Perilous Jaunt Chapter 29
Chapter 29
Peter
When Dante woke me up, it was dark. We then walked through bushes and over a few dead trees that had fallen over, not allowing the main road to slip out of our sight.
Eventually, there was a right turn that went off from the main road, just like Dante claimed there would be, and we followed it, while remaining in the shadows. Then, after we followed the turn off the road, we came upon a small clearing and found a log cabin. The cabin was only one story tall, but was as wide as three houses put side-by-side. The windows on both sides of the door flickered with the glow of candlelight from inside. Yet, nowhere did I see Talth standing guard around it.
"Why aren't there any guards?" I whispered, as Dante and I moved further past the trees, getting closer to the cabin.
"I don't know," Dante said.
Finally, we arrived at the tree line and stood only a few steps away from walking into the wide-open circle of dirt that surrounded the Talth's hideout. Dante crouched down and began to take off his knapsack. He then opened it and pulled out the three jars of Devil's Nectar, setting each one down on the ground by his boots. "I'm going to pour this around the hideout,"
He then removed his gun from its holster and held it out, extending the grip of the gun to me. "Here,"
I stared at the weapon and then slowly took it from him.
"If they see me," Dante warned, "don't come out. Just wait until I call you. Do you know how to load the gun?"
"Just pop out the cylinder and put in the bullets, right?"
"Yeah, basically. Here, let me get you the other bullets," Dante said, just before pulling out the five bullet pouches from his bag, which jingled as I took them and set them down by my right boot.
Dante then placed his knapsack against a tree to his left and picked up one of the jars of Devil's Nectar, which he unscrewed, causing the purple liquid to ripple inside. He then set the lid on the ground. "I'll be right back,"
Before I could even protest, Dante, with his arms tightly wrapped around the jar as if it were a baby, crept towards the cabin. Once he reached the front door, he tilted the jar over and began to pour the Devil's Nectar onto the ground. Then, after ducking under the window to the right while pouring a line of purple on the ground and on the wood of the cabin, he vanished around the corner. Moments later, he remerged from the left side of the cabin and hurried back towards me, his jar now empty.
I said nothing as the wolf set down the empty jar and opened a second one, just before dashing back to the cabin, where he disappeared around the left side. Eventually, he came back around and poured the last drops of the second jar on the front of the door and on the ground underneath it, thus completing his circle of Devil's Nectar around the entire cabin.
He turned and ran back towards me again with his jar, which was now empty. Dante quickly tossed it aside and opened the last Devil's Nectar jar before hurrying back to the front door of the cabin, where he then poured a stream of Nectar onto the ground while he walked backwards towards me, leaving a growing trail of purple between him and the door.
The last drops of Devil's Nectar sprinkled onto the ground as soon as Dante stepped into the safety between the trees once again. He then threw the jar off to his left and drew his bow, which he then set down against the tree by his knapsack.
"Ready?" he asked, as he bent down and started digging through his bullet pouches
"I guess," I said, fearing that the gun would fly out of my hands if I had to fire it.
"I'm nervous, too," Dante admitted, as he pulled out his flint from one of his bullet pouches and drew his knife. He then moved forward and squatted over where the stream of Devil's Nectar started. I heard a scrapping noise and assumed he was lighting the Nectar.
A beautiful stream of purple fire suddenly burst out of thin air and ran towards the Talth's hideout. The fire then completely coiled around the cabin and leapt up on the sides of the wooden walls, digging its hot fingers into the building. From where I stood, I could already smell the burning of wood.
Dante turned and sprinted back to me. He tossed his flint into the open bullet pouch and sheathed his knife. Then, he snatched up his bow and readied an arrow on its string. Once the arrow was set, he glanced up at the Talth's hideout, the reflection of the purple fire glowing in his eyes as he waited.
For a few breathless minutes, the night was silent, aside from the crackling purple flames that had now climbed onto the roof of Osric's cabin. Then, bloody screams, which seemed like they could only have come from the blackest pits of hell, exploded from inside the cabin, ripping the silence of the night.
A moment later, the door broke down and out ran a man, whose species I couldn't identify because his entire body was ablaze with purple flames. His screams grew louder with each step as he ran off to the left, only to trip and lay still on the ground a few moments later.
More screams drew my attention back to the front door, where I saw another Talth step outside. He was a lion and, unlike the first Talth that ran out the door, was not on fire.
Dante aimed and shot his arrow, landing it right in the Talth's throat. I could see the fountain of blood that gushed out onto the lion's chest from his neck as he fell back into the doorway, landing on another Talth behind him, who was on fire, pinning him to the ground. The trapped burning Talth proceeded to scream and kick, trying to crawl out from the dead lion, only to become still and silent.
As Dante drew another arrow, a bull stumbled through the doorway and tripped over his dead friends. He then jumped up and ran right, screaming. At first, it seemed like he would get away, but, instead, Dante shot another arrow, which pierced the bull's chest and brought him down to the ground where he began to bleed motionlessly.
Then, without warning, the roof of the Talth's hideout collapsed in on itself, creating a loud bang as it fell down into the inside of the cabin.
A moment later, a crocodile crawled out from the wreckage and hopped over the circle of fire on the ground. He shook the ash from his green scales that glowed in the light of the flames behind him. The crocodile then turned to stare at the destroyed cabin behind him.
"It's Osric," Dante hissed, as he lowered his bow, his eyes filled with hate.
"How can you tell?" I asked, looking back at the crocodile.
Dante dropped his bow. "The red armband,"
I looked down at the crocodile's left arm and saw that, just as Dante pointed out, he was wearing a red armband, rather than a yellow one like the rest of the Talth. The hydra was also white instead of blood red.
Quieter than wind, Dante stepped forward and drew his sword as he walked towards Osric, his back facing me.
From where I was standing, the purple flames that burned the crumbled remains of the cabin illuminated Dante's outline, as though he were some holy creature that had descended from the sky to cast judgment on the world. His sword, which perfectly reflected the flames in front of him, seemed to glow like a bright star that would have cleansed even the cruelest of people from existence. In that one moment, Dante looked just like an angel, an angel of death.