Hey I would love any critiques. And since it is a bit long, if you only want to read a little then comment I would greatly appreciate it. This was going to be a prelude, but it ended up being kind of long so maybe now it will just be the start of a new chapter... not sure...
Rune slowly took in a long deep breath and allowed the fresh air to fill her lungs. She reveled in the smell of salt water that drifted up from the ocean below. A flock of sea gulls went soaring by overhead, their caws echoing in the crisp morning air as they flew up into the clear blue sky. The red headed girl slowly turned from the cliff side where she stood, watching the ocean waves break on the rocks below. Taking one last pensive glance down at the emerald sea, Rune hesitated and wished with all her heart that she could stay. A sigh of resignation finally emanated from her mouth as she turned and headed down to where her horse stood, tied up to a lonely tree at the bottom of the hill.
The animal’s dull red fur matched the color of Rune’s hair perfectly, and she gave the horse a loving pat as she walked around towards it head. Standing in front of the horse she grasped its snout in her hands and looked into the animals large obsidian eyes. They almost looked sad to her, as if pleading to stay in this paradise for just a bit longer. “I know,” Rune sighed as she rested her forehead against the horses. “I wish we could stay to, but I promised our Master that we’d be back by tomorrow, and if were going to make it we need to hurry.”
The horse replied with a small snort, almost as if it was saying to forget the Master. “I wish we could forget him,” Rune said with a grin, “But if we didn’t show up he would come track us down, and you know all the trouble that would cause.”
The horse neighed softly, conceding to Rune’s point as she slipped to its side and pulled herself up onto the saddle. Settling in she made sure her small bundles of possessions, including her staff, were still tied to the back of the horse. Once she was satisfied that her belongings were indeed secure she clicked softly with her tongue, and the horse started forward at a slow decent trot, heading along the ocean side as they rode north along the cost. As they loped along Rune closed her eyes and began to sing quietly to her self. She would have been happy to stay like that to if her horse hadn’t suddenly let out a snort of alarm.
Eyes flying open in panic Rune quickly peered about, looking for any sign of trouble as her horse began to pick up its pace. “Steady boy,” Rune whispered as she gently tugged on the reins with one hand and rubbed the animals neck with the other. “What’s wrong? Why are you acting all spooked?”
She could feel the horse slightly shaking underneath her. Its body twitching nervously as it continued along. Rune once again glanced around, not sure what was scaring the horse, when all of a sudden the animal let out a whiny of pure terror. It reared back, hoofs clawing at the air in desperation as another scream tore from its mouth. Rune through her arms forward and wrapped herself around the animal’s neck, holding on for dear life as the horse bellowed with fear. She could see that the animal’s eyes were wide in panic as it put its head down and charged forward.
Rune did her best to shove the fear down that clawed up from her belly. “Steady boy, steady!” she called, her voice rising in panic as the horse began to run faster and faster, completely oblivious to Rune’s shouts. The country side was flying by at an alarming rate. Trees, boulders, and hills shot past them as they plummeted ahead at a dangerous speed.
“Stay calm, stay calm,” Rune whispered to herself as she fought not to squeeze her eyes shut in terror. “You can do this, just get control of yourself first,” she quietly ordered as she took a deep breath to steady her nerves. Gently unwrapping her arms from the horses neck she grabbed the reins and pulled back, forcing the animal to slow its speed though the horse refused to stop. Rune relaxed her grip a little, tensing her arms as she prepared to yank again when the horse suddenly stopped. Or at least it tried to, sliding along the horse tried to stop itself as it slipped along the ground before toppling over.
With a cry of terror Rune flung her hands out in front of her as she toppled forward. She flew head first, and hit the ground hard, rolling and bumping along before finally coming to a halt. Breathing hard she slowly opened her eyes and peered around. She saw first that her horse had fallen in front of her, and now lay on its side, kicking and clawing at the air as it tried to get up. It only took her a second to notice why it couldn’t. One of its back legs was twisted to the side, and she could see a piece of white bone sticking out of it. The red fur looked wet and dark with blood as Rune hopped to her feet and hurried over to the wounded animal.
