208) The Salvation of Eden, Chapter 40 -- The Beast

“Let’s move!” Dominic took charge. No talking was necessary; they understood their roles well. Within a few minutes, they were in place, silent, ready, waiting for the attack they were assured would come.

Kohra, Devona and Lenny huddled together under a camouflaged tarp, twenty paces from the big tree, a massive maple that stood in the approximate center of the field. They were effectively invisible, as long as they didn’t move. Dominic had built a little fold-out wooden support structure to put underneath, like a scaffold, forming a low, horizontal tent with just enough room for the three of them to stretch out. The grass was soft and the soil warm. After checking for ant nests, Kohra settled in for the long wait. 

Another thirty paces out bleated two rather unfortunate sheep, tied to stakes on short leashes. They sounded miserable and terrified, like they knew what was coming. Kohra felt bad for them (and Reilly had cried and wailed so much that Dominic ended up threatening to send her back to town, by herself, if she didn’t shut up). 

In between the sheep and the girls, Melkorn and Gorb stood in plain sight, acting like shepherds watching over their flock. Their job was to attract the creature’s attention and keep it distracted for the few critical seconds the girls would need to aim and fire their Arc. But it all depended on Dominic’s plan. If it worked, they’d would hit it dead on, and, well, what kind of creature can stand up to a Gods-damned lightning bolt? 

If it didn’t work…. Kohra found herself thinking about this more and more as she lay under the tarp, listening to Lenny and Dev’s breathing. What if Dominic’s wrong? How in the worlds did we all talk each other into this? 

She tried to extinguish those thoughts, stamp them out, force them out of her mind through sheer willpower, but they flitted and raced like moths around a flame, foolishly mistaking its light for salvation. 

She wondered how Reilly and Dominic were faring. They were probably perfectly comfortable, sitting high up in the maple tree. Reilly had taken a blanket up with her, pretending to be a bird in a nest. Kohra smiled to herself. She’s still just a child, up there playing while we all wait to get slaughtered. 

She wanted to laugh, but this was no time for it. The plan depended on them remaining undetected. She felt the urge to throw up, her stomach twisting and clenching, but it was no time for that either. She focused on her breathing. Stay calm. Just stay calm. Breathe in. Breathe out. 

Her body vibrated, her collar dampening with sweat. She closed her eyes. There’s nothing I can do right now. My part comes later. Right now, just rest. Trust the others, and rest. 

She thought about Melkorn and Gorb, standing out in the open field, knowing they were going to be the first targets. She wondered if Melkorn had agreed to this because he didn’t even understand the risk he was taking. And Gorb, he probably wanted to punish himself, probably convinced himself that it was the “d’will o’ d’Light” that he be sacrificed in this way.

The hope was, the Reaper would see the two of them standing there, see the sheep, and plan its attack from the open field, avoiding the tree, and thus avoiding the girls as well. If it did so, if Dominic’s plan worked, if he and Reilly had good aim, if Melkorn and Gorb could hold out for a critical few seconds, and if she didn’t let them all down….

She couldn’t calm down. She tried. She tried deep breathing. She tried to meditate. She tried to distract herself by listening to the insects. She tried to sleep. She tried to think about home. But she was going out of her mind. She wanted to bolt, get the Hells out of there. They should never have come in the first place. But now she was pinned, she was trapped. Now, leaving was suicide, even more surely than staying. Her instincts screamed vitriol. What the Hells is wrong with you, Kohra? 

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and almost jumped right out of their hiding spot. 

It was Lenny. She didn’t seem to want to say anything. She was just grinning, quite like Melkorn usually did. She had that gleam in her eyes, the ones little kids get when they’re having a sleepover and they know they’re getting to stay up past bedtime. 

Kohra sighed inwardly. As little as she understood her friend, still, sometimes, she wished she was more like Lenny.

* * * * *

All day, they waited. Finally, Dominic’s low whistle signalled that it was time to head in for the night. They had planned this part carefully, although it was still the weakest part of The Plan. But there was no way around it; they simply could not fight the creature in the dark. 

