Chapter 12: Skin Wolves and Idyllic Meadows.
The next day we set out for the estate, I’d been up for a night time trek on zero sleep but Luna had convinced me to wait, citing the existence of vampires and a type of night-predator called Shadelocks that would capture and eat any unprepared travellers passing through their territory. So instead we stoked the fire for warmth and slept in turns, keeping watch for such creatures and considering ourselves fortunate that we saw none. When the morning sun broke through the trees Luna woke me and offered a metal cup full of some kind of bitter black tea that we took without milk. A bit more talking, a checking of our gear and then we packed up and set out for the Delacroft estate while Luna verbalised the gist of our plan and I asked relevant questions.
“I really don’t want to go back right now but my family needs to know what’s happening and my sister has probably read every book in our library over the years, so if anyone around here has any idea about demons then it’ll be her.”
That made sense to me, Luna wasn’t finished though, continuing on in a playful manner as we trudged along a barely-maintained road worn by wagon wheels and dozens of similarly trudging individuals. The trek would have been significantly worse but the last night's rest had restore most of my hitpoints and I was really feeling refreshed.
“She’ll have a big head for months after she saves the family and serfs from certain death and torment. I suppose there’s nothing else for it though.”
I grinned good-naturedly and we just kept walking, I got to hear about her sister Victoria a fair bit after that and it did seem like the situation was as Merri had said. The mother of the Delacroft sisters, Lady Selena Delacroft simply had no idea what to do with her children. Luna had been sneaking out of the house and running amok since she was old enough to climb out her window, as a countermeasure she was moved to the second floor of the estate and her window was fitted with an internal lock. That spurred her to learn lockpicking and improve her climbing skills until she could scale most buildings in the town.
The next step had been a window that didn’t open at all and a room on the third story, Luna became adept at stealth as a result, sneaking out of front doors or lower story windows. Victoria, however, had been a polar opposite, Selene and Luna could barely coax her out of the library and when an exasperated Selene banned her from reading Victoria would write down the things she’d read from memory or transcribe the stories of those around her, as she’d gotten older she had begun to write poetry, stories of her own devising before she had naturally moved on to spellcasting around the time Luna was learning to throw knives and wield a sword. Their father had encouraged all of these activities, seemingly uninterested in raising young ladies fit for the court and instead allowing the girls to seek their own path while their mother had resisted every step of the way.
As a result neither of the girls had ever been at risk of arranged marriage, none of the neighbouring kingdoms, counties or baronies had entertained a second date with their sons and daughters if they had even allowed a first. I interrupted there and learned that the people of Azathor saw nothing wrong with same-sex coupling and homophobia was so alien to the young noble that she didn’t even see my surprise as bigotry, she was just confused. “Why wouldn’t we? Did people only like opposite pairings where you come from? Strange to think of a land with plentiful coffee and bottomless spiced liquors that would have such stale love lives.”
We’d been on the main road for nearly 2 hours at this point and the mountain-top chateau now seemed close enough to reach up and pluck from the mountain. Little drifts of smoke rose into the air beneath a clear blue sky as the villagers cooked breakfast and boiled Arrowbark Tea, a local staple brewed from the bark of a local species of tree that was used in the production of arrows and apparently had a sort of vanilla/cardamon flavour to it. The tea Luna had brought with her was not Arrowbark, it was simply black tea imported from the eastern reaches of the empire.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
We came out of the forest into a section of cleared lands dominated by the Delacroft Mountain. Ahead of us I could see the guard towers that sat at the base of a carved path winding lazily up the mountain, another half an hour and we’d be there, making the final ascent out of a delightful little meadow into a much-needed pocket of civilization which I would almost immediately need to leave in order to put down a temporarily weakened demonic commander before he recovered the strength to call up his legion of soul-harvesting monsters. Ideally, I would spare Merri but if push came to shove I suspected I might put her down in order to protect these people. I didn’t think I’d always had quite this level of resolve, something about having class levels and three times the durability of a normal person really did wonders for my confidence and willingness to take risks.
That’s why when the wolves came howling out of the woods behind us I turned, drew my demon-hunters longsword in one hand, and faced the charging beasts down instead of running for a tree or high rock.
Luna didn’t flinch either, she checked our rear and then whipped around with a suddenness that far outpaced me, drawing her sword and dagger to meet the latest attackers.
I was new to this world and I didn’t know much about wolves but judging by Luna’s horrified expression I didn’t think they were supposed to wear the skins of dead men. This meant that these wolves had some explaining to do, unfortunately, they didn’t seem to be in the mood for explaining. They seemed like they just wanted to charge across the deforested area, howling, gnashing their teeth, and dripping the blood of demon-hunters onto the grassy meadow. I wanted to use my magic but the wolves weren’t moving as one big lump and I didn’t want to waste my newest weapon unless I could catch multiple of them in the AOE.
Luna impaled the first wolf under the jaw, twisting her body left and jerking the blade free as the creature went limp in mid-air and flew past her. The second wolf lunged for me with all the recklessness of its dead compatriot and I thrust my blade into its throat but without the strength of a fighter or the dexterity of a rogue I was unable to prevent it from bowling me over.
I heard Luna shout a warning but it was too late, I was down and the wolf wasn’t dead, I thrust the blade deeper and the wolf writhed and thrashed its way down the weapon, fighting against all known survival instincts to tear out my throat even as it shredded its own to bloody ribbons. Another wolf snarled and leapt onto me but tumbled at the last second, narrowly missing me as it responded instinctively to a heavy dagger being hurled into its flank.
“Get up Jack, get up and fight.”
I wanted to roll but some part of me knew I was too slow, the wolves would tear me apart if I turned my back on them, instead I unleashed my new weapon. Ruthax’s lantern flared brightly even in the full daylight of the meadow and then a torrent of oil sprayed forth, igniting a trio of wolves unlucky enough to be in its path. Experience rolled in, 2 for each wolf and then strangely enough I got 3 lots of 1 exp. My bar capped at 13/13 to level 4 but I had no time to select my level as the wolves Luna had killed were beginning to vibrate and pulse with a reddish light. I checked my log, the wolves were classified as normal, ordinary wolves while the single experience points had been for killing something called a skin-leech. Luna gutted the final wolf and sheathed her blades amidst four canine corpses.
“Luna, move, move, move.” It was my turn to shout warnings and her turn to react, diving away as the first wolf she’d slain collapsed inwards on itself, the skin draped across it tightening, compacting, crushing the creature it had been attached to as it drew in power for metamorphosis. Luna saw what was happening and changed direction, rolling and stabbing, slashing furiously at a creature of viscera-stuffed skin now rising to face us. No matter how deeply she cut however the creature continued to take form, the skin molding to the contours of gore beneath it even as it should have collapsed into tatters.
A cruel voice rang out, seeming to emanate from all of the creatures at once while also having no discernible origin point. “This is a taste of the horror that awaits you Mortal. Surrender now and my immortal warriors will make it quick. Continue to struggle and you will merely be giving me unexpected entertainment”
That was interesting, Ranyai the Butcher had some idea of what his demonic minions were doing, obviously he didn’t see everything however, otherwise he’d know what happened to the last 3 skin-monsters.
“Stand back Luna. Its my time to shine.”
The lantern flared up and I emptied the lantern sweeping the blazing stream of oil from left to right, engulfing each of the monsters that had risen from the defeated pack.