The signs of corruption were evident in the forest and grew stronger the further east Rhania and Ricar went. They had been travelling for a day and a half, and many of the leaves overhead were a sickly yellow or white in colour. There were also fewer signs of life in the normally vibrant forest. She had caught the fleeting glimpse of a starved squirrel, nervously foraging for food as though a predator loomed and the occasional insect emerging from the rotten trunk of a still standing tree. The air was still and quiet when they should be filled with the chirping of birds at this time of the year.
She wondered if this was due to what the villagers had uncovered, or the general situation in the Sawtooth Forest this close to the mountains. She winced as dried leaves rustled from behind her. Ricar moved quietly for a human, but it sounded like an unholy racket to Rhania’s elf ears, especially in the unnatural silence that fed the general malaise that seemed to hang over the forest.
“That’s a unique weapon you have there,” Ricar remarked out of the blue. It seemed that the silence was unnerving to him as well. “But it looks heavy. I’m surprised you brought it with you.”
“It’s for emergencies only,” Rhania replied, eager to break the unnerving silence despite the danger it could pose.
She adjusted the single backsword she carried in a sheath at her hip. Its blade was broad, about as wide as a man’s forearm at the base, and it was heavy. She was aware that it made her walk lopsided and resented having to carry it. However, her Captain had insisted on her bringing it along as a condition of allowing her to take up this request.
“Good Arbiters make use of every tool they can,” he had said in that smug, know-it-all voice of his.
“What a waste of effort,” she sniffed to herself. The sword was a crude, barbaric weapon, more suited for humans than elves. Her bow would be plenty to deal with any threats. And if anything got close, there was always the dagger she kept at the small of her back. She would have left her sword with her horse were it not for her Captain’s uncanny ability to wheedle the truth out of her. Violating a direct order on her first mission was a surefire way to be returned to the sidelines.
“Why don’t you carry it across your back?” Ricar suggested, not wanting to let the conversation die. He had spent much of his life in these woods. They seemed almost alien now, and yet, familiar, which made the situation all the more unsettling.
“It would get in the way of unslinging my bow in an emergency,” she said.
The pair stopped in their tracks as thunder rumbled ominously in the distance. It sounded louder, closer, and more ominous. Rhania looked up and realized she had been unconsciously averting her gaze from the closest mountain. The clouds were low, covering it up to its knees. She wouldn’t want to be caught climbing the mountain in these conditions. Not that anyone had gone near it in recent years. None that returned to tell the tale, at any rate.
“The dragon stirs,” Ricar murmured from behind her.
“An old wives’ tale,” Rhania scoffed. “No dragon sleeps beneath those mountains.”
“How can you be so sure?” he asked.
“Because the dwarven kingdom of Ur Dalesh would have been wiped out,” she replied. “No, the strange events in these woods aren’t because of a dragon.”
“Perhaps they have been,” Ricar said softly. “No one has seen them in years.”
Rhania scowled. “They sealed their doors and walled themselves off from the outside world. Besides, there have been no dragon sightings over the Sawtooth Mountains for thousands of years.”
“Are you that old?” Ricar ventured.
Rhania’s scowl deepened. “No. I am but a child in the eyes of my mother’s people.”
“I apologize if I caused offence,” Ricar said, caught off guard by the venom in her voice.
“No harm was done. Asking a lady’s age is a human faux pas, not an elvish one,” Rhania replied, softening her tone.
“Then what are the leading hypotheses for what’s happening?” Ricar asked. “Even simple country folk like us can tell that it is getting grimmer by the day.”
“Nothing worth speculating about,” Rhania replied. “But rest assured that the Arbiters of Ildurin are expending every possible effort to get to the bottom of it. How far are we from the village?”
“Around…”
Ricar was interrupted by a blood curdling howl.
“That sounded close,” Rhania said. Her bow was already in her hands with an arrow nocked. She looked amongst the trees for signs of movement but found none. “Our voices were too loud.”
“They were probably wolves, coming down from the mountain,” Ricar remarked as he unslung his bow. “Though I’ve never heard of sightings this far west.”
Two answering howls came, and Rhania shook her head. “Those are no wolves. They’re dogs.”
“But Vinholme has no hunting dogs,” Ricar objected. “And there are no strays in these woods.”
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“We’ll figure it out soon enough,” Rhania said grimly. “Here they come.”
The first creature appeared amongst the trees, and Rhania’s mind could not comprehend what her eyes were seeing. The creature ran with a dog’s gait but was built more like a small bear. Festering blood red skin covered its body that was covered with boils as well as patches of mangy fur. Saliva dripped from an overlarge mouth that was crammed with far too many sharp, pointy teeth.
“By the Goddess, what is that abomination?” she cried as she loosed an arrow from her bow.
The beast yelped as the arrow found its way between the trees and struck it in the back. She fired another. This one struck it in the head but bounced off its thick skull. Rhania cursed and waited until the creature was almost upon her before firing a third arrow. This one flew through the creature’s gaping mouth, piercing through its brain on the inside. The dog-bear abomination came sliding to a halt inches from her feet.
