Claysend dropped to the ground, his body limp beneath the ghoul. The ghoul pulled its head, tearing away a piece of Mr. Claysend’s cheek, the skin stretching the splitting off to expose muscle and teeth. The monster chewed hungrily on the flesh as it stepped a hoof up on to Claysend’s stomach and used it to hold him in place. It lowered its head down and bit into the soft flesh of Claysend’s throat, the muscle shredded from its blackened claws. Mr Claysend’s body jerked as the monster tore at him, the hoof keeping his body in place. Blood burbled from his neck, smearing across the ghoul’s face.
Coral hadn’t been prepared for this. She hadn’t seen anyone die before. She had experienced loss, yes, but not like this. Not in the midst of a fight against a monster, and certainly not when she had been purposely left behind at camp to be kept away from the ghoul. How was it here?
Wasn’t Silas and his team hunting the creature down?
As it lifted its head, sucking in the last of Claysend’s cheek, it stared straight at Coral. Coral stared back, horrified.
It was like she wasn’t seeing things from her own body, but watching elsewhere, outside of herself. She took in too much detail of the things around her. Claysends body lay limp and absent of any spirit. Firelight glinted off the tips of the apprentice’s spears, their hands steady, poised and waiting for the ghoul. Their bravery in the face of a nightmare come to life was commendable. Norden Ruesong had already faced this creature and had needed to be rescued from its clutches, and yet there he stood, face hardened, and jaw set with determination. His brother matched him.
Slowly the ghoul released its claws from Claysend’s neck, slicing almost clean through. It took its foot from Claysend’s stomach, a gurgling sound reverberating from its throat.
Coral tensed, her heart hammering in her chest. She expected the ghoul to lunge, like it had all other times. Instead, it took one measured step, then another.
“Should I change?” Norden murmured.
“No,” Osric muttered back. It was as though they were both keeping their voices low to keep the monster calm. “If it attacks, I won’t be able to take it on my own.”
“I fight better that way,” Norden said.
“It takes too long. It’ll be done with us when you’re halfway,” Osric said.
The ghoul took another step, hunched over with its stomach impaled with Claysend’s sword and blackened blood seeping from the wound. It stopped, then reached down. The sword dug deeper as the hilt pressed into the ground. It picked up its severed arm.
“Cursed shit,” Norden swore, his hand tightening on his spear.
The flesh around its limb bubbled, oozing blood as the ghoul raised the severed arm up to its shoulder. There was a hiss as the arm was pressed in the wrong angle against the open wound. The arm fused to the ghoul, its blood sealing the limb along the wound. It let go, and with an awful squelch, the arm twisted back into place.
If Coral ever had to see that again, it would be too soon.
The ghoul stretched up to its full height, its eyes still locked on Coral. It ignored how the sword angled and cut open its stomach. Intestines slipped out beside the steel, dangling in a loop as it came free from the creature’s stomach.
It stalked towards them, heedless of its stomach or sword. All that separated them from the monster was the pyre the Adventure’s had planned to use to burn the creature. The radiating heat and fierce flames deterred it from coming at them straight on. The boys took a careful step to the right, and Coral followed, keeping herself squarely behind the two. This brought the fire in front of them, out of direct line of sight of the creature.
The ghoul shrieked its displeasure. Coral slapped her hands around her ears to block out the piercing sound. The boys winced, but with their hands around their weapons, neither of them could block the noise.
It loped a few more steps, following the only path available around the pyre. The apprentices and Coral kept moving to the right, matching the pace of the ghoul so that they maintained the distance and fire between them.
They couldn’t keep this up all night. Coral hoped that whatever signal was sent to Silas’s team, that they would be here soon. She may not be alone, as useless at fighting as she was, but there was a difference between having two young apprentices with her instead of a vampire who could match the ghoul’s strength and speed. She didn’t want these boys to be hurt, regardless of how long they had been learning to fight. Apprentices weren’t thrown into the thick of a fight without experienced team members to keep them alive. All these boys had was Coral, who had never held a real weapon in her life, and the chance that Silas and his team would be back in time before they were slaughtered. Luck was not on their side.
Coral’s breath hitched in her throat as the ghoul took a running leap, closing the gap between them by quite some distance. Coral automatically moved to the right as fast as she could go, but the ghoul was closer now, and within striking range of the apprentice’s spears.
