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Chapter 42 - Beasts of the shadows

Riin's POV

Shadowfell, Region Unknown - Date Unknown

Week Thirty-two

Let me tell you that waking up and feeling like you ran head first into a train is not a fun thing. My body screams out in pain as I sit up in the bed, I cast a look down at my hands as I feel the sting of torn skin. Why can't I remember much from yesterday?`Let's see, I woke up and started to do the planning for the groups that was supposed to come with me to do some real training in the wild, that’s all I remember… My hands tells me that I was in a fist fight, I do a quick check on my body and find no sign of any hits landing on me. Meaning that the pain I'm feeling is my body working overtime trying to fix my broken muscles from me doing too much. So I beat up something or someone, that much I get… What pisses me off is the fact that I can't remember the event, did I black out? How annoying.

I get myself dressed lightly and head for the bathhouse, I smell of blood and if I'm not wrong, I'm covered in the stuff. Ignoring my body's protest of me walking around I make my way to the baths. Judging by the thickness of the shadows it's just about to become dawn, I like morning baths. Pouring the hot water over my body I get the full view of the amount of blood on me… No wonder I smelled of blood.

Drying off I walk back to my room, I have plans that needs to be completed so I can get the items Uwan promised me. To train a bunch of people into the best possible shape that I can so that I can get my hands on the reward, those lovely hand crossbows and for that, I can deal with a bunch of hormonal kids for a while… Wait a fucking moment! I remember what happened now! Those son of bitches tried to get a quick fuck in on Ivani… Theadis, then came to get me… Shagi and Theadis dragged them off and I send Ashko back with Ivani to wait in my room… Ah man, this is giving me a headache of another world. Let's see, if I sent them back to wait for me and they are not here, then how long was I out for!? Or did I send them somewhere else and I just don't remember? Ah who cares, I will find them at some point. Yeah that's it, so let's ignore it for now.

Having decided on the groups that will be hunting together, I make my way towards Varos’ house. The young I meet on the way give me a slight bow avoiding any eye contact with me, did I forget something else? A few knocks on the door and Varo opens up, giving me a smile.

“Good morning young warrior, what can I help you with?”

Varo is the same as ever so for now I will ignore the young weirdos on the way here. I hand him the paper with the five groups with ten people in each.

“I made the groups, I just wanted to know if I should change anything or are they good to go?”

As I talk he looks over the names with the same stone face as always, but every so often his eyes looks towards me.

“No, I see no problems with the groups. You can start next week. I will let the hunters know to inform you of the route that you will have to take, is that acceptable?”

Next week? Fits me fine, I need to get my body up to standards and ready anyway.

“Yes, that is fine. Thank you.”

I turn to leave but is stopped by Varo’s voice.

“Wait…”

I stop and turn around to face him again, waiting for him to speak. He stares at me but says nothing.

“Erm?”

He shakes his head slowly while closing his eyes, when he opens them again he speaks.

“No, it's nothing young warrior, you can go.”

Is he getting sick? Can they even get sick? Or is it just old age gaining in on him?

“I see, have a good day.”

He smiles, giving me a wave, sending me on my way. So, now I have a week to chill out before I can get going with the hunt. I better find Shagi and the others.

I make my way to their living quarters and find their rooms. Knocking on the door to Shagi’s, it is opened shortly afterwards making me come face to face with a shocked and confused looking Shagi. He quickly seems to pull himself together before swinging the door open and stepping back to give me room to enter and kneels on the floor, where he greets me.

“I wish you a good morning, master. How may I be of use to you?”

The room he lives in is simple much like the sick room that I spent my time in the first three weeks here, only thing is that this room has no fireplace. I hand him the list of people. He carefully takes it before waiting silently again.

“Inform those people that they will be joined together for training from next week on. This week will be a rest week and time to prepare anything they might need outside the village. Get Theadis to help you out. Understood?”

“As you command, it shall be done, my master.”

“Good.”

After a last look around I take my leave.

Week Thirty-three

Armed with swords and a few bows the first group takes the first steps outside the gate, marching in two lines we begin our long walk towards the valley to the west of the village. Of the four that I have to chose from, I've taken Ashko with me for the first trip, I want to see just how much the training has improved his skills.

