude.
"The Capital," Will said proudly. "I know you can hardly see it, but maybe you needed the motivation. One more night out here, and we should make it by nightfall tomorrow. Wait until you see it at sunset."
I remembered something Caryl mentioned at the inn. "Sunset stones?" I asked.
Will nodded eagerly. "It lights up like a festival at night. Some say it is a beacon for bandits to know their next destination, but others say it keeps wild animals from finding new food in the city. I have heard the stones use some warding magic, too. Nothing quite like the ones in my home, but..." He trailed off, staring at the city from afar. I wondered if he was missing his home.
Sira nudged me with a wry smile. "You might see deer droppings more exciting than this stuffy old place," she informed me. Will gave her a glare, but she only beamed more.
Our hike continued through the heat of the day. True to Sira's idea, a chilling cold began to settle in during the early evening. I enjoyed it at first from the heat of the day's hike, but quickly found my cloak from my bag as we descended from the plateau.
Darkness fell early in the autumn season, and Will began searching for a camping site even as the cold settled in. It took a few hours, and darkness was already getting comfortable in the world of Harohto when Will found his destination. He ushered us under the boughs of a large pine tree, one that had branches touching the ground in a sort of dome shape around us. It was tall enough for both Will and Sira to stand easily after ducking into the entrance, which certainly said something. Underneath was laden with pine needles and the occasional cone. The three of us brushed out a circular area, where Will set to creating a fire pit. Curious, I requested to learn, and it quickly became a group activity.
The first thing Will did was remove a shovel, a cloth sort of tarp, and a black bag from his backpack. "The most important thing is to keep nature as we found it," he instructed me. "We will dig two holes, and everything we dig out goes onto this tarp. In the morning, we put it all back."
I observed carefully and helped him out as he dug one larger hole in the ground, about ten inches around, and then one narrower hole upwind from the first. In our case, it pointed to the entrance to our little den. We scooped out the first part in a sort of plug-shape and placed it on our cloth tarp. The rest was loose, but Will explained we wouldn't have to worry about putting that all back in order.
"This sort of campfire is preferable for many reasons," he told me. "It keeps relatively smokeless thanks to the ventilation hole – the narrow one – which is important for stealth and for our den. We do not wish to be smoked out of here, do we? Additionally, since we carved everything out, we can make ourselves undetectable. I cannot say whether the Keeper is intelligent or not, but by morn, none will be able to tell we made camp here. Were we more worried about raiders in this part, this sort of fire would make even more sense.
"And due to it being in the ground, we require much less tinder." At this point, he reached for his black bag and pulled out a fistful of dry reeds. They were fresh enough that I realized he'd plucked them throughout the day for this very reason. "You want your tinder to be mostly lifeless. This outer layer will be what our fire burns into, so it can be a little fresher. The inside, though, will catch instantly."
He folded the tinder up into a sort of diamond-shape. The innermost part was a dried sort of fluff, like cotton, while the outer layers looked like the reeds that grew alongside the path on the plateau. With this, he pulled out a small black box from the corner of his bag, producing a piece of flat steel and a small, earth-colored stone – flint. In a swift motion, he struck the two together, and a spark immediately ignited the pile of tinder. He quickly put this into the small hole, and there we had our fire. Will was right – it produced very little smoke.
Sira had been watching Will's process with interest, but she left at this point and returned shortly after with a pair of dead rabbits – struck dead by arrows she borrowed from me, without asking. Will kept the fire fed only by handfuls of kindling he kept in another bag, still whittling some away with a knife from the tree we camped under. He found a longer stick, sharpened it, and used it as a spit to cook the rabbit. I kept purposefully away from the smell. Sira regarded me like I was an alien for it. Will, on the other hand, roasted a few apples on a stick and offered it to me. I tasted it, and liked the crisp difference in taste when they were cooked.
As we ate our dinner by a gently lit fire, we talked about our homes. Will's stories of Syaoto were fascinating. He talked about his liege, King Lionel Pendragon, who ruled Syaoto with a kind but firm hand. By the sound of it, he was quite close to his king. I recalled Alex saying something similar before.
It sounded much like any medieval story I'd ever encountered. Will was a member of the army, though somewhat esteemed among the soldiers because of his father – he conveniently left out the details of that part. The army normally divided soldiers not only by their ranking, as I'd established, but by their work. Will and his squad were field soldiers, which meant they usually worked outside the city and served as supplementary forces to other worlds. Other soldiers either served in the castle or as auxiliary forces in the army. The different ranking of each one that he listed was dizzying at best. Above it all was Lord General Brom, the leading commander of the King's Own, the entire army, and second only to the king himself.
In contrast, Sira spoke little about her home. She only elaborated on what Will said about her dark empire, and she gave no names. Only the emperor through royal bloodline, who kept little to no advisors, council, or other assuagements to the royal duty, ruled the empire. The emperor kept only the general of the army and a set of vassals, usually powerful figures sent from other worlds as a form of allegiance. Again, she listed none of them, and they seemed like sensitive subjects to her.
I couldn't get far in describing my own world, but I realized they each had a little knowledge of it. Sira hadn't explained, and she offered no elaboration, but I figured she must be a spirit as well. Will knew of steam technology, of war and guns, and early vehicles, but fell short when I started on paved roads, industrialized cities, and of the lengths of science and medicine. Sira knew little of it, and she regarded the idea of industrialized technology with a fair distaste. While Will listened with fascination, Sira remained sure that she was better off. I couldn't help but agree, knowing the state my world was currently in. I avoided mentioning it now, and Will respected it this time.
