9. First of Many
First of Many
Kaiden
They trudged deeper into the forest. Mud covered the top of his boots. His fighting leathers stretched on his skin due to the suffocating air.
When did it get so hot?
It was as if any sign of life had been wiped out.
No birds tweeted or nested in the trees and the ground was untouched from any animal paths.
They knowingly avoided the area. Whatever unknown creature resided in these parts certainly preferred to be left alone.
He lost all track of time as there was no moon to judge how high it sat in the sky.
It didn’t take long for Fintan to find a larger trail. Broken branches and the same nose-cringing smell encircled them.
“We’ve got to be close,” Kaiden whispered.
Fintan held up his hand in a swift jerk, bringing him to a halt. He crouched down, gently touching a leaf on the ground. “Blood.”
“It’s not dried yet.” Kaiden kneeled next to him. He rubbed the leaf with his thumb, smearing it. “It’s just black.”
“Great.” Fintan stood, rolling his neck with a crack. “Then whatever dark creature we’re dealing with is close.”
“This is —” Kaiden was interrupted by a tree-shaking roar.
A giant creature lurched through ivy-covered trees. The horses reared, fleeing backward.
“Ukoron’s depths!” Fintan shouted, swinging his sword in his hand.
“A skarak.” Kaiden’s hand blazed as he watched the creature circle them.
Hungry black eyes stared them down, waiting for the first move.
The skarak paced on all fours. Its front limbs were longer than its hind legs, giving it a larger stance.
Paws the size of a man’s head and flesh-rending claws twice as large sliced the ground where it moved.
Fur covered its limbs, head, and neck while the body was covered in scaly skin.
It opened its mouth to release a throaty growl in warning, flashing its yellowed fangs.
Thick scars covered its skin and Kaiden inwardly sighed at the challenge of piercing the hide.
His blood sang in warning. The fire within him coiled at the pit of his stomach, patiently waiting.
He thanked the gods for the small nudge of warning as he quickly looked over his shoulder into the bushes moving slightly.
“Wonderful, there’s two,” he growled.
The second skarak moved quietly through the brush. Its mouth parted like an evil grin.
“When we make it out of this Kaiden, just remember we could have taken the longer route.” Fintan smirked.
Kaiden had no time for a sarcastic remark as the first skarak lunged forward.
Its jaws snapped near his arm, forcing him to roll onto his side. He jumped up, swinging his sword toward the head. Claws clashed against it with a force that knocked him backward.
An arrow whizzed to the side of the beast but only whizzed through its fur. Fintan fired another between Kaiden and the second skarak, giving him time to strike against its shoulder.
A roar of anger flooded Kaiden’s ears.
The skarak reared back, striking Fintan, and sending him flying into a tree.
Kaiden shifted his footing and reached for the fire within him. It eagerly leaped to his fingertips. His left hand burned bright red as he released his long whip. Fire danced all the way down to the tips.
“Come on!” Kaiden shouted.
The fire crackled and whipped toward the skarak’s legs, pushing it back. It let out an irritated growl at the new challenge. It quickly dodged his strikes and charged toward Fintan.
He raced behind the beast, twisting his whip into a lasso. He swung, aiming at the back legs, pulling with all his might.
The skarak jerked away.
He took the advantage to slide underneath its legs and slice at its heels. The sear of burning flesh and fur filled the air. He rolled forward and hauled Fintan to his feet at the same time.
“Good?”
“I’m fine.” Fintan rolled his shoulder back with a crack, alerting Kaiden it had been popped out of its socket by the impact.
“Well quit playing around.” Kaiden’s whip cracked at the second beast, keeping it at a distance. A smile split across his face at the joke even as Fintan’s scowl was dark as night.
The skarak howled in pain. It writhed on the ground as Kaiden’s lasso scorched its legs.
Fintan rushed toward its head. He parried the weak strikes from the disoriented monster.
Kaiden pulled tighter on the lasso, making it screech in agony. He didn’t care. How many innocent lives had it fed on? It deserved this pain, this death, and he would be the one to deliver it.
Fintan lunged toward the side and sent his dagger flying. Its aim hit true and sank into the second monster’s eye.
A shriek of terror filled the air. The skarak flung itself into the bushes, scratching and tearing at its own eye.
“We can’t let it get away.”
“Go! This one is almost spent.” Kaiden nodded toward the beast roaring against the fire consuming his body.
Fintan ran into the shadows. The sound of clashing steel and ear-shattering screeches confirmed it hadn’t taken long to catch up to the monster.
Kaiden watched the creature in front of him as it slowly burned. Black eyes full of torment looked up at him, as if begging to be spared or put out of its misery.
“You think you deserve to be spared?” He growled.
He threw his lasso around its arms in a quick circle, willing his fire to a steady burn. His whip of fire twisted around the body multiple times, holding it captive. The coils of fire burned against fur and skin.
It gnashed its teeth at him. A short burst of breath puffed from its mouth in the form of smoke.
The smell of decayed bodies lingered in the air in front of him.
It only fueled his wrath. The creature hissed and flashed its teeth.
A deep inhuman voice crawled out from its mouth as its eyes became completely feral.
“You may have won for now, Prince Kaiden,” It growled. “But I am the first of many.”
Kaiden’s skin crawled at the threat.
“Being cooked from the inside out is a terrible way to go,” he whispered, looking down into its eyes. “But I think I’m going to enjoy this.”
“We will all soon escape,” the creature said between puffs of smoke choking its throat. “Ukoron shall be released and we will rule the lands again. You can’t stop it.”
Black blood pooled at the corners of the skarak’s eyes and ran down its bristled face. It began panting and gasping for air. It thrashed against the ground and Kaiden’s fire.
He held tighter.
Its black eyes glossed over before dulling to a muddy gray and finally closed.
Kaiden let his fire burn the rest of the creature in a melting flash.
He expected to feel some type of closure, but he felt nothing.
If the monster was to be believed, this fight was nowhere close to being over.
He certainly didn’t feel like a hero, but there was not an ounce of guilt. There was nothing.
Was he any different from this creature?
He had taken countless innocent lives for his father or in his own anger, but all in the name of Valencia.
“No,” he whispered. “I’m better than him.”
He was more than just an executioner for his father.
He closed his eyes against the smoke rising in front of him.
The air once smelling of nature's wonders was now thick with the scent of death and darkness.
With the darkness were the quiet whispers which haunted him, like snakes they hissed in his mind, reminding him that he was far worse than any monster his father sent him to slay.