Journey of the Lost

Chapter 2

     It all started with a crash that awoke Jaylen from a pleasant dream. It had detailed an odd sort of field and friendly creatures the size of a large dog that she had ridden to an empty castle. All of that disappeared as glass shards rattled against the wooden floors from somewhere outside of her room.

       Jaylen rolled from the cot she had been curled up in, touching bare feet against the cold floor. There was a shuffling sound from the kitchen, and she stiffened. The footfalls were heavier than her mother's, and there was an odd clicking with each step.

        Holding her breath, Jaylen reached for the dagger on her nightstand. Thieves were not unheard of in this part of town, and it could easily just be her father waking in the middle of the night with hunger. Even so, it was better to be safe than sorry.

       She crept forward, keeping low as she stared at her door. The clicking had stopped. It was silent.

      Jaylen relaxed slightly, letting out a breath and loosening her grip on her dagger.

      Then the door exploded.

        A massive creature erupted through the wood, sending splinters flying through the air. Jaylen rolled behind a chair for shelter as the wolfish creature gave itself a rough shake. Pieces of wood filled the air, clattering to the floor around it.

       It was barely small enough to fit inside the room, its arched back lined with spines that scraped across the ceiling. Its head was oddly low on its body, the neck protruding more from the chest than the shoulders. It had a lengthy, thin snout lined with yellow fangs. It was a dark brown from the tip of its nose down to the wicked talons on its feet. Feathery fur coated its lithe body, and the tip of its nose twitched as it scented the air.

        It turned its hideous head to the side, and its yellow eyed gaze locked on her. Fear made her muscles tighten, and she sucked in a breath. Then she remembered what her father had said "Nothing will kill you faster than hesitation."

       Before it could acknowledge her presence, Jaylen leapt towards it. Her dagger sank clear through its left eye, and it let out a terrifying scream as it jerked backwards. It brought down its jagged talons, but Jaylen rolled aside. The confinements of the room made dodging difficult, but her father had once drilled her in the shed out back. "Use the restrictions to your advantage," he had said, "If you're in a tight spot, so is your enemy."

       Jaylen gasped as its fangs grazed her arms, but she brought her dagger down on its mouth. It bellowed, tossing its head up to pull away from the pain. Her eyes found the gap between its legs, and she dived through it. She rolled to her feet behind it, finding herself in the kitchen. It no longer looked like the kitchen, however. The table was shattered, the windows broken, and the front door had been ripped from its hinges. Pots and pans littered the floor amongst wood from shredded cabinets and chairs.

       The beast in her room was struggling to turn in the small space, and Jaylen grabbed her father's axe from the wall. With great difficulty, she raised it above her head, then with a scream of exertion she brought it down into its back half.

       The screech from the animal destroyed her ears, and it jerked itself around in desperation to avoid another slice into its hindquarters. It parted its jaws in a fearsome roar, but a heavy longsword separated the head from the shoulders in one clean swing.

       Jaylen flattened herself against the wall as blood splattered the floor, but she found herself faced by a furious Ruskin.

        "Dad," she choked, but he pulled her behind him as another monster erupted through the door. Its face was more hideous than the last, and fangs tore through the stone rimming of the building.