Chapter 15 - The Hunt of the Tylwyth Teg.

As the dozen or so ghouls funneled through the door to get inside I dropped my staff and grabbed my combat stick. Pyralis pierced the head of the charging ghoul with a dagger throw with such grace and accuracy that only the sidhe can muster. She than drew a second one from one of her boots.

I lowered down and using whatever winter power I managed to recover in our small rest and channel it through another spell to coat the ground with thin layer of ice. Most of the ghouls slip and fall on as their feet lose traction. But the layer is so thin that most of is soon smashed to fragments by the stomping ghouls and loses it slippery quality. Still we manage to dispatch three of them before they recover.

After that they were among us. One might think fighting a bunch of smaller opponents who have half of your reach is an easy thing. And I’d usually agree, but add the fact that those opponents don’t feel pain and are only stopped by a killing blow to the head or really heavy damage (limbs missing kind of damage). And you will quickly realize that it’s a big pain in the ass.

I saw Liz side stepping a ghoul and slashing it as it passes by her, she keeps the momentum from the side step and turn it in to spin dodging the lunge of a second ghoul. Hendrickson smash the first ghoul sideways with his batton. After that I couldn’t keep an eye on them anymore because the ghouls reached me as well.

The first one tries to tackle my legs as it comes close, I use the chance to swing downwards with my stick and release the kinetic energy enchantment. I missed it’s head, hitting the middle of it’s shoulders blades, the ghoul hit the ground hard, not even sliding as all it’s forward momentums is lost. The noise of it’s spine cracking is reason enough that I don’t think I need to worry about this one anymore.

Still a second ghoul that was close behind jumps at my extended arm and hugs it as it bites my arm. The enchantments on my leather coat stops it from piercing me with it’s teeth and claws, but it still hurts. It also weights my arm down holding me in a weird hald bent forward position and stopping me from using my combat stick. Not that I had anymore tricks on my gear. The staff and the stick kinetic charge were spent, the bracer was no more and my necklace enchantments aren't useful for this situation.

A third ghoul was about to help itself to the fact I was forced in to a semi-crouched/bent positions by the one hanging on my arm and dive for my neck. But instead of trying to pull my arm away from the ghoul embrace I use it’s own weight to get momentum in a weird roll forward. Smashing it with my shoulders against the ground. It let’s go of my arm the moment it head hit against the ground. Thanks god, because I think if it was strong enough to hold my arm, I might have broken it with this roll.

This maneuvers, as weirdly as it was, worked well enough to make the ghoul lunging for my neck hit my legs instead. It fails to hold to them and skips forward for half a meter or so. The one that was stuck to my arm starts getting up the same time I do, but due to the roll it currently has it’s back turned to me. I hug it’s neck with one of my arms, locking my elbow under ghouls small chin and try break its neck by pushing the head with my other hand.

It trash against me and one of its feet hit me in the gut, making me flinch in pain and an arms hit my face, allowing for a claw to slash a cut close to my ear, it stings as hell, but I manage to keep the hold.

I put all my strength in pushing its head sideways when third ghoul tackles me again and force me to roll with it’s momentum. Still, I’m rewarded with a snapping noise as I maintain the hold on the seconds ghoul neck and feel the it going slack as we roll on the ground.

The third one is now handing on my back, with it’s small arms around my neck and it’s desperately trying to bite my neck off. But only manages to bite my shoulders, again it’s not strong enough to reap through the coat but it still hurts as hell. It’s claws are digging in my chest close to my neck. Fuck this asshole, at least buy me a drink first if you are going to assault me like that from behind.

I manage to grab it’s arms and am about to throw it over my head in cool judo move when I notice a blur from the door and something hit me like a truck. I flew at least two meters behind and hit one of the tables shattering it with our combined. I feel a sharp pain on my back as the ghouls stops struggling. I roll to the side and notice the ghoul impaled in to a big chunk of debris from the table. My coat stopped it from impaling me as well, but if we survived this it’s going to be bruised for weeks. Fuck it even hurts to breathe.

