The Man From The Shadows

Raleek, carefully lowered himself over the edge until he could safely drop onto the ledge below. Staying pressed against the cliff wall he slowly lowered into a crouch to check which way the kids had gone. The bright full moon was partially covered by black clouds promising more snow and the stars could verily be seen. Below were the swirling masses of thick fog banks that hid everything below it from view. Even the Harpies dared not enter that. Considering what he had seen this far, that was most likely the way Caleb had taken Rabbit. Coming to that conclusion he stood back up and started inching over the slightly declining ledge, getting closer to the fog with every step. He only hoped that the legends of what lived below were just legends because if they weren’t those kids were in far more danger than they were with the Harpies’.

The further he got along the ledge the stronger the winds became, and his hair violently whipped around his face, hindering his line of sight as the wind howled against the walls of the chasm. If he didn’t know better, he would say it was the cry of banshees. The thought made his blood run cold and he pressed onward. Banshees were not the sort of being that one would like to encounter, and they were in an eternal battle with the Harpies’ which explained why those creatures dared not enter the fog. The wind was actually making them believe it was their worst enemy. That also brought about more questions than answers. Why were the Harpies after the children anyway? What did they hope to gain from taking them? Was it Caleb they were after or was it Rabbit? It really didn’t matter; they weren’t getting either one of them if he had anything to say about it.

Raleek focused on his steps as another concern began to rise within him. The temperatures were dropping at an accelerated pace, and if he didn’t find the kids soon, they might be frozen by the time he did. This didn’t sit well with him, and he picked up the pace ignoring the potential risk of dying in the process of trying to find them. His foot slipped and he almost fell off the ledge, verily managing to catch himself he stopped for a moment and took a deep breath.

“Family life is going to be the death of me.” He whispered closing his eyes for a moment. He had faced countless enemies and nearly died countless times, but it was nothing like this. He had faced those without fear, now fear seemed to thread its way through every fiber of his being. If he died, those kids would probably end up dying too. That put a whole new perspective on his situation concerning death. Until now he had never been afraid of it. He still wasn’t afraid of dying himself, what he was afraid of was, them, dying because of it. “What have I landed myself into?”

Pushing all those questions and fears down he began to press on once again. He didn’t want to imagine how frightened the children were making this journey or how frightened they might be right now. He definitely didn’t want to think about finding them dead in any way shape or form. He had to get to them, save them and bring them back with him. Focusing on that instead of the icy tendrils that snaked through him, he continued into the thick fog. Visibility was nonexistent for him now and he had to feel his way along. Due to the lack of visibility, he didn’t see the end of the ledge and ended up falling off it. He gasped and tried to grab something sure that he would be plummeting to his doom, but all he caught was air, only to land hard on a stone shelf on his back. Groaning he rolled onto his side trying to re-catch the breath that had knocked out of him. Coughing a little he was finally able to breathe normally again, but that didn’t do anything for the pain that shot through him, as he pushed himself back up onto his feet. (This week really sucks.) He mentally told himself as he reached up to hold his left shoulder, almost certain it was dislocated.

Taking a deep breath and then slowly exhaling he slammed his shoulder against the stone to relocate it and nearly fell back to the ground from the intense pain that shot through him. With a shaking inhale he opened his eyes and leaned heavily against the stone cliff, trying to get up the stamina needed to continue. He let his eyes scan the small balcony-like section and could make out the faint image of railings that circled it. Thinking that meant there was a door into someplace behind him he pushed off the wall and turned to look at it. Nothing, it was solid, there weren’t even creases that would imply there had ever been a door here. So, where did the kids go from here? He slid down the wall to sit, as he gently bounced the back of his head off the stone. Had they made it this far or did they fall to their deaths? He thought that he would go insane trying to figure it out when his gaze fell on a blood-smeared handprint next to him. It was too big to be Rabbit’s, so it had to be Caleb’s. The color told him it was fairly fresh, but it was still somewhat frozen by the temperatures. They couldn’t be too far ahead. Standing up he carefully reached out to run his hand over the railings as he followed them from one side to the other. There was a small break in the railing on the left side and he crouched down to feel the ground in that section.