Norden lunged forward and swept his spear down in a long cutting motion, forcing the ghoul to back away. Coral took a few more steps so that she was further from the boys, searching frantically for anything to use against the creature. Further along there was someone’s bedroll spread out next to the wall, and a small pack that had the top flap left wide open. There was nothing of use there, not unless she lit the bag on fire and flung it at the ghoul. That was a possibility. The only other things was the spell book left to one side of the rock which was now near the ghoul, or the fire with its burning logs. There was a pile of thick logs to feed the fire, and some long, thick sticks to prod larger pieces of wood into the coals. Coral grabbed for two of the sticks then rammed the ends into the coals.
Osric and Norden had backstepped towards her, forcing her to leave the sticks behind and she cursed. If they make it around again, surely the sticks wouldn’t have incinerated completely before she could have her own go of stabbing it at the ghoul. Terrified as she was, she didn’t want to be completely helpless. She back further away, desperately searching the ground for something more useful than small stones, cautious to not go too far unless she really did become the bait and lured the ghoul around the other side of the fire.
The ghoul leapt forward. Norden flipped his spear up then stabbed out with the blunt end, smacking it hard against Claysend’s longsword and forcing it sideways. It sliced through the ghoul’s side and came free. The ghoul dropped, screeching and spittle flying from its mouth. Norden took a step back, swung the blade tip down to meet the ghoul and thrust. The blade pierced the ghoul’s shoulder, right where Claysend had first severed the creatures arm. With a slight adjustment to his grip he reefed the spear up with such force a spray of blood flicked off of the blade and across the wall of the tower. Screeching, the ghoul leaped forward, slashing out with its claws. Osric deflected the slash with his spear, then again as the ghoul swiped out with its damaged arm.
Coral stumbled back again as the ghoul began to close the distance between them. Its arm was simmering again as the ghoul’s blood sealed the laceration. Even the wound on its side from the sword was mending itself, the blood coating its leathery flesh. Coral’s foot stumbled on a stone. She decided then and there that throwing something was better than backing away like a useless bag of meat. Coral may be terrified, but she wouldn’t let these young boys fight for her while she stood around doing nothing. She stooped down and collected a handful of the biggest rocks she could get, took aim, then threw one as hard as she could. The stone soared through the air, then hit the wall beside the ghoul as it slashed its claw forward and moved just in time to avoid the stone.
Undeterred, Coral threw another, this time catching it right in its injured shoulder. The ghoul barely registered the hit. Norden and Osric both raised their spears and thrust them forward, piercing the ghoul through the stomach again, tearing at the wound that was mending itself.
Coral threw another rock, uncaring if it was actually doing anything. It felt better than standing back as long as she didn’t hit either of the Ruesong apprentices. She didn’t even have a rusty kitchen knife. How could Silas have left her here with naught but a few human shields as protection! Why hadn’t she brought a knife?
The rock hit the ghoul in the shoulder again, this time directly at the wound. The cut stopped knitting itself back together.
“Keep hitting where it’s hurt,” Norden snarled out as he ripped his spear free and parried a slicing cut from the ghoul. The ghoul screeched then ducked below the sweeping blow from Osric’s spear and leapt for their legs. Norden cut down, and scored the blade into the side of the creature and tore it free again.
Coral shuffled backwards, searching the ground for more stones. They had moved back around the tower so that they were in line with the tower’s opening, where there was more debris. She picked up a large chunk of stone, brought her hand back and with a great deal of effort she flung it. It went low, smacking into its stomach, briefly pausing the mending process. The ghoul darted back and bent low, sweeping its arms out either side of it with its talons outstretched. It shot in, swiped. Osric knocked it back with a blow of his spear, and it backed off before trying again.
“Push it into the fire!” Coral cried, chucking another stone. It hit the ghoul’s shoulder again, but the wound had almost completely stitched itself closed. The wound roiled for a moment as the ghoul swung its claws at Osric and Norden, then the skin blended until it was smooth again.
“It’ll just make it angrier!” Osric huffed out as he parried another blow.
Coral reached down, and her fingers fell upon the spell book. She took one look at it, thrust the book near the flames, wincing at the heat. The pages caught alight and was quickly being incinerated. Coral hefted her arm back and threw that at the ghoul’s face. As soon as the flaming book came soaring over the apprentice’s heads, the ghoul backed away with a screech. The book missed and fell to the ground with a thump. The pages burned up, the cover smoking as the flames licked along the edges.
The ghoul screeched. Coral crushed the palms of her hands against her head, she was sure her ears were bleeding from the piercing cry. Then it leapt. Both Osric’s and Norden’s spears came up to meet it, but it had moved quicker. The ghouls back slipped beneath the spear’s tips and was on both of them before Coral could blink or move. Norden screamed, his voice breaking as the ghouls’ claws sliced into his arm. Osric struggled beside him, hefting the shaft of the spear up and using the blade to stab into the ghoul.