Kohra felt her heart pounding in anticipation. Dominic and Reilly would  be climbing down about now. Then Melkorn and Gorb would take up the sheep’s leashes, and start leading them back to the barn. The girls under the tarp would follow, slowly, crouching as low to the ground as possible.

Reilly and Dom should be down about now. We should hear Gorb’s whistle in a second. 

And that was the moment. 

Reilly screamed, forgetting her warning whistle. 

Kohra jumped, banging her head on the top of the wooden structure, but Lenny held her down, hissing “Quiet!” Kohra nodded, staring, the whites in her eyes almost glowing in the relative darkness. 

Devona parted a fold in the tarp, slightly, just enough for them to peer out, scanning the field. Something black and huge was streaking towards Melkorn, who had his back turned, looking in the other direction. But Gorb saw it, stepping forward, shouting at Melkorn to turn around. Reilly was still screaming.

Kohra’s heart hammered in her chest like her ribcage was an anvil. I’m not ready, I’m not ready, we can’t….

“Wait for it,” Lenny murmured. “Wait….”

When it was mere seconds from Gorb and Melkorn, Lenny threw off the tarp, and they stood in position, Lenny in the center, Kohra and Dev on either side with one hand on Lenny’s shoulders.

Kohra closed her eyes, Connected, opened herself to the full flow of the Flux, letting it course through her like a river raging through a shattered dam. Just like in practice.

She felt herself flowing into Lenny and Dev’s energies, and she stabilized, calming down. Just like in practice.  

She opened her eyes. Melkorn and Gorb stood side by side, facing the black beast. It crouched out of range of their weapons, snarling, far larger than any great cat, rippling with muscle, its tail like a whip, a good twenty feet long, splayed at the end into several wickedly sharp hooks.

The creature paused, as though it was hesitating. Kohra realized they might have surprised it, and it was reconsidering its attack plan in light of these new combatants. Maybe this was their moment! 

“Now?” she whispered.

“Wait for it,” Lenny whispered back, eyes fixed on the beast. 

Without warning, its tail whipped forward, straight at Gorb. He raised his shield to take the blow and….

Reality — broke — shattering into pieces all around them, cracks of red fire splitting apart the very air, howls and screams assaulting from everywhere, and the creature was no longer there. It was beside Melkorn, blood spraying from his side as the tail-hooks ripped through his makeshift armour. 

The cracks widened into jagged rifts, flames and heat and screams. Kohra felt dizzy, disoriented; she was falling, falling, sucked into the center, toward the creature. 

But no! A moment of sanity returned; she could feel her feet, still planted on the ground, her hand still holding Lenny’s shoulder.

Then Reality slipped away again, its normal solidity fracturing like a smashed vase. The sky screamed and she fell, her mind ripped from her body…flailing…falling…everything hurtling toward annihilation. 

Kohra wasn’t aware of Gorb standing his ground, swinging his hammer with all his might, only to find the creature already gone, a split-second later appearing behind him, whip-tail wrapping around his shield arm. He roared in pain, but his bloodied arm managed to hang onto his shield as the tail whipped back for another strike. 

“Reilly! NOW!” Dominic yelled. This snapped Kohra out of her stupor. 

Reilly stared straight ahead, eyes wide and frozen.

Kohra screamed, “Reilly!! Reilly!! NOW!!!”

Reilly blinked like she was waking from a dream, then lurched into action, reaching into her bag and throwing handful after handful of pebbles toward the creature. 

The flaming cracks disappeared. The howling screams silenced. The fractured pieces of Reality wove themselves back together.

It was just the seven of them again, in a field, with some sheep and a beast. 

The creature itself seemed smaller somehow, shimmering and squirming like it was trying to fight its way out of an invisible net. Kohra heard the whistle of Dominic’s arrow, then his curse as he missed. 

Dominic missed?  But she didn’t have time to think about that right now, or anything else, holding onto the Flux with all her might, feeling the burning inside, yearning to release it, to pour it all into Lenny’s shoulder, wanting to burn, to burn that terrible creature. But, not yet…not yet…hold on, just hold on….

