A race against time
#2 of The wolf and the rose
The second installment of the story is finally ready to submit. Sorry about taking so long but it was necessary. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.
Continued from A Cursed Hunter...
We ran on for hours through the night, tracking our foes swiftly through the woods. We seemed to be gaining on them, but all at once, I found that the tracks stopped in a clearing and a new pair of tracks that I recognized as belonging to the winged demons were present in the moist soil.
"Damn it. They flew off with him." I said and looked around the clearing once more, searching for the smaller demons. I knew that I wouldn't find them even before I looked, but I checked for Julianna's sake anyway.
"Do you have any idea where they went?" she asked and I grimaced.
"The only place they could go that Redamarc would call safe for whatever he is planning is his fortress." I stated, shaking my head. "We can make it before sunrise, if we hurry."
"Good." She said and we started off again. An hour later, just as we entered a valley, the moon moved out from behind the clouds and Julianna gasped as she saw the fortress that rose above the valley. Crowning a flat cliff atop a tall hill, the fortress menaced everything for many miles around. In the moonlight, it looked to be a huge black skull with many teeth rising to swallow the moon in its maw. I snarled at the sight, for this was the third time I had seen it. I really had no desire to get closer to it, but I had to. If Isander was to survive, I would have to enter the fortress. We rushed into the valley at high speed and sprinted towards the hill upon which the fortress rested. We paused halfway up the steep hillside and stared up at the fortress.
The huge fortress loomed over the darkened valley. The whole thing looked like it had been carved from a single piece of obsidian. 'No way to climb the walls.' I thought and looked up at it again. The only way in that I could see was through the front gate, and that was always the worst possible option. I turned back to my companion with a grimace and she looked up at me in confusion.
"No way in except the front." I stated and she gave me a wan smile.
"I suppose that is bad?" She asked and I nodded. She sighed and her shoulders slumped. We had been running all night and she was exhausted. Though I pitied her, we had little time left to act. The sun would be coming up in less than an hour and there was no way I was going into that place in the sunlight. I sighed and she looked up at me. "What is it?"
"I can't believe this." I said, looking up at the fortress once more. "I am cursed because of that creature up there. He ruined my life with it, but now, the only way I can reach him and stand a chance in a fight with him is with the curse upon me."
"I am sorry for that." She said, then got to her feet slowly. "If it must be the front, than we should get going. Though I am tired, I must go on for Isander. Lets go."
I led the way up the slope towards the entrance of the castle. There was a path that led around the edge of the cliff to a thin cut in the sheer rock face that would allow someone up to the gateway. Julianna's strength was flagging by the moment and I knew that this was probably a very bad idea, but that was the choice I had made when I became a hunter, to seek out the enemy wherever they hid. Then, as we reached the edge of the pathway, I heard a very bad sound coming from above me. It was the ominous, low chanting sound of demon voices in an all too familiar ceremony. I had seen it only once before and that had been enough to make me never forget it.
"What is that noise?" Julianna asked, looking around.
"They have begun the Rite of Blood." I stated, doubling my pace up the hill. Julianna's face fell into a mask of horror and she sped up as well, though she couldn't keep up with me. I ran on without her, for, from the sound of things, the rite was almost to its climax, and if we didn't stop it before then, Isander would be lost forever. I sprinted up the sheer hillside and found myself at the base of the cliff that the fortress rested on. With adrenalin surging in my blood along with the curse, time slowed down and I took a few moments to spy out a route up the cliff face. I coiled my muscles beneath me and leapt straight up, catching the thin ledge I had spied with my fingertips. With a swift motion and word of magic, I pulled with my arms, launching me seven feet straight up to a thin outcropping, landing on my feet. I started to climb the cliff face, surging upward with all the speed my wolfish body could muster. When I reached the top a minute later, I hauled myself onto the wide cliff. The fortress's walls rose above me twenty yards away and I sprinted towards the gate. Any guard atop the wall would hit me before I got there, but I didn't care, it was now or never. But no arrow or dart shot down from the walls. Two hulking skeletal warriors stood in the gateway, armed with long spears that glittered with silver blades. 'He knew I was coming then.' I thought, my hand drawing my long blade.
The first skeleton lunged at me, but with my body's heightened perceptions, it was laughably slow and I ducked, the silver blade sailing over my head. I spun around in a circle, my long blade scribing a pair of perfect arcs as it sliced through both skeletons. As the undead fell to the ground, igniting into flame with the touch of jade, I darted through the gate and saw the reason why no guards had been atop the walls. The fortress courtyard was filled with demons, bowing in waves of supplication before a stone alter that was stained brown with the blood of countless victims. Isander lay on the Alter, stripped to the waist, bound by enchantment to the stone. Redamarc stood over him, his hands clasped around a glowing blood red stone that hung around his neck. His voice was echoing throughout the courtyard with demonic force, the fortress walls resonating with it.
