Everlasting (5)
A fantasy story. Join me as the first readers of this sword & sorcery adventure. Each part should work as a stand-alone, but binging all the parts is more fun.
Previously:
The dark Autumnian night crept on them cloaked in chilling mist, cold to the bone. But there was something worse than creeping darkness; the howls kept moving closer, no matter how fast the horse would gallop.
Aereus kept his eyes on the path ahead of them, barely visible in the dusky fog, while Ani sitting between his strong arms, timidly looked into the dark bushes on their left and right. She saw glimpses of red – hungry eyes following them with footsteps splashing the puddles of the murky moors. Ani closed her eyes and hid deeper in Aereus embrace. He noticed it.
Aereus knew their prospects were grim; the beasts took their time. They knew that the horse would not find its way as easily in the dark.
The giant Autumnian Wolverines were despicable monsters, birthed by the dark curse of the land, there was no redemption to them, they knew not what mercy meant. They knew only hunger and violence.
“When they try to surround us, I shall jump off the horse to stall them. You ride on. Ride as far as the horse would carry you. If you survive the night, ride to Hebeny, South of Tridum town. Near the border with Avem. Ask for Lady Ann’s castle. That’s my mother. Tell her…I sent you. Tell here, I wished to keep you safe from harm,” Aereus whispered.
The beasts would attack, he had no doubt. Without his weight on the horse, Ani might escape the torturous death of being ripped apart alive.
“No, I will not leave you!” she protested.
Aereus shook his head. He lost his focus only for a moment, suddenly their ride came to an unexpected halt. The horse neighed in fear, and nearly shook its riders off.
Not monsters – men! Men barricaded their path. One of them carried a burning torch, all stood with swords and daggers at ready.
“Halt! Who goes there?!” the man with the torch bellowed.
Aereus had seen many soldiers in his short life, he knew damn well even the Autumnian scoundrels managed to look halfway decent. These were soldiers indeed, but their uniforms were dirty and tattered, their faces bearded, and unkept.
“Deserters,” Ani whispered, “no men are worse than them.”
“You must let us pass at once!” Aereus commanded.
“Would you look at that! You’re one of them Western scum. A renegade like us?” the man snickered.
Aereus gritted his teeth and tried to manoeuvre the horse onto another path, but the bushes around them were thick, and covered in thorns.
“Not so fast, bastard! You pass if you pay up,” the man said while, the others tried to grab the reins or Aereus cloak, or anything they could get their hands on.
“The wolverines are on our tail, you fools! We shall all become their meal if we don’t run!” he yelled.
The man laughed, so did his friends.
“Them bastards be howlin’ every night. We ain’t afraid. Now, pay up.”
The man had already noticed Ani hiding in Aereus’ arms.
“I have no gold with me.”
“You have a fine lass there. Give her and be gone. We’re lettin’ you off cheap,” the man said with unhidden lust written all over his face. Deserters hiding in the wilderness of Autumna did not get to pleasure themselves with women as much as they wished to. Ani was right – if regular Autumnian soldiers were lust-ridden perverts, these scoundrels were even worse!
“Leave me. Give… give me to them, go home, Aereus,” she whispered with her voice trembling.
Aereus felt her tears falling onto his arm. But what struck him the most was hearing her whisper his name; never before had he heard it whispered with such tenderness. She would go to torture and death for him. She knew damn well these men would violate her to death. Even worse if she survived, they’d kept her as a slave.
“Never!” he grunted through his teeth. Before the bastards had comprehended his insane actions, Aereus turned the horse around, and made it gallop back. The howls seemed to cheer on his suicidal sprint into their throats. Red eyes shining in the bushes, dark silhouettes of monsters on the path running toward them on all fours, some breaking their way through the bushes.
Ani shrieked, Aereus made the horse turn back again, this time toward the deserters. When they saw him returning with a whole pack of giant wolverines following, howling, growling, eyes glaring red; the men forgot their lust in an instant.
“Why didn’t you fools bring more torches?!” their leader screamed. Wolverines feared nothing, except fire, but only he had a source of it. The men scattered into the bushes onto narrow paths known only to them, Aereus’ horse galloped between the runaways, none tried to stop it.
The howls clashed with screams of men behind Aereus’ back; wolverines were lazy creatures – if they stumbled onto an easy prey, they did not hesitate to attack. So, it was. Bone-chilling, inhumane shrieking of men outnumbered and overpowered by monsters, and eaten alive broke the silence of the nightfall over the moors. Ani shook crying silently in Aereus’ arms.
They rode long into the darkness; lucky for the two, the moon rose above Autumna, illuminating the foggy path. As they came nearer to the border of Hebeny, the ground got firmer, and the trees taller. The horse was exhausted, Aereus stopped it in a spot with several old oaks growing nearby, and a water source bubbling in the fog.
“The horse needs rest. So do we.”
“This spot feels safe,” Ani agreed. She seemed to have calmed in Aereus arms, though he gave her now words of comfort after their lucky escape from the monsters, both the beastly, and the human-kind.
They had nothing for dinner except what’s left of the Snakeling strong-water.
“At least it gives warmth, “ Ani said afterward. Aereus smiled in return.
He took off his cloak, and all the other clothes from the saddle bags, and made a bedding which he offered to Ani.
“You sleep, while I stand guard.”
Ani sighed. “I don’t think your sword could save us from all the perils of Autumna tonight, though I have no doubt you are good with it,” she winked, “let us pray to the Foreverold and rest.”
She made herself comfortable on the bedding. Aereus hesitated, but not knowing any better, finally he lay next to her, holding his sword to his chest. Ani smiled at him, covered the two of them with her cloak, and tried to sleep but the cold night of the early spring made her shiver and shake unbearably.
“I am freezing,” she said before moving under his arm, and holding Aereus body tight. His only resistance was a heavy sigh; dishonourable though it was, Aereus himself was freezing cold, and Ani’s body felt warm next to him.
A sensation of fire rushing to his groin made him forget the cold; never before had Aereus lay with a woman. Her scent, her softness, her calm breath drove him mad. The fingernails of his right hand dug into the hilt of the sword, while he clenched his fists hard. Nay, he shall not give into her sorcery! As if guessing his thoughts, Ani held him even closer, to which Aereus took a deep breath, thinking Foreverold, have mercy…
To be continued…
Thank you for reading! Part Six coming next week.
That was fun :D But I have to admit, "be howlin" made me think of a black American dude, then "lass" made me think of an Irish guy. Took me out of it for a few lines, but otherwise solid.
I love his bravery!🙂❤️