She wasn’t hurt as luck would have it, but the poor horse was badly wounded and would be unable to walk for now, and maybe never again. “Calm down,” Rune whispered as she tried to edge over toward the horse. It was in a maddened state now, kick and neighing in horror as its hooves pummeled the air. “Please just stop,” Rune fearfully begged, “I can’t help you if you won’t calm down.”
Suddenly a small chill worked its way down her spine, it was a feeling she knew all to well, dark magic. Whirling around Rune searched the area around her, searching for the source of dread that was beginning to rise in her stomach. Then she saw it, to her right, further inland a large cloud of fog was rolling toward her and the horse. The gray cloud swept along the ground, moving fast as it flowed over the land like a silent beast. “Impossible...” she whispered as she whirled around and cast a glance back at the ocean.
There was nothing. The ocean looked calm and peaceful against the pure blue sky. And she knew that was the problem. Fog always came in from the ocean, the moisture would rise up and blanket the area, but today was a perfectly clear day. She turned and once again viewed the large bank of fog lurching toward her. One word came to her mind, and one word rolled off her tongue. “Kre’taur.”
Realizing the source of the horses fear, and feeling panic beginning to rise within her as well she hurried over to where her belongings had fallen off of the horses back. Tearing off the rope that bound her bed roll, clothes, staff, and a few meager pieces of food she fumbled through them and finally managed to separate her staff from the clutter. Grasping the six foot tall oak stick in both hands she once again turned toward the horse. The animal had stopped screaming, and now lay silently on the ground, whimpering in fear as if it had already resigned itself to its fate.
Rune knew that there was little she could do for the beast, but she also knew there was
nothing she could do for herself. She could try to run along the cost, endeavor to get far enough out of the reach of the fog bank, but she knew that would be impossible. Turning to look at the horse she gave it a sad smile while whispering, “Looks like we’ll die together, I won’t leave you so don’t worry.”
The horse just looked around, its eyes still wide in terror as it awaited what was to come. Rune turned and grasped her staff in both hands while exhaling a small breath. She needed to remember her training, remember everything she had been taught. She didn’t doubt that she would die, but she had already decided to put up as much of a fight as she could.
The fog had gotten closer, the lumbering mass had picked up speed as it neared the two beings, almost as if it was excited at the chance to envelop the two in its thick mass. “God protect us.” Rune whispered as the fog closed the last bit of distance and consumed her. Immediately the sun disappeared, its once bright rays were blotted out by the thick clouds that swam all around her. Rune strained her eyes to see in the darkness, but she could barley even see her staff that she held a little ways in front of her face.
A sudden screech erupted out of the fog and she jumped back in fear as another low howl emanated from the darkness. The horse began to panic again, and although she couldn’t see it, she could hear its shrieks of terror. Something flashed out of the corner of her eye and Rune whirled around in time to see a gray shape disappearing into the fog. She turned as something else caught her eye, but it to disappeared into the gray mass that swirled all around.
A small bead of sweat slipped from her brow and landed in her eyes. She quickly raised a
sleeve and wiped it away, biting her lip as she peered around. The horse suddenly let out a hoarse yelled and Rune heard the sound of flesh being ripped from bones. “NO!” she shrieked in terror as she turned toward where the animal should be. A pop sang through the air and the image of a leg being pulled out of its socket flashed in her mind. The horse let out another neigh, this one of pain before a loud gurgle overtook it and she knew blood was filling its lungs.
Then silence. Rune paused. Waited. Not a single sound pierced the thick air around her. Then the sound of a large body being dragged reached her ears, it was accompanied by the sound of tearing meat and the clicking of teeth. “The girl is ours,” a childlike voice suddenly said from behind her. Slowly turning Rune looked for what had spoken, but could see nothing. “What lovely hair it has, we want the hair,” the voice suddenly said again. It had a dull, emotionless sound to it, like a person who had been deadened to all feelings of the world. “We want to touch, to play with the hair. We... want to... play with the hair,” the voice slowly called as if the desire was almost to much for it.
“Please,” Rune suddenly shrieked, desperation overriding her better judgment, “Please just leave me alone!”
No one answered. Nothing was said, and nothing seemed to move as once again the horrible silence engulfed her. She felt a cold hand suddenly wrap around her ankle, and with a scream her feet were pulled out from underneath her. She struggled and kicked to break free as the thing dragged her along. One of her kicks connected with something solid and she heard a low grunt as the grip on her ankles loosened a bit. Raising her staff she jabbed it toward her feet and once again connected with something. A low howl that made her blood stand still echoed in the air as the thing dropped her.