A tiny voice of doubt began to grow in my mind the moment I saw all those demons there. 'A hundred enemies stand between you and the alter; a hundred demons to kill.' It began and I shook my head, trying to block it out. 'You would be crazy to fight that many. Insane to try to interrupt the ceremony.' I nodded to myself as the voice continued. It was madness to do this. 'You were insane to resist the curse. You should be embracing it, embracing the greater purpose that you had been created for.' It was a very appealing prospect and I nodded once more, lowering the sword. In that instant, Redamarc looked up and spied me.
"Welcome back to the fold, old friend." He said and then motioned me to come forward to him. I began to walk forward, step by step. Yes, this is what I was made for. To serve him, to dominate humanity. It all made sense now. I stepped through the rows of bowing demons and then stopped suddenly. Something was hitting my chest with every step, something that was hanging around my neck. With each impact, the demonic voice grew quieter before returning to the same volume. I looked down, and found the cross of Auré hanging around my neck on its golden chain. 'Why am I wearing this?' I asked in silence and seized it to yank it from my neck. The moment my hand closed around the cross, the sound of the chanting faded away. I smiled suddenly and let the cross fall to my chest once more. This wasn't the way I had chosen to live my life. I lifted the blade in my hand so it caught the moonlight and admired the glinting silver and jade sword. If this was to be the end of the hunter Galen, son of Anton, then I would make it worthy of remembrance.
I smiled and stepped forward once more. The vampire laughed. The demonic energies that filled the air had been strengthening the curse's hold on me, but the power of Auré had subdued them. I was in control now. Every unchallenged step was one step closer to the Alter. Every demon I passed was one less I had fight to interrupt this foul rite. While I made my way forward, Redamarc picked up the chant from where he had left off and then, when I was a bare three rows away from him, he stopped speaking and lowered his jaws towards the knight's throat. The time had come. With a cry that echoed in the courtyard, I swiped with my sword, cutting open the nearest demon and whirling in a circle, slashing about with my sword. Demons fell in the courtyard, their bodies burning bright with the green fires of the jade. In the light of the green fire, I stood and howled my defiance to the moonlight. As the echoes of my cry faded away, there was a moment of deadly silence in the courtyard. Redamarc stood straight again, his fangs still pearlescent white, a horrible smile on his face.
"Get him!!" He shouted and the demons rose at his command to fight. He bent over again to bite the knight and I charged, slicing through several demons. I was one row away now, one demon between me and the alter and charging still. Then, without warning, the flying demons were fluttering before me, blocking my way through. I smiled and took the cross in my hand, delving deep into my soul and bringing the power of the sun to bear. I pointed my hands at the demons and my eyes blazed brilliant green. In an instant, a wind began to flow through the courtyard, becoming a whipping gale when it approached the winged demons. The demons screeched as my power reached them, screams that ended as their bodies turned to jade. For an instant, the statues that were once demons stayed in the air, then they fell and shattered against the ground, a storm of jade fragments filling the air. I advanced through the maelstrom, the jade not touching me as I walked. The demons surrounding me were not so lucky. The jade fragments shredded a dozen demons and wounded many more. The courtyard was filling with green fires and the scent of crisping flesh. For the moment, the path to the alter was clear, and I rushed forward towards Redamarc. The vampire was just standing up again, a tiny ruby droplet of blood falling from his fangs. As his hands came to strike me down with magic, I slashed with my longsword, separating his head from his shoulders.
The vampire's head laughed as it rolled and bounced away and its body flailed around, trying to strike me with its dagger-like claws. I avoided it and slashed twice, cutting off the body's arms, then I kicked out and knocked the body over. The body was still trying to get up and fight with me, and the arms began to pull themselves along the ground toward the torso. I had mere minutes to act, but I didn't know what to do. I had already tried everything I knew to kill him and nothing had worked.
Sudden sounds of battle and combat behind me signaled the arrival of the princess. She was fighting with determination, the Captain's sword in one hand, my dagger in the other. Demons were falling around her, though I knew it could not last. And through the din, I heard her voice calling out to me.
"The stone!!" She shouted, "Destroy the stone!!"
I looked around and found the small blood red gem lying near to the alter, its many facets catching the green light of the flames. Lifting it from the ground carefully, I could feel the presence of a demonic being inside the stone and I immediately threw up barriers around my mind, blocking the groping tendrils of thought that were already reaching out to infect my mind with their power. This artifact was powerful, so powerful that I knew one of the legendary demons had made it. And, I knew in that instant what I had to do to destroy it. Jade was the demon's bane, and only a consecrated shard of jade could disrupt that kind of power.
I drew my Jade knife from my belt and looked at it. It had been consecrated by a High Priest of Auré, and it alone had the strength to destroy something like this. Gritting my teeth against the demonic power, I drove it into the heart of the glowing stone. For a moment, the stone and the knife blade became one. Then, the stone shattered in a burst of green flame. The energy contained within it surged outward, a horrid screeching sound filling the air. Then, all at once, the red energy dissipated. The walls of the fortress ceased their echoing of the chant and the demons in the courtyard stopped what they were doing for a moment. For a brief second, everything was still, then suddenly, the demons went mad, lashing out at each other and tearing their flesh with their claws.
