CHAPTER 24
“Then what is it?” Layna asked, her voice breaking.
“Looks like dogs,” Charles said with a shrug and noncommittal shake of his head, “but bigger than any dog I've seen, and they ain't no gormless things. They tracked us to the river we just crossed and it looks like there they split up, prolly looking for a way to cross safely. I'd bet my buttons, they're hellhounds.”
A sudden eerie baying filled the air, and Layna felt goose bumps tingle into being all over her body. Hellhounds? No, that can’t be right. Hellhounds and blood-beasts are only fairy tales anymore, aren’t they?
“I suggest we leave now,” Charles said urgently, already grabbing their supplies and hastily stuffing them into saddle bags. The horses were stamping the ground nervously, their nostrils flaring as they scented the wind, and their ears twitched with every howl. The sound took on an excited yipping quality, as though they had caught wind of their prey, and Gryffon and Layna both mounted hurriedly. Fly's eyes were starting to show whites as they rolled back in his head in terror, and Axe was stamping the ground, snorting huge columns of steam with every breath.
As soon as they were mounted, they urged the horses to go and the frightened beasts needed no second request. The horses broke into gallops, threatening to unseat Layna as they wound through the forest. Luckily they had been following a somewhat cleared path, and the horses were able to run at full speed without much danger of a fall.
The yipping and howling seemed to echo closer now, and Layna looked back over her shoulder with apprehension. Terror crept into her and made the hair on the back of her neck stand up as the surreal sounds seemed to vibrate her very being. She saw a blur of something large and black, moving in and out of the trees with a speed and grace that seemed unnatural.
A flash of red caught her eye to her left. It was her only warning as a shape hurtled out of the woods, colliding with her body and knocking the wind from her. Layna frantically pushed away the gaping mouth that snapped at her face as she tumbled off Fly’s back. She grunted in pain as her side met the hard ground, and she quickly rolled out from underneath the hound.
The beast growled at her menacingly, its sharp yellowing teeth dripping saliva, and it scrambled to its feet before it lunged at her again. She grabbed at a fallen branch and took aim at the creature's open mouth, swinging with all her might to deflect the hungry maw. The branch connected with a tooth and its head snapped sideways. It paused a moment to shake its head clear of pain, and then looked back at her, red eyes boring into her.
The eyes closed and the creature threw back its head and howled. Layna clamped her hands to her ears. If she had thought that the sound was awful from a distance, it was ten times worse coming from the throat of a beast standing directly in front of her. The howl echoed through her, and gave her such a wave of pure unadulterated fear that she found herself unable to move, though her mind screamed at her that she had to, she had to do something before it stopped its howl and came for her again. She fell to her knees in a shuddering lump and could do nothing, paralyzed by the intense horror that filled her inside.
Gryffon and Charles had become aware of the commotion, and had whipped their mounts around to face the foe. Axe charged in, his battle steed instincts taking over, and he smashed the hound in the back of the head, cutting short its agonizing howl with a surprised gurgling grunt.
A sickeningly wet crack sounded as Axe struck again, and the hound let out a whimper as it dropped limply to the ground, blood and gore oozing from a large wound in its skull. A series of bloodied marks on its back glowed bright red for a moment before the light dimmed, and the hellish creature gasped its last labored breath and lay still.
Layna stood glued to the spot, staring at the beast. Gryffon's urgent prodding jerked her back to reality and the realization that there were more of these out there. She remounted Fly as fast as her shaking limbs would carry her, and they spurred the horses forward once more. Holy Gamoland! She swore to herself, it had runes on its back. Could it be? Bloodrunes?
They raced on, listening to the howls of the hounds which grew louder behind them and then suddenly stopped. After a few minutes of silence, Charles motioned that they should slow for a moment to let the horses catch their breath.
Layna pulled Fly up to a fast walk and moved closer to Gryffon and Charles. “They prolly just found their friend there,” said Charles dispassionately, “and either they've stopped for a skosh of a snack, or are real smart and are stoppin’ to see how we killed one of them. The questions we should be askin’ now are: How many more are there? How likely is it that they will continue to track us? And most importantly, how the blazes are we gonna to kill the rest of them? We can't just foote here much longer.”