I look for whatever train hit me and see a vampire standing in the middle of the room where before I was fighting the ghouls. The Vampire looks like a young girl elvish like features. Gwyn’s daughter probably. It seams being half human was enough for her to be turned. A feral look on her face reveals that it’s about to charge me again. The smell of blood making it lose its mind and any kind of control it had. It rushes with inhuman speed and lungs at me before I can get up. I only have enough time to lift my arm and protect neck as it hits me.

It’s fang drills in to my arm with enough strength to pierce the leather and scratch my arms. But he fails to find purchase on it. It wails on frustration and start laying punches down on my face as I do my best to cover it with both my arms.

It’s stradling me and I can’t find leverage to free myself. After a good half dozen punches to my arms and face, I manage to focus what magic I have left and murmur “snáthaidí sioc” the magic run over my forearms and dozens of small sharp icicles form on it. The vampire impale its hand on it and pull it back on reflex. I use this chance to try and slit its neck with the remaining icicles. But it dodges by throwing itself backwards.

This frees me enough to manage to throw the vampire off me and roll sideways. As powerful as the curse makes her, its weight didn’t change from when it was just a young girl. I manage to grab a broken piece of the table feet and get up in time to face the vampire before she charges me again. I notice movement in the corner of my eye and see Lis rush the vampire with her dagger.

The creature notices her and with inhuman speed manage to side step and push strongly against her, basically turning her momentum sideways and making her collide against the wall headfirst. As it turns back to me it has a small moment to realize that I didn’t waste this chance and had closed the distance to pierce it’s heart with a sharp piece of wood from the table.

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It looks confused at me, as it not understanding what happened before the magic that maintained its undeath state fails and she becomes limp on my arms. I slowly put the body on the ground.

After a few deep breaths I take a few seconds to take my bearing again. Lis is getting up, but seems a little shaken with the head on collision against the wall. Hendrickson is leaning with his back against the wall. One hand holding over his other shoulder where he seems to be bleeding heavily. He is also has a ugly cut on his forehead. But there are three dead ghouls around him.

The room now looks like a scene from a horror movie, broken furniture, blood everywhere and close to 20 dead bodies inside, and the gnomes ghouls might even pass for children if you don’t look close enough. Creepy as hell.

I pick up my staff from the ground and move to Pyralis side. West is still out cold on the corner, none of the ghouls reached her. Hendrickson is bleeding, and his wounded arm is limp, but seems to be mobile still. At this moment I heard noise on the doors and turn to see two more vampires standing there. One looks bigger and stronger than all we fight so far. The initial carrier I guess.

The vampires look at the carnage on the room and look undecided what to do. Their minds stuck between the urge to feed on us and their instinct telling them we are still dangerous.

This is so fucked up, how many vampires are there still, and ghouls? I’m starting to think we might not be able to get out of here alive. I’m almost too exhausted to care right now, the only thing I can think about is getting it over. So I hold my staff in the best combat stance I can manage and take a step toward the vampires.

I probably had a really crazy look on my face, because as I start moving forward, instinct wins and the vampires turn and run. I was dumbfounded, not really believing what happened, junkies don’t give up on prey like that. But than the vampires started yelling and hitting the walls making a lot of noise.

The fuckers are running, but trying to bring in more ghouls. Fuck. Just when I thought things couldn’t get much worse. How many of these little buggers lived on this burrow. This forsaken place can’t be that big.

And just like that the pieces fell into place in my mind. And something that have been bothering me in the back of my mind since we found this place finally made sense.

“I need the two of you to buy me time.” I tell the two of them and go to the last remaining table and start pushing it away to open up a clean space for me on the ground. Hendrickson snorts at that “Sure, I think we can buy you a second or two in our state.”

“Look, gather the tables and all the wood debris, make a fire on the door, just buy me some time”.

“Sure let’s suffocate instead of being ripped to shreds. I hope those bastard don’t like smoked beef.” He complains but start moving to help Lis in blocking the doorway.

I search in my pockets for my piece of chalk. It is broken in three but I find a piece big enough that I could draw with. I start drawing a circle on the ground and start adding runes and enchantments.

While that Lis and Hendrickson managed to gather enough debris and push the last table to the doorway, blocking the passage. Lis manages to set it all on fire just as we start hearing the screams returning.

A regular zombie would have charged the fire, but ghouls and vampires, if not provoked into a frenzy, have enough instinct to avoid doing so. We have a few minutes before we are suffocated by the smoke or the flames run weak enough for them to attack us.

