Man From The Shadows

Man From The Shadows

Lost

“They're coming for her.” The whispers echoed throughout the wolf’s den, where they all slept soundly. Even Wolfme had dozed off in the serenity of the place. Caleb slowly raised his head and listened more carefully. “You must go…...help....... her.” The whispered seemed desperate and he looked around trying to make sense of it. He really didn’t sleep that deeply anymore and it surprised him that his companions and rescuers were.

His eyes shifted to Wolfme, who slept with his head on his knees near the entry, and then to the other children, who were all cuddled up under the blankets next to Olive. The whispers came again, and he silently rose to his feet. Who was, the, her? And who were they? As far as he could see all the females were asleep. He was about to chalk it off as his imagination, but danger sense seemed to coil itself around his body. The hair on his arms and neck was beginning to rise and a chill ran down his spine. Something wasn’t right here, and he couldn’t just shake it off. Silently walking towards the entryway, he paused and double-checked on the individuals he was traveling with. One by one he named them and in doing so, he realized one was missing. The little girl rabbit didn’t seem to be there like he had previously thought.

Thinking that she might just be hidden under the blanket he crouched down and lifted up the end of the furs, where she had been sleeping before. She wasn’t there. Carefully replacing the furs, he scanned the entire area inside the den with his penetrating gaze. Where was she? She was only two or three, so wondering off wasn’t really all that surprising, but the fact that she had managed to get past Wolfme was. He hadn’t been with the guy long, but very little escaped his attention. Especially when it came to the safety of a child.

“Hurry….” The whispers started again, and he silently made his way to the opening where Wolfme slept. Carefully stepping over the guy's feet he kept his back pressed to the stone and exited the entryway of the cave. Wolfme stirred and he had frozen in his actions for a moment, to make sure the guy wasn’t going to wake up and catch him. He murmured his wife’s name, and a smile crossed his face as he shifted slightly. Figuring he was going to stay asleep Caleb, continued on the whispers growing louder by the second. His people knew that when the Earth called to you, you pay attention.

A gust of cold wind swirled around him the moment he stepped out into the open, showing him that it had snowed quite a bit through the night and large snowflakes were still lazily falling toward the ground. He was somewhat transfixed on the simple beauty of it, but he didn’t see anything he thought they had to worry about just yet.

Suddenly one of the babies began to scream at the top of his lungs, startling him. Was that the one who cried during times of danger? He wondered about that as he looked back over his shoulder to peer at the opening of the den. He couldn’t see inside completely since it gently sloped before opening up completely, but he could see Wolfme’s head rise in a sleepy daze. It was strange, really. These adults went about saving people yet today they were very out of it. He had continued to travel with them because there was safety in numbers, and he had something he needed to protect. It was easier if he was in a group where others did the protecting so he could keep his secret hidden.

“Rabbit!” Olive suddenly screamed and snapped Caleb out of his thoughts and back to the real reason he had ventured out, to begin with. His gaze shot out away from the den and located the small girl playing in the snow a good distance away.

She was trying to make a snowman or something he wasn’t sure, but she was focused on it. Her eyes were trained to the task and her tongue was sticking out of the corner of her mouth as if it were her thinking process. Her messy brown hair was waving in the cold wind and her thin clothing flapped against her crouched form.

“Caleb!” Wolfme called causing him to look back at him. While he was focused on the girl something unseen had trapped them inside the den and both adults were scrambling to their feet after being knocked over. “Caleb, get the girl and hurry back.” Wolfme calmly called out trying to hit his fist against some unseen force. The words were muffled though as if dampened by some soundproof barrier of some sort.

Not knowing exactly what to do, Caleb swallowed and frantically looked around for something that could aid him in rescuing these people. A shadow on the new-fallen snow caught his attention and he looked up to see several Harpies beginning to circle in the sky. They were preparing to dive, he was sure of it and his eyes shot back to the little girl, who didn’t seem to see it. He really couldn’t blame that on her though. She was very young and children that age had little to no attention span. Not to mention that most generally they trusted blindly when it comes to being protected.

