About halfway through scouring the convoy, Wyrran spotted a note in one of the driver's pockets which, upon closer inspection, held a royal seal. "Gwili, c'mere. You're gonna want to see this," he said, pulling the note off the dead body. "This doesn't look to be the size of a ledger," Gwili noted the blood-spattered letter as he took it from Wyrran's hand.
Cracking the royal seal on it, he opened the letter, reading the contents. His eyes widened as he reached the last sentence. "... this will be the first act of my revenge," he read aloud. "Revenge? Who wants revenge, and for fuckin' what?" Wyrran asked, snatching the letter, as Gwili looked off into the distance.
"Do you remember, before the massive horde rolled through, how that Harutian and Coltendian commanders were dueling?" Gwili asked. "I could've given two fewer shits about where they were from, but yeah, I remember them. Why?" Wyrran asked. "It would appear something more has happened than we originally thought, and we might have just spoiled a part of the remaining ruler's plan by raiding this caravan," Gwili replied, a nervous smile growing on his face.
"You're telling me that we just fucked with something we weren't supposed to? How in all the realms were we supposed to know that?" Wyrran asked, spreading his arms wide. "It would seem fate has a funny way of doing things, and thus, the die is cast," Gwili replied, shrugging. "In any case, so long as we pull our arrows and leave no trace, we should be fine and no harm will come to any of us," he continued, plucking an arrow out of a dead guardsman's head.
"You've got a real care-free attitude for someone who might get targeted next, you know?" Wyrran said, pulling another arrow out of the driver's chest. Suddenly, off somewhere down the caravan, a voice was cut out by the sound of gurgled blood. "The fuck was that?" Wyrran asked, turning in the direction of the sound.
The two didn't have time to investigate further before another voice was cut out by the same, gurgling sound. "We're under atta-..." the voice was silenced. "No one could take us by surprise like that," Gwili said quietly. "We should go. Now!" he urged. Wyrran shook his head in frustration, and drew his sword.
By the time they had made it to where the sound of the initial gurgle was, blood had already seeped through the ground and made a small stream that flowed under the wheels of the carriage in front of him. "Not idly does the blood of my comrades return to the earth. Find it!" Gwili hissed, growing frustrated.
Whatever the hell this thing is, it's fast. If my own members cannot react to it, this will be a repeat of that nightmare to remember, he thought as his eyes darted around.
"There!" Wyrran said, spotting a dark figure dashing by. "It's going from cart to cart, looking for something," he whispered, realizing the strange behavior. It's just killing witnesses along the way, Gwili thought. "Don't let it see you. If it does, assume it will try to get behind you and slit your throat like it did the others," he whispered to his second in command. "How do you know that?" Wyrran asked, visible confusion strewn across his gruff features.
"Because it's what I was trained to do when I was a synner," Gwili replied solemnly. Wyrran nodded, and kept his focus razor sharp toward every little detail around him. Gwili closed his eyes for a brief moment, trying to feel the air around him through mana.
It's been too long since I last used this, but I have to try and at least hone in on elemental mana to figure out where it is, he thought, taking a deep breath.
As he closed his eyes, he briefly drew mana from the Ethereal and coated himself in a thin sheen of it. Thin enough to where others couldn't detect it, but more than plenty to amplify his senses tenfold. The air's elemental mana flowed and swayed with the wind, but there were a few distinct disturbances in it. Most, unfortunately, were others who fell victim to the mysterious creature.
It's fucking fast. I can hardly keep up with it even like this, he thought, watching its movements through the displaced air like a hand waving through steam.
"It's coming this way," he realized almost too late. Just as the words left his mouth, Wyrran managed to duck under an elongated claw that came for his throat. Was that actually a claw? Gwili thought as he got a decent look at the creature. Its chitinous hide was thick like armored plating, while its features held little definition save for two slits on what would be its face; where a pair of glowing, red eyes stared back at him.
Shit, he thought.
He dodged an incoming blow, realizing quickly that it wasn't an elongated claw, but a dagger of some sort. I couldn't identify that even if I tried. I've never seen a creature like this. Is it some kind of mutated glick or a new breed entirely? He thought, dodging a sequence of quick attacks. He parried a few with a pair of daggers he withdrew from their sheaths, resulting in a loud clanging sound, reverberating along the pass' rocky walls.
"Hello there," he said coyly, holding his own against the pressure against his daggers. The creature didn't respond with words but with an extreme amount of force, sending him flying into a pile of stones. Gwili slammed against the rock, coughing up a bit of bile as he did so.
"That wasn't very nice. Here I was, trying to be polite and you just had to be rude," he accented the last word, by pumping his body full of mana. His eyes leaked with the excess, but it wasn't enough to be alarming. He dashed forward, his daggers prepared to strike, when he met his target's hard shell. "No joy, eh?" he jested, striking repeatedly at any soft-spot he thought he could see.
The creature, while non-verbal, had intelligence, and understood what he was trying to do. Wyrran, however, was a factor the creature hadn't accounted for, as he managed to observe the creature long enough to find a weak spot just behind its knee. He cut deeply, but was unable to sever whatever sinew helped this creature move.
Realizing it wasn't going in its favor, the creature darted out, far surpassing Gwili's speed and raced down one of the many roads of the Pass. "Wyrran, you're in charge. I'm going after it," he said without a moment's hesitation. "Drop that son of a bitch," Wyrran said. Gwili pumped more mana into his body, and gave chase, following the blood trail provided by its recent wound, as the blackened blood stood out against the dirt road.
After what felt like an hour of mindlessly tracking the creature, Gwili spotted it just off the path by an incredibly large tree. Is it tending its wound? he thought, staring at its strange behavior from behind the cover of a fallen tree. Almost as if it had heard his thoughts, the creature looked in his direction, and dashed further into the woods.
Gods above and below, does this thing have infinite strength? he thought, pushing more mana into his already exhausted body. It's been forever since I've done this, and I'm surprised I've even gotten this far, he thought, feeling the fatigue beginning to settle in.
Just as the string of words had finished in his head, he came to an abrupt stop. Off to his right, he noticed one of the protective charms used by the elves to help keep excessively strong creatures out of Caegwen's borders. "Ah, well, those are working well, aren't they?" he thought, staring at the charm of what was once his homeland.
"Either this one is broken, or this creature has an innate ability to hide its presence, even from protective charms of that sort," he said quietly to himself, looking around for any clues that might help him determine the correct answer.
I would go further, but as an outcast, if I'm caught… he thought of the repercussions.
shook his head in an attempt to knock the idea from it. It's no use. I cannot go any further, he thought, glaring at the path in front of him. I just wish I could go home again, he sighed tiredly, exhaustion, frustration, and sadness evident in his eye.
Home, he thought.