The sounds of matching steps on the moist ground gives off a relaxing feeling, but we all know what lurks in the shadows around us. One moment of weakness and we will become prey to whatever predator that hides here. As the day turns to night we set camp, three people will be on lookout the whole time and another one making sure that the fires never run out. The watch will change every two hours, making sure that the lookouts don't lose focus.

Morning comes without any attacks, yet no one relaxes and our walk continues soundless as to not attract any unwanted attention to ourselves. Two more days before we reach the valley where we will be spending the remaining week hunting and living. The soundless journey continues with only the weak sound of our steps marking our progress.

Night falls and we begin our lookout rounds. The night is eerily quiet, we are being watched. As the girl who keeps the fires comes to my tent, I grab her arm. A weak sound of shock is released from her, I quickly slam a hand over her mouth.

“Quiet, we are not alone.”

Her eyes grow big before her body becomes tense under my touch.

“Wake everybody up as silently as you can.”

She nods before turning around to do so. I cast a look at the other two keeping watch and they seem to have sensed that we are not alone anymore too. Our hands grip our weapons hard, the few of them that had bows are placed in the middle of our little circle. The minutes become hours but no one moves an inch. We feel it in the air, something is looking at us, something big and very strong.

Dawn comes yet we stand still unmoving. No one is relaxing. There!! I can't help but to blunt it out.

“A gargoyle… ?”

Someone gasped and someone lets out a weak whisper. “No, they are supposed to be extinct…”

I can't help but to comment on that.

“It doesn't look dead…”

The same person answers back with a half angry half desperate voice.

“That right there is a [Nighthaunt]! They belong to the old plane, not here!”

“Old plane?”

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Someone else answers that.

“Before the Queen, shadowfell was known as the plane of shadows, you know?”

“Yeah…”

“Another plane existed here, the plane of negative energy, the old plane.”

“And… How long ago was this?”

Someone lets out a heavy sigh.

“In the first age, over ten thousand years ago!”

[Knowlegde: Shadowfell] has gained more complete information.

My comment to all this?

“Shit.”

Silence passes between us.

“Anything else you know about this Nighthaunt?”

“Only what the old tales told us, but what if-”

“Just spit it out!! Right now we need all the information that we can get!”

Someone speaks up, another one than before.

“I remember that one of them once lead a large army of undead towards the Queen's palace.

Slowly things start to flow in.

“They are weak to daylight.”

“They are strong spell casters.”

“Ah! They supposedly used something that drained the life from whoever touched them.”

I wait wanting more information but nothing comes. But I come to the conclusion that it does not work alone, meaning that while we see it we are not seeing the mass of undead that it leads.

We need to get back to the village, if something that old is here while a large army march towards the queens city that means that more forces are moving at the same time. We need to get out of here now! If we get trapped between a legion of undead, we are done for.

“Gather the fires we are moving, now!”

“What about our things?”

“Leave them we need to get as far away from that thing as we can, and we need to warn the villages that something like that is here, now move it!”

“Keep formation!”

“Keep the fires going.”

We move at a painfully slow pace, but we are making our way away from the gargoyle. It's pearly eyes stare at us as we slowly back away. Never does it blink or move but just before we turn a corner its head turn slightly. The moment we are out of sight a ear piercing scream breaks the silence. It sends chills down my spine, so this is fear? A feeling long forgotten but now is not the time to linger on a mere feeling.

“Run!”

I'm glad I made them all do so much running till they dropped.

“Don't break away from the group!”

“Move as one!”

Even at our pace we are at least a twelve-hour run from the village. We are stopped in our tracks by a wall of flesh, rotten corpses. I cast a quick look around. There! The pearly white eyes stare back at me. Think, think, think! That's it! I move into the group and find the person I'm looking for.

“Ashko!”

“Yes, Master?”

Yes! He is not out of breath! Good, now I just need two more who can run with him.

“Who is still in good shape? Speak up!”

A girl calls out from somewhere behind me.

“I'm good!”

A boy to the side of me speaks up as well.

“I'm fine too, what do you need?”

