Veins of Kings

PART 2:

A frog's croak finally broke the silence after what seemed like an eternity. Then slowly the dark woods came back to life with the sound of crickets, birds, and other nocturnal critters. It was comforting to the three men.

"Rygon, what was that?" Shimly asked.

Rygon looked to Vooli, "....Vooli?" Rygon passed the question.

"Not sure... but do not let your guards down." Vooli said and the other two agreed.

"The rumors must have been right. Demons, it really was demons the entire time." Rygon said.

"We should turn back, before we see that thing again, lets go and tell the villa..."

"We're closer to the valley now than the village, we can camp there where we wont be surrounded by darkness and trees." Rygon interrupted Shimly.

"But if the demons are real then the dragons must be real too, right?" Shimly tried to convince the men to turn back.

Rygon looked at Shimly then to Vooli. "Vooli, you're the only one who has experience in a real battle, what do you think?"

Vooli thought for a moment. "We knew what we may face when we came, and that thing, it seemed scared of us. It fled as tho we are the threat." Vooli started. He paused to listen to the croaks of the frogs and the sounds of the grasshoppers in the forest. "How long until the valley Rygon?" he asked.

"At least another two hours to the valley, and about 5 more until morning." Rygon answered, "I agree the creature looked scared. What good is an undead horse against three real ones?"

"Well I vote we go back to the village" Shimly said.

"Shimly you know why we're here, think of you're father. We may have already found the creature we needed to find, if we can conquor this beast and find where it lives we may find the missing people." Rygon said.

"I have not forgotten Rygon, nor could I ever forget." Shimly said. He took a deep breath and started trotting foward past the other two.

Vooli and Rygon looked at each other and followed.

A quiet hour passed as the men rode along the path. Finally Shimly broke the silence.

"If there are dragons in the valley we should cross tonight and make camp on the other side. The stories always say that dragons hunt during the day and sleep at night."

"Yes, there are many great tales about slumbering dragons. We left at the perfect time to sneak past the villagers and to hopefully sneak past the dragons before they wake." Rygon explained. "This path will lead us to the great bridge and I think there's very little chance that any dragons will be in that specific part of the valley." Rygon said. "The valley is enormous."

The conversation made Shimly feel better, who was no longer leading the three but was to the right of Rygon, who was in the center. A small pond was now sitting to the right of the trail past a thick wall of trees and down a small slope and the smell of rotting fish was slowly starting to fill the air. It was hard to make out the pond in the night and through the trees, but when it could be seen the water was darker than the deepest of caves and gave Shimly the inclination that it was a completely empty void in space.

"How close are we now?" Shimly asked while observing the pond as it disappeared behind the brush and thick trees, with his nose scrunched.

"We could be there any moment. Our pace is slow, so it might take longer than usual." Rygon explained. "Although I don't remember that pond."

"You don't!?" You do know where we are right?" Shimly asked.

"Of course Shimly! There is only one path and we have not left it. Believe me, have I ever misguided you Shimley?" Rygon assured Shimly.

Shimly has known Rygon for all of his life and he never once lied or wronged him. Rygon was Shimly's best friend, and Shimly Rygon's.

"No, not once." Shimly admitted "But.."

"Hold" Vooli whispered and inturrupted their conversation.

The men stopped and looked around. They couldn't see or hear anything.

"What is it Vooli?" Rygon asked. "What do you see?"

"Do you hear that?" Vooli asked.

The other two men and took a moment to listen, but there was nothing but silence. Absolute silence.

"The silence... it's like before." Vooli said.

Suddenly the men understood. The unnatural silence was unnerving. The only thing breaking the dreadful quiet was Shimly's lantern shaking from his trembling hand and the sound of the horses breathing. Rygon and Shimly unsheathed their swords and Vooli drew his bow as they assessed the area. Eventually Shimly turned his latern to his right and faced down toward the slope leading to the pond. To his dread he saw the creatures two glowing eyes far closer to him than he could have expected. It was only two arms lengths away from him hidden in the darkness laying in the brush on the slope. He was petrified. He could conjure no sound other than his hand shaking the latern, rattling louder and louder as he grew more terrified. Vooli, unwise to Shimley's situation, lifted his lantern up to look directly above him only to discover that perched on a branch over their heads was another creature glaring down at them. At the same time Rygon started to faintly hear the sound of something galloping towards them, getting louder and louder.