Melkorn staggered back to his feet, battle axe at the ready, roaring his battle-cry, “HAMMERRRR!!!” His side was sodden with red as he poised, waiting for the next strike. 

With no warning, Reality split apart again, screams slicing their minds, and the creature disappeared as Dominic’s second arrow passed through right where its head had been a moment before. 

It materialized beside Gorb, who was prepared, swinging hard but hitting only empty space while, impossibly, the tail-whip slashed Melkorn’s chest from the other side. Luckily, his armour took the worst of it, hanging in tatters as the hooks ripped back out. 

He swung for its head, but hit nothing, spinning around from his own force.

Then it was right on top of him, claws raking across his chest. Gorb swung, already in mid-leap, but he passed through empty space, rolled onto the ground, and scrambled, a bit unsteadily, onto his feet. Melkorn desperately rolled back and forth, trying to evade the claws, roaring as they raked his body anyway. 

Another volley of stones from Reilly showered the area, and again, the flaming cracks and howling screams disappeared, the creature flickering and shimmering for a moment as it squirmed like it was in pain. This time Dominic didn’t miss, his arrow buried deep in its neck. Screeching, it whirled toward the tree, crouching to leap, still shimmering as Reilly pelted it with pebbles.

Lenny’s hands, outstretched, clasped to a point, aimed right at the shimmering chest. “Now.”

Kohra let go. Held nothing back. The swinging door opened all the way and —

CRRAAAAAXXXZZZZZSHSHGGZZZTTTT!! 

The gigantic bolt of lightning, far bigger than anything they had produced in practice, arced to the beast in a terrific crackling thunderclap. Kohra swooned, the heat, the roaring in her mind drowning out even the creature’s as they electrocuted it. One giant, clawed foot exploded, just completely exploded, fire breaking out in several parts of its body, and the creature fell, writhing on its side. 

The Arc dissipated, the connection breaking as Lenny staggered forward a few steps, falling, then catching her balance, hands waving in front of her like she was blind. 

The creature snarled, twitching as it stood back up, now on three legs, head smoking, smeared black with its own blood.

But Melkorn was on his feet too, and in one mighty swing, half-beheaded the beast, then fell to his knees as the head dangled uselessly and the beast collapsed, twitching on the ground. Melkorn fell onto his back a moment later, blood gurgling from his ribs.

 Dominic rushed toward him. Kohra heard screams; she wasn’t sure whose they were. Devona was shouting, something. Gorb was, where was Gorb? Everything was spinning; she felt like she was about to pass out. Those cracks, that fire, what WAS that? What IS this reality, that it can shatter like glass? What is anything? 

Finally, she just sat down, staring. It was hopeless.

Dominic knelt by Melkorn, pressing something on his chest, yelling about something…cloths…bleeding…. It didn’t make any sense to her. Everything was moving so slowly.

She was vaguely aware that Devona was tearing off her cloak and pressing it on Melkorn’s chest. 

“Keep the pressure on, right there,” Dom was saying.

Now he was shouting at someone. She stared at him. Who’s he yelling at? 

Gorb appeared. He was holding the reins of two horses. 

Horses? 

He and Dom mounted, kicking the terrified steeds immediately into a gallop, riding hard in the direction of Annuvin. Kohra screamed, her terror finally propelling her into some form of action. “NOOO!” 

Devona snapped at her while she pressed her already-sodden cloak on Melkorn’s chest. “Shut up and HELP, Kohra! They have to go! We need Healers.”

She was right. Only Healers could save Melkorn now; the oversized farm-boy with handmade armour had sacrificed himself. 

For us. 

It seemed so pointless. 

Reilly? She looked around, but the dark night sky seemed at any moment ready to split apart into Hellish cracks, filled with screams. She couldn’t see the little girl. Maybe she was dead. Maybe they all were. 

She looked down at Melkorn. His eyes were closed, his breath a gurgle. 

She felt split in half. She watched her hands move, and wondered who was moving them. We are already in the Hells. Everyone I love, is already dead.