Light of Epertase 01: Legends Reborn Page 5

  The bear thudded down to all fours and stalked forward. His hungry drool hung from his snout as he bared his teeth.

  Rasi snarled, baring his teeth as well.

  The bear rose on its hind legs again. His claws glimmered in the suns. Then he closed the gap like lightning. Rasi glanced at his sword, which leaned against the farthest wall. I gotta learn to keep that closer.

  The bear was upon him. Rasi dove to the side as the creature’s massive paw clipped his hip, spinning him across the floor. Pain screamed up his side and down to his foot. Blood sprayed the cave wall, the smell of which seemingly driving the grizzly into a blind rage.

  Rasi stopped on the dirt floor next to his sword. He sighed, relieved, and reached for the blade.

  Before he could grasp it, the creature barreled in. Rasi narrowly moved away. The predator slammed face-first against the wall, momentarily stunning itself. His momentum sent Rasi’s sword sliding out of reach. The bear spun around, dazed but relentless, like the born killer it was.

  Rasi leaped forward like a killer himself. The bear swatted with his front claw but Rasi’s instinctive tentacles wrapped the creature’s arm, stopping it mid-swing. His other tentacles enveloped its massive torso, slamming Rasi flush against its chest.

  The bear stumbled back more out of astonishment than because of Rasi’s relatively gnat-like weight. It snapped its teeth at Rasi’s neck, but he was just out of reach. Its breath was hot and stunk of rotten meat. Rasi pressed his feet against the bear’s chest, pushed off, and bounced into the air. His straps anchored him against his foe and he whipped around to the creature’s back. With both hands, he dug his fingers into the beast’s mighty fur.

  The bear thrashed to the side. Rasi held tight like one would a bucking wild horse. The bear plopped back onto all fours while Rasi held firm. One of Rasi’s straps wrapped around the bear’s head and covered its eyes. The bear thrashed throughout the cave.

  Rasi drew back and pounded his fists against the back of the creature’s thick skull, likely hurting his own hand more than the beast. The creature rose again with a frustrated roar.

  Rasi’s uncontrollable straps must have sensed the futility of their attack and released the creature. Rasi fell to his back with a terrified realization. What are you doing? he screamed in his head.

  The bear twirled around in a berserker rage. Rasi’s eyes bulged. He scrambled backward along the cave floor until his back struck the wall. The bear pounced. Rasi looked to his side for somewhere to escape. Instead of escape, he saw something better. Within a horse-length of his vulnerable body, the bear made a crucial mistake. It hesitated and rose to its hind legs for one more intimidating, satisfied roar. Rasi dropped to his side and outstretched his arm. The sword’s hilt was salvation in his hand.

  The bear stepped forward. Rasi turned, pressing his back against the cave. He shoved the sword’s hilt firmly into the crevice of where the floor met the wall at his left side. His straps, sensing his plan, lunged for the beast’s powerful hind legs. They tightened. The bear tried to take another step but his legs tangled in their grip.

  The grizzly fell forward. Rasi closed his eyes.

  A torturous howl filled the cave. A blanket of hairy muscle landed on top of him, stiff at first and then relaxed like a glob of flesh.

  Rasi couldn’t move or breathe beneath the creature’s weight. He chuckled at the irony of dying, not by the bear’s vicious claws or deadly teeth, but at the prospect of smothering beneath it. His straps tugged and pushed and strained at the mound of dead meat. The weight shifted slightly, enough that Rasi was able to squeeze and scoot from beneath until he was free. His heart beat like it was about to explode. His hands quivered with excitement. He stood motionless, staring at his kill.

  Saves me a hunt, I suppose.

  The meat was tough and gritty but that didn’t keep him from filling his gut just the same. As his adrenaline subsided, even his throbbing hip couldn’t take away the euphoria of his full stomach.

  But before the flavor had even faded, the brutal truth of Rasi’s lonely existence left a bitter taste in his mouth.

  He would go on to fill his belly with meat that day and the next. Any longer and he’d have trouble keeping the meat from spoiling. He was acutely aware not to make that mistake as he had once before. The lonely hours of vomiting and uncontrollable shitting assured of that.