The room is getting hotter and harder to breath by the time I finish drawing the circle.

“Ok, now the tricky part.” I focus last reserve of magic I have and feed it to the circle and focus on the summoning. I focus on all I knew about my target and all the name and roles he owns. The bastard thought he had the best of me when we made our deal, but I think I will have the last laugh.

“Gwyn ap Nudd ap Beli Mawr, shepherd of the fallen warriors of britain I call upon you.” “Gwyn ap Nudd, Lord and huntmaster of the wild hunt the prey is found and cornered, the killers of your blood gather I call upon you to collect your debt. “Gwyn ap Nudd, Lord of Tylwyth Teg, on our covenant to not stop until our prey is caught and punishment is dealt I summon thy.”

With the chanting done I release the magic built on the circle, and after a few seconds a gust of wind rushes the room, all lights flicker out including the fire at the door. When the light of the glowing gems comes back, Gwyn ap Nudd stands at the center of the circle fully dressed for war. Mithril armor shining with enchantments, power running through the runes of his longsword, the face painted black and magic emanating from him in powerfull waves. A pair of giant great hounds at each of his side and four more lords of the Tylwyth Teg by his back on full war regalia as well.

Since we found this place at the end of the tunnel, I was wondering in the back of my mind, how could we have missed it when we patrolled the outside of the walls looking for the vampire entrance. What I realized earlier was that the inside of this burrow had to be bigger than the outside. Magic bending space to accommodate it.

Now, bending space outside the ways is something very hard to do in our realm, but was somewhat common on the Fae realm, it was how many of the Fae could travel instantly in many places on their realm, and how the most powerful Sidhe could so anywhere in their domains.

The enclave is a part of that is left of the Fae realm, brought into our realm by the combined power of the Fae, so while a Fae like Pyralis, who while a princess of her clan on the summer court is not a big power can no longer move instantly when summoned, I betted that the really powerful Fae still could in the right situations.

Now, in our deal Gwyn had got me in that I had put my and the winter court honor in solving the kidnappings, but he also agreed to hunt the creatures together once I found them. The fact that he probably really wants to punish the murderers of his daughter himself was part of it. If we have dealt with the vampire without telling him whe found them, then he wouldn’t be at fault for failing to help us, but the moment I managed to call on him he had to come to keep his word. Even if this teleport might have cost him a lot of power.

“You called and I came Wizard, to honor our agreement. The prey is found and the time of for the hunt is nigh.” He looks around and his face goes becomes still behind the paint, his eyes who were already serius becomes full of a cold fury as I have rarely seen. “I loved her mother, and she was the only thing I had left of her Wizard.” He says in a hushed voice but then he raises his voice again. “We shal hunt them down and make them pay a thousand times for this crime against mine.” “The Tylwyth Teg hunts!” He yells and grabs a silver horn from his belt and blows it.

A powerful sound emanates from the horn, I can feel my spirit rising up and an overwhelming need to join him consumes me. To feel the fear of my prey as it tries to run and hide, to see it desperation as we corner and strike it down. The thrill of the hunt!

With Gwyn blowing the horn the two hounds jump on the barricade. It had only embers left after the summoning dosed the flames, and the two beasts knock it aside like if it was made of straws. They jump on the two closest ghouls, it’s jaws big enough to bite their entire head off.

Gwyn replace the horn on his belt and charged after the hounds with a grace and controlled power and speed. There four sidhe follow him in to battle with warcries of their own. As they purge the halls of the burrow like an unstoppable force.

Taken by the thrill of the hunt I try to follow them, but Pyralis put a hand on my shoulders and some sense comes back to me. I notice my amulet is burning as it’s enchantments tries to fight against the Sidhe lord powerful magic.

As I regain my full sense, I noticed that Pyralis also hold Hendrickson wounded arm twisted behind his back to prevent him from following the hunt of the Tylwyth Teg. I fall on my but as the adrenaline leaves my system, pain everywhere on my body.

I can’t help myself in to think that Wagner’s, The Ride of the Valkyries would be a good theme to be playing right now. I guffaw at the thought but stops as pains flares on my back.

“Fuck, For sure, this is now hot I thought my day would go.”