He looked back up at the spiraling Harpies, they were getting closer, and he was faced with a hard decision. Should he save the others, or should he save the girl? Saving the others would keep him in a group setting and enable him to protect his sacred mission better, but could he really let the harpies take the innocent little girl. On the other hand, if he saved the girl, there would be no turning back, Harpies were spiteful creatures that would pursue their prey at any cost, even track them for several days, forcing them to keep moving until they just couldn’t anymore. If he saved the girl, he had to be able to protect them both and he would have to keep moving. Unless……… His mind shifted to the familiarity of the land around them. He was sure that he had come into this area with his father once and if he was right there just might be an escape. It was dangerous and definitely deadly, but it would improve their chance of survival up to at least 5%. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. If the Harpies did get them, it would be hell on, Everade. Their venom was slow and torturous. One little scratch and your, life, was over, there was no cure for the poison that would enter the bloodstream.

Cringing at the thought he looked back at the little girl, ignoring the others. Even though he was trying to make the decision he knew his mind was already made up. It had been made up for him a long time ago. He couldn’t let the little girl suffer such a fate. However, they seemed to want her for something and that was a mystery in itself. Narrowing his eyes, he tried to think quickly. What could they want from her? She did look like she was at least half Northern tribe, but that couldn’t be it. There were a few northern tribes that lived on the borders of harpy land. They could have just taken one of them if that was the reason, they wanted her. His eyes grew wide when his gaze fell on what looked like a birthmark. Only a Bannae (A potential banshee queen) had a mark like that. They could be of any blood, but most generally it was the child she or he would produce in the future who would carry the title of queen or king. They were rare, the thing of nightmares for most. That explained why the harpies wanted her so badly, but that also meant that banshees would soon be after her as well. Whichever one controlled the Bannae, controlled the essence of nightmares themselves.

He had always thought they were things of campfire stories and myth. The stories were told by his people throughout the centuries but never had he ever thought it possible that they existed in reality. (“Most myths and legends, come from a grain of truth.”) His father’s voice echoed in his thoughts and his hand absently circled around the sacred object that he wore dangling from his neck. His father had told him to protect it at all costs before he sent him running that night the Dark Elves massacred his village.

The shift of the shadows told him that the Harpies were about to dive, and he shot towards the little girl as fast as he could. She screamed and fell backward as one of the creatures clumsily slammed into her snow pile.

“Caleb! Watch out!” Wolfme’s muffled voice sounded, and Caleb dove sideways into a roll narrowly avoiding the claws of a male harpy bent on stopping him. Scrambling to his feet he shot towards the girl once again. They really wanted her bad. Knowing that they were going to try to stop him every chance they got, he began to zigzag and spin whether they were coming at him or not. He hoped that it would delay them from trying since they wouldn’t be able to predict which way, he would go next. Airel combat was a tricky thing.

Rabbit was starting to stand up as he grew closer to her. He gasped and suddenly shot straight towards her at the same exact time a harpy dived in an attempt to snatch her up. He dove forward as its clawed feet opened up to grab her. His body slammed into hers a fraction of a second before she was captured, and they both went rolling. He had tried not to hurt her, but he couldn’t be sure at that second if he had or not. He heard the tearing of his cloak from the harpies' claw getting snagged in the loose fabric as he curled his body around her and twisted making sure that he hit the ground first. The moment his body hit the snow and he captured her against him. They went speeding down a slope headfirst at high speeds. Using one arm to hold her in place, he did what he could with the other one to get what was left of his cloak up around her before they shot into the thorny underbrush of the forest slope.

He hoped that the cloak would protect her from the branches and thorns that relentlessly tore at his bared flesh. He couldn’t protect them both from it, so he just had to deal with the welts of branches slapping him and the thin cuts that sliced through his skin.

