The Ghost's Crusade

XX: Tiernan (cont.)

Moving as fast as his numbing body would allow Tiernan sliced the creature's stomach wide and drove his knife and hand into its chest cavity, cutting his way up into its ribcage until he felt the beating of flesh against his fingers. The blood seared his skin but clung to his flesh like cold tar. He seized upon the massive heart and pulled, hearing the strings keeping it in place tear away as the werewolf thrashed and gurgled against its death. Ripping the organ out he cast it into the fire and watched as violet flames plumed from the withered logs and swallowed it whole. It was only when the flames disappeared did the werewolf twitch its last.

Dragging himself away from the creature he backed up until he collided with the small pile of extra wood near the fire. "Hallia. To me, now."

The hysterical girl collapsed into his lap and brought Jansa with her, the mutt curling up at the small of his back with her eyes still trained on the treeline, a vicious growl lingering in her throat. Hallia was burned where the coals of the fire had struck her but the damage wasn't anything severe. Jansa had fared worse, the claws of the werewolf having torn long gouges through her side and shoulder. Still, the dog did not seem amenable to letting down her guard and Tiernan knew if he tried to mend the wounds he'd likely have his one good hand bitten off.

He settled his numb, bloodied arm around Hallia's back as best he could and searched the treeline for any more signs of the creatures. There were two more out there somewhere since it was safe to assume all three men on the cart were werewolves. To the south he spotted an even larger loping shadow stalking out of the underbrush. It halted just beyond the first rays of moonlight, surveying their camp with a pair of eyes that flashed and bobbed like twinned fireflies through the trees.

Just as he thought it would charge a second, darker shadow dropped out of the trees over its head and knocked it flat to the ground. He could hear the tearing of flesh and the feral grunts of a werewolf in the distance, but his eyesight was worsening the longer he sat upright. Exhaustion hung heavy over his shoulders, the kind of exhaustion he had only felt after ten hours of training in the summer as a recruit. Those days he would strip out of his weighted plate and collapse in his cell at the rectory, barely able to move. It seemed like a very good idea at the moment...

There was a flare of bright blue-white light in the shadows, then nothing. The entire forest immediately fell silent. He didn't hear Akkali's footsteps as she came running back up to camp, but he could see her glowing hands and the sides of her face closing the distance. He let himself exhale a tired sigh of relief, motioning towards the woman so Hallia would know everything was safe once again.

The Enkiri knelt down in front of him and immediately began to poke and prod at the bite on his shoulder. Had it not been completely numb he was sure it would have a been painful enough experience to cause him to curse her for her brutality. Hallia shuffled off to the side when Akkali pushed her away. "It bit you."

"Thank you for pointing that out." He waved his good hand towards the werewolf corpse. "That's a demon?"

"Human who drank demon blood," she corrected in a rushed tone. "Generally demons don't play with their food." She looked to her side. "Hallia, bring Tiernan's things here."

Tiernan felt his stomach churn, and not just because he knew he was poisoned. He couldn't fathom how anyone would consume blood at all, much less the blood of some creature pulled out of the Inferno. Shaking his head he focused his mind on what he would have to do to patch himself up. "I need the pouch of—"

"Shut up and lie down," muttered Akkali. Without giving him a chance to argue she shoved him to the ground and pinned him there with a knee to his sternum. "I can't believe you let the damn thing bite you after I told you to watch out."