Chapter VIII

  Aria hit the ground rolling and jumped back up in a fighting crouch, her sword in her hand, facing the direction that the arrow had come from.

  In the center of the clearing stood Darius, laughing, an empty crossbow in his hand. He walked to the edge of the clearing and picked up the rabbit he had shot, before returning to her side to help her to her feet.

  “What were you planning on doing with the sword down on the ground?” He asked her, still chuckling. “Beat the rabbit over the head with it?”

  “You did that on purpose didn’t you?” she demanded angrily, punching him in his side.

  Darius cleared his throat, before asking innocently “What? I was just trying to provide dinner.” Unfortunately for Darius, he just couldn’t keep a straight face, and broke into a grin. “You should have seen your face though.”

  Aria couldn’t help smiling in return. “I suppose it was you that made that awful howling sound earlier too.”

  The humor drained from Darius’ face. “What howling?” he asked, suddenly serious.

  “Not long after you left, there was a howling sound coming from the woods.”, she told him, ”You mean that wasn’t you?” The earlier fear began to settle in again.

  As if on cue, the mournful howling came again, nearer this time. After a few moments, it was answered by another more distant howl.

  “I think we should eat, and you should try to get some sleep.”, he told her, leading the way back to the camp by the center fire pit.

  As Darius tended the fires, adding more fuel to each of them, Aria cleaned and prepared the rabbit. Darius took the first watch, and Aria lay down to get some sleep, her loaded crossbow near at hand where she could grab it quickly. Nearby, the two horses had bedded down in the soft grass, and Twilight was already asleep. Windsong seemed to sniff the air before closing his eyes as well.

  A short while later, Aria awoke feeling refreshed from her nap. Darius was nearby, turning the rabbit on a makeshift spit over a cooking fire. She rummaged in her pack for a few moments, finding her mess kit, and carried it over to where he was sitting.

  “Smells good.” she said as she sat down beside him.

  “It should be ready in a few minutes.”, he told her. Aria started heating water for tea while Darius finished roasting the rabbit. When it was ready, Aria pulled out some of the biscuits that Elainna had made that morning, and poured tea for both of them.

  They ate, listening to the sounds of nocturnal birds in the trees, as the second moon began to creep into the night sky. After eating, they packed up their things so that they could leave quickly in the morning. It was after midnight when Darius lay down to sleep.

  “There was quite a bit of howling earlier.”, he told her. “Keep an ear out for anything suspicious, and wake me if anything happens.”

  As night turned into early morning, Aria finished packing up their belongings, and went to stoke the fires. As she was adding wood to the last fire, she noticed the same stillness to the air as earlier. Nearby, a weylin howled, causing her to jump. It was answered a few moments later by another somewhere in the woods on the other side of the clearing.

  Darius was up even before Aria started towards him.

  “Those sound like they’re just a bit too close for my comfort.” she said nervously.

  “I think so too.”, he agreed. “Saddle up, we may need to leave before we wanted to.”

  The horses too were already on their feet. Twilight was looking around the clearing nervously with wide eyes. As they hurriedly set to work cinching the saddles in place, they heard snarling coming from the woods.

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  Darius left Aria to finish adjusting the saddles, and moved towards the sound, his sword in his hands. In the forest, he could see the firelight glinting off of a single pair of eyes. As he approached, they winked shut.

  Without taking his gaze off of the spot where the eyes had disappeared, Darius slowly backed away. Without turning his back, he returned to the horses. Aria had finished with the saddles, and was wrestling the saddlebags into place. “What’s wrong?” she asked concerned.

  “Shhh....” was the hushed reply. “They’re preparing to attack,” he whispered. “Have your crossbow ready, and be prepared to leave in a minute. Do it quietly, though.”, he added. “We don’t want to provoke them.”

  Aria withdrew a small quiver from her pack, drawing it over her head and settling the arrows into place on her back. Darius drew his crossbow from his pack as well, and sheathed his sword. Aria had just swung into the saddle, and Darius had one foot into the stirrup when the attack came.

  Four of the beasts came charging into the camp from different directions.