Yes! This might work, none of them are out of breath at all.

“I need the three of you to run ahead and inform the village that we will be under attack within hours! The rest of us will make a hole for you guys. Understood?”

The boy speaks up in a angry voice.

“You want us to abandon the rest of you!?”

“What!? No! How did you… No, kindly send someone to come help us out, afterwards will you!”

His angry look turns to a smile, whatever works for you dude…

“Got it!”

“Roger!”

“Master!? How can I just abandon you here!”

Ah.

“That is an order!”

He looks like he might cry but holds it in well, he kneels on the ground.

“A-As you command, it shall be done, my master.

I want to smile but it would be very wrong to do so in this situation… Yeah, it would.

“As soon as I give the order you three run ahead. Got it?”

A unified ‘yes’ from the two young warriors and a ‘yes, master’ from Ashko. Okay, let's give them the space they need to make a break for it, shall we! I wanted to see them work as a team against beasts like the Shadow Hounds, but I guess any opponent would do really. For now we just need to clear a part for the messengers to get clear and then block any would-be pursuers…

“You three, stay in the middle don't use energy fighting. The rest of you move as one, killing only the ones blocking our part for now. Move out!”

We move out, staying in a small pressed circle as we force our way through the mass of undead. Each one focusing on keeping them at bay more than killing them as for now we just need to get the report of what is happening here to the village as fast as we can. Hacking and slashing down anything that comes close to us; arms, heads, it doesn't matter, it all gets put to the sword. A yell from the ‘front’ of the group lets me know what we have pushed our way through the mass.

“We are out!”

Now it's time for the runners to make their move.

“Runners to the front, move! Anyone else block any of them that tries to take after them!”

Shouts sound out agreeing, now the real fight begin. They take off, fast, I will give them that. A few undead try to take off after them but are quickly dealt with.

“Form a line! Hold the line!”

A line of swords now blocks the undead from the path of the runners. We need to keep moving or we will be swarmed in moments. I see the familiar skeletons and what I can only think of as zombies and something that moves a bit faster then them… Ghouls, I think the name is, anyway they are faster and seemly stronger than the slow-moving zombies. I also spot a few zombie hounds and skeleton hounds in between the mess of bodies.

“Keep moving backwards! Slowly!”

How many have we killed since we let the runners go? How far have we been forced to move back? We are holding our line but the constant fighting with our life on the line against a brainless mass of meat is starting to show. While we will need to rest the undead keep on attacking us. We will need a break soon. I step back, fending of the swing of a rotten arm. Think! A chance to get a break, think! Shifts!! Grabbing the shoulder of the male next to me, I lightly push him back and move to the next one, a female, grabbing her shoulder as well.

“You two! Move back, take a break!”

We continue fighting, stepping back. Ten minutes and we have reached the two resting. They move to my left and starts to fight once more. Good. I grab the two next people on my right.

“You two! Your turn!”

Good, this we can do to keep up, I hope.

Female Runner's POV

We have been running for a few hours now, only the three of us. Not a single word has passed between us since we started running… The servant of the human is looking ahead, he had a steadfast look in his eyes. Nothing of the despair that was in them when he was told to go ahead of his master, no now the only thing remaining is the end goal. We push forward, we were chosen to run due to the fact that we were not out of breath and that the human seemed to have faith in that boy named Ashko. But he is not the only one who wants to prove himself here, I too want to prove that I can be counted on even if I'm a female warrior.

I'm not naive, I know why most warriors are males, our race is slowly dying due to the lack of females among us, but I want to stand on the front line! I want to become one of the lady's trusted knights, the greatest honor one of our race can receive. So when I heard that a human male had gained the Queen's honor and was granted four Shadar-Kai to serve him, I knew that I would have to go and train there. When I saw him for the first time, I was baffled, why would our great and all wise Queen grant such a young boy the honor of receiving her mark? But again and again he proved to not be a simple human, he was cold and uncaring yet at the same time showed great loyalty to his comrades… A young mage? But what need would the Queen have for such a foul magic? What can he possible do that we as her children can not? But I do not question our lady for she guards the fate of us all and if she has decided that she is going to need that human then we can't be late in getting help to him!

