Nentarli [COMPLETE]

~ Forty-nine ~

We made our way around the hill so we would be out of sight from the horde when it passed over. We watched the first monstrous creatures fly overhead, they looked like Horrors, just as ugly and grotesque. All with different body shapes and limbs that didn't look the way they were supposed to, however they had big, leathery wings that were just as disgusting as the rest of them.

They swooped down and we could hear the fighting begin, the Terrors carrying the carriage were slower than the others so they passed close to the end. But instead of flying to the fighting, they stopped nearby and Blaike's assumption about Riltresik had been right. He was going to see what his Horrors had done to us, whether we would all be too distressed to fight and he could pick us off easily.

While the Terrors were landing, we crept around the hill until we could see the corpses of the Horrors we had killed. They were all exactly as we'd left them, we had to act fast if the plan were to work. We moved the carcasses carefully, we needed to place them against the hill at the right position. He would have to walk into the open clearing to figure out what had happened.

We managed it just in time as footsteps and noises could be heard coming closer, we dispersed to our pre-arranged positions and waited. I was perched on the side of a hill, able to see just over the edge to where Riltresik would stand. The noises grew louder and figures loped around the farthest hills, black shapes whose wings didn't fold away very well.

The Dark Terrors couldn't seem to walk properly either, their gait was hobbled and unsteady. But my attention was pulled to the figure leading them, I pushed away my fear and opted for pure revulsion. Hideous was an understatement, black always seemed to be the primary colour for these things but Riltresik seemed to be taking it to the extreme.

The disfigured body was oozing black gunge everywhere, bits and pieces were stuck on his body that shouldn't be there. For some reason he was wearing a black cloak around what was meant to be his neck, it flowed out as he walked. He couldn't be mistaken for a man anymore but somehow he carried himself as one, like his appearance didn't mean anything and he still thought himself better than everyone else.

He stopped in the clearing and I noticed the pools of Horror blood had caught his eyes. Although I didn't know how he saw anything through those black orbs that were popping out of their sockets. He said something to the Terrors and they began to hobble off in different directions. He was so predictable, I climbed down the hill without a sound and crept around to where I knew the Terror would be coming.

The footsteps were as loud as they were clumsy, I crouched when it came towards my hiding place and as it came around the hill, I sliced my sword across the area of its abdomen. It let out a shriek that set my teeth on edge, I pulled back my sword and silenced it with a blast of magic aimed at its chest while it tried to grab at me. I heard similar shrieks go up from all different directions, I counted three more and that was every Terror Riltresik had brought into the clearing.

I turned and climbed the hill again, standing proudly on top of it so I could look down on Riltresik in the clearing. I saw three more figures stand atop their hills, all four of us staring down at Riltresik. He looked up at each of us in turn, he didn't seem bothered that we had eliminated his companions or that we were there at all.

He looked bored, "I will admit you are not what I expected when I received word of you. Not quite children but not yet adults, somewhere in between and still somewhat unworthy of the roles you have been given." His voice was deep and raspy, like it too had been rotted and morphed into something else.

I frowned at his words, but realised we were giving him too much time to figure out his own plan.

I was about to raise my hand to signal the attack when he held up his own appendage. "Were there not supposed to be five of you? Not that it matters, this mockery of an ambush will not work on me, you must know that by now."