THE LAST GATEKEEPER

Man Eaters IV

            Jack had moaned all night as the stitches went in and out of his fleshy hand. The final piece had been horrific to look at and probably was worse to have. Weaver and Ellis thought the screams might attract nearby Man Eaters but the night had gone surprisingly private. Crow had only just awakened when the sun had nearly reached the middle of the sky. Maybe he’d known Jack would need as much rest as he could get and so Crow himself had gotten rest. Azlyn had tried to avoid looking at the Cannibal lying in the center of the meadow but it was a futile attempt, she constantly glanced backward at it. He just lies there, dead with the flowers sprouting up around him, hugging to his body like the bitter stench his opened skull had created, such a horrible thing in such a beautiful place. She took a look around her, finally getting over the dead one and realized the beauty of the place. It was a cradle in the forest where the sun could peek down and make the pond glitter and make the birds sing and fill the air with the fresh smell of life. Azlyn was glad they hadn’t spent the night in the rock’s clearing; she might’ve gone mad with all of those dead bodies.

            “Errr…” Another grunt of agony Azlyn assumed and turned to see it was true. He’d been out for no longer than five minutes and he was awake again already. His hand’s bandages were soaked with blood but Frederick had gone out long ago and Fiona had just started what little sleep she could get. Azlyn put her hand on Jack’s cheek and his eyes reluctantly closed again. There was the slightest sound of broken leaves behind her and saw Crow standing up above her. How long had he been there?

            “Stand him up; let him piss if he needs to. I’ll handle the others.” Crow said and began to wake the others. They were grumpy and bitter but if Crow said it was time to go than most of them figured that was best. Ellis was one of the most bitter.

            The meadow in which they left and in which the dead Cannibal and pieces of Jack’s hand remained was probably the biggest let down of the trek they’d made so far. Azlyn had almost hoped that the entire forest would be as beautiful as the meadow but she’d been disappointed when they finally left. The forest was dark and had trees that looked older than the Dark Age. Maybe at sometime they were beautiful and lush with life but now they looked rotten and twisted and bent towards the group like traps. Webs were spun between nearly all of the branches and the path was rough. Jack had both his arms over Weaver and Joseph but he still groaned and cried like a child in the womb. Had some point Ellis had been bitten by a spider and had even had Crow examine the wound but Crow had told him he’d be just fine despite the fact that his hand looked like a melon at the end of the day and he couldn’t feel his entire arm. It had been a massive spider he kept insisting to the others. They found a broken down carriage on the path, engrossed with vines and weeds that sprouted through the windows and strained at the paint. A few miles further they found a dead body in noble clothing and then two others further on but these ones were naked and the decomposition was clearly visible.

To put it straight, the forest was a dark place. The group had no problem venturing until the next day’s morning to where the forest had become a wide and wet marsh, where they finally camped. Things moved in the shallow swampy areas and things made calls from the forest as the night grew on. They slept in the day,

            The evening when they awoke Jack finally began to tune down his moans to grunts and Ellis’s hand began to stop swelling, everyone was recovering. Jack learned that Weaver had actually been stabbed in the arm two times and that Frederick had been whipped across the chest with a large spear but he’d been applying different ailments to his core every few hours when the group rested and it was nearly fine now.

            There was small conversation here and there between everyone but for the most part they were silent. The marsh ended and they drew up into another forest. This forest was better because you could see the sky through the leave’s shade and the trees were spread and there were plants that were bright green and lush. It reminded Azlyn of a forest she’d passed through on her journeys south from her home to Harold. She’d been through lots of plains and a large desert and then right before she came to the great plain in which Harold resides she went into the tall forest. She hadn’t travelled alone of course but it was beautiful. Her thoughts dwelled for a bit and then landed back on Jimmy who’d been taken and the way the darkness had flung her through the air. Azlyn glanced at Crow, whom was ahead with one raised hand resting kindly on the hilt of his largest blade, could he fight that?