Blood of Decusia

Chapter Fourteen

"What-," I started.
Marcus and Warner exchanged a quick look, but I could see the fear and concern in their eyes. Marcus suddenly grabbed my arm and yanked to my feet.
"We need to move now."
Before I could say anything else, Marcus started pulling me toward the village, Warner was close behind and had his bow out at the ready.
"Marcus," he said, his voice hard.
"Go," Marcus replied immediately, "Meet us at the weapons station."
He nodded and took off. I could see young children being rushed into their homes and then their parents closing the door, weapons drawn. I could also see men and women of various ages pouring out of the building where Finn had started to take me. Everyone was rushing and pulling out small weapons on their person as they seemed to be moving to a large building behind the food fall.
"Marcus," I said, my ears ringing from the alarm, "What's going on?"
"An attack," he muttered, as he led me to the building where people were flooding in and out, the ones coming out carrying a variety of weapons, including bows, swords, knives, metal staffs, etc.
"An attack?" I asked, my mouth suddenly dry.
He only nodded, picking up speed as we pushed past people heading in the opposite direction, towards the treeline.
"Where's Warner going?" I asked, turning my head to look for him, but he disappeared among the crowd of armed people.
"To find his brother," his voice not showing any emotion.
My heart broke thinking of the happy little blonde boy that had bear hugged his older brother, just happy to see him again. He reminded me of how I would greet my brother after he returned from summer camp every year. I pushed the image of that little boy hurt, or worse out of my head.
Suddenly, the alarm stopped screeching. Everybody, including Marcus, froze.
"Shit," he muttered.
He drew out his two knives and handed them to me. The metal felt cool against my skin as I remembered the deep red blood that flowed from the man's neck the last time I had a knife. He then drew out his sword. Everything was silent, everyone tense and looking around for the source of the alarm.
"Stay close to me," he whispered.
Before I could respond, a roar ripped through the camp, causing me to jump. Suddenly, a large furry creature broke through the trees and sprinted toward the camp. I couldn't make out details, but it was massive and even from where I stood, at least 500 yards from the trees, I could see the gleaming of teeth.
"Bestia," Marcus whispered.
As the creature sprinted, at least 4 dozen arrows went flying through the air toward the beast, but they seemed to bounce harmlessly off. As the Lupidium kept firing arrows, I could see small round objects come soaring out of the trees. They fell like rain on the village, one of them landing right near Marcus and I.
It was round and metal, with strange carving on it. Almost like it was writing, an ancient language.
"Marcus."
Before either of us could react, the thing exploded. A flash of white light blinded me as I flew backward. I landed hard on my back, my vision blurry, and my ears ringing. Even through the ringing, I could hear the metal objects going off left and right and I could hear muffled screams.
I struggled to sit up, my body aching. I was surrounded by smoke, in fact the whole camp was covered in thick smoke, so dense I couldn't see two feet in front of me. As the ringing left my ears, the sound of pure chaos entered my ears. Men and women screaming, calling out names, calling out for help. But there were other noises too, horrible screeching and growling coming from creatures unknown, creatures probably as horrifying as the Bestia.
"Marcus?" I called.
I didn't know if he was conscious or even alive and even if he was, my shaky voice was probably being drowned out by the horror and gore within the smoke. I slowly got to my feet, wary of any potential danger. I couldn't stumble blindly into the chaos. I debated running in the direction of where I thought the river was, when I heard a small whimpering a few feet away, a human sounding whimper.
Too scared to make any noise that could attract attention, I crept slowly toward the whimper as the fight ensued all around me. After what felt like a few feet, I could see one of the hut-like homes right in front of me. In front of it, a small figure was sitting against the wall, their head between their knees.
"Hello?" I whispered, kneeling down in front of the figure.
He looked up and my heart broke a little. It was Lowell. He was covered in dirt and had a cut lip. His eyes were wide and I could see the tears streaming down his face, making streaks in the dirt on his cheeks.
"Clove?" he asked, his voice shaky.
I set the knives down and put a hand around his shoulders, pulling him close.
"I'm here," I soothed, "It's ok?"
"Where's Warner?" he asked, "And Marcus?"
I looked around, though I could still hear the screams and screeches of the fight, I couldn't make out any figures around, human or not.
"I don't know," I said, "But I'm sure they're ok."
It was a really bad lie, but Lowell was too scared to see through it. I grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet.  He gripped my hand tight and brought himself close to my side. I wasn't sure what to do or where to go.
"Is there any safe place that we can go?" I whispered.
