Thicker Than Blood

Chapter 5

Bloodreaver Alpha


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"You saw that I was a kid and you underestimated me."
- Chang Wufei, Gundam Wing

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Timeless

In times of desperation, humans have a tendency to do very stupid things.

I've noticed.

They panic when they become afraid.

Not all of them.

No, not all, but enough that smart ones are obsolete. When faced with fear, humans make very foolish mistakes. They become so scared that even if the solution is in their hands, they cannot see it.

It is hardly their fault. They are weak; they have much to fear. It is easy for ones such as you and I to condone their fear, but we are not mortal. We are not forced to contend the same troubles as they, so of course they seem weak to us.

Oh no. That is not what I meant at all. You think I am judging them? You think they are weak? Then it is you who are foolish.

...Excuse me?

Can you not see it? They are the strongest beings in existence.

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12,003 BC

"We're lost."

"We are not."

"Are too."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"Did I ask for your opinion? Do you know where we are? Have you spent you entire life in these forests? No, I think not. Be quiet and keep walking."

Janus knew exactly where they were, and it was not on the way to Algetty. They were walking along parallel to the Earthbound village, skirting a forest of dead trees. They were actually closer to a Skyway.

"Algetty is that way," he informed her, pointing.

"I know. We're just two little kids, not a hunting party of warriors, and I'm trying to avoid deer territory. Unless you think you can take on a whole herd, Your Highness."

Janus growled, stumbling along in the snow behind Ivy. They had been trudging for a good while and his muscles were incredibly sore. The cold air burned his throat when he inhaled, and Janus held his hand over his nose. The cloth of his sleeve was warmed by his breath, as was the frigid air passing through it, and it even helped his fingers regain some feeling. After a moment, he held up his other hand.

The forest was ominously still. In the tops of the trees, the wind was wandering aimlessly, stirring about the branches, knocking snow to the ground in great plops. The sky was dark, a vast and boundless void of blackness. Falling snowflakes looked for a moment like stars against it, then the wind swirled them into a formless mush. Glancing at the trees, Janus was uneasy despite himself. The dark spaces between the trunks were unnerving. Fierce red eyes glowered at him from the corner of his vision, winking out whenever he tried to get a proper look at them. A branch cracked, loud as a thunderbolt, and he started, bumping into the girl. It jarred the quiver of arrows, twisting the snap and dumping the bolts out on the snow.

He dropped to his knees in the snow and started gathering up the arrows. After a moment of silence spent glaring at him, she joined him.

"Two things make a sound like that," she said after a while. She didn't look up at him. "Snow weighs on a branch until it snaps, or the sap in the trees gets frozen. It expands, and the bark explodes." She stuffed the arrows recklessly into the quiver.

"Oh." He held out his half of the arrows, but snatched his hand away when she reached for them. Ivy looked up, blue eyes impassive. Janus gifted her with his best fake-smile before letting her have the arrows. He strengthened his resolve. Schala needed him to find out what was going on down here and no bitchy little girl was going to get in the way. Ivy retied the broken strap and they both stood up.

A fierce blast of wind rocked the trees, bending the weaker ones, sending branches crashing to the ground. It stirred the snow into a cloud and for a moment it was all Janus could see. The howling wind ceased abruptly and the snow it had swirled fell just as suddenly. He looked at Ivy. There was snow all over her ragged clothes and stuck in her dark hair, and her eyes were wild with fear.

"Something's wrong," Ivy said, her voice small and quivering. She turned around, catching hold of his arm, clinging to him desperately. He was too baffled to fight her off. She pressed against his back, clutching his robes to prevent him from dislodging her, keeping him between her and -- he saw it. All the breath in his body rushed out, replaced instantly with a cold terror.

It was standing in a fringe of trees, breathing deeply, staring around. It hadn't seen them yet.