It didn’t react as the spear tore into its body. It was uncaring of how it crawled over Norden, its claws slicing and gouging at anything, ignoring the writhing person beneath it. The ghoul kept moving forward, straight at Coral. It broke away from the apprentices, lunging forward just as Coral scuttled backwards. Norden caught the ghoul around its legs, keeping it from leaping its full weight straight on to Coral, but it still knocked her down regardless, its chest thumping hard against her lower legs. Norden’s arms tightened around the creature’s legs as it kicked hard to propel itself forward. It reached up and sliced its claws into Coral’s thigh, the other arm slapped against her stomach with bruising force. The armour thankfully kept her from being ripped open. It was dragging itself up her, like it had done to Claysend.
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Coral frantically threw her arms out, searching for anything to hit the monster with other than her own flesh. Her hand went out to the side and snagged on the branch she had shoved in the fire earlier. Without thinking, Coral closed her fingers around the burning branch, the bark searing her palm. She smashed it hard against the ghoul, uncaring of where as long as she hit it.
Sparks flew as she struck, showering her and the ghoul in tiny embers from the glowing end of the stick. The ghoul screamed and tried to scrabble out of Norden’s tight grip.
Coral grabbed the stick with both hands, gritting her teeth at the heat. A ripple of magic coursed over her, and something snapped into place. There was a thundering tremor to the ground. Coral knew that Fools Luck had just taken affect. The ghoul raised its head as she brought both hands up and over her chest. The ghoul opened its mouth wide to let out another challenging shriek. Coral thrust the stick at the ghoul. The burning end rammed itself down its throat, the shriek choked off as she put all her strength behind it.
The ghoul fell sideways, and Norden let it go as the burning end sunk another inch down its throat. It kicked out and somehow missed her by a hair’s breadth. Though, Coral’s luck spell had ended there. The ghoul’s claws wrapped around the stick and snapped it in half.
Coral hurried backwards, trying desperately to get to her feet. A downed opponent was as good as dead. Osric had gotten to his feet and was already stepping around Coral as she used her arms to shove herself back and away. He raised his spear and rammed it into the ghoul, pushing it back as it clawed and chocked on the burning charcoal in its mouth in a rasping gagging sound that made Coral’s skin crawl. Osric shifted his feet, staring down the ghoul and lips pulled back in a snarl.
The ghoul twisted back to its side, and from there on the ground, leapt at them.
A dark mass surged from the tower’s entrance right behind the ghoul. Jaws closed around the ghoul’s upper body. The ghoul writhed as it fought against the hold. Coral lost sight of it a moment as whatever had caught the creature shook it side to side then threw it bodily into the wall of the tower.
“GO!” Osric yelled, pulling Coral up to her feet and then shoved her towards the monster that just threw the ghoul like it was a rag doll.
Coral’s brain screamed at her to stay back, but her body wanted to move. Her legs did an odd half stumble forward before locking in place as she stared wide eyed at the giant wolf before her. There was another source of danger. Another monster that could kill her. Its head lowered, ears flat against its head and jowls pulled back revealing its long fangs.
Norden’s hands closed around her upper arm and forcefully pulled her along. Coral didn’t have a choice whether she stayed put or not.
The giant wolf stepped forward and Norden shoved her hard into the gap between its legs and the tower’s entrance. She hurried through, her heart in her throat as she tried to get her legs to cooperate, then stopped abruptly with a small cry escaping her lips. Towering over her were many more giant wolves, their eyes reflecting the fire light.
A flash of white, and Caspian stood before her. His eyes wide and nostrils flaring as he took her in. “To the wall,” he commanded, gesturing for her to go sideways along the tower.
Osric and Norden took her by both arms and hurried her to the tower, turning so that their backs were to the wall. They positioned themselves again so that Coral stood between them. Caspian stayed where he was, sword in hand and facing the tower with the wolves behind him.
A shriek filled the air. The wolves stalked closer to the tower, hackles raised and snarling. Two wolves broke off from the pack and headed straight at Coral and the Ruesong apprentices. A small noise broke from the back of Coral’s throat, but neither Norden nor Osric raised their spears as they approached. The were taller than her and Coral had to crick her neck up higher just to look them in the eye. Except they weren’t looking at her. Their attention was drawn to their surroundings. The wolves split, and Coral froze in place as they each took up a position either side of Norden and Osric.
