Cry in the Water Part 5

"Oh no it's not!" cried Zena, as another blow fell upon the iron shod doors. She held her thin blade sword, alight now with dripping fire, and waited for the creaking timbers to recoil after the attack. She had seen the space between the doors widen as the great body outside pressed hard against them with its full weight. In one fluid movement, she struck her weapon right through the gap like a striking serpent, a swift stroke and retreat before the gap closed. So fast there was a moment of silence before a shriek rang out from the other side as the wound was felt.

"Whoa!" cried Burton, the boys eyes wide with fear, shock and wonder all in the same space of a breath.

There was one more violent blow against the doors, but then silence and a soft rustle. Only a few flames licking the wood as they extinguished, remained of the that attack. Battered, the defenses still stood firm. The horses had reared and shrieked with fear, but aside from moving rapidly to a corner of the room and knocking over tables and chairs, there was silence. Zena still stood with sword ready, and Jayr was up with staff in hand, emitting a soft yellow glow from the tip, but nothing more took place. The threat was over for the present.

"God save us." whispered the young man, standing still and pale as a sheet. "You can't always see it. It almost had you."

"Thank you my love,"said Jayr, taking his wife's chin in his hand, and placing a tender kiss on her lips. "That was too close. I made a mistake."

"Just learn as you always do," she replied, quickly kissing his forehead, before speaking the word that doused the flames along her sword.

"Who are you and why are you here?" asked the youth, speaking to them, but his eyes still riveted to the door as if he could hold the creature out by his gaze on those battered timbers.

"Just some travelers who were passing by and met your father," said Jayr, still slightly shaken but getting his bearing back fast.

"My father is still over there waiting for me?!" exclaimed the young man, suddenly bursting into tears, and hiding his face behind his hand. "I knew it. I knew he was still over there."

"Yes, and we are going to get you back to him," said Zena, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"No one is going to get back though," replied Burton, wiping his eyes with the back of his sleeve. "The thing won't let any of us. That's why they all ran up to the fortress. I stayed here because I was too scared."

"Wait, what is that?" asked Jayr, who had started to raise a glowing light on the tip of his staff to reveal the room they were in. "Everyone else went up to the fortress?"

"Yes, old Benenji got them to leave."

"And who is that?" asked Zena, giving the young man a comforting hug. He didn't shy away from her as a stranger, but seemed quite eager for human contact.

"An old man who has been living in the fortress for a couple of years," he replied. "Some people thought he found treasure up there, but my father said everything was taken away when the lords of Ilmara left."

"That is very interesting," said Jayr, who had lit the whole room by this point with the light from his staff. Shuttered windows had let in trickles of light, but now his illumination had revealed them to be in some sort of storage room, with shelves on the wall, and many crates and barrels. "Where are we?"

"This is the Laughing Lake Inn," replied Burton, "but you wouldn't know it now."

"Yes, quite devoid of laughter," agreed Jayr.

"And old Benenji, did he have a way to protect the people who went away with him?" asked Zena, holding the young man by his shoulders to try and focus his attention. "Did any of the other people living here come back?"

The young man shivered involuntarily, and looked away. There was care worn pain in his face as he tried to form the words. Clearly he had been alone far longer than it had first appeared. The earlier welcome, or rather warning at the window might have been the first words that he had uttered to another human being in some time. "No, none of them ever came back."

"You think they are still alive?" asked Jayr, coming up to look at the youth a little more closely. "Do you think they made it to the old fortress?"

"Maybe, but the animals are all gone. Eventually it has to eat. What's left but us?"

"If it is hungry, and there are no more easy creatures to eat, it will become desperate," said Jayr, "but there is another side effect. It will also become weaker. Our advantage lies in that fact."

"Grim thought." Zena sighed as she looked at the great doors for weakness. "Well, what do we do? I pinked it surely, so it is flesh and blood, but what is it's next move?"

"It is hungry and desperate," observed the wizard, closing his eyes to focus. "The attack was not just to kill us. It was the horses. I can feel their terror. I can sense it's hunger for flesh. We are not so big. The mounts provide much more."

"A direct answer?"

"We try to lure it back and kill it," he replied, opening his book of esoteric incantations. "This time I have something special planned."

There was a creaking sound, as if a board unwillingly squeaked out a warning. The three looked at each other silently, then rose and looked at the ceiling. There were no other noises, but the horses blew and snorted, moving cautiously back to the walls. Clearly they would have bolted sometime ago, but there were no exists. It was just five living creatures inside a cage of their own design, looking and waiting.

"Well, I guess I don't have to tempt it back," chuckled Jayr softly.

"Not the time love," she snapped.

Zena had drawn her sword again, but left it without flames. She crouched slightly, circling the room slowly with eyes to the ceiling, tense for the attack. Motioning with her hand, she urged Burton to get behind a beam, as there was no other cover in the large space. Precious few items could serve as weapons, and he had nothing in his hands.

"I've got this now," Jayr's confident voice somewhat reassuring to his audience. "Fool me once shame on you."

There was a sudden rending and crashing sound form above, as mortar and plaster came falling down in a light rain of dust and clots. The full wight of a body came hurtling down against the roof, and hole was suddenly ripped open with fury and claws. The horses cried out in high noted whines that only seemed to encourage the creature above, and Burton screamed as he covered his head protectively against the falling debris.

"Well, fool me twice, shame on me," said Jayr with a reckless laugh, then barked out an incantation he had readied. A blast of power rose from his extended staff, and the roof nearly blew off the building. The rush of air knocked Zena and Burton down, and even the horses were blown against the walls. But the creature on the roof shrieked as it was lifted off its limbs in a rush, shot off into the air to land where ever it should fall.

"Well, that's done it," said Jayr, offering a hand to his wife as she struggled to her feet, and quickly lifting Burton up next. "We made it mad, and we have to get out of here."