If he didn’t do something quick to slow down the slide, he would probably end up plowing headfirst into a tree and killing them both. Getting a tight hold on her with one arm he reached out with the other and attempted to grab the plant life that was speeding past them. He almost had one, but it snapped only shifting their descent, enough to avoid slamming into a large oak tree that was in the path. He felt his back scrape against the bark in passing, but it could have been worse. She began to scream, and his attention shot up to the harpies that were crashing through the trees in high pursuit of them. His own eyes grew wide, and he slammed his free hand into the snow to stop their slide. All that did was shift him enough that his feet were now heading down the slope first instead of his head. This was a fairly good development since he could now see what was in front of them and possibly stop them. The screaming child clung to him her cheek pressing his sacred pendant tight against his chest so he couldn’t use it to help. He was on his own at the moment and he had to figure something out.

“Hold on.” He told her, speaking for the first time since he had joined this group. She understood him because her grip on him became a death grip and it was hard to breathe normally, for a small child she had some strength. Her face was all scrunched up, her eyes were tightly closed, and her teeth were clenched together, but she had stopped screaming at least. She looked so funny that he would have laughed at her if they weren’t in so much danger at the moment. The snow flying up around them made it difficult to find something to help with, but he kept looking.

Just when he thought they were doomed he caught sight of some vines that were oddly green and lashed out to grab them. To his surprise, the vines coiled around his wrist as if trying to give him a helping hand and he tightened his hold on them just in time to avoid plummeting to death.

The vines grew taunt and some more coiled around their bodies securing the small child against him, as they shot out into the air. The next thing he knew he was slamming into frozen stone and the wind was being knocked out of him. Groaning he hung there for a minute to get his bearings and process the situation. He didn’t have long though as the harpies shot out of the trees and began to circle around to get a better vantage point of attack on them. Trying to figure out what to do next he looked around and noticed that there was a thing ledge just below them. It was covered in ice, but if he was careful, he could land on it without slipping off. It seemed like the vines read his mind because he was slowly being inched down as they released their hold on him. Once his feet touched down the vines shriveled and died away, including the vines that held the girl in place against him.

He curled his arms around her to keep her from being dropped into the bottomless chasm and carefully set her down on the ledge too, keeping a hold of her so she didn’t fall. He took her hand and started moving along the ledge, each step dislodging pebbles that clattered their way down the cliff face. Biting his lower lip, he hid his concern and continued onward, carefully pulling her behind him.

The Harpies had recuperated and were attempting to slam into them. He pulled her tightly against him and twisted just enough to avoid one attack. The force of the creature hitting the stone put a big hole in it and he was forced to increase their speed.

He slid to a stop when the ledge finished and looked over his shoulders at the Harpies coming in fast. His attention snapped around to find anything that could help. He looked down and there seemed to be an ancient stone balcony of some kind, verily visible beneath the ledge that they were on. Letting his mind run through several things that could happen he crouched down and motioned for Rabbit to get onto his back. She nodded and did as he suggested, putting her trust completely in him. He pushed the thought of how stupid that actually was out of his mind. He wasn’t even sure if they would survive, how could she be so sure they would? Well because she was little more than a baby still, that is how she could trust him completely. He was at least six years older than her, of course, she would think he knows everything.

Taking a deep breath, he made the drop of faith and hit the icy floor of the small balcony and his feet slid out from under him, causing him to land on his butt. Fortunately, her legs were wrapped around his waist so she didn’t get hurt, at least not much. The jarring motion of his landing had broken her hold and she hit the stone floor on her butt too. Pouting about it she clumsily pushed herself back up onto her feet and turned to look at him with her arms crossed, like he had done something awful to her.

“Don’t look at me like that. If you hadn’t decided to venture out of the cave, we wouldn’t be in this mess.” He growled narrowing his eyes at her. Surviving was going to be ten times harder with her around she should be grateful that he didn’t let the harpies take her. “Come on.” He sighed getting to his feet and taking her hand.