We cleared spots for our sleeping rolls and retired for the night. Will kept the fire going with a few carefully chosen logs to offer us warmth without creating a smokier fire. I fell asleep easily and dreamt of strange things, imagining noble knights of Syaoto and the tyrannical empire of Orden. In my dreams, Syaoto knights kept handsome and clean-shaven, with shiny armor and were all as tall as Will, while Brom stood like a skyscraper above them all. Sira's dark emperor was different, a shadow cast over the world, and I saw the face of the boy I was seeking in his wake. Behind him, her clothes worn and torn, was my sister.
I awoke in a cold sweat, only to find Will and Sira both awake and packing up our campsite in a hurry. The holes of our fire were already covered. Sira cast a glance my way and signalled to her ear. Confused, I listened – and stiffened when I heard the distant, haunting call. The Keeper.
I got to my feet quickly, all but forgetting my troubling dreams, and kept my weapons close. This time, I wasn't going to back down.
I expected the monster to bear down upon us when we left our comfortable tree abode, but we set off on a rushed journey down the path into the thick of the woods. Will and Sira kept close, their glances whisking off into the trees with every noise. I could still hear the faint noise of the creature. After a while, I wasn't sure if I was actually hearing it or just imagining it.
I froze up when we reached another bend of the river, all too similar to the one we crossed before. Sira groaned at my reaction and grabbed my wrist, leading me across a much sturdier-looking bridge than before. Will kept quiet as we crossed.
Despite her assurance, Sira's fiery glance kept into the trees, and she withdrew as soon as we reached sweet land on the other side. I wondered if she really hated me that much, but then I saw her reaching for Sinistra.
"Damn it!" she snarled, pushing me behind her. "Will, it's here!"
Will sidled around me with the ease of a branch rustling in the wind, his lance drawn and ready. From the moment Sira's scarlet sword hit the open air, I swore I could feel some sort of presence from it. I couldn't quite explain it, but the weapon seemed to radiate some sort of aura that made my hair stand on end. The face of the weapon looked razor-sharp and looked like fire in the wind. With her kite shield strapped to her other wrist, she made quite the imposing figure. Hearing her boast about the weapon and seeing her wield it were two different things altogether.
Something about the sight made me feel brave, and I tugged out my staff from its holster on my back. All I had to go on was Kimball's brief lecture on magic. I had yet to try it out myself.
"What the hell good's that gonna do?" Sira muttered darkly in my ear. Her closeness to me surprised me, and I felt an unwilling chill taper down my spine. "We can't do anything here but scare it off, if we're lucky. Do you even know what you're doing?"
My own automatic response felt foreign on my tongue. "I won't let you fight it alone."
Sira cursed. "We can't do much like this." She urged me forward with her, scanning the trees with her fiery eyes. I couldn't see a thing in the sea of trees, but both Sira and Will were on high alert. The whistling noise had come to an altogether halt. "You better know some decent magic if you'll choose that piece of wood over solid steel."
I had the impression that Sira wasn't overly fond of magic. I swallowed, running over the brief words Kimball had explained about magic. He assured me that I would know what to do when push came to shove, but could I trust that? It seemed like a better idea than trying to shoot the thing with an arrow or stick it with my knife. For an alien creature of the spirit realm, an alien art of magic might just be the trick.
My comrades stopped abruptly. Something alerted them, and I missed it. I was turning out to be quite the hero.
Sira whipped around with lethal speed, her sword screaming through the air like a wind of flames. Will yanked me back as Sira's blade scathed the air, leaving a bright scar in the air where it cut. I almost missed the dark green figure that seemed to float just astray of the weapon. As soon as I saw it, the entity lurched forward with revolting speed.
The sound of shattered steel pierced the air. I thought Sira landed a hit, but then I saw her black shield crumple like ash, leaving only the handles dangling from her wrist. She fell back with a cry.
My heart leapt in my chest, but Will shoved me away with so much strength that I stumbled down the path away from the creature, scraping my knees on disturbed brush on the path. I cursed, forcing myself upright, and spun on my heel.
When I turned, I froze.
It was floating before me. I couldn't tell if it was but an instant or a full minute, standing there with the full height of the monster before me. It must be taller than Will or Sira, covered head-to-toe in a ratty green cloak that smelled of the deepest corners of the woods. Only darkness stared at me from under the wide-rimmed hood. Dust streamed off the creature like it had just risen from the earth itself.
It floated there in complete, gut-wrenching silence. Even the dirt tumbling from its cloak didn't make a sound. In the moment, I couldn't place just where Sira or Will had gotten to, and I hardly registered that I clutched my staff tightly enough to drive splinters into my palms.
As silently as the night, the creature lifted an arm. At least, it might be an arm. The appendage looked twisted and black, ending in a row of razor-sharp blades that seemed to cut the very air with the simple movement. I kept eerily reminded of an executioner's axe, hanging in the air like the very sentence that spelt certain death.
An emotion welled up in my chest, so strongly and powerfully that it paralyzed me. I was no stranger to it, but now it coursed through me like a physical being, drawing from every last breath in my chest to feed it like a fire.
Everything went black.