The Chosen

Chapter 4

I'm on my feet in an instant as the screams continue to grow and multiply. The crowd begins to ripple away from the direction of the screams. I share a glance with Jaromir before leaping the table, moving toward the crowd. I was going to find out what was causing this.

The crowd presses back against me as I try to push through it. I manage to catch glimpses of Jaromir struggling to follow. When we finally break through the thick of the crowd for a moment all I can do is stare.

The fire here is nothing more than smoldering embers, the logs meant to be keeping it going scattered around the pit. Tables and chairs are overturned or smashed. My eyes refuse to linger on the still arm sticking out from under one of the tables. They choose instead to turn to the source of the chaos.

A strange creature lumbers through the space on its thin legs, back hunched, knuckles dragging on the ground. How it's standing, I don't know. Its sickly green skin seems to be stretched thin, serving only to highlight the angle of its bones. The back of their spine in particular seems incredibly sharp.

"What in Dhara's creation is that?" Jaromir breaths.

The creature's head snaps toward us and I wish it hadn't. It's like looking at the skull of some kind of animal that someone had thrown skin over, cutting out holes for the nose and eyes.

Its mouth drops open and it lets out a screech that almost sounds human. I only have a moment longer to take in how sharp its teeth are before it's charging us, loping toward us at a surprising speed on all fours.

Jaromir reacts first, the earth rising up to slam into the creature, sending it rolling backward before its settled back into place as if it never moved. I pull my sword as the creature recovers, pushing itself up off the ground. It studies us a moment longer before screeching again.

This time, it doesn't charge us. It slowly creeps toward us, head waving back and forth with each step.

I let fire ignite around my hands. This seems to give the creature a pause, its head bobbing up and down as if trying to study me. I don't let it come to a decision.

Thrusting my hands forward, the fire surges toward the creature, growing into a wall that swallows it whole, moving faster than it can in its back peddling. I can hear the creature screech and I keep pouring fire into the wall until the screeching stops.

The wall dies as the girls come to a stop by Jaromir and me. Fires flicker along the debris that had been near the creature, yet they're not my concern. The creature, alive and well, lumbering through the flames, is. It doesn't even look hurt. It does look angry though.

"What is that thing?" Makatza demands.

"A gerank," Tallulah breathes in disbelief.

My eyes flick toward her. How did she know that?

"More importantly, how do we kill it?" Jaromir counters Makatza's demand.

The gerank doesn't give us a chance to debate the question, surging forward again.

"Move!" I order.

Jaromir and I duck left, the girls moving right. This seems to give the gerank a pause, head swiveling between all of us as if trying to decide who to go after. It takes a step toward Jaromir and me only to seemingly be shoved back by an invisible force. Makatza. She had to be manipulating the air.

The gerank whips around, searching for the source. It screeches at the girls, stepping toward them.

"Any other ideas?" Amara calls, light beginning to flicker around her.

Before I can respond, the gerank rushes her, moving even faster than before. Wisely, Amara vanishes from sight. This doesn't confuse the gerank.

The spike of water slashing at its head does cause it to rear back though. It turns on Tallulah, screeching louder than before.

The stream of water crashes to the ground as Tallulah falls to her knees, hands covering her ears as she begins to scream.

"TALLULAH!" I take a step forward, launching a fireball at the gerank.

The shot lands true, hitting the gerank square in the side. The screech dies instantly, as does the fireball. Slowly, it turns its head toward me.

I'm only the center of its attention for a moment though before it's howling in pain, stumbling as one of its arms falls limply to the ground, severed right below the elbow. What seeps from the cut looks nothing like blood. For starters, it's black, and its texture just doesn't remind me of blood. It seems more like wet sand to me. The gerank rears onto its feet, blindly swinging it's still attached arm through the arm. It makes contact with Amara, causing her to lose her control over the light, becoming visible once more as she goes flying.

Makazta throws her hands out, no doubt trying to cushion Amara's landing with air or slow her momentum.

"It's head," Tallulah gasps. "You have to cut off its head."

I want to question how she knows that will work, but there's no time for that. I just have to trust her.

I lock eyes with Jaromir. He nods grimly, drawing his sword.

Together, we charge the gerank. As if it can sense us coming, it turns on us. I nearly stumble when it holds out its severed arm, the missing half growing back in a swirl of darkness. Arm restored, it roars its challenge at us.

I let fire flick to life along my blade. The earth around the gerank ripples, roots surging from the ground, growing thicker, twisting around its legs, trying to pull it down into the earth.

The gerank screeches, claws flicking out of its hands allowing it to claw at the earth, ripping the roots apart, though it's careful to keep its eyes on us. We're not the ones it should be watching though.

Makatza drops from the air, landing squarely on its back. Her sword flashes through the air and the gerank's head goes toppling to the ground. She gracefully rolls off its body as it tumbles to the ground.

I freeze when the darkness begins to swirl around its body. Nothing grows back this time. The darkness ripples across the gerank's body, devouring it whole, leaving nothing to show for its presence but the carnage of the party.

We all stand for a moment, looking around at each other. Finally, I let my eyes settle on Tallulah.

"How did you know what it was?" I ask. Tallulah's eyes meet mine and I don't miss the flash of guilt. "Rohana, of course. And she told you not to tell us, right?"

Tallulah looks down. "She-"

"Do not make an excuse for her right now," Amara seethes. "We had a right to know. There is no good reason for keeping that from us."

"Children!" High Priestess Leoni's cry of concern cuts through the air. We all turn toward it. She slows as she comes closer, eyes flicking about all of us and around the area. "I'm glad to see you're all alright, but what happened?"

"A gerank attacked the celebration," Makatza answers calmly.

Alarm flickers across High Priestess Leoni's face.

"It was after us," Tallulah says softly. She looks up at High Priestess Leoni, worry and grief mixing in her expression.

High Priestess Leoni nods gravely. "I had hoped there be more time or that it wouldn't come to this, but if he has grown this bold, we are out of time."

"You don't mean. . ." Amara's voice fades out as High Priestess Leoni nods.

"It is time for you all to seek out the First Temple."