Chapter 65: Chapter 65 – Howling Night

The night has only deepened further, but no attack has come for us. The unfamiliar howls continue to sound out through the darkness but the creatures have yet to break into the light. Perhaps they won’t. Some monsters prefer to keep in the darkness, and these walls are enough of a threat to keep away most animals not already angry or desperate.

I hope that we don’t have to wait much longer, to see what they are and whether they’ll be willing to attack.

The people in the camp below have stopped flinching at every sound, some are even joking about it, they don’t know what they’re listening to. Neither do I, but I know enough to feel sick in the pit of my stomach.

The desperate hunger is not sated, no matter how long they hunt. They aren’t calling out to one another or making the sounds of an animal trying to communicate. They’re screaming, and they’re not the only ones.

When I listen close, in the hush between howls and when the wind is calm and trees quiet their whispers, I can hear them. People screaming. Raging, fighting, crying out in despair. It’s gone so fast that I can almost pretend not to hear it.

No matter how much I rub my arms, the goosebumps just keep coming back, and it’s as if there’s something blocking up my throat making it hard to swallow.

Something is happening out there. People are dying. I might be able to help, if I could rush out there with my swords, maybe I could defeat the monsters, or bandits, or vampires. Maybe I could save someone…

Closing my eyes, I see again the flames consuming my village along with everything I’ve ever known before I’m overcome by the heavy smoke from the turning winds. The screams die, giving way to silence. And again, I know that I’m alone.

How many others out there are suffering the same as I did that day? How many could I save if I really tried?

“Syr, do you want to come down?” Adeleya asks, leaning against the base of the pillar that I’ve climbed. “What are you doing up there, anyway?”

“I’m keeping a lookout,” I say, standing up and letting the wind rush by. The cool, fresh air doesn’t at all taste like smoke or ash. Crow sits beside me, standing only on a single leg as he struggles to keep balanced where he is.

“Can you see anything?”

“It’s too dark,” I admit, staring at where the lights of our camp end. I want to rush out there into the dark and hunt the howling beasts. I want to end all the terrible things that are happening out there beyond my sight, but I don’t know if I could even make a meaningful difference.

If I was like that old necromancer, then I could march armies of undead out there to deal with whatever is causing trouble. If I was some serious noble, then I could march an army of knights out there, but I don’t have their strength. I’m alone with Adeleya and Theo, protecting this small camp while thousands of others die.

Glancing down and tracing out a path with my eyes, I step forwards and let myself fall. Æther burns in me, strengthening my body as I kick against the massive pillar and land on the stone ground in a roll.

My shoulder flares with pain, but I bite back a scream as I come to a stop and flood myself with healing magic. My entire fighting style is about moving around the battlefield like this, but there’s still so much more that I can learn. It’s still so easy to make mistakes that would get everyone hurt.

“Syr, are you okay?!” Adeleya is already by my side resting a hand on my shoulder.

“I’m okay. I’m healing it.” I rub my shoulder and stretch, ready for a fight that just isn’t here yet.

I can’t save everyone, but we’re responsible for this small camp, and I won’t let these people die. I won’t run away. Whatever horrible monsters or bandits come for us, I’ll defeat them. With Adeleya and the others by my side, I’m sure that we can do it. I can even push myself past my limits and trust that they’ll watch my back when I pass out.

“You should be more careful,” Adeleya says, rubbing at my hair. “If we have to fight-”

“When we have to fight,” I correct her. “They sound hungry, and they’re getting closer.”

“An even better reason for you to be in your best shape,” she says, gripping my sore shoulder before stepping back and leaning on her staff. “I know that you want to get stronger, but if you keep pushing yourself like you are, you’re not going to have the energy left to fight when you need to.”

I hesitate, biting my lip as I slowly force myself to nod. What she’s saying does make sense. Sure, I can push myself past my limits once, but what if a horde of ants crawl over the walls? What if another monster comes back to finish everyone while I’m passed out?

I need to plan out my training so that I can get as strong as I possibly can, and so that I don’t risk my team more than I should. I’m not some kid out eating roots in the wild anymore. I have people to take care of and if I make a stupid mistake, I could be the reason that we lose a fight.

I do get it, but it’s so difficult to just stand here lamely waiting for something to happen. Predators don’t wait for someone else to come and hurt them, that’s the sort of thing that prey do, and I’m not prey.

I don’t want to be prey.

“What can we do?”

“We can rest,” Adeleya suggests. “If you can’t sleep, then come with me and we can sit by the fireside. One of the researchers is practising a song with his lute, and he’s not that bad with it. When’s the last time you’ve had a chance to relax to some music?”

“The festival,” I say, and she sneers quietly remembering what came after. “Anna and Olive took me out dancing.”

“Dancing?”

“Yeah, dancing. It’s fun. It’s sort of like fighting, but we work together, move together, and… I don’t know. It’s fun,” I say, glaring at the walls as another howl pierces the night, closer than before.

“I should have figured you for a dancer,” she laughs. “There’s a nice hall back in Snowspring, and everyone interested gets together on Sundays. You should come along next time we have a chance.”

The thought makes my lips move upward all on their own, but just as quickly something in my guts tells me that I shouldn’t. I should spend that time in training, besides, thinking of it makes me think of Rea. She’s a noble, so she knows how to dance, doesn’t she? I want her to show me, I want to stumble around with her, dragging her out somewhere that she doesn’t belong and having fun just learning.

I’ll get stronger, and I’ll come back.

