Gravedancer

6. WE ALSO HAVE SOME MONSTERS...

She looks up; the moon is racing along.

Her dark gaze is drowned in light.

-Transfigured Night, Richard Dehmel (translated by Stanley Applebaum).

My head actually hurt.

I could finally feel that the back of my head hit something, although it soon passed. Then another. And then another. Then -

Wait.

Some noises made their way to my ears and it took a while to make the difference between them, but I soon recognized them as the sounds of dragging.

Ouch, my head protested as another small rock hit its back.

I was really disoriented. I didn't know what my head hit when that skinwalker threw me across the room, but I could tell that it was hard and was not made to catch a head. It wasn't exactly my favorite way to land.

More dragging sounds. Some dry leaves breaking. Some steps.

Light steps. Really light steps.

Wait a minute.

After a full twenty seconds, I could finally tell why the dragging sounds were so close when I couldn't see anyone else.

My head actually hurt.

The skinwalker kept dragging me along. I could smell forest air, and the dry leaves that were always on the ground confirmed it - it was too thick to be anywhere else but our dear forest grounds Disaster.

Wow. A single Witch House dare led up to this.

There were growls, and I realized that they came from the skinwalker that dragged me. Then another growl emerged from somewhere in the mist as a reply.

Even with Cora's mist-clearing charm, I still couldn't see who gave that reply. Whoever growled it was too far for me to see.

Another growl, this time more like a rough howl, came from the other side.

I groaned, but there was a silent growl from the skinwalker who dragged me - that sounds like a mouthful, I'll just call him Bob - and I feigned silence once again.

Bob replied the rough howl with his own, and I could see from somewhere in the middle of the mist that there we were approaching an opening between two towering trees that resembled a gigantic gate. I could register two skinwalkers keeping guard next to each tree.

Huh. It was a gate.

The closer we got to the gate, the better I could observe the two skinwalkers. I realized that their heads resembled horses more than wolves, unlike the other skinwalkers I saw back at the party. Even Bob looked more wolf-ish than horse-ish. However, unlike the party skinwalkers yet again, those two guards were holding spears. I also realized that they had leather armors draped over their shoulders and torso.

The skinwalkers didn't strike me as creatures with enough intelligence to make weapons -I wasn't even sure they'd have enough bureaucracy understanding to set up guard posts, let alone make weapons. I stood corrected.

When Bob dragged me through the gate, the two horse-headed skinwalkers stared at me coldly as if bringing over a human victim was common among skinwalkers.

No, I remembered Barney saying. They want people.

Of course it was common.

When Bob finally let go of me, I heard some light footsteps and two other skinwalkers - this time with heads resembling gigantic swans - scurried over and tied me up: one tied together my legs and the other one my hands after lifting them over my head. As if couldn't feel any more helpless, a brute monster with a big spade stored like a sword on his belt walked over and grabbed me, carrying me by its broad shoulder.