Rhania was already searching for the other creatures. Her ears told her two more were approaching quickly. Ricar fired an arrow, narrowly missing one. As he struggled to nock a second arrow, Rhania fired, aiming for the creature’s eye but instead pierced its cheek. The creature was almost on top of Ricar by now and Rhania’s instincts screamed at her to intercept it with her sword. Instead, she drew another arrow from the quiver and fired, aiming for the same spot. It struck true this time and pierced its bulging eye. The creature fell on top of Ricar, crushing him under its immense weight.
However, Rhania was in no position to help him. She whirled around and quickly found the third dog creature. It had been observing from the trees roughly two hundred yards away. She fired an arrow, but it ducked behind the tree in time before slinking away.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was going to report back to its master,” she muttered.
Muffled cries reminded her that her guide was trapped under one of the things. She hurried over and tried to move it off, but it was far too heavy. She stepped back and closed her eyes. She felt the flow of the forest’s energy around her. It was faint and tainted, but it was enough. She gathered it into herself, opened her eyes and heaved, moving the creature’s body aside with ease.
“Thank you,” Ricar gasped once the weight was off him. “I thought I was a dead man.”
“Are you alright?” Rhania asked as she helped him to his feet.
“I smell worse than I ever have in my life,” he said as he looked down at his cloak that was drenched in the creature’s saliva. “But I’ll live.”
He paused and looked at the dead beasts. “That’s the best display of archery I’ve ever seen.”
Rhania clenched her bow in frustration, knowing that true elven rangers would have been able to kill the beasts with their first arrows. “It was poor. I have much room for improvement.”
The wind blew, sending a cascade of blackened leaves showering down on them. Rhania looked around and saw that the trees around her were dead. The small amount of power she had borrowed to move the corpse had killed them. It seemed that she would not be able to rely on the Goddess’ power out here. There simply wasn’t enough magical energy. Was that unique to this area, or had the situation in the forest as a whole taken a turn for the worse?
“What are these things?” Ricar groaned as he examined the one that had fallen on him.
Rhania turned her attention to it and frowned. “That looks like a sword wound on its back.”
Ricar looked at where she was pointing and fell silent.
“You’ve seen this before,” her words were an accusation.
“The one who returned, from the hundred we sent,” Ricar began. “He was normal at first but then changed… like those dogs.”
“And he bore the same wound?” Rhania asked.
Ricar nodded silently. Rhania touched the dog’s wound with her finger. She could feel traces of magic but couldn’t be sure of what sort. There was a familiar feeling to it that made her uneasy.
“Do you think this warrants sending for reinforcements from your order?” Ricar ventured.
Rhania shook her head. “I will press on ahead. You may report back to Yeryn if you wish but first, please tell me the way to this village.”
“If you are carrying on, I will follow,” Ricar declared.
Rhania nodded and stood upright as a mournful howl echoed through the forest. She frowned. “They know we are coming now. Is there any other way to this village?”
“We can circle around once we get a little closer,” Ricar said. But I’m not confident of diverting from our course now.”
“It can’t be helped then,” Rhania frowned and looked to the sky. The sun was already low in the sky and there wasn’t enough energy in these woods for her to create wards that could warn them of encroaching predators while they slept. “We will carry on this track until you are confident enough to deviate but first, we need to get off this track and find a place to camp for the night.”
In the corner of her eye, Rhaina saw Ricar slump over. She rushed over and found him hot to the touch. He was out cold, and his body began to twitch. A perfunctory check of his body uncovered a deep scratch on his arm where he had attempted to fend the dog creature off.
Rhania bit her lip. He needed immediate treatment. Her choices were to treat him where he lay and risk the remaining creature coming back with help or to abandon him and carry on the reconnaissance without him. The main issue with the latter option was that he hadn’t yet told her how to find the village. She started a fire using the dead leaves that had piled up around them as kindling and used it to steep purifying herbs in pure spring water she had brought with her all the from Ildurin.
Once the concoction was ready, she doused the wound with the still boiling water. Ricar was deathly pale and didn’t stir. After binding his arm in fresh bandages, she gritted her teeth. All she had done was clean the wound. The poison in the creature’s claws was still coursing through his body. He would die unless she…
Rhania shook her head. She knew she was being childish about it. A man’s life hung in the balance, and all because she refused to call upon one of the powers she had been blessed with. Who cared if it came from Aertani, the human’s patron God? Besides, her Captain would hit the roof if he learned that she had let someone die because she refused to call upon the God of Light for the use of His powers.
She took a deep breath and chanted a prayer. Her body filled with warmth, and she focused it into her hand before touching Ricar’s arm. Almost at once, colour returned to the man’s gaunt face. She slumped to the ground and sighed. She always felt dirty after calling upon the God of Light’s powers. She realized it was probably all in her head but couldn’t fathom why she was more proficient in the ways of her father’s people instead of her mother’s. Perhaps she was the butt of some divine joke between the Gods of the Pantheon.
“That’s enough feeling sorry for yourself,” Rhania declared. “You are luckier than most to be able to channel the powers of two Gods when most couldn’t even call on the powers of one.”
She touched Ricar’s forehead and found him still warm to the touch. He would be out until morning at the very least. Not being able to call upon a circle of protection, she’d have preferred to spend the night up in a tree for safety. However, that was out of the question. She would just have to be vigilant and find out for herself if the horrors that were widely reported to stalk the Sawtooth Forest at night were more than just the figments of overactive human imaginations.