Descent into Fire and Brimstone [Discountined]

Chapter 5 - Maelys

That night she dreamt of barbarous creatures, their skin, identical to Maelys' rot, twisted around their gaunt heads, revealing one sinister eye. They advanced to the sound of snarls and the groans of war horns. Boooooom BOOOOOOM, boooooom BOOOOOOM! The droning sound punctured Maelys' senses and violently shook the ground; she was unable to stand. Some of the creatures held axes, some held spears, and others held heads, all with the rot feasting at their eyes. Coyotes, as big as ponies, lumbered among them, saliva dripping from their withered, thin lips. They were hungry for flesh. 

"Draw your dirks!" Lord Commander called. "Advance!". They were stood amidst a clearing, trees surronding every inch of them. There were ten of them, Maelys, Lord Commander Crawford, Vihaan, Conleth, Grayson, Adan, Ravenna and Dakotan. The Ten Thieves, they called themseleves. Thieves should be terrifying, they believed. Today, however, they were not terrifying, they were petrified. 

The Ten Thieves did not advance, and stood frozen in the middle of the clearing. The creatures were appraoching fast, already they were only meters away. Maelys noticed that there were Wiverlynn guardsmen staggering amongst them, their legs dragged in the snow and their arms swayed fiercley from side to side, as if they had invisible enemies attacking them.

"W-what are we going to do?" Maelys asked, going to grasp her Lord Commander's hand, but when she turned, she was alone. 

They have gone. My love has abandoned me. 

When she turned back, her love was standing inches away from her. However, it was not the Lord Commander she knew. His left eye had been torn from his flesh, and the rot had begun to nestle inside. His lips were deformed, into a shape Maelys could not even describe. Her heart began to pound like a thousand hearts in a single beat. As he leant forward, a sickening smell filled her nostrils and attacked the back of her throat like a thousand knives. Every second, his face twisted into a different expression. Now, he was smirking. 

Others began to gather behind him, Conleth was there and Vihaan too - all the Ten Thieves were rotten, deformed creatures, every dark eye looking at her. Hunger was in every eye. They are going to kill me. 

Maelys stabbed and slashed at them. As the dead men reached her, she pushed them back, her dirk stained with blue blood. She hacked down three guardsmen, Dakotan and Ravenna. They threw themseleves at her from all directions and she slashed at their throats. Vihaan was next, she shoved him aside as he lauched towards her. Coyotes were biting her ankles, their cold, poisonous silva sinking into her blood. She furiously kicked at them, gasping as one pulled her to the ground. Instantly, it lunged for her neck, but it was kicked aside before it's teeth could sink into her throat. It was her lover who was towering over her now, his hair wet with melting snow. He bent down, licking his rotten teeth; they looked as sharp as a winters morning. 

"I am sorry," he whipsered as placed his lips lightly onto hers. When he pulled back, his eye glared with hunger.

"I love you," she said.

Before he could reply, a gnarled hand siezed his hair and Vihaan took off his head. 

"No!" she screamed and suddenly lurched up from her sleep. She desperately sucked in the cold air and tried to calm herself.

What was that dream? What were those ghastly creatures? Elden may know.

Still breathing heavily, she looked over to Elden. Surpisingly, she had not distrurbed him from his sleep and he remained stretched out on the snow covered floor, snoring softly. She could have sworn she heard him mutter "Mayra." Who is this Mayra, then?

The midnight sky was clad in grey. The smell of an incoming storm was heavy in the air and the wind scattered frozen leaves across the snow. Maelys and Elden had ran away into the forest, whilst being hunted down by the guardsmen. Fortunately, the guardsmen were not familiar with the woods winding paths, as Maelys and Elden were, and they instantly vanished into the deep, dark woods.