The Phoenix People

Chapter Twenty One

While our horses leaped over fallen logs and skirted still-standing trees, I contemplated our hasty decision. Would it not have been wiser to immediately return to camp and share our findings with the council? But by then, it may have been too late for whoever Anna was tracking. Perhaps this had been the wisest course of action after all. 

We rode hard for a good half hour before Anna pulled to a hard stop, forcing us behind her to do the same. "What is it?" Melody demanded, looking equal parts impatient and concerned.

"The trail..." Annamarie's voice wavered and she cleared her throat before trying again. "The trail breaks into...lots of trails."

"What does that mean?" I asked as Melody's face paled in horror.

"There are...scattered pieces...of the person we are tracking," the woman replied carefully, and I understood. 

Feeling sick to my stomach, I asked quietly, "What now?"

"Dismount," Theo demanded before anyone else could respond.

"Why?" Griffin asked, confused.

"So we can hide our supplies. We have food in those bags, food with scents. Not to mention that the horses should be able to run if anything..." He cleared his throat, shook his head slightly, and dismounted.

We did as he had ordered, hiding our saddlebags in nearby trees.

The overzealous preparations terrified me. Was this situation truly that serious? Also, we now knew that someone was dead from unnatural causes. Couldn't we just report back to camp?

When I raised the argument, Anna was surprisingly the one to explain.

"Not everyone trusts me," she said simply, and I wondered what that had to do with anything until I remembered that the only proof we had of the stranger's death was her magical track.

"Get your weapons ready," Melody called over her shoulder as she scanned the surrounding woods. I unsheathed my dagger and held it awkwardly at my side. Griffin unsheathed two dual swords and Theo drew several small metal stars from his pockets.

"Anna, I need you to use Locate," Melody requested. I recognized the name of the spell - she wanted Anna to find the cause of the stranger's death, if it was indeed a living thing. "But hold on for a moment." Anna nodded and stood at the ready.

"Alexia, I need to know I can depend on you," Melody said as she turned to me, her words completely throwing me off-guard.

"I - I can't fight," I reminded her uncertainly, taken aback.

"I know that. I just have to know that you won't run."

"I promise," I replied immediately. I wasn't a complete coward. Even if I couldn't help my friends, I wouldn't abandon them.

Melody looked at me for a moment longer, hesitating. Her mistrust hurt.

"Melody!" Anna suddenly screamed, and a looming shape threw itself into my vision.

Before I knew what was happening, a huge hand - hand? Claw? -  closed around me and I was lifted off of the forest floor so quickly that my head snapped painfully down. We were moving so quickly that I could barely open my eyes. After only a few deeply disorienting seconds, we stopped and I was dropped unceremoniously about five feet to the forest floor.

I lay still for a few seconds, gasping for the air that had been forcibly expelled from my lungs. I stared in shock at my dagger lying a few feet away. When the creature grabbed me, it must have pinned the weapon to my side. When I felt my hand belatedly heating up and glanced down at it, the quickly spreading crimson across my palm confirmed this. I staggered laboriously to my feet.

The monster that had taken me was hideous.

It was whiter than chalk, with dry skin that was stretched tightly over its angular bones. It was eyeless and had no lips, exposing its crooked, rotting, terrifyingly sharp teeth.

And it was currently bent over Griffin, pinning him to the ground with one claw-like hand. The other extended over his limp body, crooked talon lowering steadily towards his stomach.

With my head ringing and not fully thinking through what I was doing, I retrieved my knife from the ground and charged the creature. Its head snapped toward me just as I slammed into it.

Griffin roared in pain as the creature toppled off of him and I felt a flash of fear for him. That fear quickly turned its focus to my own safety as the ten-foot-tall creature turned painfully slowly to stare at me with soulless, black eyes.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Griffin dragging himself away from us, a hand pressed against his side. I could see the flower of a bloodstain forming on his tunic. Cause a distraction, I thought to myself desperately.

But that goal was already well accomplished. The beast was starting deliberately towards me.

Suddenly, it lunged with strange speed, and I dove to the side, barely able to keep my balance. I slashed out blindly with my knife as I struggled to find balance, and the blade bit into leathery flesh. The creature screamed, a horrible sound that made me hunch over, cringing.

I didn't have much navigation room, being in the middle of the woods. I could see a grassy clearing to my right, however, that would provide me with a wider circle in which to fight the monster.

I dashed for the clearing, hoping against all hopes that I would be pursued. Sure enough, I heard the hissing breathing of the monster as it chased me, quickly growing closer.

I broke into the clearing and whirled around to meet what was certainly my death. Please, Gods - my work here is not done.

The wound on the creature's side was leaking thick black blood. The cut hardly seemed to hinder the beast.

There was a slight ridge behind me. A gnarled tree grew diagonally out of it. It was long dead, one of its thicker branches hanging from a thin strip of bark.

Quickly, I threw together a plan.

I backed up until my back was pressed against the ledge and I was almost directly underneath the branch.

The creature screamed, slightly less intense than before, and charged me.

At the last possible second, as the creature's rancid breath washed over me, I dove to the side and promptly caught my foot and fell.

Just as I had planned, the monster rammed into the ridge headfirst. And then everything went wrong.

The creature stumbled backward, away from both the outcropping and the dead branch.

The branch fell far too late, directly onto my leg.

I screamed as lightning pain coursed through my leg, and immediately began struggling to free myself.

The creature clutched its head, breathing raggedly.

I writhed, my heart threatening to burst out of my chest.

The beast released its head and shook it violently, obviously disoriented.

A sob slipped out of my throat and I wrapped my hands around my thigh, tugging desperately. My leg shifted slightly.

The monster shook off its wooziness and stood, blinking rapidly as it stared at me.

My leg was almost free. I screamed shortly out of pure frustration.

The thing started slowly towards me once more, quickly picking up speed as it oriented itself more.

And finally, my leg wrenched free.

I rolled out of the way just in time and the creature rammed once more into the ledge. This time, it struggled even to rise.

With the last of my strength, I picked up my knife, dragged myself over to the beast, and drove the blade into its skull.

Finally, it stilled.

I fell to my knees and from there, to my side. There I remained, just focusing on my breathing and the slowing pulse of blood leaving my hand.