The Man From The Shadows

Man From The Shadows

Winter Silence-part 8

Olive

Olive focused on keeping the twin warm against her, as the large snowflakes swirled on the winter winds of Fallen Valley. The blue haze of night was settling on the snow-covered ground, and they were all traveling in a single file line, with Wolfme in the lead. He was the biggest after all and he was purposely forging a path through the snow, to lessen the frozen discomfort of the others. The Valley was nestled between three high mountain peaks and surrounded by thick forest. The path they were traveling on was probably the only path that led in or out of the place. In the distance there was the shadow of a fairly large building, but nothing else. It didn’t seem to have its lights on though. Which was a little odd according to her adult companions.

“I want you guys to stay here for a moment, while I go investigate.” Wolfme’s wife softly spoke holding her hand up in the air. They could see the wooden structure more clearly now, but it did seem empty and somewhat terrifying. The Doors were wide open and nearly pulled off their hinges. They squeaked as they swung in the icy winds and the shutters on the windows clattered opening and shutting. Something wasn’t right and Olive didn’t need them to tell her that. However, they had no choice, but to continue to the building. The massive winter storm was upon them, and they would surely freeze to death if they lingered outside for too much longer. Wolfme nodded and she darted off in silence despite the crunching there should have been on the deep snow.

“What if there is something wrong? Where will we go?” Olive quietly asked as they all huddled together for warmth while they waited for her return.

“There is nowhere else to go, this is the last checkpoint for thirty miles. We can’t survive that long in this winter. She is going in first to eliminate the danger should it still be present.” Wolfme carefully explained. “We don’t have time to veer from this destination.”

“What do you think happened here,” Olive whispered holding the thick blankets tightly against her boys, making sure that they could still breathe. Even though the thick cloaks and furs they were all wearing she could feel her body starting to cool down despite the added body heat they were all producing in their huddle.

“Place is run by the people of the wolves, but the tribe of fangs may have stumbled across this location and….,” His words faded, he didn’t want to frighten her more than she already seemed to be. They needed to get into that building to wait out the storm and possibly the winter. It wouldn’t help if she was afraid of the place. (If nothing else they could repair it and get it up and running again). Then turn it over to its rightful owners come the spring.

People would be stumbling in throughout the entirety of the winter and they would need shelter. This was a haven for many different tribes and races in these parts. It was a neutral territory during the winter and the fact that it was empty now, meaning that the place was attacked right before the first storm, therefore it remained in this condition. If it was a tribe of the fang, they would have been forced to move on, since they were the only people that could not survive in this location. But if it wasn’t then it could still be quite dangerous. They wouldn’t know anything until Wolfme’s wife returned with her observations.

“We are going to be stuck here all winter, aren’t we?” Olive calmly asked, she could already guess at the answer. The distance to a safe location was far too great for children to journey in this weather, and she wouldn’t want to go any farther without Raleek and the two children he would be coming with. If they had to spend the entire winter here, then so be it. “Shouldn’t we be going with her then? If there is trouble, it would be safer if we stuck together.” She suggested.

“No, trust me, she works better alone and that would be just endangering the lives of the children, don’t worry she’ll be back soon,” Wolfme assured.

“Fine, but we are going to have to move soon. The children are beginning to shiver.” Olive narrowed her eyes up at the man.

“I know, but you got to trust me.” Wolfme sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose. They were all tired and cold. He was fully aware of the children shivering against them, but they would live for a few moments longer. Just when he was about to give in to Olive’s suggestion the building lit up and a welcoming glow came from the windows. “See how we can go.” He exhaled in relief.

“Wait what if they killed your mate and it's a trap because they know that we’re out here.” Olive quickly said reaching out to take a hold of his arm.

“Don’t be ridiculous, she can’t be defeated that easily.” He gave her a small smile and his wife stepped out onto the porch to wave them forward. “See…” He smugly pointed out and they started moving once again. The walk to the building was long, cold, and silent, but the place was warmed up by the time they got into it. “I’ll fix these shutters and the doors. Take the children to the fire in the hearth and we’ll fix them food shortly.” He gently instructed.