Adeleya pulls me away to the warmth of a fireside, while I’m getting lost in daydreams. The flames draw my attention, and in the flickering shapes I can make out a thousand wandering illusions. Fire just can’t stand still, it’s constantly changing and moving. It’s beautiful, but the ash it leaves behind is empty. Like all the beauty and life is being used up in this short moment.

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“Let us in! Please, let us in!” The screams come from the gates, as someone pounds on the thick wooden doors. The guards are rallying and I vaguely hear Theo calling for us to gather up.

“There’s a group of people at the gates, we’re going to assume that they’re vampires until we can prove otherwise. Even if they’re not…” He doesn’t finish, but I know what he’s talking about. The vampires have worked with humans before, we can’t trust anyone, and strangers pounding at the gates like this…

“If we let them in and they backstab us the moment we’re attacked?” Nadia says with a small nod and a frown. “We won’t be able to do anything about it.”

“We can’t risk it,” Lothar agrees.

No one says anything to contradict that agreement, but they all feel a little off to me, and I think I know why. I feel the same way. A deep anxiety rises in my guts as I hear people calling for help and doing nothing about it, knowing that I can do something.

A screaming baby joins cries, and finally, Theo lets out a long sigh before leading us to the gates where the guards are standing, uncertain how to react to the situation they’ve found themselves in.

“We’ll go out,” Theo says. “We’ll check on them, make sure that they’re not enemies. Is there anywhere in camp that we could safely keep them, just in case they panic and cause trouble?”

“Is that for the best?” Georgio asks, coming up to join us. “Not to be insensitive, but we’ve got tents. If those vampires you’ve described are among these people then…”

“We’ll check them first,” Theo says. “A group of unarmed people gathered on our front door makes us even more of a target, and will make things messier if we do end up in a fight. Can we put them in the ruins? Is there somewhere down there that we could secure them, just in case?”

“I… there is one side room that could be locked from the outside,” he says, nodding slowly. “It could hold maybe a hundred people if they squeeze?”

“Have someone prepare it, and have some guards take them down there after we’ve confirmed that they’re not vampires,” Theo explains, pushing through to the gates and opening them only enough to force his way out. The rest of us follow after him, but I need to use my sword to make some space for myself, the people just don’t want to move.

“Please, why won’t you let us in?” A young woman shouts, shaking as she looks left and right, her eyes wild. “The monsters, they’re coming.”

“Give us just a moment, and we’ll let you in. There is a safe place behind these walls just follow the guards inside one at a time,” Theo says, his heavy voice quickly stealing the attention of the panicked crowd. There are only twelve, but I can already see a few others racing towards the light and escaping the dark forest.

Lothar and Adeleya take out small lengths of sharpened wood about the width of an arrow shaft, poking the first man before he’s allowed to enter the camp. He shouts and jumps, but he doesn’t burst into flames. The others barely hesitate for a moment before following him and getting the same treatment.

“What’s out there?” I ask the panicked woman, still trying to push past me. “What are they?”

“I don’t know! I don’t know what they are, they’re tall and covered in fur. Sometimes they walk like a person, other times they run on the ground like a dog. They’re fast and strong, and they killed… they killed…”

Lothar grabs her arm, thrusts the enchanted stake into her shoulder and throws her inside when she fails to turn to ash.

More come rushing to us, and I swallow down my anxiety as I look for the beasts in the forest.

We’re standing too close together and if we’re attacked we could all be hit by the one spell, but if we spread out properly then people will get through, vampires would get through. Light only dispels their illusions, it won’t stop them from pretending to be human.

“I’ll stand ahead!” I shout, stepping forwards as Lothar covers my spot in the formation. I stand only five or so metres ahead of them, but that’s enough to give me a chance to move quickly. “If any monsters come, I’ll give Adeleya time to cast. I need room to move.”

“Understood,” Theo replies, and the small tightness in my chest that I didn’t know was there loosens at his agreement.

With Crow’s eyes and my own, I stare into the forest daring the monsters to come. I haven’t used my Adamant blade nearly enough recently, and I could do with the practice, my shortswords are amazing, but they just can’t compare to the simple forces I can create with my favourite weapon.

A few racing shadows force their way closer to us, the first limping along, dragging the other behind him.

“Help!” He shouts, pulling along the young woman by his side. “They’re coming, they’re-!”

A furred creature falls onto him, sinking its teeth into his shoulder and pushing him to the ground. I’m already moving at a dash, carefully considering the angle of my swing that won’t leave the two people dead.

The beast, nearly my own size, doesn’t even look up from the man that it’s gnawing on, so I don’t have any trouble hitting it hard in the side, snapping something inside of it. The animal flies away, but the man screams as it takes a mouthful of flesh with it.

The ball of fur rolls a few times before finding its feet again, its broken leg snapped all the way around, but it doesn’t even care.

“Move!” I shout at the injured pair.

They grab a hold of each other and crawl towards the gates of the town. The little monster tries to go for them again, as fast as the most nimble of foxes, but I see it moving before it takes its first step and dive between them, forcing it back.

The creature has the snout of a wolf but it’s covered in thick knotted fur that would make any prideful creature ashamed, it’s smaller than I thought, skinny and starved to the point where it looks like it might have been driven mad by its own hunger, but somewhere in its eyes I can feel thoughts moving.

“Syr, back to the gates!” Theo shouts, Lothar and Nadia have already dragged the injured to safety while I’ve stared at the warped creature. Adeleya readies to cast her magic, this time it’s not a fire spell but pure light.

She places a bright new moon into the sky above us, illuminating the forest, and the dozen other monsters glaring at me hungrily.

I turn my back and I run.

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