Blood Isle

Chapter Sixty-Four: Elyn's Debute

The dark sky had yet to hint of the coming dawn; Brenna's sleep had been troubled last night. It had begun with a faintly whispered warning; evil had sullied the ether's silence, its dark power grew steadily as its foul servants, forged their will.

Brenna stared into the darkness, contemplating this development; as she did so, listened to a breeze that spoke to her. It whispered such strange things, "Evil stirs the night, and blood has been the price. Gird yourself, sister, for battle approaches with the dark harvesters; they travel on swift wings, and their touch is as cold as the Dark Chasm," Brenna whispered to herself as she relived the memory. Confusing images shimmered in her mind, as reflections in a pool, constantly changing. Men screamed in agony as death hunted them; they were bereft of all hope as she saw their tragic ends.

Brenna sensed the evil within the creatures was cold and unrelenting, and she hunted its source swiftly as a henna hawk. A wolf whining within the trees below drew her rapid feathered approach; she could sense the inherent dark power of an evil entity as it sought to destroy its prey.  

The Neeri appeared in human form beside a tree and noted a black-winged shape had wounded a wolf. It was about to slay an SDU member; it was the panicked Dreena's pleas for help, that had drawn her feathered approach.

Brennan responded quickly with a powerful bolt that struck the black-scaled chest of the shadow -slayer about to slay the hapless Dreena. One of these killers had nearly killed Katar last night in an attack. The beast was about to slay the wolf it approached. Brenna felt the weak mind-link that had drawn her here. The significance of the episode had shaken the Neeri to her core; until now, no Dreena had ever managed such a feat before.

It was simply an ability that had manifested itself, that was not thought possible until now. The wolf's panicked pleas had drawn the Neeri here to her side. The wolf' whined loudly in agony as it lay there in agony. Brenna responded with a high-pitched blast from her staff, that wrested a loud cry of agony as it incinerated a potion of its flesh.

Before the shadow-slayer could recover, a second blast struck the side of its head and bowled it over in the leaves.
"Leave this place while I do battle with the beast. Flee, for your life," Brenna shouted to the vixen before her. The wolf departed as quickly as it could manage, as its hind leg had suffered a large bloody wound.

The shadow-slayer recovered swiftly from the blast, and struck with a savage roar that split the air. Brenna's next blast slammed into the fore of its head with a powerful impact that shattered its skull in twain. The creature silently went rigid, and then collapsed on the ground in a heap.

Brenna immediately searched the forest around her, for other winged killers that witnessed the battle from nearby trees. After killing the shadow-slayer before her, the others withdrew, while hissing evilly at her.

The shadow-slayers were fast and lethal, yet their level of intelligence respected absolute power. The winged ones, abandoned their hunt, took wing, and foresook this part of the forest.

The vixen's wound was such that her unit's members were building a crude stretcher. The wolf lay on the stretcher, moaning in pain; a measured portion of heaven's kiss was given to Elyn to chew, which she was able to accomplish. The stretcher markedly improved their Unit's travel ability; her unit picked up the vixen's crude stretcher and prepared to leave. Brenna kept watch; as a Dreena approached in human form.

"My name is Andor; I wish to thank you for stopping the beast; Elyn would have died if you had not intervened on her behalf. We owe you a blood debt for saving her life, this I swear," Andor said as he picked up a corner of the stretcher.

"You owe me nothing, kind sir, you needed help, and I was able to provide it. As long as any of us are there to help as we can, we will stand strong against the enemy," Brenna said with a smile.