The Trials of Deliverance - Aflunnge anFraeln

Chapter II - Cities of the Kyllistidane

          Talver ran the horses well into the night, the frigid wind biting at his face as he increased speed. He was followed closely behind by not only the deafening whispers, which had become familiar to him now, having been on the road for over an hour, but also the new sounds of screeching and howling. Talver looked all around him, in between the trees, just watching, were females of some kind. They seemed to be the source of the screeching, with their mouths hanging, unnaturally wide open. Behind him, there were now five or six more shadows chasing them, weaving from tree to tree to avoid the light of the twin moons which was becoming more and more uncovered by the clouds moving off. Talver unsheathed Silfbitr and grabbed the barrel of salt from the back.

          "Meithr," Talver shouted, "there's a lot more than one of those things now!"

          "Impossible," the old man said weakly, "they don't hunt in pairs."

          "Well, I'm looking at six!"

          He cursed as the screeching grew louder, seeming to come from everywhere at once. The noise was putting images in his mind: two people glowing with the light of the sun, dressed in all white, speaking in his tongue. He couldn't see their faces, but they seemed to be arguing with each other, a woman scorning a man. Talver heard snippets of their conversation through the whispers,

          "Why do you punish this man... he not to be our champion... carry him onward... let him continue his destiny, as the Father has decreed."

It didn't make sense to Talver, but he knew they were speaking of him. It was strange, these women seemed malicious, as if they wanted to harm him, but these ghastly figures offered nothing of the sort to Talver. It gave him peace to see these beings in white. It eased his mind.

          His father was right about this being a wasteland. Monsters were everywhere. The thought of whatever other terrible things might await him in the darkness chilled his bones. The demons chasing him were enough to make a grown man cower under his bedcovers. The new addition of the screaming women with jaws unhinged, hanging low, would haunt Talver's nightmares for years to come.

          The shadows raced after them, Talver throwing salt into any of the Calahyn that got too close, more and more joined the hunters' pack every minute, what started with five chasing them off the beach had now turned into twelve. One jumped on the back of the wagon and Talver hit it with salt. As it writhed about, he stabbed it through what he guessed was the heart. He sprinkled salt all over the back of the wagon, so they wouldn't be encouraged to jump on again.

          They kept their pace for hours as the creatures kept giving chase. They had to number somewhere in the fifties now. It was as if every one of the Calahyn on Eklem was joining the hunt for Talver and Meithr.

          It suddenly occurred to Talver how long they had been running. He turned his head west to see just over the mountains that the sky was turning purple. The sun was rising. "Finally," he said aloud, "these bastards will stop chasing us." He cracked the reigns again to keep the horses running. Somehow these other-worldly horses had run for the last four hours. It was as if something gave them the strength to run further, and faster than was possible. Talver didn't believe in the gods, but he said a quick thanks nonetheless.

          His wounds from the fight on the boat had since reopened from battling the creatures. Both Talver and Meithr needed a doctor, but Talver still didn't know how far away Eklem was. All he knew is that he had to keep the horses running. They'd been going for a little over five hours, so the city had to be close now. The sky began to grow lighter behind the mountains to their left.