“A bridge….” He whispered when his fingers touched the cold rough texture of wooden planks leading downward. “I’ll be damned.” He mused and carefully started across the bridge. That kid was smarter than he had thought and that renewed his hope in finding them alive. “Hang in there I’m coming.” He told the wind as he slid his feet along the wood. The bridge was too far out from the stone wall for him to hold on, so he had to just trust his balance and luck as he went along. As far as he could tell there weren’t even hand ropes to hold onto, which meant this bridge was incredibly old in comparison to most of the old bridges he had ventured on. After several intense moments, he came to a gap in the bridge and his heart sank. It was far too big for children to jump, but maybe they made it across before the wood fell through. If that was the case, he could still find them, but he wouldn’t know unless he made the jump himself. That little action could very well cost him his life and he had to pause for a moment to think about it.

The cliff was too far away, so he couldn’t get across like he normally would, by running along the wall, and that posed quite the little problem. He crouched down and covered his chin with his hand trying to think his way through this. He did notice that the gap was fairly fresh, so there was a good chance that the kids got across before it was made. He was about to scream in frustration when he realized that the planks had to have been held in place by a rope or beams of some sort.

“Okay then…...” He breathed and started feeling along the edge of the wood until his hands wrapped around the frayed ropes the planks had been on. Exhaling he positioned his hands on them so that he could drop and move across them by hanging from his hands. Before he could change his mind he slid off and nearly lost his grip, when he bounced a little bit. Remaining still and re-tightening his grip some, he began to move across the ropes in a low hand sliding way. How he was going to get back up when he reached the other side he didn’t know, but it didn’t matter he would find a way.

Getting across the gap took longer than he would have liked, but he had to be careful, there was no safety net below him if he slipped up. As he slowly crept along it felt like time had stopped, but the wind refused to weaken. Not only was he having to fight the wind in his progression, but he had to keep his fears pushed down deep inside of him in order to think clearly. In his opinion, this was by far the most dangerous situation he had ever found himself in. When he finally made it across the gap he had to face the problem of getting back up onto the bridge and after several attempts, it seemed like a lost cause. He only had one trick left and it was something that he had only practiced, but never accomplished. He wasn’t sure it would work or that he could do it, but he was out of options and there was no choice.

Maneuvering to where his back was facing the part of the bridge that he needed to get onto he, used his arm and stomach muscles to pull his legs up enough to curl his knees over the ropes. He paused briefly when he heard was sounded like the frayed rope strands starting to snap. It was now or never. Hanging from his knees he grabbed the end of the bridge with his hands and locked them in place, before straining to place his feet on top of the ropes. Still hanging somewhat upside down he risked it all and gave a push with his feet, using his grip in conjunction with the risky maneuver he pushed up kicking his feet into a full walkover. He grunted when his knees slammed into the wood of the bridge, and he was suddenly looking down into the abyss. It wasn’t a perfect execution of the maneuver, but it landed him on his stomach on the bridge.

Exhaling in relief he got to his feet and started walking on the bridge once again. This was insane and never had he thought he would be doing something like this in his entire life. These kids were going to kill him, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to stick around to deal with more of this. He knew he would though. He would never leave Olive to handle it all alone, besides what would Oli, Ra, and Rabbit do without him. He couldn’t abandon them no matter how difficult things got. Pushing all thoughts from his mind he focused on every step until he noticed another shelf with a railing at the end of the bridge. On it, he could make out the huddled forms of children in the darkness. He couldn’t express the feeling that flooded through him and threatened to bring tears to his eyes. The kids were safe, and he had found them. Not caring about the risk any longer he raced toward them and dropped to his knees on the slippery stone, knowing that it would send him flying a short distance, but he would be able to stop.

