In the days following the fight, Roy felt an ache in his chest. His hands were numb. He could feel immense pressure behind his eyes. Sunlight glimmered from the snow like the glint of polished silver. Viola outpaced Roy, her boots kicking up powder. The dirt path weaved between the trees like a needle through the soft fabric. Clouds spilled over the hills. Roy felt great unease as he peeked between the trees, searching for danger.
“Viola, do you hear that?” Roy asked as the two rounded the lake.
“Hear what?”
Roy stood still, closing his eyes. A chittering flavored the air like the cacophonous crunching of beetles devouring a tree. It was different this time; deeper.
“What’s wrong?”
“We should go home.”
The chittering continued. Roy thought of what it could be. A squirrel chewing on an acorn, deer running across fallen branches, beetles chewing on the pines. It made the hairs on his neck stand on end. His arms felt like they were being brushed by thistles. An odor hung in the air like rotten meat and puss. Roy could smell it even through a stuffed nose.
Cocky footsteps pulled Roy’s ears out of the forest.
“You’re joking.” Samuel shook his head, “The fucking Bjornshite, Viola?”
Samuel stared at Viola with an intimidating glare. His first two steps were slow, then quickened.
“If you touched her I-“ Just before Sam could reach Viola a hand dug into his collarbone, shoving him back. Roy, startled by the boy’s sudden presence, stared at him with cold focus.
“The fucking Bjornshite.” Samuel repeated in disbelief, “What do you see in this monster?”
Something was churning inside of Roy, bringing with it a nauseating unease. It quickly faded when Samuel opened his mouth.
“You’ll jump on anyone who’d give you time of day.” Samuel scoffed, “But this? Are you really stupid enough to fall for this? He burned me!”
Roy’s brows furrowed, and he felt waves of heat through his arms and legs like a sunburn radiating from the inside out. He saw a shimmer from Samuel’s belt. A short blade formed in the boy’s hand, retched from its scabbard. A finger lined its spine.
“I’m not letting you have your way without a fair fight.” Samuel growled. He held out his arm, covered in bandages. He winced when he straightened his wrist, “Cowards use magic.”
Roy took a step, but Viola grabbed his arm. Heat rolled out of his skin like sun-touched metal. She relented for a moment, reaching for the cloth at his waist instead.
“Let’s go.” She said. Roy locked eyes with Samuel. Roy’s eyes darted to the side as he heard more noises.
Steps in the grass. Branches bending but not snapping. The small waves at the lakeside were noticeably quieter. The acrid scent of pus and rot.
Hissing.
“Look at you defending her. Is that what you wanted, Viola? A pet?”
“Sam, shut up.” Roy said sternly, his ear to the forest once more.
Roy smelled the rot in the air again. He turned to Viola, “Something’s wrong.”
“Roy, what are-“
A tan blur pulled the three out of their squabbles. A noble, gaunt face growled as the slender body of a mountain lion slid out of the bushes. Roy pulled Viola out of the path of the coming predator, only to watch as it bolted right past them.
The chittering had become so loud that Roy felt it creeping along the back of his neck.
“Viola, go!” Roy yelled as he saw glowing orbs of light in the trees, following them. A monotonous hiss filled the air like locusts. An ink blotch dashed between the bushes. Roy ran down the icy path, taking Viola by the arm. The ice thickened as they drew closer to Mossglen. Roy felt his grip on Viola slip, and she tumbled to the ground. Reluctantly, Samuel helped Roy lift Viola off the ground. One of her shoes slid off as she stumbled out of the muck.
A beast the shade of midnight stepped out from the foliage. Viper teeth bared as its wolf-like body skittered down the tree. Scales formed raised hackles on emaciated shoulders.
Another creature appeared from an outcropping of rocks.
One crept from the bushes.
One slinked by a signpost.
Within seconds, Roy was overwhelmed by the cacophony of hisses and clicks between the four black drakes. Samuel stared at the two, separated by another beast.
Todesspucker. Sickly yellow eyes followed the vulnerable young girl beside Roy. The boy’s dagger arm faltered; there were too many. He looked over at Samuel, who was the least interesting to the spitters. Roy pulled Viola behind him. Her head dug into his shoulder blades as she tried to hide from the creatures. She was shaking, unable to contain whimpers of terror.
Samuel’s vision blurred. He huffed, looking between Viola and the monsters. He turned to the village and sprinted down the path away from the Todesspucker’s new victims.
“Samuel! You fucking coward!” Roy screamed. A forked tongue waved like a slime-soaked flag. The Todesspucker bolted to Roy. He raised his boot, smashing it into the creature’s face. A fang broke off and splattered into the mud. The creature wriggled itself upright. The taste of its own blood narrowed its slit eyes. The others watched cautiously, heads lowered.
