The Fickle Winds of Autumn

57. From a Hillside

Ellis slumped from Aldwyn's shoulder and collapsed onto the turf outside the cave. He shielded his eyes against the overwhelming weight of light; the wet blood oozed down across his torn face and dripped from his stinging arms; his breath came in thick, spasming gasps; his body, his thoughts, his mind was so weak, so drained - he could not remember ever feeling so hopelessly exhausted.

The dazzling softness of the grass unsettled his limbs; the bewildering glare of colour; the purity and freshness of the air; the strange, empty silence of this new world assaulted his dimmed senses.

His heart thudded furiously.

Aldwyn chanted a low, guttural intonation; his dazed ears could not make out the words - perhaps the confusion of his blinded, jaded thoughts - perhaps the strangeness of the language - perhaps the shrill, chilling screech of the haemagiles still drowned and stung into his battered consciousness.

Aldwyn turned away and ran back to the gaping darkness of the cave.

What was he doing?

It was nothing but madness to return to that carnage!

The star-taint had taken his mind!

Ellis squinted into the harsh light which lashed down at him.

Where was Kira?

Why wasn't she out here too?

A shivering horror stunned through his enfeebled frame.

Kira!

He must save her!

He must get up and help Aldwyn.

His drained, debilitated body floundered and failed.

If she died because of his weakness, his helplessness?

No!

He could never allow it.

He staggered to his feet and wobbled towards the cave. His legs crumbled beneath his tottering frame; he slammed into the craggy rock entrance and clung to its abrasive support; his limbs convulsed in searing pain from the gouges and bites to his flesh; he grimaced and fought - his wounds were nothing compared to the piercing trauma of letting Kira down.

He coughed the breath back into his anguished lungs and strained his eyes into the dim shadows of the cave.

The seething blizzard of tiny black creatures obscured his disjointed glimpses; Aldwyn was kneeling over Kira's body, gripping at her shoulders.

She was face-down, partly hidden behind a mound of dung; his terrified vision could not tell him if she was still alive.

His master's words echoed and rumbled louder; the squealing clamour of the haemagiles punctured the fractured air; angrier, more ferocious; malevolent and dismal. A sudden shocking flash of blue light arced up from where Aldwyn clasped Kira's body; it crashed towards the ceiling; a fierce, crackling cone of violent, unrefined energy blasted a pathway up through the swirling fog of haemagiles.

The blinding, sparking pulse rolled and smashed into the walls of the cavern with a savage, thundering current. Ellis screwed his eyes shut and dug his fingers deep into the rugged stone; the blast roared out past him, tugging at his clothes and hair; the tearful, grasping stench of guano was swept away - disrupted by the rich primacy of the vehement blue discharge.

His confused mind reeled; his stinging arms seemed to tingle with a dark, twisting strangeness; he shuddered, and the explosion died back to silence.

He squinted into the depths of the cave; scouring, searching. The oppressive, screeching din had ceased; the marauding cloud of predators were held for a brief uncertain instant - suspended in the shocked, silent air - then they crashed to the stunned floor in a devastating, collapsing wave.