"ABOVE!!" Vooli quaked. The creature leapt toward him from above.

"PO...PO..POND!!" Shimly finally managed to yell.

Vooli, still skillfully holding his lantern, shot an arrow and hit the creature in mid-air, which let out a screech as it fell. The stike damaged the creature enough for it to fall and brush off the side of Vooli. It landed hard and laid on the ground thrashing in pain.

At the same time the creature laying on the slope leapt and screeched as it tackled Shimly off his horse. The creature bit down on his arm with it's black and jagged teeth. Shimly let out a sceam as they both fell to the ground.

"Shimly!" Rygon yelled and swung his sword at the creature, striking its shoulder and cutting it deeply. It screeched in pain then bit Shimly on the shoulder while pinning him to the gound. Rygon tried to position his horse closer to get a finishing blow when the undead horse appeared, charging from the shadows. The galloping monster knocked Rygon off his horse and onto Shimly and the other creature, freeing Shimly from the creatures bite.

Vooli prepared to fire another arrow into the creature on the ground when another one leaped from the darkness to his left, biting his horse and gripping his leg with its clawed hands. Vooli drew his sword and slashed at the creature.

Before Rygon and Shimly could recollect themselves off the floor, the creature grabbed Shimly's leg and started dragging him toward the black pond.

"NO!" Rygon yelled, "FIGHT BACK SHIMLY!"

But Shimly was terrified. All he could manage to do was kick his legs and grab the ground helplessly as the creature dragged him toward the pond, pulling him through the thick and painful brush of the forest. Rygon, still holding his sword, got off the ground and ran toward the brush where Shimly was disappearing. He stepped slightly over Shimly and sliced the creatures face with his blade cutting its face and glowing eye. However the creatures grip seemed to strengthened as it moved quicker towards the pond. Shimly grabbed onto Rygon's leg, tripping him in the process. They were both now being dragged into the pond by the monster.

"Let go Shimly!" Rygon yelled as Shimly's panicked gripped seemed to unlock a hidden strength. "LET GO!" Rygon commanded. Finally Shimly let go, freeing Rygon. The creature was now halfway in the dark water, pulling Shimly as he struggled to grab the fleeting ground. Rygon leapt with his sword landing in the water with a splash, the blow he delivered finally put and end to the creature. It's powerful hand let go of Shimly's leg as it disappeared into the pond. Shimly and Rygon both sat as the creature sank, both partially submerged in the pond themselves. To their despair, suddenly three dark heads started to rise from the water and three more creatures crawled out from the depths of the pond.

"Move Shimly, move!" Rygon yelled. "Back up the slope! To the trail!" But as he yelled a creature pounced one Rygon from behind and bit his shoulder. Rygon yelled in pain and flipped the creature over the top of his head and over Shimly. Another creature that emerged from the pond grabbed Shimly and started pulling him into the pitch black water once again.

"Shimly! Damnit!!" Rygon yelled as Shimly was almost fully submerged. The creature pulling him had already disappeared into the water.

"Rygooon!" Shimly cried and reached for Rygon as his shoulders started to submerge into the black void.

As Rygon started to crawl and try to grab Shimly's hand, an arrow, passing so close to Rygon's head that he could feel his hair move from the air of its wake, struck the already submerged creature pulling Shimly. Then two more arrows landed directly in the heads of two more creatures that were crawling out of the pond. Rygon turned to see Vooli still mounted on the trail at the top of the incline, with his bow drawn. A small feeling of relief washed over Rygon before Vooli was rammed by the undead horse and disappeared from his view.

"Damn, Shimly! Let's get back to the trail! Hurry!" Rygon yelled as he turned back to Shimly, seeing more creatures emerge from the pond.

Shimly stumbled out of the water and ran back up the path in the brush that was created by his own dragged body. Rygon followed Shimly and swang his sword wildly at the creatures as he moved backwards keeping Shimly's pace. Finally they reach the top of the slope. Shimly fell on the trail and grabbed his sword. Rygon hopped back onto the trail. He could no longer see Vooli or their horses, but he could see lantern light further up the trail past a bend in the path.

Three creatures burst out from the brush and surrounded the two men, crawling around them as they whispered tongues. Then two more creatures came from the brush. One swiped at Shimly and cut his leg. They were getting closer and closer, swiping at and slashing the duo. When suddenly a sound rang from the path from which they came.

