CHAPTER 49

BURROWS

“Ma’am, calm down. Calm down. Tell us what you saw.” the captain of the Kligirian scout said. “We’re here to find out what's going on but we can’t do that unless you calmly explain what you saw.” Salim tried to reason with the hysterical woman.

The middle-aged woman took a deep breath, calming herself. “Th-there were sounds coming from the ground. My husband went to go see. That’s when we found hundreds of giant holes in our fields. Big enough for a full-grown man to fit into. They went so deep we couldn’t see the bottom, though we know they curved at some point because we threw a torch down one and it stopped about thirty feet down and slid around a corner.”

“Where is your husband now?” Salim asked.

“Over in the field.” she pointed, looking terrified.

“We’ll find out what's going on, don’t you worry ma’am,” he assured her.

Leaping back onto his horse, the captain urged his steed forward and twenty men followed behind him. They had ridden an hour from Riqun on Hazam’s orders to scout the place. There were concerns of a disturbance coming from the ground but he brushed it off as villagers overreacting again. Most of the fighting was near Photath, Pekris, and Kipath. It was rare for small raiding parties to slip through their defenses this far east. But even those were dealt with, with ease.

Their superior movement and knowledge of the land allowed them to easily quelch the invaders. Such as the men he rode with, scouts yes, but on horseback, the damage they could do to a small Tykin raiding party would be swift and precise.

Salim looked to the sky. Covering his face with one hand. He surmised it was nearly midday. Clouds overhead gave the sweet relief of shade but they would quickly blow away in the wind soon.

After riding for several minutes, they saw the woman’s husband waving his hands and shouting for them to stop but they heard him too late. An instant after realizing what the man was saying, two horsemen on his left collapsed into the ground, falling into a deep pit.

Unable to stop in time another horseman behind them slid straight into the pit as well but the rider managed to leap off his horse, grabbing the side of the enormous hole that sucked two of his men into oblivion.

Immediately, other men dropped from their horses to grab the dangling man and pulled him up. His horse had survived the fall but had broken all its legs and it screeched in pain, writhing around on the loose ground far below them. The two soldiers that collapsed into the ground were nowhere to be seen, buried beneath the soil.

Salim snapped his finger and an archer nocked an arrow and shot the horse, putting it out of its misery.

Several soldiers started cursing, unsure what had just happened. Two of their comrades were dead in a blink of an eye. Salim looked down into the pit below, knowing if he had been just a few feet to the left he would have met the same fate as those two men.

“Is it the Thrak?” one of the soldiers asked Salim.

“I don’t know,” Salim replied, his voice distant. “But be on your guard. We don’t know what’s out here.”

“Oh Hashem, no!” the husband yelled, running up to them. “I tried to warn you. This place is unstable, we need to get out of here.”

“Indeed,” Salim said quietly. “What can you tell us? We met with your wife back at your home.”

“I-I don’t know, sir. We woke up in the middle of the night and heard rumbling and the earth was shifting under our feet. In the morning we found all these holes dug up all over our field.” he said quickly. “There’s something awful down there, sir. I can hear them.”

Salim sniffed, turning his head behind them then he looked to the base of the mountain, “You need to leave. Our job is to find out what this is.” he gestured to the land around them. “Take your wife and head for Riqun. You’ll be safe there until we know what's going on.”

“Sir. I heard them moving below. The ground is getting weaker and weaker. I implore you to leave with us.” the farmer pleaded, concern and fear clearly written on his face. “At least come to the edge of it all, find out from there?” he suggested.

Salim looked at the terrified man, who had every right to be, and he decided to take the older man’s advice. Considering he had just lost two men to a pit, it would be wise to retreat, for now, then come back on foot.

“Very well,” Salim nodded. “I’ll listen to what you have to say but you must leave with your wife… for now at least.”

“Alright. Alright.” he shook from fright.

The older man walked up to a horseman who held out a hand to swing him up onto the horse when a deep rumbling shook the ground around them. It grew louder and the earth seemed to loosen underfoot. Parts around the pit crumbled inward, filling it in more.

“They're moving!” the villager yelled.

“Retreat!” Salim shouted. “Fall back to solid ground!”

As he called for a retreat the loose earth in the pit shifted and a black creature shoved its way onto the surface. In its mouth were the remains of a human leg. Freezing in shock, everyone stared in both amazement and horror from the sight, it was alien, something they had never seen before. It screeched a high-pitched cry and with one jump, the creature flung itself completely free from the pit, landing next to the old man. He screamed and tried to get away but it was on top of him before anyone could react.

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“Move!” Salim yelled as it landed next to them, drawing his sword. Seeing the movement and agility of the creature, Salim knew from its features, this beast was indeed a Thrak.

He was too slow, however, the monster opened its mouth and lunged onto the man. Its jaws opening wide, revealing a mouth filled with teeth, and bits of gore and flesh fell from its fang-like mouth. Rows and rows of sharp razor-like teeth ripped into the man’s neck, shredding him to pieces, its long boney arms latching on like a leech.

Salim forced his horse forward and swung his sword at the creature's thin neck. Cutting clear through, its head fell to the ground, parts of human flesh still in its mouth. The villager lay dead on the ground, blood spraying the earth around him.

“Retreat!” he screamed as two more creatures dug their way to the surface.