“I'd say it's very likely that they'll keep following us,” Gryffon put in softly, “those markings on its back,” he trailed off, his hand unconsciously lifting to touch the spot on his chest where his own mark was. “Those were no ordinary hounds, someone sent those after us, and I have a suspicious feeling I know who it was.”
“Would she really do that? Blood-magic? Can it really be?” Layna sputtered.
“How can you ask that? She's a sick demented individual, look what she did to me.” Gryffon shrugged, “I wouldn't put anything past her. Don't you think after everything you've seen that this is just how her twisted little mind would work? I wouldn't doubt for a moment that she'd turn to blood-magic if she had the chance.”
Layna gave a reluctant nod. “If anyone were to use it, it would be her I guess. But it’s still hard to believe that blood-magic can be being used again.”
“What in the world did you two get yourselves mixed up in? That mark on your chest, believe me, it ain't no minor thing. And now these things are after us and you think that she sent them after you? I know she's mendacious and barratry, but she must be crazy too! No sane person turns to blood-magic. No, no, no. You've gotten yerselves into a more serious mess than I think you realize.” He grumbled for a moment and then threw up his hands. “And you think I'm crazy with my stories? Just who is this woman?”
“Evil,” answered Gryffon shortly before Layna could put in her own opinion.
“Maybe so,” Charles nodded, “I've seen my share - and more - of evil in my life and she certainly is shapin’ up nice to it. If what you say is true, we'll have to stop and face the beasts. If they are sustained by blood-magic, they ain’t gonna stop ‘til they find and destroy you if that's what they're up to. We’ve got no choice but to fight.”
“How do we fight that?” Layna asked, her hands still shaking from the close encounter.
“As I said,” started Charles slowly, as if every word pained him, “I’ve seen this type of thing before. The only chance we got is magic. We won't get lucky again like the one lone one that Axe there got. They are much much worse than that little scare there would make it seem. This time round they'll of smartened up and’ll work together to distract and take us down. We won't be able to bash all their heads in. I know Mila taught you how to touch the power, just apply it to the situation, I’m sure you can come up with somethin’ in that pretty head o’ yours. And Gryffon,” he turned to the man, “I believe you are familiar with some rudimentary combative magics as well?” Gryffon nodded silently. “Alrighty then, I suggest we find a good place to hidy-hole up in and make our stand. Unless their master is nearby, and most likely she is not, as the type that would resort to blood-magic are also the type to let others do the dirty work for ‘em, they won’t be able to be recharged, as it were, if you can get past the shieldin’ on ‘em and drain it or otherwise incapacitate ‘em.”
They led Fly and Charles’ mount a good distance away - the horses’ nervousness was still quite evident. Layna had no doubt that they would simply bolt when their foe faced them again. Axe they kept with them due to his battle-steed training, in hopes that he'd be able to get in another lucky kick
.
They found an outcropping of rock where they would have a solid wall behind their backs. It was too overgrown on the top to let the hounds move in behind and above them. They arranged themselves in a semi-circle, so that one of them was facing every possible direction that the creatures could come at them from. Gryffon walked Layna through setting up a perimeter, winding their magics throughout each others' like a braided rope. Under Gryffon's instruction Layna was able to prepare herself for the inevitable battle. They didn't have to wait long.
Layna sat holding her breath and straining her ears for the sound of movement in the woods around them. The first thing she noticed was the growing silence. Wind blew through the trees, causing them to creak and groan, but there was no more chattering of squirrels, chirruping of birds, or scurrying around of various small woodland creatures. It was as though suddenly they had all been given a silent command to be still. Layna's sharp ears noticed the difference immediately and her muscles tensed involuntarily. The creatures in the woods knew that something dangerous was lurking, and Layna narrowed her eyes in an effort to see through the dimming light of the forest for signs of where the menace was coming from.
A twig snapped to her left and she whipped her head around, holding both hands in front of her, her fingertips tingling with readiness to seize the power should something emerge. A dark shape flitted through the trees and she followed it with her eyes.
A single hound seemed to materialize out of the darkness and sat just out of reach of Gryffon's bow, which was steadily trained on him. It looked at Layna through slits of glowing red eyes and the creature hissed. It was a strange noise to hear coming from the throat of a dog-like creature, but there was no denying that it had indeed come from it as its neck pulsated in a rhythmic pattern as the unnatural sound issued forth.