“I found you.” He breathed sliding to a stop to wrap his arms around the children, who had been asleep. He felt like a heavyweight had been lifted off from him when Caleb looked up at him through sleep heavy eyes and he spotted Rabbit sleeping soundly against him. “Thanks to the gods you two are safe.” He whispered gently moving Rabbit’s hair out of her face, causing her to look up at him with confused eyes.

“I didn’t know what else to do.” Caleb quietly said surprising Raleek. The boy hadn’t talked in all this time, and it was a little shocking to hear him talk now. “She was cold.” He added and then fell silent once again.

“You did great under the circumstances. I’ll take it from here.” Raleek softly stated and started to look around. With the morning the fog would thin slightly, and he would be able to see things better then. For now, staying warm and huddled right here out of the way of the falling snow seemed like the best thing to do. “Get some sleep, the next stage of this journey is going to be difficult, and I need you on the top of your game. I’ll keep watch over you both.” He said looking at the boy once again as he laid a grateful hand on the side of his head briefly. Then he shrugged off his cloak and draped it snugly around the two of them and took a seat next to them.

Caleb yawned and nodded before laying down with Rabbit tucked in against him. He was fast asleep in a few minutes and Raleek was left to his thoughts. He had to think of what to do next. This path only leads downward and that meant they would be entering the unknown, facing things that nobody alive has ever faced before. They couldn’t go back the way they came and there was no other way, but to continue in the way they were going. If they did make it to the bottom alive, it would still take them about a month to be able to get out of the chasm, provided there was a bottom to reach. Not to mention that the kids would be hungry when they woke up, at least he had that covered. The pouch hanging from his waist had jerky in it, which would serve in feeding the children. Of course, there wasn’t enough for him to eat too, but that was fine.

“Stop worrying about it Raleek.” He told himself as he laid his head back against the cold stone wall behind him. He would be able to figure things out tomorrow. For now, he should also try to rest a little, but still remain alert to any sound that wasn’t normal.

Olive, Wolfme, and Doe

“We can't wait any longer.” Doe sighed as she looked at Olive who anxiously waited for Raleek’s return. The sun was up and the promise of a big winter storm was ever-present. “He’ll catch up to us and he will have the kids.” She casually stated as she finished packing up their things.

“He should have been back by now.” Olive swallowed, cradling the twins in their sling against her. Wolfme walked over to her and laid a hand on her shoulder.

“Do you have so little faith in your mates' abilities?” He warmly asked causing her to turn her worried gaze toward him.

“No.” She admitted. No, she didn’t lack faith in him, she just didn’t know if something had happened to him or not. If he was still alive, he would find those children and return to her, she was sure of that, but what shape would they all be in.

“Let's go.” Doe urged draping some of the bags over her shoulders as she took the lead. Wolfme moved to pick up some of the others and allowed a couple of the older kids to carry some of the lighter supplies. “The First Winter storm of the season is on its way and we need to reach fallen valley before that happens.”

“Isn’t it too early for winter storms of that caliber?” Olive challenged, and Wolfme shook his head.

“Not in the North. We don’t want to be caught in that storm trust me. The temperatures will drop to the point that we’ll become frozen statues if we don’t beat it to the fallen valley Inn. Once we’re there we can wait for Raleek and the kids.” he assured her laying a hand on her back just long enough to guide her into motion.

“Fallen Valley Inn?” She questioned, she had never heard of such a place and if she hadn’t heard of it in all her family traveling, had Raleek heard of it? He was new to this sort of life and she doubted that he did.

“It’s a fairly good size in that is nestled deep within the Northern mountains, travelers usually end up spending the winter there if they aren’t able to get ahead of the storms that rack the North,” Wolfme explained falling into step next to her. The remaining children were in a line between them and his wife, so they were safe enough.

“How is Raleek going to find us there?” Olive hissed thinking they were all mad.