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“Roy?” Viola called worriedly.
“The tree behind us.” Roy whispered, worried the creatures could hear him, “Climb it.”
“I can’t.” Viola shook her head. A serpent lunged at Roy. He backed up, pushing against Viola.
“You have to.” Roy stepped again, nudging Viola towards the trunk. He flexed his left hand, inhaling through his nose. He reached for a small dagger tied to his hip.
Viola turned. She dug her hands into the tree, leaping towards the nearest branch. Roy roared as a serpent came at him from the left. It jumped, its rear legs ripping into Roy’s thigh. The weight of the beast shoved the boy backward. Fangs honed in on his eyes. Roy screamed like hot coals had been dumped on him, jamming the dagger into the serpent’s neck. The Todesspucker fell away, running off into the trees.
Viola reached up for the second row of branches. She threw her legs upwards as a spitter clawed at the bark. It snapped like a crocodile, drawing closer to her foot.
Roy gritted his teeth, trying to think of anything but the red-hot pain that had been driven into his back. Blood flooded his trousers. He could feel it pooling in the soles of his boots. Chunks of bark fell away from the tree like puzzle pieces clattering on a table.
Viola looked back. Roy’s face was pale, his eyes black voids. Lifting off the ground with a pained yell, he shoved his body against the Todesspucker, pinning it against the tree. It rumbled with a throaty hiss as it threw its claws into Roy’s forearm. Roy took a dagger to its stomach, stabbing it over and over until the beast stopped moving. The creature convulsed in the ice, kicking its legs until it lay dead.
Roy panted heavily. Steam rose from his mouth. His teeth ached. His chest was about to burst. The blood flowing down his leg ran cold. He hardly noticed the beast’s blue blood staining his hands.
Minutes of thrashing and screaming shifted as the Todesspucker grew more aggravated by the stubborn prey. Viola she tried to climb up another branch. She wrapped her fingers around the tree, steadied herself, then pulled.
There was a crack. Viola tumbled to the forest floor. The Todesspucker bolted towards her. Roy grabbed one by the tail and tried to throw it off balance. Instead, the monster was thrown off of its feet. Viola screamed as the other jumped at her, one claw digging into her breast while the other landed on the inside of her hip. She stumbled away, collapsing into the mud. Roy ran to her, tearing the spitter away. His hand erupted into flames. He threw a fist into its jaw. It popped like crushing a seaweed bulb. He straddled Viola, his head lowering just as the creature recovered, its face charred. It stumbled left and right, an eye leaking sizzling white puss as it slumped onto the ground.
Viola’s face was pale. She groaned, and when Roy looked down, he could see blood pooling in the water around them. Roy’s eyes blurred. He whimpered with each labored breath.
The trees rustled. The hissing doubled. Spitters appeared out of the woods like termites.
Roy yelled at the creatures, they flinched, but drew closer. Viola’s eyes started to flicker like a candle nearing its end. Viola lay with her muddied hair surrounding her like a halo, her glimmering eyes becoming unpolished amethyst. Her fearful expression faded into a blank forward stare. The hissing faded away as Roy looked at her ghostly face.
Roy screamed with every fiber of his being. He ran for the closest beast. He threw a flaming fist into its face. He wanted them to burn. He wanted every drake in the glen crushed beneath him. His throat was singed, his chest tightened, his bones ached, and his eyes burned like salt had been dumped into them.
An otherworldly flash of light turned night to day in an instant. A thunderous roar echoed through the Mossglen. The song of sparrows filled the air, their eyes tricked by false daylight. As the light faded into night, their song stopped. Dogs howled. Horses kicked and neighed in their stalls, stomping at the ground. Crows all cried out in the hundreds, soaring away from the incandescent blues and greens that slithered across the sky like serpents.
Roy writhed on the ground, gripping his stomach tightly. His feet slid against the mud as he tried to pick himself up. Coughing pinned him to the ground. Each breath he took reeked of ash. Roy’s eyes squinted at the ground. His muscles felt like they had been pulled out and torn. The snow had melted. Trees crackled and wasted away, covered in glowing red scars. Pines rang like crystals trapped behind a bark veneer. The mud had dried, leaving soil that crunched beneath Roy’s feet. He powered through the pain that shattered his body, crawling to Viola. Her head was turned away from him, blood stuck her hair together like the bristles of a crimson brush. Roy coughed, gasping between breaths. Soot shot into the roof of his mouth like sand.
Roy didn’t have the stomach to gaze up at the burned out grove around him. He could hear the absence of life. He could smell the smoky musk of desolation all around him.
He fell backwards, landing in the dirt. The aurora soon faded, and the rain returned.