  Aria dropped the first weylin with a single shot as it passed the watch fire. With a single fluid movement, she hooked her foot in the crossbow strap, recocked the mechanism, withdrew another arrow, and fitted the bolt. She was taking aim at another of the beasts over Darius’ shoulder when Windsong reared up in fright. Darius, who was in the process of trying to get into the saddle was knocked back, and hit the ground with a thud, losing his crossbow in the process. Windsong bolted off towards the woods, but was blocked by two more of the creatures as they began to close in on the group.

  Twilight, meanwhile, shied sideways as one of the weylin rushed her. Aria’s shot missed its mark, and she dropped Twilight’s reigns in the process.

  Darius managed to get to his knees, shaking his head groggily when the weylin jumped him, a knife in it’s clawed hand. Darius managed to roll out from under the blade as it stabbed downward, but the creature managed to gain the upper hand again, moving with lightning speed. They struggled, facing each other, the creature on top inching the knife toward Darius’ throat as Darius fought to push it away.

  A crossbow bolt caught the creature in the chest with enough force to knock it off of Darius, who scrambled to his feet. Aria had managed to grab one of Twilight’s reigns and was struggling to retrieve the other. Three of the beasts had managed to hem Windsong in, trapping the big stallion with his back to one of the watch fires.

  The black horse was tossing his head, while lashing out with his hooves, but the Weylin were patient. As the stallion shook his head one more time, one of the creatures managed to grab one of the reigns, tugging on it. Windsong tossed his head again, the bit between his teeth, knocking the unsuspecting Weylin off balance. As the creature stumbled, the stallion reared up, lashing out with his forelegs. The flashing hooves caught the creature in the head, and it collapsed with a sickening thud.

  Taking advantage of Windsong's distraction, Darius grabbed his crossbow and charged the remaining two beasts, scattering them. Windsong let Darius take his reigns, and the big man quickly swung into the saddle, the leather creaking under his weight.

  Four more of the wolf-men appeared at the head of the trail towards Falconhome, blocking their route. Another two melting out of the woods from the other direction to join the ones already in the camp.

  Darius swung Windsong’s head around and caught Aria’s eye, gesturing with his head. As one, they spurred their horses and raised their crossbows. The arrows brought down the two creatures in the middle of the trail and the remaining weylin jumped clear as the horses charged down on the attackers.

  As they raced down the trail, Darius and Aria could hear the howling cries of the creatures as they took up pursuit.

  Darius barely heard the snarl before he felt the weight of one of the beasts as it dropped down behind him from its perch in the branches overhead. He felt it’s hot breath on his neck as it wrestled to throw him from the saddle. Darius drove an elbow into the creature’s midsection ducking down as he pulled Windsong’s head a bit to the right.

  Darius felt the beast being lifted free as the low tree branch that he had spotted knocked the creature from the saddle.

  The pair continued racing along without slowing for several miles as they heard the creatures' frustrated howls and snarls diminish in the distance.

  Finally, Aria, who was in the lead, slowed the pace up a bit, leaning forward to rub Twilight’s neck and making soft reassuring sounds to the still-frightened mare.

  Darius patted Windsong’s sweaty neck affectionately. The stallion tossed his head and snorted. The horses were breathing heavily, so the riders slowed the pace to a brisk walk as they listened for any sounds of pursuit.

  “I think they gave up.” Darius whispered after a moment.

  “I hope so.” Aria replied, before a slow smile broke out on her face. “That’s two now that I had to take out for you.”

  “At least I’m not jumping at rabbits.” Darius muttered, smiling.

  They continued their journey through the forest without further incident, and finally left the woods behind as dawn was beginning to break.

  Darius led the way at a walk for several miles more before finally coming to a halt at a small copse of trees. They dismounted, unsaddling the horses, and drank a little water from the bottles. The attack had left all of them exhausted, and the horses lay down, resting in the shade of the trees. They slept for a few hours before continuing their journey.

  The mid-day sun had disappeared behind dark rain clouds from the west when they finally spotted the high stone walls of the castle of Falconhome.