“Raleek can follow you to the ends of the earth if my observations are correct and they usually are. So, I don’t know what you are so worried about. You should just focus on those twins and trust he’ll return to you.” Doe sighed in annoyance. She was relieved that Wolfme wasn’t like that it would drive her insane and frankly she couldn’t imagine how Raleek put up with the girl.

Then again love was a weird thing and often led people down paths they normally wouldn’t take. She glanced at Wolfme, she ought to know. A small smile touched her lips and she faced forward once again. She would never let him see that though. However, she was fairly certain that he already saw much more than she gave him credit for.

Raleek

Raleek was up and moving around as soon as he was able to see more than ten feet in front of him. He was looking for a way off the shelf they were currently on and didn’t see another bridge opening in the railing. Cursing under his breathe he ran his hands through his hair and inched towards the railing. Looking down he noticed the faint line of a stone bridge heading to the other side of the chasm, but he couldn’t see what was below it, which led him to believe there truly wasn’t a bottom to this gaping split in the world.

“Okay if there is a bridge down there, there has to be some way to get to it.” He quietly said turning to examine the area better. That’s when he noticed the small opening at the back of the wall. It was big enough for a grown man to squeeze through, but the descent would have to be one at a time. Not sure if there was a way to get down, he moved to get a closer look. Just below the opening, there was a rope ladder hanging down the wall of the cliff, slightly pulling against the iron circles that held it in place. It looked like it lead to another shelf about twenty feet down and directly below them. Laying on his stomach he poked his head through the gap to make sure and groaned at the considerably smaller size of that shelf, but it did have a small door in the stone cliff that they might be able to get through. “Well, at least there is that.” He sighed and pushed himself back up, to go wake up the kids.

Once they were up and moving around, he quickly told them what they were going to do and then lowered himself onto the rope ladder first. Hooking his arm through one of the loops he reached up to get Rabbit, as Caleb carefully helped her onto the ladder. Securing, her against him, by putting her in his shirt and tying it under her butt, so tightly that it cut into his waist he was able to move down a little in order to give Caleb some room.

It wasn’t long before they were making their slow icy descent down the rope ladder. The lower they got, the stronger the wind was as if trying to rip them away from the cliff wall. Caleb held on for as long as he could but ended up losing his grip, plummeting downward. Raleek was verily able to catch his wrist with his hurt arm and a grunt of pain escaped his lips. Gritting his teeth, he slowly pulled the boy back up to where he could latch onto his back and hang on. Which left Raleek carrying both children down the ladder through the burning pain that erupted within him.

“Hang on.” Raleek hissed and Caleb quickly wrapped himself around him. Once the boy had a tight hold on him, he let go with his hurt arm and returned it to the rope rungs of the ladder. They had at least twenty more feet to go before they were once again on solid ground. When his feet touched down, he stumbled towards the cliff face and jerked open the worn stone door. The scraping of stone on stone was unnerving, but he ignored it and ducked inside as soon as he could. Catching his breath he let Caleb slide off his back and pulled the door shut once again.

“Alright, let's just rest for a moment.” He said between breaths as he laid his good hand on his hurt shoulder once again.

“Where do you think it goes?” Caleb whispered drawing his attention to the spiral stairway leading down.

“I don’t know, but when we head down there, you need to stay behind me.” Raleek quietly responded pushing off the wall and checking on Rabbit who had been silent the whole time. She looked up at him stuffing her fingers into her mouth. Sure, that she was fine he looked at the boy staring into the darkness that the stairs descended into. Caleb had tied, Raleek’s cloak around his own shoulders to carry and the ends of it, drug on the dirt-covered floor.

“There is something down there,” Caleb whispered as if he could see something. It was just a sense that he had, and it held his attention.

“I’m sure that there is.” Raleek sighed and moved past him to head down the stone steps first. The boy instantly fell into step right behind him. “There is a lot about this chasm that nobody knows.” He whispered using his special eyes to see into the darkness.