  He looked around. The morning had just begun.

  Maybe a swim today. That’ll pass the time.

  CHAPTER 11

  YOUNG LOVE LOST

  The bright blue sky was broken only by sporadic puffs of cotton clouds and the two suns that beat down on The Great Plains. The oceans of magnificent green grass swayed in the wind like a mighty wave. The most legendary Epertasian artists had toiled their entire lives trying to create landscapes to rival such beauty, mostly without success.

  It couldn’t be a more fitting day for Princess Alina’s seventeenth birthday. She celebrated by arranging a picnic with her future husband, Blair. As they rode across the edge of the plains toward the forest of Concore, she stared at him. His face was soft and feminine, more suited for paintings than for war, and though he was the most stunningly pretty man she had ever known, that was not her reason for loving him. She loved him for his kind heart and gentle ways and her belief that he would make an honorable king for her people.

  They picked up their pace. The breeze strengthened, blowing her long, dark hair into her face. She imagined how she would one day lop it all off and if the people disliked a “boy’s haircut” on their princess, well, they would have to adjust.

  She dug her heels into her mare’s side and shouted, “Race you to the tree line,” as she pulled away. Even pushing his steed to its limit, he was unable to catch her as Alina’s mare Allusia was a fine mare, to be sure.

  “No fair,” he whined. “I have all of the supplies on my back.”

  She laughed off his complaints as she approached the forest edge. A farmer and his wife led a bare-backed donkey toward Thasula, no doubt for supplies. The couple bowed as she and Blair passed.

  “G’ morning your highness … Sir,” the old woman said. She tried to lift her head but her arthritic hunchback prevented her from looking at their faces for more than a glance.

  Alina replied, “Good morning, my friends,” and sat up a little straighter.

  Blair was soft and polite when he spoke. “Have a nice day in town,” he said.

  The farmers nodded and thanked him before continuing on.

  “Where do you want to have our picnic, my love?” Blair asked.

  “By the mountain falls,” she replied. She saw his confusion and added, “Near Shadows Peak?” He nodded that he remembered, though he probably didn’t.

  The two lovers traveled into the tree line and onto a path of matted leaves and broken twigs until they were deep within the forest. Much of the morning crept past before they saw sunlight again and the mountain pass ahead.

  “It can be rocky and dangerous for horses,” she said. “We should leave them here to graze.” Blair nodded his agreement and the two lovers dismounted.

  Alina caressed Allusia’s snout and whispered for her to stay close. Blair snatched her hand.

  The forest opened into vast mountains that appeared to touch the clouds. A narrow, man-made path in the rocky terrain surprised Alina and she caught a questioning glance from Blair.

  She snapped, “How was I supposed to know there would be a path? It wasn’t here before.”

  He grinned and asked if she wanted him to fetch the horses, to which she replied that she didn’t.

  The path led up a rocky climb. At its top, Blair stood with his mouth agape at the scenery.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Alina asked with a smile even though her words were drowned by the roar of the rapids.

  The violent, rushing water thundered past, racing along the base of Shadows Peak before disappearing in the distance. Mating coppafish sprang into the air in a futile attempt to fight
the current and return to their spawn.

  This is a fine place for a picnic, she said in her mind.

  That it is, my love, he answered back.

  He dug into his bag and retrieved a green-and-blue plaid blanket that he spread onto the rocks. He removed his sword from his waist and laid it at the bottom of the blanket to hold it down against the growing breeze. With his bag of picnic supplies at the head, he plopped down on the covered rock.

  She held a sandwich of bread and squashed grapes out for him, but he answered, No, thank you, in his mind and removed a leftover leg of lamb from his pack.

  After dinner, they cuddled while watching the suns float across the sky. The serenity won the battle with Alina’s eyelids and she acquiesced to dreamland.

  Alina startled herself awake with a terrible realization. “By the gods,” she shouted and jumped to her feet. Blair didn’t stir so she shook him violently. “Blair, wake up.”