“Whatever happened here, happened right before we got here. The place is stocked up for the winter on food, water, and wood. The only damage is what you see here, and I have combed the entire place, even looked for tracks that would show us what attacked.” Wolfme’s wife quietly told him as she helped him with the minor repairs. “The snow covered the ground too completely and judging by the supplies untouched in here, I would wager that they were people of the fang.” I did find some corpses of the previous owners and their family, but I put them in the furnace to keep the fear factor down.” She continued.

“It's a good idea, Olive seems a bit paranoid without her mate, and it was probably the best thing to do.” Wolfme quietly relented, glancing at the woman with the children near the fireplace. “We are going to be here for the entire winter. The storm outside isn’t relenting, if anything it's getting worse. I hope her mate can make it back alive.” Wolfme sighed. He didn’t want to admit that they had lost one of their children, it would be the first child ever, that they hadn’t managed to get to Elemental Island and that didn’t feel all that good.

“That guy is too stubborn and arrogant to die.” His wife scoffed as they finished up and headed towards the kitchen to prepare a meal. “And just so he can be all smug and irritating he’ll bring those kids back with him.”

“Perhaps your right.” Wolfme chuckled.

Olive, glanced up in time to see; Wolfme and his wife going into the kitchen talking among themselves and she tried to push her suspicions down. They hadn’t done anything that should warrant her distrust in them, yet. Still why so secretive, and what truly happened here that caused the owners to abandon the place as they had?

Raleek

Raleek narrowed his eyes looking through the green fog lazily swirling around them. When he had awoken, the fantasy region was gone, and he found the three of them sleeping the empty skull of a long-dead dragon. At first, he had thought that something had captured and moved them, but then he slowly realized that the green fog was one of illusion and meant to confuse any who enter it. Circling them were gaunt dead-looking dogs, just waiting for the right time to strike, but something was keeping them at bay. The creature he had seen and sensed before was visible now. It was a shadow imp with glowing red eyes and seemed to find them interesting since it kept its distance yet remained close enough to watch them. It was rather unnerving though and put Raleek on high alert. His body and movements were tense, yet strategic. He remained in a position that would allow him to fight in a split second if he needed to and he had placed Caleb in charge of Rabbit, with the instruction to get her to a hiding place should he have to fight.

“Raleek.” Caleb gulped coming to a stop, with Rabbit piggybacking on his back.

“What is it?” Raleek quietly questioned but kept his eyes scanning the area. It was far too dangerous to stop, but the kid seemed afraid of something.

“Look,” Caleb whispered pointing a hole high up on a stone wall in front of them. Raleek quietly cursed when he saw that there was no other way out unless they headed back the way that they had come and fighting the harpies or banshees, wasn’t an option at this time. “There are crumbled pieces just below it, but it's still going to make up have to jump and climb a lot. Not to mention the darkness in the hole is deeper than it should be.”

“Well, you did a little bit of par-core on the bridge, you think you can handle some more.” Raleek tried to sound calm, but there was a nervous edge to his voice despite his efforts.

“It's not me I’m worried about old man.” Caleb rolled his eyes. Sure, he could make the jumps and climb, but not with Rabbit on his back. She was small, but he wasn’t all that big either. The bridge was a stroke of luck, and he wasn’t sure he would get the same kind of break, this time. “Can you make it?” Caleb challenged, with a forced smirk.

“Are you, serious right now?” Raleek scoffed and took, Rabbit off the boy’s back to secure her onto his own. “Fine challenge accepted, but we’re tying a rope between us, encase you can’t make it. That way I can save your hide again.” He countered and looked around on the barren stone floor. After several minutes, he was able to find an old, frayed rope and quickly began to reweave it.

“Save me…” Caleb laughed, “I think if anything you’ll pull us all to our death when you fall.”

“You’re an arrogant little kid, aren’t you?” Raleek absently asked making sure the rope would hold, at least for a short time. They would have to make these jumps and climbs the first time because if they fell, there wouldn’t be a second time.

“My father always told me that it's not arrogance if it's true.” Caleb rolled his eyes. Yes, he was still young, but in his tribe, they were taught from birth how to survive in situations like this.

