Larger than the eyes could see with water like clear glass was the lake Artemis or so thought Sylia. He had expected the lake to be as stagnant and dirty as the marshes that surrounded it but what a surprise it was that such purity occurred so unexpectedly here.
“A fine place to wash away my grief,” Sylia thought as he unbuckled his sword and dipped his feet into the lake. The pebbles were a little uncomfortable but as he walked deeper in the water, it cooled down his scorched feet. As the cold water came upto his chest, it calmed down his burning thoughts. Then as Sylia plunged his head into the clear cold water, the constant sounds of midnight critters faded away, and as he opened his eyes underwater, he felt comfort or perhaps even a little peace. How nice it would be to be like this, under the clear water, forever.
But then a bright ray of light caught Sylia’s eyes from beyond the water. He swam up and saw flames in the camp.
With a single stroke of his hands and legs he jumped out of water and took a breath.
From the camp came the roar of giant beast.
Akhilia!!!
Sylia jumped out from the lake and grabbed his sword – no time for armor.
Screams.
A panicked chill went through Sylia’s body. No time to think! Sylia jumped atop a wandering horse and rushed towards the camp. A roar and the silloute of a giant beast slashing about. What was it? The alarm horn sounded.
As he got closer, he could see it. A giant bear, 10 feet tall on it’s hind legs, swiping at the men trying to defend the lady Andromida and the prince. The men were trying to hold it off and form a spiky shield wall between the lady and the bear.
Howl
A deathly howl from the forest and howls all around to answer that.
Was this the enemy? No time to think. The bear. As Sylia reached the camp behind the bear, he picked up one of the long red hot skewers from the fire and stabbed the bear on it’s lower back. As the bear roared in anger and turned around, his horse reared up on terror and with a single swipe from it’s giant paws, broke through the horse’s legs, ribcage, and its internal organs, and threw Sylia off. One of the men in the shield wall climbed on the bear’s back and stabbed it with his sword. The bear growled loudly and fell on its back crushing the man beneath it. Before the bear could get up again, two men grabbed burning logs and tried to burn its fur. The bear grabbed one of them in its paws and crushed his skull. Meanwhile, Sylia gained back his senses and lifted the dead horse off of himself. Then he could see it – the mark of the Blarnar’s wolf etched through the bear’s back and many other markings which were from the eastern shamans.
The second man was having some luck and the bear’s fur was starting to catch on fire. The bear roared again in agony and his claws fell upon the man knocking him aside.
No time to think. Sylia took this chance and rushed behind the shield wall and grabbed Andromida. Her face was pale white and motionless, but she was holding the prince tightly. He grabbed the prince, and tied him around her back. Then he looked at the five men left holding the shield wall.
“Go!” someone shouted. The men who had went to water the horses had come back.
Hurriedly Sylia picked up lady Andromida and climbed atop a horse. With a click and a nudge the horse seemed to fly through the muddy trail.
Screams!
The other men got atop the horses and they rushed to catch up to Sylia. The men holding the shield wall looked at the giant bear infront of them and saw it raise its mighty claws. The bear brought it down with such force that four of the five men were slashed fatally through their shields. The last one was caught between the bear’s paws. His vision split as the bear tore him apart down the middle. The bear roared the loudest it had so far. Then more Screams!
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“We will rendezvous with the captain at the cave at the edge of the lake. It’s the end of this dirt road. Follow me,” one of the men said as a giant wolf lunged from the shadows and knocked him off his horse.
As he drew his knife and stabbed at the neck of the wolf biting his chest, he again shouted, “Go!”
Howls coming from the forests.
“Eu Thanatos brother,” someone said and half of the men turned back to face the forest. As Sylia and the few men nudged their horses forward through the tracks, the rest of the horsemen yelled and charged back into the dark. Soon the sounds of screaming men, horses, and wolves in the darkness drove them forward.
Only when Sylia looked down to get a better grip on the reins did he see Andromida’s face - horrid from the mud and blood; screaming and crying and in agony. He had seen this look before – his sister * *.