There was a heavy thud and Coral felt the wall of the tower tremor from the impact. The black wolf backed out of the entrance, dragging along the ghoul by its foot. The ghoul twisted up and slashed at its muzzle. The wolf released it, then caught it again a second later, closing its teeth around its upper arm, cutting deep into the flesh. The ghoul screeched. The wolf’s teeth bit down hard and twisted, wrenching off its arm with the movement.
The ghoul fell from the wolf and hit the ground in a forward roll. It pushed itself up to its remaining limbs and ran forward in an uneven lope. Coral braced herself as the ghoul came in her direction. Caspian stepped in front of the ghoul, swinging his sword down in an arc. It didn’t stop. It ploughed straight into Caspian, taking the blow into its stomach and splitting its side open. The ghoul sunk its teeth around his shoulder, the momentum making Caspian take a step back towards Coral.
The two wolves beside Osric and Norden snarled viciously, both stepping forward at the same time. They didn’t attack. Just flashed their teeth in a threatening way that seemed just as much for Caspian as it was for the ghoul.
Caspian dropped his sword and pulled the ghoul off of him, his shoulder coming away bloody and smearing the ghouls starved face. The ghoul licked the blood from its chin with a dark tongue that looked blackened with rot.
The black wolf latched on to its leg and hurled it up out of Caspian’s grip, twisted and slammed the ghoul against the ground. It rebounded with the impact, curled up and dug its claw into the wolfs neck from below. Its free leg coiled around and pressed hard against the side of the wolf’s face, kicked and tore itself free from the wolfs jaws. The wolf spat out a hoof.
There was a flash of red fur as another wolf ran for the severed arm, its fingers scuttling in a way that pulled the ghoul’s arm towards its body. The red wolf took the arm by the back of the wrist so that the claws couldn’t get to it. It took off, running as fast as it could directly to the open cage, manned by a woman Coral had seen back at the Adventurer’s guild. She held the cage door open, then as the red wolf slid to a halt and threw the arm into the cage, the woman slammed the door shut. It was followed not a moment later by another wolf with the hoof that the ghoul had torn from itself.
The ghoul crawled across the ground with its torn limbs, huffing. It didn’t get far from the black wolf. Three other wolves closed in on it, each taking a limb and then pulled. The ghoul was suspended between the wolves and a violent game of tug began as each one pulled in a different direction, jerking with each yank in one way or another. The ghoul shrieked as teeth sunk into its flesh, its shoulder joints cracked with every wrench. The growling grew with the wolves excitement as the ghouls skin split open, and after a moment longer, an arm ripped away from the ghouls body. That wolf ran towards the cage, then yelped as the arm clawed at it, ripping chunks of fur and leaving long cuts along its chest and shoulder. The wolf flung the arm into the cage with the other, the woman slamming the door shut.
The two other wolves shook their heads violently, teeth still clamped hard around the legs of the ghoul. One wolf won itself another limb, leaving the other to bite down hard on the last leg, the flesh torn at the teeth marks. The ghoul screeched as it tried to twist its torso up and bite at the last wolf.
It was tugged across the ground several meters before the black wolf came at the ghoul again. With a crunch of teeth, its jaws closed around the ghoul’s neck and snapped off the head and tossed it to the ground.
The ghouls body went still, though the wolf that still had its leg didn’t release it. It hefted the body back to the cage, where the woman opened the cage door and kicked at the claw that was closest, trying to crawl free. “Hurry!” She yelled, not turning to look at the wolf approaching, but kept her eyes on the moving body parts.
The wolf picked up its pace, and as it drew level with the woman, she turned and slammed a dagger straight into the ghoul’s chest. Right where the heart was. The severed body parts went still.
“That should slow it down a bit more,” she said, drawing the blade out. It dripped dark ichor onto the ground. With a huff of effort, she and the wolf shoved the body into the cage. It took her a moment to fix rope to the metal. The red wolf walked up eagerly to the woman and took the proffered rope into its mouth. Another brown one joined it. Comparing the two, the red wolf was shorter, lanky and somewhat awkward in its movements. Much like a young pup still growing into its feet. Together, the wolves and the woman pulled the cage towards the tower.
Coral stared as they made quick work of closing the distance. When they drew near her, Coral found that she couldn’t stand to be near the ghoul. She didn’t want to be anywhere near it. She forced her numb legs to shuffle forward. Osric and Norden lowered their spears as she stumbled past them, then walked either side of her as she kept moving so that she was a far enough from the tower wall that she could see what the woman was doing with the monster’s body.
The ghoul twitched. The stab wound to the heart had already closed off.