As I watched the demons kill each other, Julianna sprinted through the crowd to stand beside me. She and I turned to the knight on the stone and found the enchantments that held him gone, but the knight was hardly capable of moving. His face was very pale and twin trails of bright red blood leaked from the fang bite on his neck. He shuddered violently with pain as his body started to change on the inside, becoming that of a vampire. I shook my head and swore; we were too late to save him.
"Isander." Julianna said, holding a hand to his neck in an attempt to stop the bleeding. He reached up with one pale hand and touched her cheek gently, causing tears to fall from the princess' eyes.
"Julianna." he whispered, whipping away a tear with his thumb. "I won't be there to watch over you anymore. Be watchful and take care." The knight's hand dropped and he turned his head towards me. "Galen, though I pity your curse, please watch where I cannot."
"I will." I said and clasped his other hand with mine. His brown eyes were slowly becoming red and I could see his canine teeth becoming longer and much sharper. The vampiric curse was almost upon him.
"Galen," He gasped, reaching out with his hand towards my sword. "I do not wish to die a demon. Do it, I beg you."
"You are a brave man Isander." I said and placed the point of the blade against his chest. With a quick motion, I stabbed, spearing his heart. Though the sword blade sizzled as it reacted to the vampiric blood, Isander did not feel it. I had stabbed at the perfect angle, killing instantly and without pain. The red faded from the knight's eyes and the princess spoke.
"Galen, we cannot leave him here." She said and I nodded, sheathing my weapons and lifting the fallen knight. The sun came up over the fortress' walls and I felt my body return to the form that I had been born into. The demons in the courtyard had destroyed themselves or fled and we left the fortress easily. I looked around and spied the golden wood dancing in the distance. I pointed and Julianna nodded her understanding, and took the lead, walking into the dawn, her head held high, but her eyes full of tears for the death of her friend.
***
Hours later, we stood in a clearing of the golden wood, the sacred trees glowing in the last light of the sun. A solitary mound of dirt marked the final resting place of the noble knight. I knelt beside the mound and clasped the cross in my hand, my lips forming a prayer to Auré. The princess' voice joined mine and a beam of sunlight lit upon the mound as the words filled the clearing. When the prayer ended, Julianna stepped forward and spoke.
"Isander was my protector, but more than that, he was my friend." She said, speaking her eulogy aloud to the clearing. "I have known him my whole life and ever was he kind to me. He honored all the things that were good in the world, all the things that we fight for. He would not have considered this death as the one he wanted, but it is his final wish that I live on in peace. Goodbye Isander, you will be missed." As she stood beside the graveside with her head bowed, I stood up and looked up at the sun. It would be setting soon and the curse was already causing my skin to tingle; tonight would be a bad one, I could tell. I looked at Julianna and spoke.
"You can rest easy tonight, the demons cannot enter this wood." I stated and started to walk out into the woods to transform. The princess sat down beside the grave and stared at the earthen mound. When I was a good distance away from her, I stood alone again. Drawing the sword from my back, I laid it carefully on the ground in front of me along with the dagger and knives I carried. Then, I felt the sun set beneath the distant rim of the world, driving the familiar spike of pain into my insides. I grimaced and fell to my knees, feeling the pain getting worse. I shuddered and waited for the pain to go away. But it didn't this time. It kept getting worse and I doubled up, the pain so intense it nearly made me retch. And through the pain, I knew why it was worse this time. I had killed a devoted follower of Auré and for that, I was being punished. I gasped and gritted my teeth, welcoming the pain. I knew I deserved it for failing to save the knight and I allowed the pain to keep coming. It lasted a full two minutes more before finally fading away.
"Galen, are you alright?" came the voice of the princess from behind me. I turned around slowly and found her staring at me with a mixture of pity and horror. I nodded and she walked over to where I knelt, sitting down next to me for a moment.
"Does it hurt?" She asked and I looked at her. Curiosity was in her eyes as she looked at my altered form, and I nodded.
"Every time." I answered, my voice quiet.
"Why?" She asked, and I looked at her questioningly.
"What?" I asked, not expecting the question.
"Why is it that you change from human to werewolf at dawn and dusk?" She asked and before I could continue, she spoke again. "And just how did you get cursed anyway?"
"It is a long tale princess." I said and she spoke again, persisting in her questions.
"Please tell me." She said. "You have saved my life and you fight like a hunter, yet you are cursed with Lycanthropy. Every other person cursed so serves the dark powers. And yet you fight against them and seem to resist even their most potent powers."
"Alright, but please do not interrupt, I would prefer not to stop in the telling." I stated and looked up at the moon far above. "My tale begins some twenty years ago in a nation far to the south..."