  The sky glowed a muted orange, marking the setting of the suns. She knew as all Epertasians did that predators filled the forest at night. Her heart quickened.

  Blair stretched and groaned before he too realized the lateness and bounced to his feet. “Stay calm,” he yelled over the beating rapids. “We’ll be fine. We just need to keep close to each other and keep our eyes open.” He tied his sword back around his waist.

  Alina snuggled to him. He put his scrawny arm around her.

  “What about our stuff?” she asked as she tugged at the blanket.

  “Leave it,” he shouted and yanked her away.

  He pretended to be calm but his face betrayed him. He led her through the passage and into the forest.

  A shadow bounced off the trees in front of them. A wolf howled in the distance.

  “Allusia,” Alina whispered loudly. “Allusia!”

  She feared their horses were lost. Blair tried to assure her that horses could find their way home if they’d been spooked. He wasn’t a good liar.

  She huddled to him. “Where are all the animals?” she asked. “We should’ve seen a bird or a mouse by now, shouldn’t we?”

  “Just keep moving,” he said.

  Alina tugged on his arm to slow him as he dragged her along. She worried the cracking of sticks beneath their feet would draw out whatever had the forest animals so quiet and scarce.

  He grabbed her shoulders and faced her. “We are being stalked,” he whispered without trying to soften the effects of his words. “We need to hurry.”

  She knew well that it was a half-day’s travel by foot and he knew it too. “We’re not going to make it,” she whispered.

  Blair ignored her.

  A tree limb snapped behind them. Blair sucked in a startled breath and sped to a jog. Alina held his hand tightly, trailing behind. The forest was almost black as they entered the time between the setting of the suns and the lifting of the moon. Soon, their vision reached less than a few twisted, prickly trees ahead.

  A staccato growl broke the silence. Alina flinched and stiffened her grip. Blair shook her hand loose and drew his sword.

  “Run,” he whispered while nudging her again with his free arm. His sword shook in his hand. The monster before them resembled a scorpion from the Wastelands except it was as large as a horse. The animal’s tail curled above its body like a candy cane. It crouched, poised to attack.

  Alina recognized the creature from old fables she’d heard as a child. Their hunter was an ochrid, a creature as dangerous as any in the known world. The stories told that no man had ever survived an encounter with the beast.

  She stuttered back a step.

  “Ruuuuunn,” Blair screamed.

  Please, Blair, don’t.

  Her husband-to-be leaped into the air like the warrior she knew he wasn’t. The eight-legged creature snarled, showing its razor-sharp, pointed teeth. As Blair neared, the creature hissed. Blair thrust his steel forward. The ochrid’s tail sprang forward, striking Blair’s chest true.

  He screamed the most awful sounds Alina had ever heard.

  He pleaded one last time. “Alina, ruuuuun!” Then his shriek turned to drowning gurgles.

  The creature ripped its tail free of her lover’s chest and cocked it back again. Alina turned to run. A cold, slimy slab of meat slapped against the back of her arm. She swatted at it as she ran but the slug slithered into her blouse and down her back. Scorching pain erupted from between her shoulder blades.

  She felt faint, slowing her run to a stagger. She imagined she had been poisoned. The echoes of Blair’s screams were more than she could stand so she jammed her hands against her ears.

  She stumbled like a drunkard. The few trees that she could see in the dark wobbled and spun as though taken by tornadic winds. Reason told her it wasn’t the trees that moved at all. Her feet grew numb until she no longer felt the ground against her soles. She staggered to a stop. Her legs slowly turned to mush. When she tried to take another step, they didn’t answer her command and she teetered to the side before crashing face-first into the weeds. Her stomach cramped and she thought she might be ill.

  She pushed to her hands and knees, which quivered beneath her weight. Her shins and thighs began to tingle. She swayed. Her left elbow gave way and her face slammed the ground again. With her last bit of strength, she rolled onto her back and stared up, hopelessly, at the spinning trees.

  A thousand needles stabbed her – first her fingers, then both of her arms. The last thing she felt below her waist was her bladder letting loose. Blair’s screams, in the distance, weakened to low agonizing moans.

