Chapter Twenty-Five

  Fight for the Dawn

  As the Spider Folk fell before Cailean, he looked up to the stampeding horde of monsters descending on the city. He held his flaming swords up and readied himself, remembering his training and the teachings of Duncan Hightower. He focused and just as it had in the woods, time began to slow. With the vigors pumping through his blood, he calmed his heart, and let his veins pulse with power as he held his ignited swords in a cross shape, preparing himself for the coming horde. He felt himself at one with his surroundings, the hairs on his neck sensing danger coming from any and every direction.

  He looked upon the monsters, and time slowed just as it did in the woods. At this moment, he knew he was Winter Hunter. He was the scourge of the cold, the thing that monsters feared. Nothing that winter could throw at him could hope to be mighty enough to fall him. The Red Lady would have her battle, he would see to that, but if she wanted Cailean laid on this battlefield dead as well she would have to send nothing short of the full force of this horrible season against him.

  A Spider Folk skittered up the side of a building and lunged itself toward him. Without blinking, Cailean turned and held his swords straight out, embedding the monster and bringing the flaming blades bursting in a rain of blue sludge as he cut the giant spider in twain. Another Spider launched a sticky glob of webbing toward him, he swung his blade up and the heat from his flaming sword caught the webbing just before it hit him and melted it in mid-air. Cailean roared, bringing his swords back as he ran at the creature, dodging under its lusting fangs and dragging twin slices through its underbelly as it reared back to try and bring its arms down to pin the Winter Hunter.

  A sense, a feeling, Cailean, covered in the blue bile of the spider's innards turned and saw a pack of Knifewolfs with their sharp bones protruding from their heads rushing to Cailean. “Fear me!” he said throwing his arms back and forth edging the beasts back with his flaming blades. “Fear me!” he yelled again as he dived forward and slaughtered the hounds, his blade bouncing off their foreheads. The beasts tried to flank him, lunging at him pushing their heads forward, and trying to bring their blades down on him. Cailean whipped his sword around, flipping the hilt in his hand, protecting his front and rear as he twisted around, slicing the throats and bellies of the monsters as he cleared the pack to its last hound.

  Turning without even thinking, Cailean sensed another danger, a charging Ursaling galloping towards him at full speed, but to Cailean and his enhanced senses, it may as well have been trotting. Without even telling his body to move, he slid to the left and raised his sword in the air, bringing its tip pointed straight down and ripping open the back of the creature. As the Ursaling fell Cailean tuned and embedded his sword in its side, before ripping his blades out of the beast, the blood of the monsters he had spilled only made his emblazoned swords hotter.

  At the center of the city, there was a great birch tree, Cailean came to it without a pause and slashed at its trunk just as a Wood Scraper was about to lunge out of it, catching the creature in its chest and bringing a great shriek of pain before Cailean brought his other blade down and chopped its body from the tree trunk, ending it.

  Two more Ursalings charged towards Cailean, he smiled. Was this all Winter had to throw at him? They weren’t nearly the size of the first one he killed in the woods. Cailean charged the beasts in kind, he opened his arms and knelled down, seamlessly sliding between the two charging creatures, holding his swords out to slash into their sides.

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  When he got back to the main street, every citizen of the town was running away from the monsters. A dozen Corpesouls were trudging through the city streets, reaching for any prey it could find. Cailean charged into the pack and began to hack and slash at the awakened bodies of winter, slicing off arms, cutting legs out from under them, and lobbying heads off with ease as his flaming swords formed a twister of death around him.

  Damn the winter for trying to put fear in him, these so-called monsters were far from dangerous to a trained and seasoned Winter Hunter such as himself. Cailean was the predator today, and the monster was his prey. He continued through the city, finding any beast that dared to come with lust to kill his beloved Gwendolyn. Not today, Winter. Not today, Red Lady. There was no fear in Cailean, right now, he was the mightiest Winter Hunter that a season could ever know. Every move happening without him even thinking, he moved with the true might and skill of a Winter Hunter. Surpassing even Duncan’s training as he finally came into his own as the Winter Hunter his beloved Gwendolyn knew he could be.

  He could sense every movement around him. The people fled to their homes or any building that could give them safety as Cailean finished the work hunting and slashing through this seemingly endless army of monsters. Then he turned a corner next to a residence and found the Dark Stalker, or rather, the Dark Stalker found him.

  The young man clad in black leather armor shoved a steel Dagger into Cailean’s gut.

  “Good showing, Winter Hunter,” he said, twisting the dagger and tangling Cailean’s insides as the Winter Hunter dropped his weapons and reached for the Dark Stalker’s wrist. He tried to fight him and pull the knife out, but every movement just brought the dagger deeper as Cailean looked up at his most ancient enemy.

  “Spring will come again, I know it,” Cailean said as blood began to cough its way up his throat. Cailean reached up and wrapped his hands around the Dark Stalker’s throat, lunging forward, letting the dagger embed itself deeper into him as he pinned the black-clad man to the ground.

  The Dark Stalker struggled under Cailean’s might, “This winter won’t end, the Voice has said so, your order has no use,” He choked and coughed as Cailean’s grip on his throat got tighter.

  “So long as it’s winter, we will fight, you’ll never end our order,” Cailean squeezed his throat tighter, and saw the Dark Stalker’s eyes start to bulge.

  Cailean could feel the blood leaving his wound, weakness was coming for him but he powered through it, focused everything he had on squeezing the last bit of life from this man who stalked the dark.

  “Bring your monsters, your fury,” Cailean pressed his thumbs on the Dark Stalker’s windpipe, watching as he struggled to take a breath and began to buck against him as Cailean put every bit of strength he had left into this act. The Dark Stalker’s eyes fluttered and closed as the lack of breath paused his heart and began to choke his mind. Cailean, still squeezing as hard as he could to ensure his enemy had passed, felt his grip loosen, and his vision start to fade, he rolled off his opponent and the dagger embedded in his stomach. He reached down to inspect the wound and brought a hand covered in blood up to his tunnel-visioned eyes. He felt it start to get cold, colder even than the weather the Winter season brought, this was a different kind of cold. This was the cold of death. He rolled over and lay on the ground. The monsters were dead, and the people were safe. More importantly, Gwen was safe. She would bring warmth back to the world, that was her destiny, just as it was his destiny to die here in this glorious battle.

  “You win, Red Lady,” he said, coughing up more blood as he felt too weak to move and just lay on the ground helpless. “Take me now, I’m ready, just show me that Gwen is safe, that’s all I ask of you,” he said, he wanted to try and push himself up, but he couldn’t move, so much blood had left his body and he was so tired.

  “I will lay with you, and call you my woman,” Cailean smiled, as his eyes closed, and death washed over him.