"From here on out, stay close." Light was barely on the horizon. "We are going to travel as fast as we can, so the ride will be a little rough. Please just hang in there, we will get everyone to Thandeur by tonight." Lugo mounted his horse and they took off galloping into the dark forest.
Horse hooves reverberated through the forest, creaking branches could be heard in the dark. Tsugi followed close behind Lugo, as he could only see three meters in front of him. Looking back, he could see Maki and Aylin in the middle of the formation. Their eyes were straight ahead trying to focus in the dark. He could hear Ruzo panting next to him, being careful to avoid the galloping horses.
The sun rose higher into the sky and illuminated the forest. Nagi let out a whiny screech and shut her eyes, clinging onto Tsugi's arm. Tsugi looked up into the tree's and found the reason behind the creaking noise. Weegan's were swinging from tree to tree, following them as they galloped down the trail.
"Keep your eyes open!" Lugo shouted. "Stay close! If given the chance, they will shoot their quills at you! Once you get dismounted they will ambush!"
The weegan's started to multiply, more and more were following them, to a point where everyone drew their weapons to prepare.
All of the sudden, the weegan's disappeared. Still galloping, Tsugi glanced around.
‘Did they give up on their pursuit?’
A loud boom in their path threw a strong gust of wind into the air, sending dirt soaring toward them. The horses neighed and reared into the air.
"WYVERN!" Lugo shouted.
The guys dismounted and charged at the wyvern. Tsugi and Nymo stayed back to protect the others.
The wyvern was about five meters from the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail; it's dark scales had a rainbow shimmer to them and were smooth like snake skin; two rows of tiny razor sharp teeth with huge fangs; bright yellow eyes; and a loud roar that shook the surrounding trees.
Ruzo and the men charged and swung their swords onto the rock hard scales. They climbed on its back, trying to prevent it from taking off into the air. Metal clashing on the scales resonated through the forest. No matter what they did, it seemed like all they could do was hold the wyvern down.
The wyvern struggled and spun snapping and scratching at them. Ruzo tried to bite it, but its scales were too hard to penetrate so he tried going for its eyes. Tsugi stared, but didn't know what to do. He was weak and how can his little daggers do anything if their giant swords couldn't do anything? Nymo tried to calm the horses to prevent them from taking off. The women and children just looked on in terror and covered their eyes in panic.
Tsugi brought forth his daggers as the black smoke gathered, he closed his fists on the hilts and stepped forward. Even if he couldn't do anything, he couldn't just stand and watch. As the wyvern thrashed, Tsugi saw a small softened spot right in between the scales on its chest. The soft spot disappeared with every exhale and reappeared with every inhale.
The wyvern threw its head back and took in a deep breath. A low rumbling noise could be heard from within its chest and a green light started to emerge in its throat.
"Kildo!" Lugo screamed. Kildo thrust his sword down into the wyvern's throat and twisted it. Tsugi ran for the soft spot but stopped, Lugo had beaten him to it and dove his sword into the spot on the wyvern's chest.
The wyvern wriggled and struggled, thrashing on the ground sending vibrations through the forest.
Its powerful thrashing started to subside until all movement ceased.
Tsugi released his grip on the daggers and they dissipated along with the tension on his shoulders. Panting, everyone returned.
"Is everyone okay?" Nymo asked.
"I think so." Lugo wiped the blood from his sword with his cloak and sheathed it.
"Kildo!" A shout came from the direction of the wyvern.
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The men were carrying Kildo. Every muscle in Kildo's body tensed in excruciating pain as he screamed through his clenched teeth.
"Bring him here!" The healer ran toward them rolling up the sleeves on his robe. Kildo thrashed in pain. "Hold him down!"
It took everyone to hold Kildo down. His vambrace had a hole punctured through it. The healer removed the vambrace and tossed it aside.
Kildo's forearm had a deep gash: the skin was torn and jagged; the fat and muscle tissue split; and the white bone could be seen underneath with green spider web-like design spreading from the wound. The more Kildo screamed and struggled, the faster it traveled up his arm coursing through his veins.