Layna stared at it mesmerized, her fear forgotten. Charles's urgent whisper woke her from her trance, “Don't let it distract you with its flummery,” he said gruffly. “This one is just to keep our attention while the others close in. Start the spell Gryffon told you about and keep your eyes peeled for the rest.”
Layna nodded pointlessly as the three of them had their eyes glued to the landscape and she turned her attention towards the power. She gathered it in her hands more to gather herself in readiness than because it actually needed to coalesce there before it could be utilized. Her arms nearly buzzed with the magic pouring through them and Layna carefully sent out a snake-like tendril towards the beast. It split as it advanced, forming a web of searching fingers into the darkness while the main flow moved towards the beast.
The hound eyed this unfamiliar anomaly warily, the hissing growing louder as the light shed its warm glow onto it. Layna could see out of the corner of her eye that Gryffon had similar tendrils of different shades wandering out as well. She noticed absently that hers seemed larger and more formed than the ones that he sent. Her concentration snapped back to the problem at hand, however, as her light touched the beast and he recoiled from it. He. It's a he.
Once her spell made contact, she sent out another burst of energy to bind the creature in place. He froze as the ball of light moved down the tendril and into his body. He slowly turned his head with effort to look at her, and the red eyes bore into her. She struggled to hold her grip on him and slowly, ever so slowly, she gained the upper hand. He was forced to the ground, one paw lifting and moving outwards in jerky motions, followed by the other, until it was lying calmly on the ground.
As she felt her control solidify over the beast she sent out a new probe. Through this probe she saw his heart beating, pumping bright red blood through his organs, his lungs gulping in huge breaths of air, panting in the effort of resisting her. She felt as though if she applied pressure, here, these functions would stop. It was more than Gryffon had described. He had said that she should be able to feel the energy flowing in and sustaining it, not feel its very life-force. She continued her questing until her gaze rested on the beast's back.
Burned into the flesh and straight down into the core of the being were runes, like the one on Gryffon's chest, blood red. Layna could practically feel the pain that had shaped them. She felt a surge of pity for the poor creature, pity which quickly turned to rage at the woman who would inflict such pain on any living thing. She made up her mind to undo what the real beast had done.
Carefully tempering her anger so that it did not rub off on her actions, she reached out to gather more power onto herself, silently impressed that she was able to do so with no problem, and shaped this raw energy into a healing globe of water which she gently used to wash away the runes from the beast's back. The creature shuddered, unable to move more than this small gesture while under her bindings, and the red eyes closed. When they opened several moments later, they glowed their red hue one final time, and dimmed into a deep black.
At that same moment, two more of the hounds burst forth from the undergrowth and simultaneously burst into flame as Gryffon's tendrils found them and destroyed their shields, arrows following a split second later to finish them off.
“No!” cried Layna but it was too late. Her distraction caused her to lose her control over the hound she had been holding and it leaped to its feet to disappear into the trees. Charles and Gryffon started after it, but paused in confusion at her unexpected outburst. She ran to the body of the nearest slain beast and fell to her knees beside it, weeping at the loss. Gryffon and Charles exchanged a confused look and Layna choked back more tears, “It wasn't their fault,” she tried to explain to them, “I saw it inside them, they are not evil, only controlled by one who is.”
Charles grew silent and stared off into the woods after the hound. Gryffon, however, was not as sympathetic. “How can you say that when one just almost killed you?”
“Because I was there inside it, it didn’t want to hurt us anymore than we wanted it to,” she answered. “I felt it.” She shrugged, and raised her hands in a gesture of futility. She didn't know how to properly explain to him what had just occurred, and the bond that she had shared with the creature. He still wore the odd look, but did not push the issue.
Charles broke the awkward silence. “I'm going after it,” he said decisively. He cut off Gryffon's protest. “Plus, this way we can keep an eye on it and make sure that it doesn't decide to kill us anyway. I've never heard of anyone bein’ able to change a hellbeast before. Avonmora is less than a day's ride from here, you won't miss it and don't need me. My place is in the woods anyway.” With that, he moved off to collect his belongings and follow after the freed creature.
“How did you change it?” Gryffon asked her quietly once he was gone.
“I don't know, I sent the tendril like you said, and then I could just see it.”
“And you've never been taught anything other than what Mila and I have been able to show you in the last few weeks?”
Layna shook her head mutely.
“What have we gotten ourselves into?” Gryffon mirrored Charles' earlier question.