It did not look like a deer. It looked like a demon. The creature was at least four times the size of any normal deer, cannibal or no. Its shaggy fur was mud-brown, hanging down to its knees, and almost obscuring its glowing orange eyes. A crown of antlers so thick they looked like small trees twisted over its head. Bloodstained fangs jutted at odd angles from under its lips. Dark ruby-colored liquid soaked the hair around its jaws and throat, dripping from its mouth to fall hissing into the snow. Clouds of steam billowed from its nostrils every time it exhaled. Its body was massive. Huge muscles bulged from beneath the thick coat.

'What the hell?!'

'Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods. No, please, no no no no.' She was hysterical, trembling and even crying. Her arms were so tightly wrapped around him he had trouble breathing.

'What is it? Girl -- Ivy -- answer me!'

'Bloodreaver Alpha. He's a demon from Mount Woe. Oh gods, this wasn't supposed to happen, he wasn't supposed to be here, they said nothing about him being here!'

The creature took a slow step forward, cloven hooves sinking deep into the snow. Thickly corded muscles rippled under its skin visibly when it moved. It took another step, and stopped. It spread its massive forelegs apart for balance, raising its muzzle and sniffing the air. Its head turned in their direction and those glowing eyes narrowed. A low grunt rumbled from its throat.

'Its coming this way!' Janus pushed back, trying to get Ivy to let him go so he could run. It was worse than a nightmare, worse than the voices and the black wind. This monster was real. Fear made his hands shake, and his heart pound in his chest.

'No no no no no...'

'Get a hold of yourself! What in hell are we supposed to do?!'

'I don't know! Gods, we're going to die, he's going to kill us, we-'

A chilling bellow rolled from the deer's throat, loud and echoing like thunder. It was floundering through the deep snow near the trees, getting closer and closer to the hard-packed road. The glowing orange eyes were wide as was its bloody mouth. Janus noticed in horrified fascination that its tongue was a deep dark blue.

Janus finally pried Ivy's arms off him. He snatched her hand before she could grab him again and pulled her in a dead run towards the trees. Maybe if they could climb high enough it would go away or her arrows would be of some use. 'Shut up and run!'

"Its no use, he's too fast." She sounded just as terrified as he felt and her hand shook in his grasp. Her eyes were pleading. "I don't want to die."

"Then run," Janus said through clenched teeth. The fingers of her other hand were clawing at his wrist, trying to get him to let her go. He tightened his grip grimly. Ivy had their only weapons and he didn't know how to use them. Otherwise he would have been glad to let her go to be a distraction to the deer so he would have a better chance of escaping.

There was another earsplitting bellow from behind them, sounding at the same moment Janus and Ivy hit the deep snow at the edges of the trees. Janus sunk in to his knees, and was horrified to find that running through knee-deep snow was like running through knee-deep water; you were actually wading and barely moving at all. He cursed silently, fervently hoping their short head start would keep them alive long enough to reach the trees.

Ivy's hand stiffened in his suddenly and she screamed, jerking away from him. Janus whirled around. The monster was only a few feet behind them. Its eyes were glowing madly, its breath coming in heaving droughts that sent clouds of steam billowing outward. It was only then, at such close distance, that Janus noticed the festering maggot-riddled wound along its belly.

Ivy was beside him, fumbling with the daggers at her waist. She couldn't' wrench her gaze away from its eyes. Her hand hit the hilt of one dagger and she jerked it free. The sharp movement dislodged the quiver from her shoulder; its hastily fastened snap broke again and the arrows tumbled out onto the snow. The creature -- what had she called it...? Bloodreaver -- bellowed again on sight of the weapon. It hit the deep snow and paused, hesitant to enter where it wouldn't be able to move as fast as its prey.

Ivy's dagger caught it directly in the center of one furious glowing eye, drawing a roar of pain and fury so loud Janus felt the snow shake around his legs. Hot ruby-colored liquid gushed from the wound and Bloodreaver shook its head violently to try and dislodge the weapon.

'What the hell are you waiting for? Run, damn you!' Her frantic voice broke into his mind.