"Damn it! Calm down!" Nymo placed his hands on either side of the wound, "If the venom reaches his heart, I can't save him!" He shouted, clenched his eyes shut, and took in a deep breath.
Kildo continued to scream, his voice reverberated off the trees, and blood poured from the wound. Nymo's face scrunched together, a bead of sweat dripped from his nose.
A warm light emanated from his hands. The green web like design started to rescind and green liquid emerged from the wound. Kildo's thrashing dwindled and his chest rose and fell with his breath. Lugo poured water onto the wound and washed the venom away.
"Okay, he should be okay now." Nymo said breathlessly, wiping sweat from his face. He pulled out a needle and thread, sewed the wound, and then bandaged it.
"Thank goodness that was only an adolescent." Lugo said.
‘Only an adolescent? If they struggled that much with an adolescent how do people fight a fully grown wyvern? Let alone a dragon?!’
He pressed his lips together, not wanting to voice his inexperience.
"He can ride with me." Lugo said.
"No." Kildo said exhausted from his spasm. "I can ride."
"You are struggling to breathe, I am not going to have you pass out or hold us back from getting out of this forest before nightfall."
"It's alright, I can manage. Both of us on one horse will slow it down."
"Fine, just don't fall. Hurry, let's go." Lugo said looking up into the trees. The weegan's had started to gather again. "Now that they have their meal, they should leave us alone."
They helped Kildo stand from the floor. Tsugi could see a patch of dead grass where Kildo had laid.
"We aren't going to harvest the wyvern?" One of the men asked.
"No, we don't have time. Just leave it."
They mounted their horses and took off in another gallop. This time Kildo also joined the middle of the formation.
As soon as they took off, leaves rained down as the branches shook. The weegan's swarmed the dead wyvern like angry fire ants.
***
The sun had begun to set and they weren't quite out of the woods yet. The trees waved in the strong wind and the ground began to shift.
"Hurry! We need to get out of here now!" Lugo screamed and urged his horse to run faster. Tsugi glanced behind him, the path was disappearing and the trees were closing in.
They could see the last bit of sunlight fading away at the edge of the forest. The path in front of them started to move and the trees danced and creaked.
"If we don't make it out of here now we will have to wait 'till sunrise!" They got closer and closer to the edge of the forest, but the trees were closing in, right behind them.
Tsugi felt an alarming aura from behind him causing the hair on his neck to stand up. He glanced back, there were about thirty humanoid figures gliding towards them. He could not see their faces, their shoe-less rotting feet dangled in the air, maggots dropped onto the floor from under the dark cloak. The creatures flew straight through the trees as if the trees weren't even there. Low moaning that sounded like cows mooing, sent a cold shiver down his spine.
The things got closer and closer, reaching a long emaciated, maggot covered, rotten hand out. Moans and whispers reached them like the wind passing through. As it got louder and louder, it turned into a high pitch screech.
The last of the sunlight disappeared over the horizon just as they reached the edge of the woods, and the forest closed off the path behind them.
They all looked back at the edge of the dark forest, the path gone, and not a sound or movement was heard from inside. The horses snorted deep heavy breaths, moving the bit with their tongue, and frothing at the mouth from running. Everyone breathed heavily in exhaustion and relief.
"What was that?" Tsugi asked.
"Wraiths." Lugo panted. "At night, the path is erased and most people who end up getting stuck in the forest, don't usually make it till morning."
"Are you all okay?" Tsugi asked the women and children, looking at their trembling legs from the ride.
"Mhm." Aylin smiled weakly. A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead. Maki lightly massaged her sore legs and the children had terrified looks on their faces.
Tsugi scanned everyone and found Ruzo panting tirelessly, his tail wagged as he waited patiently for the group to move.
Lugo started leading his horse down the grassy hill. "We should keep moving. The city is just up ahead."
Lanterns lit up the big city as it sat in the middle of this vast land surrounded by grassy plains and mountains. Some of the mountains were so large, they disappeared into the clouds. A massive lake lay on the outskirts of the walls and flowed into the city. An enormous wall surrounded the city with big wooden gates, reinforced with iron.
"Who goes there?!" A guard called from atop the wall.
"I am Tsugi! I have returned with Princess Aylin!"