Their mountain lands were full of similar obstacles that they had to be able to move through to enter or exit their village, there was no trail or easy way to get back home. He was just a little afraid at the moment because he didn’t know what could lurk in that pitch darkness inside the hole, so he dealt with it by taunting Raleek. He knew the guy could make the jumps with ease, but it made him feel better to banter with him about it.

“Don’t be afraid, kid.” Raleek sighed as if he had read the boy’s thoughts. Caleb's eyes snapped toward him and away from the taunting darkness. How had he known what he was thinking? Could he read minds?

“Can you….” He started to ask, but changed his mind, not wanting to sound stupid or anything.

“No, the expression on your face and rapid humming of your life energy, tells me, that you are afraid. You try to hide it, but I can see it anyways. You don’t need to act all tough, kid, you're still young, and it's okay to be afraid. It's when you let that fear control you that it's not okay.” Raleek softly explained as he started tying the rope ends around their wastes.

“I’m not afraid.” Caleb insisted with a sniffle, he wrinkled his nose and looked away.

“Alright then, let's do this.” Raleek briefly smiled at how much the boy was trying to be brave. “You have to stay close to me. The rope isn’t long enough for you to hesitate. Do you understand?”

“Yeah, yeah old man, you better stick close to me, I’m sure that I’m faster than you,” Caleb grumbled and Raleek stood up, double-checking to make sure that Rabbit was securely placed. Satisfied he nodded to the boy and started walking towards the broken slabs of stone they would have to climb.

The moment they hit the base of the stones, the year-splitting howls began and the dead, gaunt hounds raced toward them snarling and snapping at their heels. Raleek quickly lifted Caleb onto the first ruined pillar and scurried up after him, right before one of the deadly hounds could clamp its jaws shut on his ankle. He silently cursed and pushed the boy up onto the next one. The hounds were beginning to jump and try to climb after them. From what he was seeing they were figuring out how to pursue them fairly quickly and that meant there wasn’t much time to make that first jump. The hounds were halfway up the climb when they reached the peak of it.

“Are you ready we are going to have to make the jump at the same time,” Raleek asked delivering a solid hit to the jaw of one of the beasts that had managed to catch up. The creature yelped and hit the ground below. It took a minute to get up and shake off the damage it might have taken, but it immediately sprang back into action, trying to get to them. “Alright, ready…… Go!” He shouted once Caleb prepared to jump and the kid was right on cue. They both made the jump, even though it was a bit too far for the boy to grab a hold of the top portion of the stones they were jumping to. Thanks to the rope between them, he was able to catch a lower ledge fairly quickly, and Raleek didn’t have to feel the rope tighten for more than a split second.

Once Caleb caught the lower ledge, he skimmed up the stone with a speed, that shouldn’t be present in a child his age. It didn’t take, but a moment for the boy to pass him and continue upward as if rock climbing was second nature to him. Not wanting to slow the boy’s progress any, Raleek picked up the speed too and they both reached the next peak a fraction of a second apart.

“Try to keep up this time old man.” Caleb taunted spitting, on his palms and rubbed them together as he prepared to jump again. Raleek softly chuckled and shook his head, as he tensed up to make the next leap of faith. This time they had to leap for some carved out holes in the stone that they could verily see, and if they missed them, it was over.

“You are going to have to aim properly, this time.” Raleek cautioned and Caleb smirked.

“Don’t worry about my aim, I’ve got this. You should worry about your own.” The boy tauntingly arched a brow, giving him an arrogant little nod, before leaping with all his strength toward the wall on the other side of the large gap. Raleek didn’t have time to respond, he had to make the jump immediately after the boy; to avoid jerking the kid back.

Everything seemed to be going well enough until they shimmied up to the first ledge just below the opening and then all hell broke loose. Some flying Demon lizard came shooting out of the dark hole, slamming into the pursuing hounds and ghastly images of people began to fire their spectral bow at them. Even though the ghostly arrows wouldn’t do physical harm, they could suck the life energy out of one's body and cause them to plummet to their deaths, unconscious. More than once he had to pull Caleb out of the line of fire and shield him the best he could. Rabbit had begun to cry, and it grew harder for him to think, by the second.