Varo's POV

A guard come crashing into the room with a weird look on his face.

“Sir, you better get out here. Some of the young have returned with dire news.”

“Lead the way!”

“Yes sir.”

As I run to the gate following the guard I see three of the young who left for the week. Something has gone wrong! They have returned to early and there are only three. Wait, that is one of the vessels for the boy. The first to speak is that boy. He is out of breath but unlike the two others he seems to be refusing to fall down.

“Please! Send help! A Nighthaunt!”

What… No, they are long gone from this world… But looking at the breathless young and the terror they seem to have seen I must believe in them.

“How far from here?”

The boy's face seems to go through a lot of emotions all at once before he answers me.

“Eight hours fast run from the valley! It lead a large group of undead, sir! M-master told us to warn you of an oncoming army.”

He draws in a breath.

“Please sir, send help!”

If they are against a terror of old they will need all the help they can get, elleven went out and three came looking for help. How long will eight youngsters last?

“Prepare eight horse at once we need to get them back! And ready the defences!”

“Yes sir!”

Hold on young ones we are coming!

Riin's POV

The last light of the day has passed and the endless fighting continues, we have made small rests along the way but even with them we are starting to lose focus as we continue the fight. How many have we killed so far? I stopped counting after I reached fifty in total between the skeletons and the zombies but I did bring down two of those ghouls and one of the zombie dogs. Worst smell ever!

The pearly white eyes shine behinds the mass of dead, letting us know that we are not out of the woods. A scream of pain is released to my left. I cast a look as I strike down another zombie. A female has her arm ripped off below the elbow, it's now nothing more than a mangled mess of leftover meat. The two who are resting runs to rejoin the fight. Good, they are thinking fast now, without me even having to yell at them.

“Hold the line!”

I slip out of the line and drag her away from the fight. It's bleeding strongly now, if nothing is done soon she will be dead within a few minutes. I look around and spot one of the guys who holds a torch.

“Give me one of those torches!”

A female comes running with hers and as soon as I grab it she is back in the fight. Very good. I look down at the girl in front of me.

“Hold still I need to close the wound!”

Between the grunts of pain and the small sobs, she answers me with a surprisingly clear voice.

“Just do it.”

Okay… sure, let me just press a burning stick into your open and bleeding stump of an arm, nooo problem miss. She is in a great amount of pain and even as she tries to hold in her screams, she can't, as the fire burns the torn flesh and close up the blood vessels, she passes out from the sheer amount of pain as the body goes into a state of shock.

The two who need their rest comes and takes over the tending of the girl, carrying her further away from the battle. Blood drips from the small wounds and our breathing leaves a trail as we move back, each and every one of us is covered in cuts and breathing heavily, but none of us will back down. A skeleton hound leaps at us and has its skull bashed in the moment it comes into range. Still the feeling that the Nighthaunt gives off never leaves, always letting us know that it is near. A shout from behind makes me turn my body to the side so I can see what's going on.

“Look!”

And man do I see it, black riders. I can't help but to smile as I see Varo's face among them. Grabbing the one to my right and the one to my left.

“Move out! Get going!”

We are now five people holding the line. I hear the shouts and cheers as the riders pick up the tired young and rides off. A quick look and I see that the wounded girl is also being carried off.

“You two move out!”

Just three people hold the line now, we just need to buy some time for the others to get on the horses, just a bit more time that's all I ask.

It should work, with all the killing I have been doing it should work! Deep breath, focus.

Little one, I need time to get out of here, help me!

…

A short moment and the shadows rip open as the legs of my little beauty shows off the striking power and speed of the giant spider kin. I leap back getting out of range.

“Your hand!”

Varo to the rescue, heh. I grab his outstretched hand and I'm pulled onto the horse. We turn around and set off towards the village.

Good job little one! Pull back!

Father… Safe?

Yes, thank you!

I go now.

Yes.

Over the sound of hooves hitting the ground Varo yells back to me.

“Are you okay, boy!?”

“Yes, but let's hurry back! I doubt that gargoyle will stay put!”

“Your right! That beast will attack us as soon as it can get its army there!”