"Yooo Hoooo! Boys!" the voice rang from the darkness.

When suddenly a great white owl carrying a large bag appeared flying at great speed. It flew directly at the encirclment, and right as it was about to make impact, a great white light emanated from the owl, knocking over every creature with a seemingly powerful force. The two young men were unphased, if not slightly blinded and surprised by the light. The owl flew and dropped the bag in between the two, then flew and landed on the nearby branch and looked at them.

"Is that an owl?" Shimly asked.

Rygon looked at the creatures on the floor rolling around in pain, then looked at the bag. He picked it up to sort through it's belongings and found it to be full of random trinkets and odd objects. They seemed useless other than a large iron shield. He quickely pulled it out, tossed the bag to Shimly, and tied his lantern to his belt. The creatures recovered and began to circle them again. The owl poofed it's white feathers as it cawed and screeched at the creatures from it's branch.

Shimly watched as Rygon fought ruthlessly. He wielded the shield with great confidence, approaching close to the creatures, blocking their attacks before slicing them fatally. Although he was outnumbered, one after another the creatures fell to his mighty sword and agility. Eventually all of the creatures laid dead. As Rygon caught his breath they heard a voice come from the bag that Shimly was still holding.

"Hello? You fellas win?" the bag asked quietly. Shimly and Rygon looked at each other.

"What are you?" Rygon asked as Shimly fumbled through bag.

"It sounds like that new villager!" Shimly remarked as he fantically looked through seemingly random objects to find the source of the voice.

"That's right!" The voice said, "I'm Rellena, and my avian friend who brought you the bag is Filo."

Rygon looked at Filo who was still perched on the branch having watched everything. "Filo?," Rygon said to himself. Filo hooted.

"I sent you help! You are up against some nasty beings," She said, "and I'll talk you through some things. But first, was that all of them? Is everyone safe?" She asked.

Rygon's head shot up and looked down the path to no longer see Vooli's lantern light. "Vooli!" He yelled and started to run down the trail. "Come on Shimly!" Shimly closed the bag, grabbed his lantern, and followed after him.

"Wait! Open the bag! There are things that can help you." Rellena said.

"Wait Rygon!" Shimly called after Rygon, but was ignored. He slowed his pace and hesitantly fell far behind Rygon as he listened to the voice.

Rygon could see the lantern light again. It was around a bend in the path but it was getting brighter. As he ran, he passed a few slain creatures brandishing arrows and slash wounds laid out on the path. He finally reached the light and came to see Vooli, still on his horse, with 5 more dead monsters around his horses hooves. He was breathing heavy holding his sword up and pointed at the large dead horse before him. He was in a standoff with the beast, which no longer had a rider. Vooli had slain its conjurer, and was now dealing with the revived beast. The decrepit stallion got a running start and charged Vooli. The horses clashed and Vooli slashed the beast. Each horse stumbled but neither fell. The undead horse then took charge at Rygon who lept out of the way. It circled back and charged again, this time missing Vooli who managed to slice it's rotten side with his blade once more. Rygon ran to Vooli and they prepared for another charge from the beast. The stead circled back again and stampeded toward the two. They dodged in different directions, unvealing Shimly who was now just a few paces behind them. Rygon and Vooli noticed Shimly as the deathly horse charged straight toward him with frightening speed.

"Dodge!" Rygon yelled to Shimly.

But before the horse could reach him, Shimly lifted up a small trinket that exploded with a fountain of flames, torching the horse as it charged. Shimly dodged and rolled at the last second as the burning horse fell, letting out one final screech as it burned. He sat on the ground looking at the inflamed beast. Vooli and Rygon were slack-jawed in disbelief. Shimly looked at the trinket in his hand.

"Did it work?" the bag asked breaking a few seconds of silence. Vooli's jaw sank a little further toward ground.

"Umm yeah..." Shimly answered as he shook from the adrenaline filling his entire being.

"Great! It sounded perfect to me! You did great boys! See I told you you could do it! I have all kinds of stuff to show you, we just gotta get you through the night! Piece of cake!" Renella continued from the bag.

Vooli and Rygon sat in awe as the voice from the bag continued to compliment and encourage Shimly.

"Now if they're all gone and you boys are safe, allow me to fill you in on a few things...."