Christopher’s attention lashed at him with sudden and unusual sounds coming from the south-west. It was concerning to him and the demon attached to him called the dogs to attention. They, those disparate bones, stitched canine, serpentine and brought to animation turned and cried with a shrill silence at the sound coming upon them, ancient and unpleasant.

Local monks, the demon thought, wily as it was with intellect. It toyed over Christopher then, in a small clearing where the man turned and twisted in an effort to grasp his mind, only for him to point toward the sound as a marker for the dogs, such as they were, to gather themselves and make with sudden abandon in the monk’s direction with Christopher in feral chase behind. The creations were tall, knew only ravenous temper and could cover ground in moments, their animation desperately entwined with what remained of their master’s spirit. After bursts of pace, they came to abrupt halts to wait for him as he made faltering steps amongst the forest floor.

From above them then came another sound of a sharper tone, as if commanding or drawing their presence out into the open. The demon picked through his discernment at that moment and became aware that whoever was calling them might not be a local monk, but rather someone of a more preserved variety. The creature salivated at its mind and the pleasure gave life to Christopher, who started to bound forward in distinct and wild motions; after they had killed this monk and tasted his flesh, the demon would bleed his prey dry for a last resource. His victim had, under his hold, taken to a wide-eyed sadness over and above madness, and the circle of his use was drawing to a close. His demon was done with him, even as he gave his all to reach the last of the pines before the plain and the mountain bared over his company in ever clearer moments through passing boughs. One of the dogs, that which had in operation pieces of his wife and child, stopped then and appeared to call to Christopher, desperate with sadness of its own and only to be ignored as the other dog, the larger second creation, turned ahead to the opening of the plane.

Christopher charged over a final rise with his dogs then, and Sophia saw her brother appear as a blot in the distance. Her heart recoiled and she was startled into fast reaction from Rubus who held up a hand and quickly returned to sight and trigger, his distinct targets in the clearing ahead and his brother between them. He thought to re-position himself, but then it all began to happen and there was no thinking left to do.

Christopher made it into the open and his demon came within sight of the man who had called them, a monk after all, only to experience an unexpected doubt; he saw the monk under high star light, half-feral, and with a demon as an apparent pet. He took a moment to perceive the man and why he should be praying old tongue in attack, but then rage took him and the larger of the dogs set off across the plane and straight for the monk.

There were various sounds then. The first was the passing rush of a bullet that Clyde heard along his right side, followed by the simultaneous sounds of a large rifle firing behind him and the impact of the bullet ahead; it went through what amounted to the shoulder of the larger dog as Christopher began his startled run towards the monk, his mind filled with Clyde’s flesh and the tearing of him from it. But then at the impact of the bullet his creation collapsed into a fissure upon the grass and his master stumbled and fell with it.

Clyde saw it then, the bond between the creation and its creator, and as two further rounds sounded the lead dog went down torn. Christopher fell and Clyde turned with a raised hand to Rubus who had taken aim at the second dog only to hold as he caught sight of Clyde, munitions still ringing about the night.

Sophia took her rifle in hand, but held herself. For reasons each to them all, they all did; Rubus by the high hand of Clyde, Sophia out of some peace which she could not understand in the moment, and Clyde because he saw what Christopher’s demon saw, that the life which was in those bones was attached to the man himself, and the monk did not want to lose him in the process of handling the other. The demon delighted at this and it’s salacious effect upon the encounter.

Christopher was down to his knees and tears clung to the mud on his face. He felt that he must be losing his sight, frayed as his edges were becoming, but then a common influence of hatred took his heart and he stared out at the distant monk, airing a sudden fast tongue in ancient foul words. Clyde returned with an ancient volley of his own and beckoned his rivals with his hand. There was a pause then, an exclamation of intent, and thereafter the man and his remaining dog ran with each other towards the monk and his demon. Rubus took a steady breath and watched it from his telescope while Sophia looked long ahead, her life and her brother’s hanging over each moment.

The remaining dog was heavy with parts and as it gathered pace and began to leave Christopher behind, it accelerated towards thunderous, its face strange and of many pieces, mouth agape and intending to devour.

