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Swordfall
Morning

Morning

Elhanan woke the next morning in the desolate wilderness.

They found a few small trees to camp, which looked towards where the mountains were high and far away, and where the river was.

Where the river met the mountains and the nothingness is where Elah would be found.

He turned back towards where he saw the glow the night before.

A steady streak of smoke lifted high into the morning air.

Abishai was already awake, staring out, leaning on his spear.

Elhanan walked up to him.

"Your brother did good."

Abishai nodded, briefly.

"If anyone survived, we'll need to beat them there."

The journey so far had been uneventful but hard. Going farther and farther into nothing, while seeing the mountains grow but not get any closer to them.

Beniah walked up after ordering the men to eat quickly and get ready.

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He squinted out, seeing the smoke.

"Is that the Unknown?"

"It is," Abishai grunted.

Beniah did not know how to respond, so he didn't. He just nodded in approval. A moment after though, he pointed.

"There. What is that?"

The three warriors looked.

A large cat like beast was stalking across the landscape, heading towards Elah.

It wasn't Worm, but one of the other ones that escaped into the night.

"Nobody move," Abishai warned. "Quiet the men."

Beniah quickly made motions to all the men, telling them to get down and be quiet.

Hand signals went through the camp, eventually getting everyone down and in the dirt.

"What is that? I had heard stories," Beniah asked.

"The pets of the giants. Some of them rode them into battle. Others they used to torture and kill and maim. Or just to show off," Elhanan whispered. "It best we not draw attention, because that thing will kill all of us."

They watched the creature, tired from running all the night, walking through the nothing. It looked for water and smelled the air.

It eventually thought it saw something and took off.

"It might get there before any of their messengers," Elhanan added.

"It might. Or it might starve to death," Abishai added. "Like us if we don't get moving."

Abishai stared at the smoke one more time, thinking of his brother.

"All hail the kingdom," he whispered, and raised his spear high into the air to honor him.