“Just keep moving.” Caleb’s distant voice broke through the haze of his thoughts, as the boy climbed onto his back behind Rabbit, to shield her from the flying spirit arrows. Raleek was feeling disoriented and didn’t question the kid as he swung a little to grab another handhold, a little higher up. He felt the stinging of arrows being jerked out of his shoulders and arms, which kept him from falling into darkness as he moved using instinct alone. He was a little fuzzy about the fact that the kid was pulling the ghost arrows out of him before they could do major damage.

His thoughts were so scrambled that he didn’t even try to figure out how the kid was able to hold the arrows enough to remove them, or how he could even see them. All he could do was focus on moving upward, as if in a dream of some sort. He was teetering on the edge of darkness when he finally pulled them up onto the narrow ledge just below the opening and had to press his hands against the cool stone to steady himself, as vile rose within him.

“We can’t stop now, old man. We got to get up there, those ghastly people are coming after us and I can’t keep pulling their arrows out of you.” Caleb loudly demanded punching Raleek in the cheek to pull him out of the stopper he was falling into. “Come on we have to keep Rabbit safe.” The boy shouted again.

Raleek could verily hear the boy’s shouts, although they were muffled, he could make out the urgency in the tone. Not to mention he hardly felt a thing when the kid hit him, it felt more like a firm whack than a solid punch and it verily registered in his mind.

Caleb

Caleb worked tirelessly to pull the spirit energy out of Raleek, who seemed to become sluggish as they made their way up the sheer face of the wall. The only way these arrows could affect the guy so easily was as if he was dragon-born, but it seemed to suck the energy and life right out of him at an accelerated pace, which told him, that was exactly what Raleek was. Just his luck to be stuck going through the ancient ruins with a dragon born. Those being are more vulnerable to this sort of place than normal people were. You could call these ruins the bane of their existence and be accurate. It’s far more deadly for a dragon born in these ancient ruins, vs other locations of note.

“You should have told me; you were dragon born you idiot. My father told me about this stuff.” Caleb scolded the bewildered Raleek, as the guy threw up. “Here eat this.” Caleb firmly stated shoving some herbs out of his pouch into Raleek’s mouth. “It’ll lessen the effects.” He quickly added climbing back up onto his place on Raleek’s back. “Now climb!” He screamed in his ear. Raleek jolted up straight and shook his head, feeling as if his eardrum had just been blown out, but he turned and continued the climb anyways. It was a clumsy climb and they nearly fell more often than not, but they finally made it up to the opening where they were on solid footing.

Raleek fell forward on his hands and knees, and Caleb quickly got off him, removing Rabbit off his back as well. The guy would have to clear his head for a moment or two and that put him and the little girl at risk, so she sat her down on the stone floor and pulled her into the shadows to hide behind a boulder he instinctively knew was there. Once they got behind it, he crouched down and pulled Rabbit against him, before hiding them beneath the cloak he wore. It shimmered and shielded them from the danger that lurked nearby. He had used this cloak on more than one occasion when hiding from the enemy that once pursued him and now it would keep him and Rabbit safe. He couldn’t do much more for Raleek, the herb he had given him would work eventually in clearing the guy's head up, but it was going to be a painful process since it was usually used as a poison in a normal person. There was no antidote for it, but his father had once told him that; That particular herb would kill anything except a dragon born, it would just throw one of them into a painful seizure as it purified their life essence. It would buy him time to escape however if he found himself threatened by one of them.

Caleb covered Rabbit’s ears and squeezed his eyes shut, as he listened to the violent thrashing and growling coming from Raleek. He was surprised that the guy wasn’t screaming out in pain, yet he could tell it was intense. The only thing he could figure was, that Raleek was a man used to being tortured and resisting pain. That in itself was frightening, especially since he had never thought he would be using the herb to save a Dragon Born’s life. In all the myths he had learned from his father, Dragon Born’s, were evil, violent, and deadly. His father had warned him, that if he ever come across one, he needed to run away as fast as he could and pray, they hadn’t sensed him. Yet, here was Raleek, there was nothing evil about him, sure he was deadly and violent, but only when he had to be. How much of his beliefs were wrong? He just hoped that they were wrong in this case because if they proved right after this herb did its thing, he and Rabbit were dead.

