Moar short stories from me.
Again, another slight horror story, but this one has blood and gore to an extent, so I'd rate this story
PG-13 (like people do on BZP ;>).
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“It’ll soon be midnight. Let’s go.”
Aria got up off from the rock she was sitting on and picked up her crossbow from the ground. Two of her three companions got up as well. Aria fingered a few knots out of her straight brown hair, and tied it up.
“We head for the hills just beyond this wood. We’ll get there tonight,” Arkine, the group leader, told them. “Let’s hope we don’t fail.” The full moon shone bright above the group in the small clearing in the woods, the stars twinkled. Mist curled around each person. Their hunting dog, Pash, barked.
“And what if we do fail?” Aria asked as she threw a handbag full of bolts onto her back. She pulled out one bolt and loaded her crossbow.
Yrros, the most easily aggravated in the group, approached Aria. “We made a promise,” she hissed. “It would be like breaking orders if we failed.”
“Yes,” Aria said slowly. “But what orders would there be to break if there is no one to break them?”
“You always think so negative, Aria,” Yrros shook her head.
“I only think of what’s to come,” Aria retorted. “Nothing is negative if it can happen.”
Arkine flashed a look of warning. When the two girls relaxed, all eyes fell on Kaze. He was the only one sitting, fumbling with his bow’s string as if it were a harp. Kaze was the quietest and most mysterious of the group. He seemed to be his own person in his own mind. Kaze’s small green eyes looked up at the three.
“Kaze,” Arkine hissed. “Get up now. You’ll be the death of us, I swear…” Kaze breathed out, and got up. His dark leathers were tight on his muscled body. Yrros could almost see his strange heart beat through the leathers. He was completely different from the rest of the group, as if he was a mole in their base. And yet they trusted him. Kaze mumbled something under his breath, and drew his hand over his slightly spiked hair to flatten it out against the wind.
Wordlessly, the four began their journey out of the woods. Twigs and leaves cracked under their boots. They were hunters; looking for a devastating pack of wolves. No one knew what the animals wanted, why they tortured this town, how they came to be. They poisoned almost anything in their path, and kill without thought. No one ever killed one of them or ever seen one in full detail. They always struck at nighttime, full moon, and when all lights were out: midnight. Wherever they went, they left tracks filled with a dark green poison.
Legend has it that the hills were where the wolf pack always sprung out from beneath the soil just before midnight. The hunters’ goal: If the wolves began there, there they would end.
Aria dashed forward and climbed one of the tallest trees there was in the area. She climbed as high as possible, and then looked out to the horizon. The hills were right there in front of them. “We’re here!” she yelled down to her group as she climbed down. Yrros and Arkine quickened their pace, while Kaze walked slowly towards the hills. When Aria was down she dashed forward to catch up with Yrros and Arkine. But then she stopped and looked back at Kaze. Kaze stopped as well.
“Are you going to go, or stand here and stare at me?” Kaze scowled. The grip on his bow tightened. Why would no one accept him? His hand went to the small green jewel on his chest. Aria didn’t know what it was for, no one did. Kaze was glad for that. Aria stood there for a moment more, and then ran ahead. When Kaze let go of the jewel, he dashed after Aria.
The group left the forest, running over and past the several small hills and a few large ones. They leaped off a small cliff, and kept running, looking for something that indicated wolves. That was when midnight struck.
Then came the howl.
Arkine, Aria, Yrros, and Kaze froze, while Pash kept running. The cliff, which was several meters away from the hunters, started dripping with a mix of poison and blood. One wolf, followed by another and another, appeared. Each wolf let out a howl that sent chills down Yrros’ spine. Arkine’s muscles tensed as the group turned around to face the wolves.
Then, up the cliff, came a man. His hood covered his face completely in shadow; a cloaked left his body invisible. His hands were so pale that anyone would mistake his as a living dead. In his hands was a goblet full of green liquid. Kaze assumed it to be poison. The man’s breath could be seem in the air.
Kaze tried to meet his eyes with the man’s, wherever they were. But he couldn’t get the poisoner’s concentration on him. The poisoner was looking at Arkine. “What,” he hissed slowly and mechanically. “Is you purpose? Death? Life? Renewal? Sensation?”