  Her neck stiffened. Her ears began to ring, drowning out every other sound until even the ringing was gone.

  The outlines of the spinning trees dulled until she couldn’t see their dark edges any longer. Her breathing slowed to an occasional gasp. She realized it was only time before her lungs ceased to draw air and was terrified at the thought of suffocating.

  She tried to close her eyes but her eyelids no longer worked.

  The blur of the creature’s face replaced the trees. It tilted its head from side to side. A long, stringy glob of drool hung from its mouth and then dripped onto her cheek, though she didn’t feel it. The ochrid lowered its head and its snake-like tongue swiped across her brow; she wondered if it tasted her.

  The creature roared into her face though she didn’t hear it. Then it opened its mouth.

  Do it now, monster, she demanded as her breath grew faint.

  The ochrid lunged forward but froze before taking a chunk of her flesh. Something moved behind it —a man’s figure landed on the ochrid’s back. The creature pulled its head away from her cheek, ready for its next fight.

  Blair, you came for me.

  Alina’s shallow breaths slowed until they stopped altogether.

  The ochrid thrashed to the side, trying to buck its attacker.

  The world faded to white. Is this death? she wondered before she was overtaken by nothingness.

  The ochrid screeched and flailed back and forth, Rasi’s strap wrapped tight around its neck. The creature whipped its spiked tail toward Rasi’s exposed back. A strap curled around the tail, stopping it short of its target. Rasi wrapped both arms around the creature’s neck. The ochrid wrenched its head over its shoulder, lunging with snapping teeth. Rasi leaned out of reach.

  The strap around the beast’s tail squealed and fell limp to the ground, a black leech-like creature attached to its side. Rasi’s fingers started to tingle.

  A couple more straps curled around the beast’s gut, squeezing, refusing to let up. The tail lunged again toward Rasi’s back. This time, instead of defending against the leeches, he dove to the ground. His straps, however, held strong.

  The ochrid galloped into the thick, thorny brush. Rasi bounced against the hard ground with his worthless limp strap dragging behind. Thistles and branches beat against his arms and face, opening small, stinging cuts wherever they struck.

  Release, “Unh!” him! Come on you idiots, release … “Unh!” As
he pleaded, he knew his pleas were in vain. He had seen his straps’ insatiable bloodlust before and knew they would not quit until their prey, or Rasi himself, was dead. Let go, he pleaded.

  Another strap tangled the creature’s front legs and tightened. The ochrid’s growls and hisses were replaced by pitiful cries as its front two legs snapped and it crashed to the ground. The creature caterwauled while struggling to its other feet.

  The suffocating strap around its waist quivered as it squeezed tighter. Another strap coiled around the ochrid’s open jaw while a third wrapped around its head. Rasi stood up. The straps flexed. The ochrid’s jaw popped. Then, with one brutal flinch, the strap ripped its jaw away from its skull.

  The creature collapsed into a growing pool of its spurting blood.

  Rasi’s strap hoisted the creature’s messy, severed jaw into the air like a trophy.

  The girl!

  He staggered, still drunk from the slug’s toxin. Knowing mere seconds separated her from joining her slaughtered friend, he raced back through the overgrowth of the woods. The useless strap dragged behind, making his legs cramp like he was sprinting uphill.

  He leaped from the brush. There she was, sleeping, appearing as peaceful as a morning sunsrise. Except instead of sleeping, he knew better.

  She was unconscious.

  She was dead.

  He crumbled to his knees alongside her pale body. Her lips were blue like a river. He rolled her to her side and ripped the clothing from her back. There! He tore away the leech and threw it against a tree.

  Come on, breathe. He pressed his lips against hers like he’d learned in military training. Her breasts lifted with each puff of air from his lungs.

  Breathe, damn it.

  Again and again he blew into her mouth until by some miracle she gasped, like a newborn taking its first breath. She inhaled another lungful, and another, coughing and choking on the freshness of the air. Rasi collapsed back onto his ankles with a relieved sigh. She rolled to her side, still not completely awake, and tried desperately to break her coughing spell.