Caleb stuck close enough to Raleek that he could feel the kid's body heat as they inched down the stairs. He had no idea where the steps lead, but the area was only wide enough for the steps to go through. Raleek kept his hands on the stone walls in case there was a door on the way, but there was nothing by the time they came to the bottom of the steps. That was the only exit for them to take. Caleb’s eyes instinctively turned toward the ceiling, he could swear that there was something moving along the ceiling above them, but it was too dark to make sure. Raleek sensed it too and carefully pulled the boy in between him and the door. Whatever it was, was watching them, but he couldn’t sense its motives for doing so.

“Try to open the door,” Raleek whispered keeping his eyes firmly on the gaze of whatever it was up there. All he could see was its glowing eyes and that was if he used his own abilities. People who couldn’t see beyond the norm would never be able to see them. Caleb nodded and started pulling on the door using all his weight. It took several attempts, but he finally managed to get it to inch open. Without taking his eyes off the potential threat, Raleek reached out and help him pull it open the rest of the way, then he motioned for the boy to slip out first, making sure that he was right behind him. Once they were outside once again he quickly shut it and exhaled. Could things get any more intense?

“It’s a stone bridge, but I can’t see where it leads to. Is there really another side?” Caleb questioned with a child-like curiosity.

“Yeah, there is, but let sit here for a minute so you guys can eat.” Raleek calmly instructed as he pulled the pouch of jerky off his belt. The boy took it and hungrily opened it pulling out some of the dried meat. Then he handed it to Rabbit before getting himself some. When he offered some to him, he politely declined and leaned back against the stone wall to rest for a moment. He knew he was pushing his limits and he would have to get some real sleep soon. In order to do that he was going to have to find someplace safe enough for them to stay for a little while and that place seemed like a distant dream to his exhausted senses.

After the children's hunger was temporarily sated, they started across the snow-covered bridge. Thankfully there were some sections with walls on them and that helped slow the tugging of the strong winds a little. Then there were sections where they were blasted with blizzard-like gusts that they had to lean against in order to continue forward. Raleek would often have to play the stable factor, which slowed their pace considerably. The gust was sometimes just too strong for the boy to fight against, and he would often cling to Raleek’s arm in order to keep from being blown off. They were about halfway across with the wind suddenly dying down and the howling that pierced the silence was definitely a banshee's wail.

“Cover your ears and don’t listen to her,” Raleek shouted covering Rabbit’s ears. Caleb tried his best to do as he was told, but his features, still twisted in pain.

Knowing that he had to do something, Raleek looked up trying to find the horrid creatures, and noticed that they were moving within the fog cloud, pushing it closer to them. He gritted his teeth, fighting the urge to cover his ears instead of Rabbit’s and he was fairly sure that if this kept up his ears would be bleeding before too long.

Suddenly a banshee swooped out of the fog and raced toward the boy and Raleek quickly forced the kid to duck releasing Rabbit’s ears for only a second before covering them back up. Using his body to shield the boy, he forced them both down closer to the ground to avoid the sudden attack.

“Run….” He shouted as more began to dive down toward them. Caleb scrambled to his feet and raced forward, while Raleek stumbled after him, still trying to protect Rabbit in the process. The phantom creatures paid little attention to him and the girl as they shot after the boy running at full speed, trying to get to the other side. It didn’t take long for him to realize that they were after him instead of them, he didn’t have time to question it further sense one of them grabbed ahold of the necklace he was wearing and the boy grabbed it too, holding onto it despite the obvious fact that they only wanted that necklace. “Let them have it.” He said hooking his arm around the boy's waist in passing, but the kid wasn’t about to let the object go. Rotating he threw his weight into a swing, that landed hard on the banshee's arm, forcing it to let the pendant go. Caleb on the other hand still held onto it as if his life depended on it.

“What are you doing? Let them have the damn thing. It's not worth your life.” He tried to press on the boy, as he continued running across the bridge.

