B008P7JX7Q EBOK (22 page)

“Alexis!” Adrian shouted. “Are you-”

Alexis shouted through clenched teeth. “
Hurry
!”

 From the woods came the sound of heavy feet
moving in rapid succession, followed by the sound of branches and small trees
snapping. Whoever was in the woods, they didn’t intend to wait any longer.

Alexis holstered his guns so that he could grab
at the arrow. He gripped the shaft in both hands and gasped as a spasm of pain
shot through him. He clenched his jaw as he snapped the shaft close to where it
was buried in his shoulder and screamed aloud from the pain. Blood flowed from
the wound and down the inside of his shirt and coat. He tossed the broken shaft
aside, and drew his guns out again. “Let’s... go,” he grunted.

The boys, in their fear, had readied the sack as
quickly as they could; Alexis took it. As he slipped it on, a loud, harsh roar
came from directly behind them. He wheeled around, wincing at the pain that
flared in his shoulder, and fired his gun at a large shadow just outside of the
fire’s light. A howl of pain rose as a large form fell back with a heavy
thud
.

“What
was
that?” Connor asked, his voice
near panic.

“Do you really want to find out?” Alexis
demanded as he grabbed him by the shoulder. Connor shook his head. “Now,
run
!”

The three fled into the woods, and all around
them the shadows followed.

2

Adrian ran with Connor beside him and with
Alexis following them both. His heart drummed against his chest with a savage
beat, making him think it must explode any moment. His eyes were frantic and
wide. From behind them he heard the loud vicious snarls and the sounds of
pounding feet, and ran faster.

The woods made tough going. The branches whipped
at them as they passed, trying to hinder their progress, and the brush hid what
the night held. As he ran he glanced down from time to time to make sure that
he did not trip. Adrian looked ahead into the woods. Shadows nearly twice the
size of a man rushed out from behind the trees, emitting the loud snarling
noises that only an animal can produce. What was perhaps most unsettling about
the charging forms were the pale yellow eyes that appeared to be floating in
the night. The creatures moved with deathly speed and without care, ripping
branches and saplings aside in order to get at the three of them.

“Keep moving!” Alexis shouted.

Adrian and Connor ran on, their eyes wide as
they saw the strange creatures grow closer and closer in the darkness. Thunder
boomed overhead suddenly, and many of the forms running towards them toppled
backwards. Adrian shoved a branch out of his way, and cursed himself for an
idiot as he realized that the sound had been Alexis’s guns, not thunder.

But the large beasts continued to move towards
them, and no matter how many Alexis shot down there always appeared to be
another pair of yellow eyes to take its place. They passed one of the fallen
bodies. Adrian looked down to catch only a blur of a massive gray body.

Alexis’s guns thundered behind them, and more
shadows lurched and fell before them. Then they were in the clear, for there were
none left in their path. But they could hear the rest of the strange beasts
chasing after them, snarling.

Adrian looked back once, and through the trees
he saw one of the large hulks break through a heavy branch and come running
after them, emitting an animalistic sound. It was too easy for him to imagine
them foaming at the mouths. There were many more behind this one, and when he
looked up he saw some scrambling up the trees and others leaping from tree to
tree.

    
What are they?
The thought pounded
through his head with the wild rush of blood. He tripped on a slope of uneven
ground and nearly fell. Alexis’s strong hand grabbed him and steadied him.
Adrian risked one more glance over his shoulder, and saw Alexis shoving bullets
into the chamber of one gun, his face a harsh mask of pain.

   
I hope you have enough
, he thought.

3

Alexis’s guns roared behind Connor and he
cringed at the deafening sound. He tripped over a small branch and fell to the
ground, scraping his knee. He looked up in horror as Alexis and Adrian ran on
for a few more steps before realizing he had fallen behind. He rushed to his
feet and ran to join them. From behind him he could hear the horrible sounds of
pursuit, and he thought he would break into tears.

He stared in shock as Alexis raised one of the
guns towards him, and then the Legionnaire fired. Connor felt the bullet pass
over his head.

“Hurry!” Alexis shouted.

His ears ringing from the loud piercing roar of
the gun, Connor ran on, wondering if he had not gone deaf. He found it hard to
believe that just a few moments ago they had been sleeping beside a peaceful
fire.

    His legs ached as they never had before,
feeling heavy as lead with every stride, and he felt as though he would
collapse any moment. His lungs were dry and he gasped for breath with every
step. He had only to look around to see that both Adrian and Alexis were in the
same state. They could not keep running for much longer, he knew, and when they
stopped it would be their end. The woods that slowed them down seemed to
present no challenge to their pursuers.

An arrow struck a tree beside him and Connor
yelled in surprise. The sound of Alexis’s guns came in response, thundering
several times before falling silent. Connor glanced back and saw Alexis
reloading the guns. He wondered how many bullets the Legionnaire had left.

4

The thought of how much ammunition still
remained didn’t cross Alexis’s mind. The pouch at his belt bulged with bullets.
What gripped him was worry of whether or not they could escape the beasts that
chased them. He fought the certainty that they would die in these woods. The
pain in his shoulder flared with every step and seemed to spread through his
entire body. At times he saw a faint darkness creeping in around his vision and
felt the world begin to fade, but he fought to stay conscious, for the boys’
sake if not for his own.

 He had no way of telling how long they ran,
only that by the time dawn at last broke its hazy fingers across the sky he
felt like collapsing. His legs ached and his stomach pained him with severe
stitches.

