Chapter One Part IV
He broke off at the wood’s border. Carefully, he pushed the bushes aside and stepped in. Nothing could be seen through the pitch black atmosphere… Just a pair of bright, glowing eyes.
They pounced at him but before he could move, instantly pinning to him to ground. To Aedomir, the beast was still completely invisible; sound became his guide. With his right hand he knocked the head up whilst his left reached for the dagger. Foul breath enveloped him and the violence of his pounding heartbeats rapidly rose. He punched a mighty blow as quickly as possible and without a second spared he had leapt to his feet. A sudden soar across the hedges threw Aedomir face down onto rock. He burst a cry of pain and rolled onto his back. Blood gushed out from his nostrils like a river. He reached for his sword. Gone. The he saw a shimmering glint of metal pointing out from the bushes.
The beast leapt through the bushes and pounced to Aedomir. He drew his dagger and blindly sent it cascading through the sparkling moonlight and hit the monster in the head. It skidded to halt in the mud and tumbled towards Aedomir. He gasped and kicked to the left, heaving his body with it. Dust swept over him that upswept in the beast’s wake.
He moved to retrieve his sword from the bush. As his fingers touched the hilt, he felt strength return to him. For a moment he weighed it in his hands, knowing that their few seconds apart nearly killed him. He smiled and sheathed it gently.
The next few minutes were spent salvaging the bloody-gunk dagger and inspecting its host. The creature was the most intriguing animal he had ever seen. Not because of its splendour—on the contrary it merely echoed a stinking Kalbarc beast—but because he had never seen it before in his life. He had exhausted over fifteen years as an outlaw, with a wild deer bearing significance. He knelt down to take a closer look. It looked around a hundred pounds. From its mouth stuck two huge tusks the size of horns and along its back extended a large bushy main. Red eyes shone out from its head that overlapped the front two legs.
He heaved it up over his head. Something flickered past and his sight quickly diverted. He focused his eyes over to his right; a deer. He didn’t much fancy eating such an unusual beast platter anyway. Awkwardly he dropped the animal and hurried after the deer, which had already passed the river. As soon as his feet splashed against the water’s edge, he stopped dead his tracks and turned a pale white. A horn. That’s where the deer had run from.
Kalbarcs.
He turned quickly and ran as fast as he could go down the stream.
The sky. Orange. No moon, just red, cloudy puffs. The men should be alert be now. At least, he hoped so. That was all he could do. The horn raged again. A shivering draft caught his skin; he was running on adrenaline.
With all the hot air whispering from the sky he thought he would be hot, but cold overcame him. A lot of cold.
The waterfall burst through the mist into view, keep going, keep going…
He snapped his head round. Followers. They leapt across the bank, skidding through Aedomir’s wake. He didn’t care if the ripples were loud enough to call in Malwin himself. He just didn’t care.
The dried blood on his nose only added to his panic. His neck twisted violently to see the pursuers closing in. Hundreds were joining the chase. “Argh!” He yelled, feeling stinging water burning his legs. The water surface blazed a mighty red and an aching steam hazed from the water.
Just a few seconds after, his legs seared with more pain than ever before. One… Two… Three! He leapt from the river and threw himself to the waterfall. His hands closed in on the steam. Every split second ached like a lifetime. The burning blood in his veins grew hotter and hotter—
He hit the gush of water, time froze between his eyes. On the surface of the waterfall he saw his own face. It looked tired, weak and aimless. The mirror fused away, but his reflection did not falter. A hand stretched out to Aedomir’s shoulder. The touch neared… A sudden spark of tremendous leaping light told Aedomir one thing: his days were over.
Take into account, however, that I am strangely very exhausted. I don't know what happened, but I suddenly went from fantastic to tired in about two minutes. I know, it's crazy.