Raleek

Raleek felt like every cell in his body was on fire and he was trying to put it out, but it didn’t seem to be working. His thoughts began to clear rather quickly, and he remembered, Caleb, shoving something in his mouth that set his insides on fire. He doubted the boy had done it out of malice, but he had no idea what it was, or how to counter it. When the excruciating pain finally began to fade away, he found himself on his hands trying to get his knees under him. Sweat poured off him as if he was in a Sonya and his joints felt uncontrollably shaking. The howling of the dead and the hounds were echoing through the chamber below and the icy fingers of death seemed to coil up his spine. Despite feeling like death was upon him, he knew without a doubt he wasn’t dying and focused on his breathing to calm the extremely rapid pumping of his blood. What had that kid given him? He didn’t know of anything that could do that to him.

Once he was in his right mind, he felt the urge to tear the boy apart, but quickly pushed it out of his system. It was frightening how bloodthirsty he was for a split second, but he was stronger than that and his purpose was to save these kids, not hurt them. He figured whatever the kid shoved in his mouth, had awakened an ancient DNA sequence within him and brought forth his dragon for a moment. He had never let his dragon control him and he wasn’t about to let it have power over him now. He couldn’t trust himself just yet though, not until the hunger subsided, so he didn’t call for the kids. Instead, he closed his eyes and rolled over onto his back to meditate for a moment. He knew there wasn’t much time for this, but he needed to do it, before continuing onward. It would take a minute for the entities below to find a way up to them and that gave him a little bit of time.

“Ra… Raleek.” Caleb swallowed, everything had gone silent, and they were still alive, but that didn’t necessarily mean that they would stay that way. He had to do something though; so, he boldly stepped out of hiding and crept toward the silent man. Raleek wasn’t moving and he started to second guess, his conclusion on what the guy was.

“Raleek.” He softly called again, hoping that he hadn’t killed the guy. They needed him to make it out of this alive. Even he knew that and poor Rabbit, how would she feel if her daddy was dead. “Please be okay.” Caleb’s voice cracked as he tried to hold back the tears of guilt, that threatened to consume him. He wasn’t a murderer, and he didn’t want to be a murderer.

“Get, Rabbit, we need to go.” Raleek softly said sitting up and startling Caleb, who scurried backward from the sudden movement. He hadn’t been aware of just how worried he was until he scampered back to his feet and threw his arms around Raleek’s neck, thankful that he was still alive and not wanting to eat them.

“You're not going soft on me now, are you kid?” Raleek asked, trying to pull the boy out of the state of mind that he was obviously in at the moment.

“Why would I be going soft, I just didn’t want Rabbit to worry, that’s all.” Caleb sniffled pulling away and snubbing Raleek. “You’re old so you might die easily.” He added for good measure.

Raleek softly chuckled and pushed himself up to his feet, his limbs were stiff and not fully recovered from the ordeal yet, but he wasn’t kidding about needing to get going. He would let the boy think that he bought into all that stuff about Rabbit being worried, for the time being.

“Come on kid, go get Rabbit.” Raleek calmly stated tapping the boy on the shoulder to get his attention. Caleb scrambled to his feet and darted behind what looked like a large boulder, where he had left the little girl hiding. After a few minutes, Rabbit ran up to him and he picked her up, while Caleb put his cloak back on and prepared too, move.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Caleb returned to his tough-guy act and Raleek shook his head again before he began walking. The boy quickly fell into step next to him, scanning the darkness intensely.

“What else do you know about these ruins?” Raleek quietly questioned the boy. He seemed to know more than he was letting on and Raleek couldn’t help but wonder if the boy’s father had taught him more about the place.

“Not much, just Myths about the place and its ruins.” Caleb shrugged, he wasn’t sure he wanted to give up, more knowledge at the moment.

“Right,” Raleek breathed, he knew what the boy was doing he would probably do the same thing. It guaranteed, that he wouldn’t be left behind because he was the only one with the knowledge. “I guess we’ll figure it out together then….. stay close.”

