The Forsaken Girl

Stange meeting

Letting go of the breath he had held in, Nathan slowly swung his leg over the horse's flank, careful not to move too quickly around the already spooked animal. Once his feet touched the ground he leaned forward and grabbed Maya lightly around the waist, lifting her off of the saddle before setting her down away from the massive bay. Reaching into the leather saddle bag he pulled out a satchel that was filled with dried fruit, cheese and some pieces of venison jerky. Swinging the bag onto his back he grabbed the water canteen before tying the leather reigns to a low lying branch, securing the horse in place and turned his attention to Maya, who looked blankly back at him

Kneeling down on one knee before her he leaned in towards her, trying to keep his voice as low as possible, so as to not alert who ever was up ahead of their presence .

"Maya we need to get out of here as quietly as possible. There is someone ahead in the clearing but I don't know if they mean us any harm or not."

Maya looked at him with a vacant stare, her big brown eyes were glazed over, as if she was somewhere else and her body was nothing more than a shell of what she used to be. Not really expecting a reply, he picked her up and cradled her gently in his arms, like you would a newborn infant. A snap of a twig behind them caused him to whip his head around, peering into the dense, pitch black woods around them. His breathing hitched as fear began to creep into him, not so much for himself but for his young ward.

Nate felt uneasy as the woods were eerily quiet, as if everything around them was waiting in anticipation for what was to come. Listening intently, several minutes passed without any further signs of whatever had been rustling around earlier and Nate became antsy to get moving. Turning around he almost dropped Maya to the ground as he stumbled backwards. Luca stood quietly leaning nonchalantly against the trunk of a massive oak tree, not more than ten feet away, his piercing pale blue glowed brightly as studied them avidly. Nate was about to open his mouth with a question when Luca cut him off before he could utter a word.

"It was wise of you to have stopped before going to the clearing boy. You've not been marked by a specific demon so that makes you fair game for anything that you come across out here."

"I'm glad you agree Luca, I wasn't willing to risk wandering into a strangers campsite out here, especially with Maya tagging along." He wasn't willing to say it out loud but Nathan had some serious questions as to where Luca had been this whole time. The last time he'd seen him was when he had spun the palomino around and urged the horse into the woods, he shouldn't have been able to get that far away so fast to begin with.

"It's a good thing you didn't, I doubt you would have liked their idea of a fun time. Follow me. I expect you to remain quiet unless I directly address you, that includes keeping the brats mouth shut as well, though I don't think that'll be too much of a problem since she's practically been a mute since I first met you. Do you understand?"

Luca's tone didn't leave him any room for argument, not that he planned on it in the first place. "I understand completely. Lead the way dear sir."

Gesturing widely with his arm he stepped back several to allow Luca to pass by, waiting a few seconds before he trailed behind. Carrying Maya closely to his chest, he could feel the frantic beating of her heart speed up the closer they walked towards the fire and the unknown ahead. The smell of rotting flesh permeated the air and he was surprised he hadn't smelt it earlier. Light flickered across the woods, dancing amongst the leaves as the wind blew towards them, carrying with it the rancid smell. Swallowing several times he began to breath through his mouth, the smell was quickly becoming too much to handle.

Several minutes passed and they still hadn't reached the fire, walking along the dense forest floor was becoming perilous as he stumbled again, this time over a root that clawed it's way out from the uneven terrain, barely managing to hold onto the young girl. Maya tucked her face into his shirt, trying her best to shrink against him as they continued onward, the voices he'd heard earlier were now absent, though the putrid smell overwhelmed him.

The trees parted like the red sea before them, revealing a small clearing nestled amongst the trees with a lone grey boulder situated to the left of the small fire pit. A cloaked figure was kneeling in front of the fire, adding a few logs to the ravenous flames before turning over the darkened meat that was on a skewer placed above the fire pit. Luca strode confidently into the clearing, leaving Nate and Maya behind as his long legs quickly closed the distance between the edge of the woods and the lone figure. The figure never stopped turning the skewer, only nodding it's head once in acknowledgement of Luca, quickly turning it's attention back to the flames.

Nate stood indecisively at the edge of the clearing, still shrouded by the shadows he watched as Luca settled himself against the boulder, turning his head to watch Nate with an amused smirk plastered across his face. Something grabbed him roughly by the shoulders, shoving him forward into the light cast off by the flickering flames, he barely had enough time to regain his balance before he was shoved forward again. Hot, foul smelling breath fanned along his neck and he turned around only to jerk away from the creature that was shoving him. A shaggy brown bulls head, graced with a set of horns, was situated upon the torso of a man, that blended down into a pair of hooved legs. The beast reached out towards him and he jerked backwards, barely managing to keep out of its reach.

"Boy stop playing with the minotaur and get over here now." Luca's voice caused the creature to startle and he took the opportunity dart away from the bull like beast, running over towards the two by the fire.

Panting lightly he set Maya down besides him as he finally reached the edge of the boulder. Grabbing her hand, he tugged gently as he cautiously walked up to Luca and the hooded figure that still hadn't turned it's attention from the roasting meat. The repulsive smell seemed to be wafting from it and he subconsciously stepped closer to Luca, trying to create as much distance as he safely could. Loud snorts of outrage sounded from the minotaur, which stared dumbstruck at him through beady black eyes as it finally realized they'd escaped it's clutches.

"Nadiss, do tell me what I owe the unexpected pleasure of your visit to. It's been awhile since I've seen you around these parts."

Luca's tone sounded pleasant enough but Nate knew better than to think the words was pleasantries exchanged between friends. Nadiss, or whatever Luca had called the cloaked being, didn't say a word as he continued to rotate the skewered meat, the silence seemed to stretch on and on as the air became tense with anticipation.

Suddenly the being stood up, keeping the hood nestled on its head so that its face remained shrouded in the shadows it spoke. "Luca you know the reasssson that I'm here. Thisss.... mussst be the boy you were talking about."

The beings voice definitely didn't belong to a human. Whatever it was though he knew he'd heard that voice before, for some reason though he couldn't quite place where it was from. The creature stalked its way towards them and with it came the smell of decaying flesh and the sensation of impeding doom. Several feet away from them it came to a rest before lifting its arms to pull back the hood, revealing the dark being beneath it. Maya let out an ear shattering scream and Nate suddenly felt sick to his stomach at the scene before him.

Decaying flesh hung in strips from the corpses frame, venom dripped from decaying fangs that framed its wide mouth, which was turned up in a malicious smile. Recognition slammed into him and he stumbled backwards into Maya, who hadn't stopped screaming in terror.

"Did you two missss.... me?"

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A/N Sorry for the late update everyone, I ended up working about 20 extra hours that I didn't plan on doing these last three days :(

This chapter isn't edited so I'll be going back in the next few days to make the chapter flow better. So what do you think will happen next? Nate definitely isn't amongst friends....