Starfall (FJ)

Plainly Dangerous

 "We haven't been attacked yet. I can't believe that I believed all those stories about monsters. Monsters!" Zïâ laughed.  

 Zïâ's horse was getting tired. They were halfway across the plains, and her brown and white mare was slowing in her pace. Hans's white and grey stallion, held its head  up, practically strutting, as if gloating. It probably was. The mare snorted, and galloped off, leaving the stallion and Hans in the dust. A few seconds later, the stallion went galloping after them. Hans grinned at Zïâ,"Race you to the River of Asha!" The River of Asha was a small river, that didn't quite show up on the map that Karin had sketched out for them, that was about three fourths of the way to the Ash. It formed the shape of a hand. A rather bony hand. Zïâ shivered, though the heat of the desert was making the skin on her neck burn. She couldn't wait to reach the river. It gave them a chance to cool off. The stallion was catching up to the mare, and Zïâ started yelling words of encouragement to her steed., All of a sudden, the horses topped, knocking Zïâ off, and making Hans nearly fall off.

      "What was that?" said Zïâ, getting up and dusting herself off. Hans had slipped off the stallion, and stepped forward to get a better look at something moving in the distance. Zïâ walked forward, too, but then the mare blocked her way, eyes rolling, snorting. The stallion did the same to Hans. Zïâ looked at Hans, "What's going on?" Hans shrugged, wide-eyed, squinting at something over her shoulder. She heard a cry, and her head whipped around. There were blobs, steadily getting larger. Hans, drew his dagger, and Zïâ tugged a wooden bow and quiver of arrows from her pack. They knew they would probably meet wild animals along the way, and the Ash were dangerous. And you never knew if the stories about the Plains were true. It turns out they were.

      After a few seconds, of staring, holding their weapons, Hans yelled, "Run!" and both he and Zïâ wasted no time in jumping on their horses and galloping in the other direction. Zïâ knew why he yelled. The figures fit the description of demons, human-like figures in white cloaks, flowing about them like tentacles. The demons were too fast, and even though the horses were running as fast as they could, eyes rolling, mouths foaming, the demons caught up, shooting through the air, not quite flying, and not at all running. They swooped down, in front of the horses, who immediately stopped for the second time, hooves digging into the sand. Zïâ was thrown against the mare's neck. Quickly, she drew her bow, and shot an arrow at the smaller demon's chest. Then demon did something that Zïâ did not expect. It split itself into two even smaller demons, and then merged into one again. Hans quietly put his dagger away, realizing they couldn't use weapons against the demons.

      The demons just floated there, until they merged into one, human-sized demon. It must have been one demon the whole time. The demon pulled back the hood of the cloak, and the first thought that came to Zïâ's mind was that it was so beautiful, that Zïâ felt horrified that she had even attempted to kill it. Then she realized how it gave her an uneasy feeling, it was too pale. It had white hair, that would have reached her waist had the demon's hair not whipped around her head like she was underwater, or facing a strange wind. She had pale, almost white skin that seemed to glow, even in the bright brownness of the desert. The Plains of Disease. Her eyes were silver, and cold, and her hands were bony, ans skeletal, like the shape of the River of Asha. She opened her mouth, making her seem hideous, not beautiful at all. Her teeth were long, yellow, and needle-like. they were more like snake fangs than human teeth. She had a forked tongue, that darted in and out of the gap of her two biggest fangs, where most humans's canines would be. Those were probably demon canines. They went over her bottom lip, nearly to her chin, when she closed her mouth. Zïâ's horror must have shown on her face, for the demon's eyes flashed. Zïâ just noticed a thin circlet of what looked like moonlight on the demon's head. It was a queen. No, not a queen. The queen. The Queen.

       "I am not here to kill you, so I think you should put away your weapon." Zïâ wordlessly slipped it back into her pack. The demon gently dropped to the ground, it's feet touching the ground at last. The white robe fell over her dainty feet again, and they were obscured from view, "I am here to warn you. There are things worse than demons here. This is no place for children."

        "L-like what?" What could be worse than demons?

       "I don't help humans." The demon disappeared, like a wisp of smoke. They heard a roar behind them. Not an animal roar. A human roar. An angry human. They turned around, and saw a skeleton, with chains around it's wrists, and chunks of rotting flesh along it's bones. An invisible Thing was holding the chains, above the skeletons, holding onto the chains like controlling a puppet.. The chains broke. The skeleton crumpled to the ground, and Zïâ realized that it was a puppet. Then a gust of wind brought sand up to take the shape of a pack of wolves in the air, each holding a chain in their mouth. The sand fell away, but the wolves were visible now. They had black fur and yellow eyes, with a small black dot dancing in each eye. One by one, they dropped to the ground, and ran towards the horses.

       "I'm not going to be a puppet," said Zïâ firmly, pulling out her bow, and shooting arrows at each wolf. There were twelve wolves, and Zïâ had twelve arrows, but she had wasted one arrow on the demon. And she had missed one of the wolves. There were two wolves still running at them, and the horses started running, too. Hans jumped off the stallion, and threw the dagger. His aim didn't fail him, but there was one more wolf. And he couldn't outrun the it. Zïâ jumped down from her mare, and her survival instincts kicked in, and she jumped on top of the wolf, straddling it, holding its jaws shut. Hans stared in amazement for a second, and then shook his head and rushed forward to help. He pulled the dagger out of the other wolf, trying not to look at the blood, and quickly slid it into the other wolf. Its eyes turned to glass, and Zïâ released it, her hands red.

         The horses had run off with their packs, so they traveled the rest of the way to the river in silence, doubting their chances of survival. Once they heard the welcome sound of a pounding, rushing, river, they ran the last mile, laughing once they saw the water. It wasn't a very fast river, so they jumped in. A few yards off, they saw the horses, drinking. Zïâ climbed out of the water and went to her mare, hugging its neck. Hans appeared next to her a few seconds later, looking worried. They had forgotten to retrieve their weapons.