The Shadow

Chapter 33

Kai woke to the sound of his own scream, body jolting forward, a cold sweat already formed over his skin. A small crack in the ceiling cast a sliver of moonlight into the shelter, and he took a deep breath, remembering where he was. There was no castle, no obsidian throne, no towering shadowy creature. Just a little shack with a door creaking in the cold breeze.

Saif swore, lighting a candle in an attempt to burn away the room's darkness.

"Kai? What's wrong?"

"It...it's nothing," Kai said, shaking his head. "Just a bad dream. Sorry for waking you."

The elf's face relaxed, falling back into sleep.

Kai lay back down, thinking about what he had seen. It was just a nightmare, he reminded himself, inhaling softly. And yet, it felt like something more. Something different. He shook away the thought, willing himself to sleep.

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His sleep did not last long. Kai awoke to a gentle and yet urgent nudge from Saif.

The elf whispered sharply, "I hear something."

Kai stood immediately, wincing as floorboards creaked beneath his feet. He turned to Saif, whose eyes were wide, pointed ears obviously straining toward something. But what? He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped when he heard it himself. A soft scraping noise, and a slow, laborious breath. Where was it coming from? Kai crouched, pulling a knife from his belt, which he had placed on the ground hours before. He didn't even bother trying to find the sound's location. Saif's ears were far better than Kai's, and the elf seemed to be just as confused.

"There," Saif said, pointing to the floorboards. "It's coming from there."

"What?" Kai asked. "But how—"

Scratching. It sounded like...

"Fingernails on wood." The elf's voice was quiet, gaze planted on a spot mere feet away. A spot covered by floorboards.

The scraping grew louder. Closer. It seemed as though an eternity passed, though it couldn't have been more than a few moments, and the wood splintered.

Kai jumped backward as a hand shot through the floor. It was large—too large, with nails that were too curved, too sharp. It might have seemed humanoid, if not for its size and unusual fingertips.

Saif swore as the rest of the creature's arm reached out of the hole that it had created. It had pale skin, with bulging biceps and forearms. Those muscles strained as the creature looked for any sort of handhold, eventually latching onto the house's timber wall. Claws dug into wood yet again as the thing heaved itself out of the ground, a maniacal snarl tearing through the silence as the creature's head surfaced.

Kai fingered his knife, preparing to throw as he took in the beast before him. It was a beast, all traces of humanity lost on the creature's terrible face. A long, feline snout shot out from beneath massive, cone shaped ears. Gray fur enrobed the thing, traces of dirt and roots darkening the beast's coat. Kai would have thought it a wolf, or even a hound, had it not been larger than both. The creature's snout alone was nearly the length of the sword that lay sheathed within Kai's belt.

Saif swore again, pulling his own arming sword from its scabbard as he turned his focus to the beast. Drool dripped from a set of bear-like teeth, a growl emanating from the creature's snout as the beast pulled the rest of its body onto the shack's floor with a sudden heave.