“No! Never!” Caleb screamed wiggling enough to force Raleek to drop him before he scrambled to his feet and took off protecting the necklace with everything he had. Raleek scowled as the boy vanished into the fog in front of them, and quickly shot forward to follow him. That damn thing had better be worth the aggravation if the kid was going to act like that. The ever-growing number of Banshees shot into the fog after him and Raleek had to focus on every single move. Increasing his speed, he easily closed the distance between him and the boy, but he couldn’t slow down, so he hooked the boy once again while shooting as fast as he could in the direction, they had been traveling in. The banshees nipped at his heels, but he managed to stay ahead of them for now. If this bridge didn’t end soon, they were all going to die, because he couldn’t keep up the agility to dodge and weave through them for too long.

Just when he was sure that they were going to get them, the bridge gave way under his feet, and they found themselves swiftly sliding downward into darkness. It didn’t take a genius to realize that he had sprung some kind of trap in his haste and unfortunately there wasn’t any getting out of it at this pace. Good thing was that they were sliding far too fast for the banshees to get to them, but the bad thing was that the slide was about to end, sending them into the air. Cussing he secured his hold on Caleb before, they became air-born, Caleb screamed in wide-eyed horror as they shot toward the solid stone.

“F***!” Raleek screamed, managing to somehow twist himself around so that he hit the cliff wall first, but instead of certain death on impact, they went straight through the stone, and he realized that it was some kind of illusion, just a second before he slammed into an overgrown mushroom, that shattered upon being hit. It slowed them down and cushioned their fall though, and he was grateful for that until both kids slammed down on him, once again knocking the air from his lungs.

“Woe… That was cool.” Caleb breathed pushing himself up to look around at the enchanted area they had landed in. If he could Raleek would have laughed, but as it was, he was trying to catch his breath, and make sure that Rabbit wasn’t hurt. She seemed perfectly fine too, and he had to undo the knot in his shirt to let her crawl off from him and not to mention the tightness was making it a little harder to breathe normally.

“OOO, pretty.” The girl finally said something as her wide eyes looked around at the glowing mushroom and sparkling water. The place looked like something out of a fairy tale, but its beauty was lost on Raleek who rolled onto his elbows in order to get up.

“What is this?” he asked when he was finally able to collect himself and reach out to hold the pendant. “Why do they want it? And don’t lie to me kid.” He sternly stated.

“It’s a key.” Caleb solemnly answered pulling it out of Raleek’s hand and tucking it back into his shirt.

“A key to what?” Raleek pressed, if it was going to be a risk to their lives, he better damn sure know why…... “A key to what?” He repeated the question more firmly.

Caleb jumped slightly and then hung his head keeping his hand securely wrapped around the object through his shirt. He knew that he had to tell Raleek the truth if he wanted to keep the help.

“It's the key to the realm of nightmares. If the banshees get it, then the world as we know it will end and life will become our greatest fears.” He quietly stated, using the words that his father had used when he had asked that same question.

“Are the Harpies’ after it too?” Raleek sighed resting his balled-up fist on his hips.

“No, they're after Rabbit.” Caleb quietly responded. “They think she can give them control over the nightmares if they get her.”

“Right…. Of course, it would be something like this, given my luck.” He relented running his hand through his hair like he often did when he was stressed out about something. “Well, we can’t let either get what they want now can we?” He calmly said relieving the boy's apparent worry. Caleb shook his head in agreement but remained silent.

“Well, we need to rest, and it doesn’t look like they are coming in here. So, now seems like a good time to do that.” Raleek softly said sitting back down as he looked up at the banshee’s veering away from the section of illusion that he and the kids had passed through. He wondered if that was what the illusion was for? Was it placed there as protection against the creatures by the ancient civilization that once dwell in this place? He laid back and draped his arm over his eyes to rest them and was surprised when Rabbit curled up next to his side and fell asleep fairly quickly. He couldn’t blame her; she had been through a lot in the past hours and that could exhaust a small child. “Don’t wander off.” He told Caleb who sat down next to them and just stared at the scenery. The boy wasn’t going to go anywhere and Raleek somehow knew that, so he was able to fall to sleep.