Arkine breathed deeply. “Death,” he replied. “Only yours.” The man laughed, as if Arkine was a little ant telling a human they could stomp on them and kill them. The man gave a hand signal, and the wolves leaped at the four.
Aria and Kaze started by attacked the wolves with bolts and arrows. Strangely, those did nothing to the beasts, even the poison-tipped ones. Aria dropped her crossbow and pulled out her sword. Kaze only kept firing with his bow.
Arkine slashed at one wolf, trying to rip open its flesh. The wolf barely got hit or wounded. When Arkine struck at its head, the wolf grabbed the sword in its mouth and shook with all its might. Arkine flew past one of the smaller hills, the vegetation eating away at his skin. The wolf dashed forward to make the kill, but Yrros had it there. She slammed the sword’s edge right into the wolf’s back, through its stomach. The beast collapsed, and Yrros gave it one more good stab. She then hurried to help Arkine before he would be nothing but bones.
Kaze kept stepping back, avoiding the wolves enough for him to fire arrows that them and not get in close combat. Aria slashed and kicked at two wolves that were attacking her. One of the wolves, while the other distracted Aria, leaped at the huntress and grabbed her arm in its mouth. The wolf hung onto her arm while poison seeped into Aria and blood leaked out. Aria yelled out in pain, taking the other wolf aback. Kaze carefully aimed from his position on one of the higher hills, and struck the wolf on Aria’s arm. It let go of Aria, and growled at Kaze. Its companion roughly pulled out the arrow and jutted it into the ground like a flag. Both charged at Kaze, Aria attempting to hit them with bolts from her crossbow. Kaze quickly got out his sword and blocked off the wolves.
The entire time, the man did nothing.
Aria fired one more shot, and then noticed the man. She narrowed her eyes. If he was presumably the leader of these wolves, killing him would ultimately end the battle and the chaos.
Yrros fell to the ground, to the mercy of one of the wolves. The wolf grabbed her head and shook it violently, blood and poison splattering the ground beneath them. Tears dripped rapidly from Yrros’ red eyes. Arkine struggled to get up, only to be faced by another wolf. Kaze kicked one of the wolves attacking him down the hill, and stabbed the other in the head while it was distracted. Kaze then grabbed his bow and tried to save Arkine from the wolf attacking him. Kaze’s jewel was glowing dimly.
Aria lifted her crossbow, aiming for the poisoner. She chose a regular bolt, knowing the poison-tipped ones would be pointless. She pulled back the trigger and fired.
The bolt hit the man in the heart. The man dropped the goblet and poison stained the ground. The goblet was quickly eaten away by the earth beneath it. Aria relaxed. She knew the heart was the only thing that could kill a man instantly when injured. It was just too important to be flawed.
But the man persevered through his pain. He got up onto his feet and leaped down the tall cliff to Aria. He grabbed the huntress’ leather collar, and raised her up to his face. “We will never die,” he whispered to her. The man pulled Aria into the shadows that replaced his face and kissed her. He was squeezing her bleeding arm, his nails slowly putting poison into her bloodstream. He tried to hold onto the kiss for as long as possible so it would last.
“Never.” The man collapsed and died, fading into the soil. Aria got up. She ripped the cloak off the man and put it on herself. Her skin paled, her lips reddened. Her eyes became nothing but white, and her blood transformed into poison. She spat a green liquid onto the ground. Aria hissed into the night air.
Kaze stopped firing his arrows, and the wolves stopped whatever bloody things they were doing. Everyone looked at the woman in the cloak on the hill, the hand of the man disappearing with the rest of his body. Kaze’s green eyes sparkled as he looked at what was once his companion. His jewel was glowing intensely now, and Kaze clutched it desperately.
Aria’s eyes met with Kaze’s. The green with the white. Slowly, poison leaked out of the pores in Kaze’s skin. Kaxe gripped his jewel tighter, gripping onto his life. The poison increased, and left a pool under Kaze’s feet. Kaze looked at his reflection in the pool.
Aria nodded her head. The wolves dashed back to her and the tall hill. As they walked down the hill, they sank into the earth. Aria took one more look at Kaze, threw the hood onto her head, and left the night. Only shadow remained.
Kaze, still gripping his jewel, started walking into the forest and towards his town. He left a trail of poison, the jewel keeping him alive as long as he needed life. The color in his eyes slowly started to fade.
The hunt had been successful.
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C&C appreciated.