Clyde opened his hands for the homecoming and made praise as the only one present not aggrieved. Rubus held steady over the moving bones and wanted greatly to squeeze the trigger; he could feel the weight of his will, that of a marksman ready to end the situation at the cross-hair. But a will other than his own was at work and Rubus knew to leave it unchecked and pray for his brother through the telescope. The creature closed upon Clyde with grasses and soil flying in wake, a wretchedness across the plain as a chorus sounded from amongst the trees that satisfaction was coming, to one party or the other.

Clyde had seen many things throughout his life that would be called enemy, but he knew them to not be as they appeared, and so was not taken to treating them as such, instead measuring himself, he felt, depending on circumstance. In this case, the first approaching of his enemies were the bodily remains of things that had been born, and that had been loved. They had since been threaded upon a terrible line to life through Christopher, and by pins to other bones. However, this creature was not of natural state, as to whither dry with their essence bleeding slowly from bone, outward and into the surround until even bone was gone, but they had instead been called into a life not long for anything. Its appearance was a shambles as Clyde saw it; rickety and of little sub-creation. As they drove within feet of Clyde the bones became desperate, and they leapt for him with all desire, head first into Clyde’s outstretched hand and locked arm. Collision rang out across the plain, echoing from stone as the beast struggled to lunge its great paws, only for Clyde to relax his arm, throwing the bones out of balance before tensing once more and pushing its head down into the grasses with a single hold. He looked up from his bent position and saw Christopher rushing at speed and hurling distressed exclamations in preparation to leap.

Then, quite apart from everything else, the two demons recognized their own kin, and it was with a bright smile upon Christopher that he took his leap for a compromised Clyde, only to have his head clasped into Clyde’s other hand and be thrown down alongside the shaking bones. Clyde’s demon ran down his arm and lunged for the other demon, drawing it off Christopher and clawing it to the ground. With his demon at work, Clyde lifted his head over the degenerates, eyes glazing and hands working, one to hold the life of the bones and the other to revive animation in Christopher, whose sobs called suddenly to his sister. Sensing them, Sophia chased to him for fear that Clyde would press her brother into the earth and kill him. Halfway to closing him down she saw the foul dog go entirely quiet and collapse. Clyde took away his hand and knelt beside Christopher. As he did this he saw his demon hold restrain over the other, and he turned to see Sophia as she made final strides.

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‘We almost have him now!’ he said, lowering his head over Christopher’s and beginning a hymnal. Sophia stopped herself and her heart could not help but pause for a moment between her brother, the monk and the ruined excavation of bones that lay fallen to their side. Clyde continued to sing and nodded to her that she should sit, which she did without hesitation. Her brother was still face down with Clyde’s hands over him, and he sounded in low wails and sobs. Sophia began to join in the hymnal, and Clyde smiled, taking his hands away and inviting her to place hers over her brother.

‘Continue to sing,’ he said, and she was well with the thought of it as she took his place. Clyde stood then, looking at the demon entangled with his own. His face fell precise with the other formality which must be attended. He called to the demon in common tongue and it hissed back at him, facing its end with rage, breaking free of Clyde’s demon and chasing towards Clyde only to be stopped by him blowing over the creature, holding it fast. Clyde struck a tone of voice above it and brought his hands together with a sound deeper than that of just his palms. The grasses swayed and at the moment of its disposition, Clyde saw in the demon’s eyes a desperate gnawing for the end of its woe. Then it was gone, nothing, and Clyde reached down to the spot where it had been and placed his hand upon it as both sanctification and personal remembrance. Keeping his hand in place, he heard Sophia singing over her brother, her voice of love and the sudden shock of peace. He stood and turned to her, seeing the pair of ruinous bones beside her. One of them had a future, and Sophia continued in hymnal without concern for their place on the mountain, or the world and all its business. Clyde went to the dog and fixed his eyes on Rubus in the distance. He threw it with great strength and pointed to Rubus as the carcass flew. As it hit the ground, Rubus opened fire and the bones went piece by piece across the plain. The gunfire rang like crystal far off beyond the mountainside, but Sophia heard it only as a dull echo into the outpouring of her hymnal.

Christopher wept beneath her into grasses which his bare skin had not felt in weeks.