It was healing itself. Coral could see that boiling motion at the gaping wounds, its blood congealing like glue to seal an arm back into place. Not even five minutes had passed, and it was pulling itself back together.
The black wolf kept its paw over the top of the head, forcing it face down into the ground. From where Coral stood, she could see the ghouls jaw was slowly moving.
The woman directed each wolf to go either side of the pyre inside the tower and pull. Another wolf came up and helped the woman push the cage from the back so that it levered up and then tipped unceremoniously on to the fire. Sparks flew as the cage fell atop the burning coals. The bars weren’t much more than a hands width wide, so she piled the remainder of the logs and sticks up around the cage, building the fire so that it burned more fiercely.
The ghouls body shuddered, then drew back instinctively from the flames that flickered hungrily up between the bars and along its exposed flesh. Its leg and other arm were searching out its torso, guided by whatever sense that directed it back to its body. It was slower to heal, the flames causing damage and preventing the limbs from resealing back to the ghoul’s frame. The leathery skin had turned red and began to peel back. Coral turned her head, unwilling to watch.
After another few minutes of listening to the roar of the fire and the rattle of the cage as the ghoul tried to escape, the black wolf took up the ghoul’s head. The wolfs teeth crushed the ghouls skull as it gnashed its teeth, then dropped it into the fire.
The ghoul’s detached head screamed, wailing in agony.
Coral sunk to the ground. She had to see it for herself that the ghoul was dying. She took a last look, and her stomach turned as the ghouls head began to burn and the skin cracked.
Coral shook, though she didn’t feel the cold. She wanted the monster to be quiet. The sound was terrible. She looked down and saw that her torn trousers had bloomed a dark patch over her left thigh. Coral reached for a torn piece and pulled back the scrap of fabric. A gasp escaped her and all at once pain finally registered in her adrenaline fuelled brain.
Coral breathed in sharply, her lungs no longer able to take in enough air. Her hands were searing with sharp heat. She flipped them over, revealing blistered skin. Some patches of her own skin had torn or burned away. She wasn’t sure which.
Now that she had seen her injuries, she couldn’t block the pain. Her mouth filled with saliva. A cold sweat broke out over her forehead. Coral lent forward and emptied the contents of her stomach. It came up with such force it streamed out of her nose. When her body had finished rejecting the remnants of her last supper, Coral stayed where she was, heaving for breath. She was too stunned to move. She just sat there, staring.
There was a gentle nudge to her shoulder. Coral barely felt the sensation. She wasn’t even sure what she was feeling.
“Coral,” Silas said gently.
She didn’t look up, afraid to see. She knew now. The wolves were not just animals. They had followed Silas’s plan, they understood what needed to be done. Silas and his team were a pack of werewolves.
It would have been nice if someone had told her prior to all of this.
A cloth appeared in front of her. Coral looked at it for a long moment, then slowly reached for it, her fingers burning with the movement. She pinched the cloth between her knuckles and tried to wipe her face. It felt like she was just smearing vomit across herself, then gave it up when she couldn’t stand the feel of fabric on her raw fingers.
Silas took pity on her and wiped the cloth over her cheek and tender nose, careful to not agitate it further. Coral was too preoccupied to care.
“Wash your mouth out,” he said, his voice a low rumble that was soothing. He held out a flask to her. Coral took it, awkwardly holding it between her wrists. It took a few several tries to tip the water into her mouth, and then another few mouthfuls to clear her mouth.
Silas said something, but for all that Coral cared, it was just mumbling noise. Not words. He took the flask from her, then after a moment he pulled her hands towards him. Coral let him. More useless noise fell from his lips. Coral just stared at nothing.
A weight fell upon her back. Coral blinked and realised someone had wrapped their cloak around her shoulders. She realised that she was shaking hard. Was she cold? The air was cold around her, so she must be. A violent shudder ran down her spine, spiking fresh pain over her leg.
She was definitely in pain. It wasn’t too bad though.
Mostly, Coral didn’t want to move for a long, long time.
“Come on, lets have a look,” a woman said. Where had she come from? How long had she been kneeling in front of her? Coral let this strange woman run her hands over her. Was she a werewolf too? Coral tried to focus on her face, but all that she could take in was the way the woman’s eyebrows pinched together as she looked at Coral’s leg.
“Its quite deep. She’ll need stitching. It’ll leave a scar too,” the woman said.
“No,” Coral mumbled. “I can’t have scars.”
“Pass me the med-kit. Someone keep a hold of her. She won’t like this,” the woman said tersely.