In the growing light of day he could see the
beasts that chased after them, closing the distance with every step. They were
large hulks with skin so gray that it looked dead, and hair that flowed behind
them in long dark tangles. Yellow, slanted eyes stared out with savage intent
above wide snouts and gaping maws rimmed with large, broken teeth. Those that
didn’t carry bows - and God be thanked there were not many of those - were
armed with savage claws that tore through small trees and branches to get at
their prey.

Alexis turned slightly as he ran on, and raised
his right gun and aimed it at one of the beasts leaping from tree to tree. He
grimaced at the pain in his shoulder as he squeezed the trigger. The bullet
struck the beast as it was in mid-air and it fell to the ground with a heavy
thud, where it lay twitching. Alexis stopped then and turned around, breathing
heavily. He raised both guns and fired at the oncoming beasts until both
chambers were empty. Every bullet that he fired in turn sent bullets of pain
shooting out from the wound in his shoulder. It did not seem to matter how many
of the creatures he shot down, others rushed on heedless of their fallen
comrades. His main targets were the archers and those at the forefront, and he
succeeded in reducing their numbers to a great extent, but many were saved by
the coverage provided by the woods and they came on.

     Close to his limits and fearing he would
fall from exhaustion and pain at any moment, his guns spent, Alexis turned and
ran. Above them, the day’s early light was still breaking across the sky.

Alexis holstered his right gun and opened the
chamber to his left gun. He reached into the pouch at his side and came out
with a handful of bullets. He thumbed these into the slots in the chamber,
ignoring the burns the hot chamber inflicted upon his fingers, and stuffed the
rest in his coat pocket. He holstered the loaded gun and did the same for the
other until he had both guns ready.

An arrow struck a tree besides him, and as he
turned around to put a bullet through the archer’s head, another one struck the
haversack. If not for the sack, the arrow would have put an end to him; as it
was, he lurched forward and nearly fell to the ground. Once he’d regained his
footing, he shot the archer and two more that seemed to have closed the gap,
and ran on. Somewhere up ahead, he thought he could hear the sound of rushing
water.

5

The beasts quickly began to close the gap
between them, and the three could do nothing but know they had given it their
all. It was when they were all sure that they would be run down and killed that
they broke cover from the woods and came out onto the embankment of a small
river. The river rushed by some ten feet below them, and was half the size of
the Rye.

“What now?” Connor asked, his voice on the edge
of hysteria.

Alexis looked at the river, and then behind
them. Through the foliage he could see the distant shapes running towards them.
They had come to a dead end, and he didn’t know what to do.

At last he settled on a clear solution.

     “You two swim to the other side. I’ll hold
them--”

“No!” Connor cried immediately.

“Connor, it’s the only way!” Alexis told him. “I
don’t--”

“You can’t,” said Connor. “We won’t--”

“What’s that?” Adrian asked, looking towards a
bend in the river.

Alexis turned to look towards where he pointed,
and to his amazement saw the glint of metal on the water. A merchant ship came
around the bend in the river, steam rising slowly from one smokestack, sails
half-raised, sun shining off the iron hull. He acted quickly and fired one gun
into the air. There appeared to be no need for it, however; the crew of the
ship was looking at them in wonder.

“Jump into the river!” Alexis told the boys.
“Swim to the ship.”

“What about you?” the two asked in unison.

“I’ll hold off the beasts.”

“You can’t!” Adrian protested.

“No, you should come with us!” Connor said.

“We would be open targets in the river,” Alexis
explained, glancing behind them at the woods. “You two go!”

“Alexis--” the two boys began.

“No! Go now. I’ll hold off the beasts until you
make it to the ship, then I’ll reach you,” Alexis told them. “If we don’t meet,
then head to Gale and search out a man named Galen Marshal, tell him of what
happened, and tell him to send word to Grandal.”

“But--” Adrian began, and Alexis cut him off.

“No more talk, Adrian! The ship will pass if you
don’t hurry, and we will all die. But we’ll die quick deaths, unlike your
family if you don’t reach the Source. Now
go
!”

The boys looked at him, and in their eyes Alexis
saw worry coupled with fear of being left alone. Then they turned and leapt
into the river at his urging. Alexis looked at the ship, and judged that the
boys had plenty of time to swim out to it.

Arrows hailed past him, reminding him of his
situation, and he whipped his right gun around in a smooth arc. He emptied the
chamber at the oncoming tribe.

He looked towards Adrian and Connor as they
reached the ship. The crew had thrown over lines and were helping the boys
aboard. He turned around, and took a firm stance.

The tribe of creatures rushed through the woods
towards him like a breaking wave. Alexis had time to reload his guns one last
time, ignoring the arrows that flew past, incredibly missing him, and then the
real carnage began.

The guns roared in his hands, and every bullet
he shot found its mark. The tribe, which had started with their numbers close
to fifty, he guessed, had now been reduced to twenty or so. From the corner of
his eyes he watched the ship sail down the river, and he began to run after it
along the embankment.

The tribe burst through the woods, howling and
snarling, and chased after the Legionnaire along the river.

6

The tribe was cutting him off, Alexis realized.
They were spread out, and many of them came out of the woods before him,
blocking his path. He made his way past them with the aid of his guns, running
after the ship. One of the beasts rushed out from the woods and tackled him to
the ground. They rolled over, and in the momentum of the charge Alexis pushed the
beast off him and into the river. He made his way to his feet, teeth clenched
together at the pain that was flaring up in his shoulder, and was struck with
such force from behind that he was sent sailing forward. He crashed to the
ground and lost one of his guns. He watched it bounce away.