Vuroth's Tear: Even the Gods Cry

Chapter 49

Chapter 49

The kingdom was in a state of decay. The farther inland they traveled, the less like home the scenery looked. Aven led the way through a forest that appeared completely void of life. The trees were dead, empty branches reached upward and tangled together in a twisted canopy that blocked out most of the sun's light.

Kass had a look of worry on his face as he looked from side to side, "I don't hear anything, I sense no wildlife here. This forest is completely dead." He said to Velana. She tried to console him by taking his hand while they walked.

"Kass, what do you hear or feel, whatever it is. Are there any animals here?" Aven asked and saw Velana clutching the mutes hand while he shook his head, "Then keep alert. There's something moving around out there, I can feel it." Kass shook his head and let go of her hand to pull his bow over his shoulder.

"Something like what, more husks?" Donovan asked, pulling the daggers from his sleeves.

Aven shook his head, "No, something else," he slowly pulled Quicksilver's blade free and dropped to a knee, struggling to see in the darkness in the distance, "something faster."

Velana pulled off her wolf's fur vest and slid off her pants, tossing it all aside before shifting into her enormous red furred wolf form. Kass stood perfectly still with his eyes closed to listen to the forest, one finger grazed the soft feather fletching of an arrow.

Donovan stood next to Aven, whispering while flipping a dagger between his fingers, "What do you think it is?"

"I don't have the slightest clue, but it's fast and my instincts tell me it's deadly," Aven responded, he was nervous and unsure how much more they could survive.

"Can't we get a damn break?" Donovan huffed under his breath. He shared Aven's worries, wondering when their luck would run out.

Aven stood, cautiously scanning every inch that he could see, "Let's keep moving but stay vigilant."

Velana kept in her Lycan form, following behind the others, listening for movement. Aven led the way, still holding his drawn sword. He wished that he could have saved Resh like he did Velana on the ship, they could travel faster with another Lycan. He knew that even with her size, she couldn't carry all three of the men on her back.

Aven stopped and stared down the path, his grip tightened around Quicksilver, "Don, do you see that, down there?" He pointed with the tip of the sword.

Donovan looked where Aven pointed, "I dunno what it is, but it's staring at us."

Aven felt a tightness in his gut, it made him uneasy to think why it wasn't hiding from them, "Kass, can you sense what that thing is thinking?" Aven asked, and was answered by a shake of the man's head while he drew back the bowstring. Aven continued walking, trying to make out the details of the creature in the distance.

As they closed in on it, Aven saw more and more. It stood on all fours and was slender, about the size of a panther but its tail was much longer and dragged on the ground, sweeping the dirt and dead leaves from side to side as it whipped from side to side. It didn't seem to have a normal mouth of teeth. Instead, it had something resembling a serrated edged beak. There were no eyes that Aven could see, from the top of the beak all the way down its back were spikes.

Velana growled and the creature hissed before running into the darkness of the forest and disappearing. Aven turned to the hisses of a group of more of the creatures jumping out behind them, then more in front and the sides. In an instant, they were surrounded by the creatures.