Fuck, this sucks, I thought, and bent so that my face leaned down toward it. It braced itself, its growl getting louder. I swung down my knifed hand. It trembled as it waited, ready to jump up at any moment.
“C’mon, you bastard, come and get me,” I said, lowering a bit more.
My foot slipped, and I fell against the branch, my leg dangling over and my stomach touching down. I scrabbled to get back up as the creature jumped.
Now or never, folks!
No, no, no, no, no! my animal replied.
Too late. I waited until those jaws snapped a foot from my face and then rolled off, falling toward it. The creature hit the ground but couldn’t move in time. I tumbled down on top of its head, two hands on the knife hilt and thrusting downward. I jammed the blade at the base of its fin, between its shoulder blades.
It howled and snapped, catching my arm. Blistering pain shot through me, but I didn’t let go. I used the knife to drag the thing down with me. It snapped at my face, its strength starting to dwindle. I dodged the bite and yanked out the knife, punching into the thing’s throat and pushing upward. It scraped my legs with its front claws, and I wished I’d worn Nyfain’s leathers after all. Blood showered me, but I kept at it. It floundered and then crashed down, really fucking heavy.
I climbed out from under it, breathing hard. My arm throbbed in agony, and my legs felt like they’d been seared, but it wasn’t anything Hannon hadn’t healed up before. I just had to make it to him.
Pulling my animal back to center, I let her take the lead. Her power doused the pain a little, and we hobble-jogged along the path. A sigh of relief eased out of me as familiar landmarks came into view. We were close to home.
I took a quick detour, backtracking just a bit, and hurried to the everlass field. Hannon surely had some left from my last harvest, but I didn’t want to take it all. Goddess knew I’d need some for these bites and gashes.
The birch rose ahead of me, and I actually smiled at the sight—until I remembered its propensity to jig.
“Oh crap—”
Too late. It shook and waved, its branches groaning and its leaves shaking. Might as well summon all the curious creatures in this wood.
I packed the everlass leaves into my knapsack, as many as I could reasonably fit. They’d be annoyed by the material anyway, so I might as well really piss them off by shoving in more than normal.
Ignoring the birch’s sashaying, I jogged back around it and out of the area. Pain throbbed in my legs and fingers, and blood dripped from the wounds. Some demonic creatures fed off blood, but not from the vein like a tidy vampire. No, they liked to rip into flesh and lap at their victims’ bodies. If they were in this wood, I was essentially calling them.
I’ve never heard of so many creatures wandering in the wood, I thought as I made my way, gritting my teeth against the pain. I’ve never encountered this many.
My animal didn’t say anything, just assumed most of the control again and kept our feet going, one in front of the other.
Halfway there, a strange smell caught my attention. A little musky, like a demon, but with strong overtones of sulfur. First it came from the right, then the left.
Is the smell hovering or what? I thought as my animal picked up speed. I knew she’d be cataloging a lot more complexities than I could comprehend.
No.
I waited for her to elaborate, but she slowed instead.
What are we doing? I asked.
They’re surrounding us. I’m trying to decide—without talking to a bunch of folks—what to do. I can’t tell their speed or agility yet.
We continued along, slower now, and the smell kept getting stronger. From the right. From the left. A whiff from behind. Then one of them emerged onto the path in front of me. It was ugly as sin, and one glance was enough to tell me it had never made an appearance in any of my books.
Its face was like a parody of a human skeleton, with large, grayed-out hollows for eyes, a hole for a nose, and a wide, lipless grin. Its stringy yellow mane reached down to a large hunch in its back, formed because its front legs were longer than the back ones, and a little tail in the back. It was nearly as big as the dog creature but spindlier. Its front legs had an opposable thumb, however. It could probably grab.
More of them pushed out from between the trees and foliage all around me, surrounding me as my animal had warned they would. Five in all. As I watched, black sludge dripped from their pointed teeth. The one in front swiped its fingertips through it.