“Gods help us,” was the thought in his head as he realized that Lady Andromida was about to go into labor.
“Just a little farther,” Sylia told her. “Just hold on a little more,” he said as a wolf pounced and tackled the horseman left of him.
“Four of us left now,” Sylia thought.
“Just a little father,” Sylia said again, to Andromida who was out of energy to even weep.
The rugged man before Sylia suddenly stopped and so did he.
There it was – light from the rendezvous cave. A wave of relief flashed over him as they approached the cave but then an arrow hissed past and one of the men screamed, “God dammit. It’s us with lady Andromida. Don’t shoot!”
The snarls and howls were still everywhere. Sylia rode towards the light eager to get to safety; the final hurdle before bliss, but then he saw it.
Ten men were holding off a dozen wolves by the cave entrance through a makeshift wall with water from the lake on either side. A few men behind them had managed to put a few arrows in the wolves, perhaps slowing them down, but more were coming in from the forests.
“Shit, there are wolves in front of us. We have to charge them!” Sylia said. The men looked at each other and the grizzliest looking amongst them nodded.
“Lead the charge commander,” the man said as they prepared their horses and their own courage.
With the lady Andromida hanging on at the saddle almost unconscious, he grabbed his sword and started on a gallop.
His horse gained speed and did not flinch at the sight of the wolves. “Thank the gods,” Sylia thought he screamed startling the wolves while the other three men followed him and they crashed pincering the wolves between them and the shields. Some of the wolves whimpered and ran away in a panic while others were trampled beneath the horses or stabbed by the horsemen and the shield men.
“Gods, is that you Sylia.” Pilio said as he emerged from behind the wall.
“Yes captain. Your sister needs a quiet place to deliver the baby,” Sylia said and he got off his horse and got inside the makeshift wall of logs and twigs.
“Take her inside the cave and have the healer look at her,” Pilio told his man.
Sylia continued, “There are wolves on our tail and all around us – at least 50 big ones including the ones we just chased away. There was also a bear – I’ve never seen one so big; with markings of the god Blarnar.”
“It’s Holda’s shaman,” Sylia continued. “There were rumors from the west of a Blarnar’s priestess who controls giant direwolves and rides them.”
“Are you saying that a fucking barbarian witch loosed her animals on my men and threatened my sister? ” Pilio screamed in anger.
Sylia tried to calm down and said, “Yes captain, but either way our course of action remains the same. We must consolidate somewhere safe, wait till sunlight, and push out. If she is here then Holda’s men are only a few days behind us.”
“I see. This cave is safe for now. I have 20 men taking turns defending this entrance. 15 more are injured and 5 won’t make the night. Get some rest. There are some clothes for you inside and tell the healer if you’re injured and she will get to you,” Pilio said.
“A woman?” Sylia inquired.
Pilio replied, “Sent to accompany us by general Strategus himself, she is called Pallas. She had medicines and ointment if you need.”
Sylia nodded and went inside the cave where the injured men were kept and a fire was going besides which was a chest of the healer’s exotic medicines and powders. Deeper in was a makeshift crib of saddle and fur where the prince was gently crying. Deeper still, lady Andromida had started screaming again and the healer was yelling for more water.
Surprisingly, the healer was a small pretty woman who came out with a bucket full of nauseating goop which she promptly threw outside the cave into the lake below.
As she was returning, she locked eyes with Sylia and said, “If you have no injuries, get some sleep my lord. It will do you and the prince some good.”
Sylia nodded and picked up his nephew, held him close to himself, and sat down. Amidst the screams and howls through the night, the prince calmed down and Sylia dozed off.
---Preview of Next Chapter---
The prince and Sylia are safe now resting but darkness from beyond still sieges Pilio's small camp. Meanwhile Andromida's labour only adds to the chaos. What will happen next? Find out on from Fire and Blood Ch16: The witch in the dark!
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