'But-'

"Just go, it isn't you he wants!"

Bloodreaver lunged forward suddenly, sending up a spray of pink blood-flecked snow. Ivy turned and ran, slipping through the space between two trees mere seconds before Bloodreaver slammed into them behind her. For moment it just stood there, silent but for the heaving of its breath and then Janus realized it was stuck; its shoulders were too massive to push through, its crown of antlers too wide to pull back. It grunted furiously, throwing its heavy body from side to side, trying to free its head.

If Janus was going to do something, he knew this would be his only chance. The trees were actually beginning to uproot under Bloodreaver's violent thrashing. But what could he do? He had no weapons, no magic, nothing. Janus took a step backwards, looking frantically around for something, anything -- the arrows. He dropped to his knees, quickly gathering as many of the scattered bolts as he could. Maybe at such close range they could wound Bloodreaver enough to slow him down -- if they couldn't outright kill him. Hurry, hurry, hurry, he chanted silently as he ran toward Ivy, who was lying in the snow, where she'd tripped and fell after squeezing through the trees.

"Here, hurry, before he-"

"Too late," she whispered.

There was a thunderous cracking sound and Janus whirled around, dropping the arrows. Bloodreaver was floundering on his side in the snow, but suddenly the predatory deer wasn't the most important threat. One of the trees it'd been wedged between had been pulled up by the roots and was falling. Janus could only stare at it, transfixed. It swayed for a moment, its branches caught in the branches of other trees, and then the branches were snapping and falling around him and the tree was falling too, faster and faster -- something slammed into him from the side, knocking him out of the way and on his face in the snow.

Janus quickly scrambled to his feet and whirled around. Ivy was pinned beneath the tree, one of the thicker branches pressed over her waist.

And then he felt the hot, steamy breath on his neck and suddenly the tree wasn't so important anymore. He turned around slowly. Yes, there it was, the living nightmare right in his face, scarcely a foot away. Dear gods, the rotting smell of flesh and the stench of fresh blood was enough to kill a man on its own. Janus took faltering steps backward until his back was pressed against the branch Ivy was under. Bloodreaver paused a moment -- please, gods, oh please please please, no no no -- and then, decisively, took its own steps forward until its blood drenched hairy muzzle was almost pressed against Janus' chest.

Bloodreaver Alpha took three deep breaths, and Janus robes lifted off his body when it inhaled. The dagger had fallen out of its surreal ghostly eye and blood was streaming freely down its cheek to melt a pool in the snow. Then the Bloodreaver took a deep breath, opened its mouth and roared its raw bestial fury so loud Janus felt his body vibrate and his eardrums pop. He squeezed his eyes shut. Hot flecks of blood and saliva splattered on his face and he tried not to breathe. The noise gradually fell in pitch and then stilled. Janus' eyes flew open as it rolled its lips back off its fangs -- oh gods no -- and lowered its head.

"No," Janus whispered, closing his eyes again. "No, go away, leave me alone..." He waited for the feel of those bloody fangs sinking into his flesh, ripping and tearing until he was dead and his blood spilled out over the white snow...  The teeth never came. He opened his eyes.

Bloodreaver was staring at him, its one remaining eye glowing fiercely. It had closed its mouth and retreated a step.

What the hell...? "Leave," Janus hissed through his teeth. "Go away and leave me alone."

It swung its head back towards him and roared again, even louder than before.

"Go away!" Janus shouted back. His eyes closed again. His hands clenched into fists at his sides. "Go away and leave us alone!"

It left. Slowly, after glaring at him for what felt like eternity, it turned and walked quietly into the trees.

Janus stood very still staring at the place it vanished for a long time after it was gone. Ivy managed to dig herself free of the branch, pushing the snow away until she could wiggle out.

"He left. You...you told him to go and...he actually left." Her face swirled in his vision, her voice sounding as if she were speaking to him from underwater. "...Are you okay?"

Janus took the only course of action left available to him. He fainted.

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