After a quick scan of the tiny shelf-like area, he noticed a small opening near the cliff that led somewhere. He didn’t head in that direction right away though, because the ivory railing around the small shelf captured his imagination. Despite the ice, he could see that it was intricately designed with delicate vines of gold. What exactly was this place? A balcony without a door into a building. The delicate designs and the sturdy build of the railing were baffling. He could tell it was ancient, yet it was well preserved. He wondered why his father never brought him down here when they traveled these areas. Why? Well because it was built out of the side of a cliff for crying out loud. Maybe it was some hidden kingdom that once existed, long before nature reclaimed it. The ledge above them was hit hard snapping him out of his thoughts and he quickly pulled Rabbit towards the opening. There was no time to contemplate what might have been here, right now.

He came to a stop at the opening and silently cussed, for the first time in his life. The opening lead to an Icy bridge that didn’t look all that secure. Time really took its toe on the wooden bridge he now looked at. If it was more secure it would lead them further downward. He couldn’t tell how far it went since they were just above the swirling fog that usually hid everything below a certain point of the cliff. His father used to tell him that it was bottomless and that was why the fog was so thick within it. Nobody had ever tried to see if that little information was true or not. He remembered telling his father that when he grew up, he was going to see if the chasm was truly bottomless or not. Of course, his father simply smiled and told him that he would change his mind someday. His adventurous spirit would fade into more of a protective one as he grew older. He was still waiting for that shift; a sly smile crossed his lips as he considered their next move.

The Harpies were relentless, yet he had never seen any of them dare to enter the fog below. If he and Rabbit could make it that far, it should up their survival rating to at least 20%. It would still be dangerous and potentially deadly since nobody knew what lurked below the fog bank swirling within the chasm itself. Even the Harpies seemed a bit fearful.

“Okay. Let's do this.” He whispered and picked Rabbit up, before shooting across the wooden bridge. It swayed and bounced with every step he took, Ice cracked, and some sections crumbled the second he passed over them. Harpies slammed into the stone above them verily one step behind them, as he kept low and held onto Rabbit the best he could. The little girl had fallen silent, yet she didn’t seem afraid. He couldn’t help but notice that as they shot across the deadly bridge. She was too, relaxed to be afraid.

One of the harpies caught onto his plan and slammed into the bridge several feet ahead of them causing it to crumble leaving a large gap in its wake. If he hoped to get them out of this alive, he couldn’t lose confidence now and second guess what he was about to do. So he tightened his hold on the little girl and increased his speed into a full outrun. The harpy was waiting for them with a wicked grin on its face as it hovered in the gap. Just as he hit the edge, he pushed off landing with one foot on the harpies' head before pushing off from it and leaping towards the other side. Surprised by his action the harpy lost its balance and started falling into the fog bank. He landed, in a slide on the other side and instantly spun around to face the gap as he bent low to slow his slide with one hand on the wooden planks of the frozen passageway. He slid for several feet before coming to a stop and spinning on his heels to continue running in the way he had been going. The Harpy regained its flight control and shot upward to get out of the fog as quickly as it could.

“It worked.” He laughed surprised and slowed his pace. With the Harpies backing off he was able to slow down to a walk and put Rabbit back down. He kept a hold of her hand though, more for making sure that she didn’t slip than to pull her along with him. Exhaling deeply, he began to feel the sting of the welts and cuts he had gotten, and on top of that, his muscles ached. The longer they walked the darker it was getting, and the bridge began to seem endless. The silence was only disturbed by the growling in their stomachs, and he knew that he would have to try to find some food soon. He could go a few days without eating, but he doubted the little girl could. Olive seemed to take really good care of her children, making sure that they were fed and warm. He wasn’t sure if Rabbit was actually hers and her husband's kid though. She could be, since Raleek was dark in complexion with black hair and Olive was a little fairer with light hair. Rabbit could be theirs; he couldn’t tell.