He nodded, quickly. I was about to ask where, when something solid slammed into us. I felt Lowell's hand slip away as I collided with the hut.
"Clove!"
I shook off my daze and sat up. Lowell was curled on the ground a few feet away, but he wasn't looking at me. Standing over him, was a creature straight out a nightmare. The first thing I noticed were the massive bat-like wings. Then I took in the rest of the creature.
It was huge, at least 7 feet tall, with wrinkly black skin. It's face was the most horrifying thing I had ever seen. It had twisted features, with a pig-like nose, beady red eyes that flashed with hunger and its long, forked tongue twisting around its sharp fangs, hands were curled with large talons. It suddenly let out a screech so ear piercing that I covered my ears.
"Clove!" Lowell cried again, as the creature hissed and moved toward his cowering form.
I looked around, searching for anything to help him. My eyes met the knives that lay next to me. Without even thinking, I grabbed one of them and chucked them at the beast. I clipped the side of its wing. It didn't seem to do any hrm, but I certainly got it's' attention.
It turned to me with its beady eyes.
"Lowell," I breathed, "Run."
He hesitated for a second, but then got up and disappeared into the fog. For a second, it just stared at me and I didn't dare to move, didn't try to reach for the other knife. I just met its gaze, completely frozen.
Then it screeched and lunged for me, I dove out of the way. Its wing hit the side of my face and I felt sharp pain and could feel the blood start going down my face. The creature whirled back to face me and I jumped to my feet, knife now in my hand.
It lunged again and this time, I swung my knife. It let out a screech as I slashed through the wrinkly skin on it's stomach. Before I could swing again, its talons were around my neck and thrusted me toward the hut. I collided with the side, the knife falling out of my hand.
It's talons were squeezing on my throat, cutting into my skin. I struggled, but it just tightened its grip. It hissed at me, bringing its mouth closer to mine, a rancid smell burning my nostrils. It's tongue out and slithering toward my face. I closed my eyes, waiting for it's slippery tongue to caress my face.
Suddenly, there was a squelching noise and the monster's grip went slack and I dropped to the ground. I opened my eyes and saw Adolphus standing over the sprawled body of the beast, as black liquid pooled out of it. He was holding a long sword, which was dripping with the creature's blood.
He knelt down next to me and put a hand to my face, examining me.
"Did it lick you?"
I shook my head.
"Good," he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me to my feet.
"Where's Lowell?" I asked frantically, looking around.
"He's safe," he answered, gruffly, "But we need to move."
I picked up the dropped knife and breathed a sigh of relief, as Adolphus started pulling me through the smoke. I don't know how he knew where he was going or if he even knew. I turned back toward the creature, but I could no longer see it.
"What was that thing?" I asked, rubbing my neck and feeling the tender marks where it's' talons had dug into my skin.
"Ostium," he said, not looking back at me, "Their tongues are full of a poison that leads to a slow and horrific death."
I swallowed hard, thinking of how close that forked, twisted tongue was to my face. If Adolphus had showed up a second later, I would be dead. I was about to ask him about the casualties and the status of the other creatures, but suddenly two figures emerged from the smoke and almost collided with us.
It was Marcus and Warner, both of whom looked worse for wear. Marcus had the beginnings of bruises across his sharp jaw and a cut above his eye was bleeding. Warner had a slight limp and a cut across his chin that had dried blood that was crusted to his cheek. I can't imagine I looked any better.
"Clove," Marcus breathed, rushing toward me.
I felt my face warm as he crushed me in a hug. I stood awkwardly for a second and then returned the embrace. Marcus smelled like blood and dirt, but there was a slight smell of pine, as if we were in the forest. Adolphus let out a cough and we quickly separated.
"We don't have much time," he said, "You three need to leave. Now."
"But the fight-," Marcus started.
"This is merely a small dose of what lies ahead," he interrupted, "Your place is not here, your fight is not here."
"Adolphus-," Warned said, stepping forward.
"That's an order!" he barked, causing all of us to jump.
There was no sign of the kind old man who talked to me earlier or the smiling, happy man in the picture that was in my pocket. The warrior, the Alpha, was all I could see now.
"Go to Majestas," he continued, "Get the stone and find him. You're the only hope we have."
Warner and Marcus both nodded curtly, soldiers in front of their commander. He turned back to me and looked me dead in the eyes.
"Remember our deal," he said.
He then turned and disappeared into the smoke, ready to rejoin the fight. I could see that Marcus and Warner both exchanged a confused look. I didn't have time to explain. They seemed to understand and we sprinted through the smoke, away from the bloodbath behind us.