“Are you going to admit that I saved your life, old man?” Caleb teased in a quiet nervous tone.

“No, besides, I am not that much older than you kid,” Raleek grumbled, Why the hell would he claim the kid saved his life? The boy tortured him with whatever he shoved into his mouth. He would have been fine coming out of it on his own. He didn’t blame the kid for it though, he was just trying to help.

“Stop calling me a k….” Raleek suddenly covered his mouth and pulled him into the shadows behind what looked like a pillar of some sort. Just ahead the narrow tunnel they were in opened into a chamber. Inside it was corpses pulling themselves along the stone floor with their hands and as far as Raleek could tell, they had no eyes or lower halves. Their teeth were jagged and seemed to be dripping acid that sizzled upon hitting the debris, they were trying to get over.

(What the hell are those?) He silently asked himself as he narrowed his eyes to watch them. Whatever they were seemed clueless to them at the moment. (I don’t see ears or eyes, so they probably hunt by smell, the question is how do I mask our scent, so we can get around them?) He continued to analyze the situation, ignoring Caleb trying to pull his hand off from his mouth.

“Shh… Do you know what they are?” Raleek breathed finally deciding to ask the kid if he knew a myth or something about these creatures. Then he peeled his hand, off from his mouth and allowed him to take a peek.

“The damned,” Caleb whispered just loud enough for Raleek to hear. His features took on a frightened look and his eyes had grown wide, but he wasn’t thinking about Raleek seeing it. No, he was thinking about what he had been told about them.

“What do you know about them? What are their weaknesses and how do we get past them?” Raleek quietly inquired of the boy. The look on his face told him that he knew what they were, or that someone had talked about them to him before. Either way, something was better than nothing at this point. Some myths and legends were created out of a grain of truth, and most likely had some hidden message on how to defeat the unheard-of creatures, that mythology assumed existed.

“I don’t know anything about their weaknesses, or how we can get past them. You should know that, given what you are…” Caleb gulped, turning his wide frightened gaze up toward Raleek.

“You are the hunter,” Raleek hissed and then gave a solid, but quiet whack to the back of Caleb’s head. “Think kid, they are supernatural, the very thing your kind are meant to hunt and destroy. So, what does your instinct tell you?”

“If we stay about twenty feet away from them, they might not sense us, but look at how many there are. How are we going to stay that far away from them?” Caleb hissed back, he wasn’t sure what his instincts told him, but that was the first thing that popped into his head.

“We need to stay away from them, huh….,” Raleek thoughtfully responded and started moving his gaze up the walls of the room. He might find a ledge or something that could keep them off the floor while they crossed. If he had to guess, he would say those things couldn’t climb or move on the walls like most cursed beings of this variety. They looked like human blobs with arms and little else. The things came increasingly closer, and he had to figure something out fast, his eyes stopped onto something that shimmered briefly along the portions of the upper walls. (What is that?) He silently asked himself, focusing his eyesight on that particular area.

Raleek’s attention snapped to the wall across from where they were hidden when he heard the low scraping of stone on stone. His vision made out a narrow door being opened, but he couldn’t see how or if someone was opening it, so he protectively put himself between the children and the hidden door that was being opened. Silently he pulled a knife out of his boot and prepared to strike down whatever was coming through it.

“Pst…. Come on,” A hidden figure motioned towards them with its hand. “Unless you want to die.” It added, without revealing itself completely.

Glancing at the damned, and then back at the hand motioning them forward, he decided it was better to fight something he assumed was a living being then, the creatures he would have to fight if they ignored the beckoning of the hand.

“Let's go,” Raleek whispered and guided Caleb to the door. They slipped inside it right before the creatures let out a horrific screech announcing their presence, and then he helped what he assumed was a child hidden in robes, shut the door. “Who are you?” He asked once the kid hurried, past them.

“Follow me.” That was, the only answer he got before the kid started running up some spiral stairs, Raleek quietly cursed and then followed. What choice did he have at the moment? There were only the stairs leading up and no other exits as far as he could tell. After a few moments the kid disappeared into the pitch dark and Raleek slowed his pace to move with caution. Where had the kid disappeared to? There were no doors or openings that he could see…….

To be continued