After what seemed like forever, they came to another strangely placed stone balcony and were able to sit down for a moment's rest. Rabbit scooted over next to him and cuddled against him, trying to get warm.

His body temperature generally stayed a constant, 98.6 degrees, but she felt like ice against him. Knowing that she could die of hypothermia at this rate. He took off his torn cloak and wrapped it securely around her and moved to sit behind her, in order to provide her with more warmth. Within a few minutes, she stopped shivering and fell asleep against him, as he stared out at the vast emptiness, through the ivory railings that surrounded the balcony shelf. Thanks to the small overhang above them, the falling snow couldn’t reach them, but they were easy to see in the darkness that surrounded them. He rested his head back against the cliff face and closed his eyes. There was nothing, but emptiness around them. If there was another side to this chasm it was hidden by the thick fog.

Raleek

Raleek narrowed his eyes as he crouched down near the mangled corpses, that was mostly covered in snow. What could have done this? That question weighed heavy on his mind as he slowly scanned the area for the faintest sign of residual energy. He could make out the violet gray wisp of a trail. Just as he thought some sort of magic had been involved, but what sort of magic. It wasn’t elemental nor was it, shadow magic. The energy was something unique and neutral. So, what had used this magic and why had they used it?

“Raleek over here,” Doe called crouching down near some disturbed dirt. “Whatever killed them came up out of the ground here and returned to the ground near each corpse.” She pointed out a little confused. “Could it be some kind of underground creatures that haven’t been discovered yet?”

“No, some kind of magic was involved.” He quietly answered licking his lips as if tasting something strange. “The sorts I’ve never seen before.” He admitted standing up to look around the area in more depth. He could taste the faint hint of fear that lingered in the atmosphere and a hint of copper, which could be credited to the blood bath they were currently standing in. It was the taste of fear that had him confused.

“Do you think they got them?” Doe asked showing some concern for the first time since he had met her, and he shook his head.

“No, they didn’t get them. Olive went that way.” He pointed at a slightly noticeable trail dusted with snow.

“How do you know?” Doe asked standing up to move toward where he was pointing out. The hint of a crooked smile crossed his lip. How did he know? Well, Olive always smelled like flowers and sunshine, and he had spent a little over a year tracking that sent. He could pick it out of a cluster of scents that could mask it.

“Trust me they went that way.” He masked his features and headed in the direction he was pointing. His concern lay in whether or not the creatures that had killed these people were stalking his family by moving through the ground.

“How far do you think they got?” She asked falling into step behind him. They had been traveling nonstop for a couple of days now and the night was upon them once again. Raleek didn’t answer, instead, he focused on Olive's scent and started to realize that it wasn’t all that far ahead of them. Maybe five or six hours according to the increased presence of it.

“Wolfme kept them safe,” Doe said out of the blue as if trying to convince herself of what she was saying.

“What makes you think he had to?” Raleek asked only paying partial attention to her.

“I saw his vines covered in frost and snow. They were dead, but that doesn’t mean he is.” She whispered.

“Well, let's hope that you are right.” Raleek offered and they fell silent once again.

Wolfme and Olive

Wolfme stood up and swayed slightly, he had used what energy he could to send tracking vines after the children through the ground. He had focused on them until he saw that they had saved the children, but after that, he couldn’t keep them alive long enough to pull the kids back up, so he had to gently lower them onto the narrow ledge his energy showed was beneath them. They had traveled far and fast almost too fast with that downward slide. All he could do now is trust that Caleb could keep them both alive until they were found.

“I did what I could for them.” He breathed and heavily leaned against the stone wall of the den. Olive was still busy trying to break out of the energy shield of a Harpy priestess. That was no easy task. In fact, it was virtually impossible until the Priestess left the area.