Rune staggered up right as another creature appeared in front of her. Its slick gray body came at her, and she saw two yellow eyes greedily looking over her. The creature was no taller then four feet, and it was slightly hunched over as it galloped toward her, using all four of its limps to propel itself along. It possessed claws that were at least six inches long on each of its four fingers, and its mouth was riddled with rows of jagged teeth.
As this nightmare leapt toward her Rune’s right foot stepped back as she braced herself and swung her staff like a club. It slammed into the creature and the thing screamed as the sound of cracking bones echoed in the air. Rune didn’t have any time to enjoy this small victory however, she could hear the sounds of at least four more of the beast coming toward her, all from different sides. Taking a deep breath she ducked down and listened, waiting for the right moment to move. She could hear their claws, hear their feet as they tore along the ground, moving toward her position, the Kre’taur, the creatures of the fog.
Then she heard it, the sound of feet pushing off against the ground, and beings leaping in the air. Now! she thought as she rolled forward and swung her staff up. She heard the sound of the Kre’taur fall behind her, and their screeches in anger as they realized they had missed their prey. She had missed to however, and somehow the creature she had been aiming for had dodged her swing. Realizing her fatal mistake all to late, Rune turned to run as something landed on her back, and a row of sharp teeth dug into her neck. Screaming in pain she wacked the Kre’taur with her first, slamming her knuckles into its head as the slow trickle of blood began to flow down her neck. The beast was hardly phased by her attempts and as she fell, panting to the ground, another one grabbed her by the leg and bit into her thigh. Rune nearly blacked out as a wave of agony overtook her body, her head begin to swim as a nauseating feeling consumed her mind.
“Stop!” the child’s voice suddenly commanded, “take her, I want her hair, then you may eat.”
The Kre’taur didn’t answer, instead they removed their teeth and grabbed her by the legs before proceeding to drag her limp body along toward some unknown destination. Rune would have fought back, but already she felt weak as her blood was slowly draining from her body. Her eyes began to close, but she struggled to stay awake, knowing that if she passed out she was as good as dead.
Her head crashed into a rock as she was tugged along, and a small whimper of pain escaped her lips. The Kre’taur didn’t seem to care as they continued to pull her along. Suddenly Rune realized that the fog was a bit clearer, she could see further in front of her, including the things that pulled her legs. The Kre’taur were disgusting monsters, on their back along their spinal chord were eight holes that were continually puffing out a steady stream of fog. But the holes were not what caught Rune’s eye, as she looked she noticed they had passed a large stone pillar. Though she was dazed she noticed that they had actually entered a string of pillars, and in the middle was a small, round stone table.
“A Kzard Vul,” she mumbled to herself, “A place of sacrifice.”
That was when the owner of the child like voice revealed itself. It did indeed look a little human, with a small round shaped headed, and two big brown eyes. It had a mouth with normal teeth but no lips and it was missing the skin on one cheek, showing the jaw muscle and back molars. The rest of its body looked equally odd. One of its arms seemed to have belonged to a big brawny man, while the other arm was skinny and lithe, looking to be that of a woman’s. Its legs were long and slender, obviously feminine in nature, while the torso looked like a patch work of different colored skins. The creature was completely bald, and as Rune’s captors lifted her up and placed her on top of the stone table the human like being gracefully walked over to her.
It encircled Rune, eyeing her body as it reached out and tenderly stroked her hair with its muscular arm. “So pretty,” the thing murmured as it rubbed her red hair. “And it will be ours!” Opening its mouth two of the creature’s teeth slowly elongated, revealing a pair of fangs as it let out a hiss and swept down toward Rune’s throat.
Rune knew death was near, and she closed her eyes, embracing the pain that was to come. But as the monster’s fangs closed around her neck a bright light suddenly flared up. Even with her eyes closed Rune winced as colors swarmed underneath her eye lids and the voices of humans filled the air. The Kre’taur began to shriek and scream as Rune succumbed to the numb feeling overwhelming her body and slowly passed into unconsciousness.
