Chapter 12
The dark closes in and my heart sings. A sense of relief permeates my being and I rest, suspended in the peaceful calm that surrounds me. A thought swims through my mind, nudging at the edges of my consciousness as if for attention yet I refuse its reality. I have no understanding why it should be so but I do not wish to think.
I float.
An eternity passes, or no time at all.
There is only us. The darkness and I.
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~o~
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Bat cried out in relief as the elf crumpled forwards. He had only spotted the tall figure creeping up behind the feral creature at the last moment, so transfixed by fear had he been.
"Mack!" He had never been so relieved to see the other man in his life.
"Hey Lad, did he hurt you?" Reaching down the older man helped the younger to his feet and stood, appraising him for signs of harm.
"Nay, nay." Bat gabbled in relief. "I seen it though Mack! I seen him do it, like you said! If it wasn't for you knocking him out like that I'd be dead as that orc."
Mack followed his gesture and felt the bile rise in his throat as he saw a goblin with, what he first took to be a pale rope, twisted around its neck, but on closer inspection turned out to be the intestine of another of the ugly creatures laying, gutted, close by.
"Calm down lad." He patted the youth's shoulder uncomfortably. "They can't get you now."
"Its not them." Bat turned huge, frightened eyes on his friend. "It was him." He pointed to the elf who remained unconscious at their feet. "I saw him Mack, just like you said. I saw him suck the life outta that orc." He paused and stared across at the dead goblins. A shiver ran through him as he continued, "And he laughed as he did it!" He began to shake uncontrollably. "And then he looked at me Mack, he looked at me, and I knew I was next. And his eyes were so dark but the smile. Oh Gods the smile." Tears began to course down his cheeks leaving white streaks in the grimy flesh.
"Hey, come now."
The older man placed an arm around Bat's shoulders in an effort to lend some comfort. He had seen this before, the shock that often came after a battle as you realised just how close death had come.
"Here. Drink this." Macklin smiled gratefully as Tomis walked up and held out a small flask. "Small sips mind." He said gently as Bat raised the proffered flask to his lips to take a drink, then sprayed it out again.
"What. Is. That!" The youth coughed out as the two older men shared a grin over his head.
"Whiskey." Tomis laughed as he thumped the youth between his shoulder blades. "Warm you right through it will."
"Warm?" Bat spluttered. "It burns!" He looked askance at the flask now being held out to him by Macklin. "What's that?"
"Water lad." The older man smiled. "Just water, it'll cool your throat off."
Bat took the proffered flask and sniffed it gingerly before taking a small sip. Once he was certain that it was, indeed, only water he gulped a large swallow.
"That's better," he grinned. "Thanks."
After returning the container to the older man his eyes once more returned to the prone figure at their feet.
"Is he dead?"
"Nah," Macklin nudged the elf with his booted toe. "I told you lad, them's immortal, he's just stunned that's all."
"What do we do with him now then?"
The three men stood staring down at the gore stained figure and Bat shivered as he remembered the look in the elfs eyes.
"Kill him!" The vehemence in the youth voice made his companions start.
"I don't know if that's such a good idea lad." Macklin drawled slowly, "Where there's one elf there's usually more, and we don't want to go stirring up more trouble for ourselves now do we." He glanced at Tomis who was carefully scanning the trees. "You won't see 'em if they don't want you to you know." The other man shrugged and looked back down at the elf.
"We should tie him up for now anyways." He began to remove his belt. "Just in case like. We don't want him creeping up on us again." He bent and roughly wound the leather strap around the elf's ankles. "Here, you do his arms with yours now Bat."
The young man hesitated for only a second before quickly unfastening his own belt and kneeling to bind the flaccid arms, grimacing at the black gore staining the pale flesh. With one last tug he pulled the belt tight enough to cut into the elf's wrists then rose to his feet and looked around.