Immediately they turned their horses and pushed their mounts to top speed, fleeing the scene, unsure what they had just witnessed.

All around them, dozens of creatures popped up from the ground surrounding the scouts. The ground grumbling a loud roar as more moved to the surface. Salim’s heart sank as hundreds more dug to the surface, covering the field with black shapes heading straight for them.

“Get the wife!” he shouted.

Slightly adjusting their path toward the woman’s house, hundreds of slick black creatures continued to swarm around them, their red eyes pulsing. The hope of escaping became more and more a fool's wish.

Without pause, the Thrak attacked the Kligiran scouts without mercy. Salim began to panic as the rest of his men started dropping like flies. Fear of death kicked in for they knew it was fight or die. Swords and spears plowed through the small creatures as they made a mad rush to the house.

A Thrak on his left leapt straight for him, flying through the air from ten feet away on a collision course. Salim swung his sword down hard, slashing it nearly in two and almost knocking him off his horse from the momentum. Everyone around him fought for their lives but more and more Thrak swarmed them.

Salim watched as three more horsemen were swarmed and ripped from their saddles to be torn limb from limb.

The scouts slowly outran them. To counteract their speed, the creatures focused on striking the horses. Cutting and slashing at their legs and hooves. Several more horses stumbled, flying their rider from the saddle to be quickly engulfed in a rage of hungry mouths.

They were closing in quickly, almost completely surrounding them.

This told Salim that they had a more intelligent nature than he’d like. They were trying to cut them off from escaping but they weren't enough to overwhelm them yet. Having just gone partially into the maze of holes, their hope to escape increased.

Another man flew from his saddle as his horse's legs were slashed by long claws nearly cutting through the horse's bones and Salim’s heart sank further. Instantly, the man on the ground was swarmed and met with a gruesome fate as the others had.

Everyone’s adrenaline was spiking, intense fear threatened to set in, yet the panic was kept at bay with the small hope of outrunning them. Unfortunately, another dozen Thrak emerged from the ground in front of them. Their monkey-like forms hopping along the ground rushing straight for them. A few jumped in the air to slash at them with their razor claws whereas the rest bent down below the reach of swords and attacked the horse's legs, flipping several more men off, causing them to fly forward through the air. Those with spears protected themselves and their horses but a few unlucky men missed their targets or were attacked from different angles.

The carnage was sickening. Salim wanted to puke but his fear and anger at losing so many men kept him going.

With only eight men left, Salim glanced up at the house where the woman was. She had run out of the building and was smart enough to head for a point in their path where they would pass her. Running with all her might, Salim and his few remaining men quickly closed the gap, not daring to slow down, however.

Salim stuck his arm out to swing her onto the back of his horse in one fluid movement but she missed his arm entirely. He sped by her, hoping that someone else didn’t miss her.

In a panic, the woman lunged forward in desperation to not be left behind. But instead, she collided with the horse behind Salim, as the rider wasn’t ready for her. The impact sent her flipping into a swirl and the horse stumbled and the rider lost control and fell from his horse.

He swore under his breath, “Stupid woman!” he hissed.

Salim made a split-second decision at that moment, knowing that the creatures were on their tail, he turned his head and shouted orders. “Leave them!” without a shadow of doubt in his mind, he knew they would all die if they turned back for them.

The woman looked to be dead, her body twisted in an unnatural position. Leaping to his feet, the soldier made a mad rush after them. Sprinting full tilt, hoping to be picked up by one of his comrades, the man refused to give up.

One rider disobeyed him and turned back for the fleeing man, the creatures closing in on him fast. Expertly, the man ran beside his savior and kicked off the horse's leg giving him momentum to land behind the soldier that had come back for him but two black monsters had outrun the chasing party and caught up with them right as the man remounted.

Lunging forward, its teeth bared, its mouth attached to his arm, nearly ripping him off the horse but the two men held on tight for dear life as the horse kicked and bucked. Latched on like a leach, it was kicked full-on by the horse's hooves and flew backward but the arm remained in his mouth.

The soldier stared down at his stump of an arm and started screaming but the creatures gave no pause. Another flung itself at them and a second before it reached them, Salim had swerved, rushed past them at an angle as to not slow down but rather zigzag. His sword met flesh, spilling its guts open, knocking it away from the two men.

His better judgment failed him, Salim couldn’t leave them behind to die. Still galloping he swerved again, correcting his course. He bolted after the rest of the men, with the two close behind him.

He heard a yelp of surprise, followed by screaming and Salim turned his head just as the rider that had gone back was pulled from his horse and whipped like a ragdoll to the ground by two Thrak attached to his leg and torso. The man with the missing arm held on to dear life with his remaining arm as the horse didn’t miss a stride catching up to its brethren.

Salim stared backward to see the creatures had given up the chase. Giving a sigh of relief, Salim pulled up next to the man with the missing arm, making sure he didn’t fall.

After several minutes of a full-on gallop away from the Thrak, Salim slowed the remaining men to a stop to tend to the bleeding man. There were six of them left, including himself, their faces haggard and pale.

“Bandage his arm. We leave in one minute.” Salim yelled as he threw a pack of gauze to one of the soldiers, dismounting to do as he said.

“This is it.” one said. “Those things are what Regent Trygve has been talking about for all these years.”

“The Thrak were underground this whole time,” Salim whispered. “We have to get back to Riqun and warn everyone.”