“We need to go find them.” Olive snapped rearing back to slam her fist against the unseen force once again. Oli was still screaming, and Ra seemed perfectly happy playing with the toes on his feet. She put all her weight into the force in which she was trying to hit the energy, but when contact should have been made the shield was gone and she landed face first in the freshly fallen snow.

“Excited to see me?” Raleek asked suddenly standing in front of her, while Doe carried the head of the harpy priestess at her side. She slowly lifted her head up to look at him, snow caked on her face and hair as he crouched down in front of her resting his arms on his knees, while he tilted his head to look her in the eye. “Hi.” He offered her a small arrogant smile.

She glared at him and slammed her fist into the snow as she pushed herself up. He reached down to help her, so she didn’t fall again, as they stood up. She pulled her arm out of his hand and pointed at the forest.

“The Harpies chased the children in there.” She growled ignoring his teasing gesture.

“What?” He breathed the smile fading off his face as he looked in the direction that she was pointing.

“Caleb and Rabbit, they were after them.” She urged starting toward the trees at a rapid pace. Raleek caught her arm and spun her around gently pushing her back towards the den.

“Stay with them. I’ll be back.” He instructed and shot into the trees before she could protest. Doe looked after him questioningly but chose not to pursue him. Wolfme was drained and someone needed to be here to protect everyone, besides in the last few days, she had been forced to acknowledge that; that boy was far too fast and skilled to be caught if he didn’t want to be.

“Olive, your baby is crying.” Doe casually told her. Frustrated Olive ran her hands through her hair and quickly hurried back in to tend to Oli.

“We were trapped and there wasn’t anything I could do.” Wolfme softly said pulling Does attention back to him. He was distraught about not being able to save the two children and he was beating himself up about it.

“There was nothing you could do. That Harpy Priestess was one of the higher-ranked ones. She was hard to kill.” Doe hissed tossing the head off to the side, before pulling Wolfme into her arms to comfort him.

Raleek

It wasn’t hard for Raleek to find the sliding trail and he was fairly sure that he knew what happened. Caleb had turned himself into a sled, for Rabbit in order to escape the Harpy Pursuit. What confirmed this for him was the small piece of fabric he found dangling off one of the snapped branches of a thorn bush. Harpies were relentless and he was impressed that a kid that young could think of something like this. It added to the mystery, that was Caleb. He had sensed something about him the first time he had seen him, something strange, but not bad. Not good either, but definitely not bad. He had planned on keeping an eye on the kid to try to figure it out, but then things happened, and he had distracted.

“Damn, Harpies.” He cussed as he examined the broken tree branches above the area. They had tried their hardest to get to the kids and appeared to have failed. He just hoped that their luck remained intact, as he shot forward to follow the trail once again. Running downhill wasn’t exactly the safest thing to do, but he didn’t have time to evaluate that.

His eyes widened when he saw the trail veer off at the last minute before hitting an exceptionally stout Oaktree and it took all his skill to avoid hitting it himself. How had the kid managed it at the pace they must have been traveling? Just when he thought he was in the clear he noticed that the area changed into a cliff, and he recognized the chasm. Cussing he threw himself back and tried to come to a stop. He verily managed it as his feet slid off over the edge of the sheer drop. Exhaling he laid his head back in the snow and tried to slow down the rapid beating of his heart. That was just too close for comfort.

Once he collected himself, he stood up and looked around for any sign of a trail that would tell him if the kids had managed to veer to the side or something. He couldn’t see anything and that caused him to look down over the edge, risking a fall himself. Dead vines hung wilted against the stone and footprints appeared on the ledge below. He could verily make them out now that the snow had covered them.

“Shit,” he swore, realizing that he had to go down. The kids had somehow managed to get to that ledge, but that also put them out in the open, making it easier for the harpies to attack. With that thought, he looked up at the sky and caught glimpses of them circling high above the opening of the chasm. Apparently, they hadn’t been able to get to the children after all and that meant there was still a chance that they were alive. He definitely had no choice, but to go after them now……...