"Where's Ail and Jeb?" The sudden realisation of their absence made his stomach clench and he looked over to Tomis, noticing the pained expression that quickly passed over his face.
"Ah, Jeb is, uh. " Tomis, unable to vocalise the words, gestured vaguely over to his right. "He's over there lad, he didn't, didn't make it." His voice petered out as the three men walked over to where their comrade had fallen.
Staring down at the sightless corpse Bat felt detached, unreal, as if none of this was actually happening. He saw again the orcish blade as it had swung down across his friends body, slicing the deep, diagonal cut, crimson blood spurted, garish in his minds eye and he felt again the certainty of death he had not wanted to acknowledge at the time. But he felt nothing. No sorrow, no pain, no grief. it was as if it were happening to somebody else and he was watching from the sidelines, not close enough to be involved.
"And Ailred?" Bat's voice was flat and unemotional, most unlike the normal excited chatter his companions had oft complained made them feel breathless for him. "Is he dead too?"
"I do not know," Tomis watched the young man warily, unsettled by his lack of emotion. "Though, I have not properly looked yet."
"Well, that's what we should be doing then," Maklin broke in, his falsely bright words sounding out of place amongst the dead orcs. "I reckon, he'll have been right in the thick of it, so that's where we better start." He placed a hand on Bat's shoulder and squeezed briefly. "Let's all look together, eh, he ain't going nowhere?" He nodded across to where the bound figure of the elf still lay insensate.
Bat nodded slowly, his eyes still fixed upon the corpse at his feet, as if he had not really understood the words and the two older men shared a knowing glance over his head before taking an arm each and gently leading him away.
Dead orcs seemed to cover the ground as far as the eye could see and the three men searched for their friend with mounting despair. Reaching down to finger an arrow, deeply lodged within the neck of one of the foul beasts a memory of the rush of air past his cheek, followed by the dull squelch of wood piercing flesh brought Bat's mind back to the battle and a puzzled expression settled on his features.
"I don't remember anyone bringing a bow." He stated slowly.
"None of us did." Maklin replied reaching to pull the arrow from its gory mark. "Elvish" he stated, examining the fletched end. "Most likely, anyway." He qualified as the others stared sceptically at him. "Definitely not orcish, too well made, and we didn't bring it so it stands to reason, must have been the elf's." He smiled, pleased with his own logic.
"C'mon, lets see if we can find Ail."
Bat felt that the search for their erstwhile leader would stay in his memory for a long time, and would surely send him nightmares at times of stress for years to come. The orcs had not died easily, or quickly and body parts lay strewn around the area surrounded by the black gore of their blood. Walking through the sea of mutilated flesh had his stomach constantly rebelling and the youth eventually gave up trying to keep it under control, allowing it release behind the trees on enough occasions to leave him heaving dryly, and painfully, once it was finally emptied.
It was Maklin who eventually found what they had been searching for. Spotting the battered leather boots, too small to belong to an orc, sticking out from under the bodies of two of the largest goblins they had seen yet.
"You hold them steady lad." Maklin had told Bat as he and Tomis began to push at the huge corpses in an effort to roll them away. "We just need to Ughhh!" He broke of with a loud grunt as the bodies finally shifted to reveal Ailred's pale, motionless body.
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~o~
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Suspended my thoughts begin, at last, to probe the darkness that surrounds me and I realise I have been here before, memories begin to filter through, of peace, of ease, of a sense of belonging, of love.
And of a voice.
Faint, grey, smoke like tendrils begin to softly caress my face, almost too soft to feel, and a gentle breeze ruffles my hair. The wisps thicken and begin wrap around my limbs, pulling insistently, dragging me deeper into the darkness. For a moment I feel my heartbeat quicken as panic threatens to overtake me, I twist and turn, entangling myself further within the insistent bonds. I open my mouth to scream but then I hear it. And peace rushes through me.
"Hush now, come to me little leaf."
And I let go, allow myself to be borne away. Safe in the warm cocoon of its love.
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~o~
.
Bat surreptitiously wiped his eyes as the three men stood looking down at the shallow graves they had managed to scrape in the packed earth, a distance away from the foul creatures responsible for their deaths. The last resting place of their fallen comrades. They lay, side by side, bronze coins upon their closed eyes, covered over by a well worn blanket, awaiting the final covering of soil and rocks that would, hopefully guard them from any scavengers.
Bat looked up as Maklin began to intone a quiet prayer to ensure their souls safe journey, surprised by the gentle reverence within his, usually gruff and ribald, voice. Then as his words died away he bent down to scoop up a handful of soil and threw it onto the open grave. The other two followed his lead and for a moment silence fell, the trees stilled, birds and insects ceased calling as if they too paid their respects to the dead.
"Aye, well." Tomis' voice grated after the lack of sound. "They won't bury themselves."
Picking up the shovel usually used for digging traps for small animals, he began to fill in the graves.
Eventually the task was completed and a single cairn of rocks coverd the spot where both men had been lain to rest. The three remaining hunters stood in silence for a moment once more before Maklin turned to Bat with a grin.
"Right then." He patted the young man on the shoulder, "We best see if your Elf is awake yet."
"Oh!" Bat blinked in surprise. He had completely forgotten about the elf. "What if he's escaped?" He shuddered, eyes darting worriedly around the trees, imagining the terrifying creature sneaking up behind them.
"Nah!" Maklin grinned, "I hit him good, he won't know who he is for a week!"
Tomis laughed and they began to walk back to where they had left their captive but as they walked Bat's apprehension grew. He found himself stopping to look behind, the back of his neck prickling as if someone were staring at him from the trees, but each time he did so he could see nobody there. Shaking his head, he eventually decided that it was all in his mind and rushed to catch up with the two older men once more.
It was just as they had returned to the, mercifully, unconscious elf that the noise began. It was a loud, screeching wail like nothing Bat had heard before, rising in pitch until they covered their ears in pain. It stopped as suddenly as it had started.
"What the ?"
"Run!"
Bat's expletive was drowned out by Mack's urgent shout before he was grabbed by the arm and pulled vigorously towards the cover of the trees.
"What?" The youth stumbled after the older man with Tomis hard on their heels. "Why?" He twisted to get free of Mack's grip.
"Don't ask lad, just run." Tomis called as he raced past them both, with a speed Bat had never seen from him before, encouraging Maklin to increase his own pace to match.
For a second Bat stood still, mind whirling, wondering what on earth had come over his companions before coming to and turning to race after his friends but as he did so his foot caught on a root, sending him sprawling to the ground. As he struggled back to his feet he glanced back the way they had come and his heart leapt into his mouth. There, standing like a statue beside the bound elf, was a tall, figure completely covered by a hooded black robe.
Bat shivered as the very air seemed to chill, standing frozen like a rabbit caught in a lantern's light then the figure moved and his heart began to pound within his chest. Unable to look away the youth stood transfixed as the cowled head slowly swivelled in his direction and he felt as if his soul was being searched by a gaze he could not see. How long it lasted he could not say, until the figure suddenly made a pushing motion with its right hand and Bat found himself flying backwards through the air, as an unseen force pushed into his chest, sending him crashing heavily into an oak tree. As his head snapped back to connect violently with the gnarled trunk in an explosion of stars he briefly wondered if he was going to die before his eyes closed and he knew no more.
A/N
Another cliffie for you all. I just can't help it I'm afraid, but hey, we all love a little suspense don't we!
Thanks for reading so far and I hope I manage to keep you entertained.
Special thanks go to - high funcioning fangirl, estaron, superchick66, BlackMinx17, Miracles in the dark, Horsegirl01, and the anonymous guest for their kind words and encouragement. it really helps a lot to know you're out there with me guys :)
Again, thanks for reading and hey! You could always get in touch too and tell me how you think its going ;)