Eight 5.15: Slaughter's Hollow

While the flora and fauna continued to stay the same, the hills began to stretch out into long, tear-drop shapes. Melwei took us over the shortest sections, cutting across to keep us away from the broader, flat area to the north.

My thought was that the colossal kalesk must’ve really spooked him.

As we moved, Yuki used it as an opportunity to talk about glaciation. They pulled the information out of my memory and pointed out how the shapes of the hills, the various ridges, and the narrow lakes we saw were likely a result of glaciers carving the land.

Fala had never encountered the idea before, and she was endlessly curious about how walls of ice could move on their own. That assumed, of course, that Diaksha had a similar history to Earth, which looked to be likely given the evidence I’d seen so far—evolutionarily, culturally, and geologically speaking.

Honestly, the time flew by with us chatting while also enjoying the clear weather, as well as wildness in the air. There was something so provocative about it, a thrill that added spice to the experience.

It wasn’t just me either. I could sense Fala and Yuki’s growing appreciation too. All three of us felt like we could grow here. No wonder Melwei and his team preferred a life this far out of the way of human civilization.

It was near the end, when the tops of the trees were dyed a mellow orange by the setting sun, when he took us sharply to the south so that we could cross over a particularly steep hill. At the top, the trees grew thick like they’d gathered to screen what was on the other side.

Then we were through, and we saw it: a hollow in the shape of a canoe tucked between the hills, about triple the size of a football field if I had to guess. A fog hugged the land, moving uneasily across the ground, which was quite the feat given that no wind blew through the hollow. The place was sheltered on all sides.

The sky was darkening rapidly by then, so Melwei signed for us to follow him down. “We’ll set up camp and start a fire while there’s still light. There’ll be a hot meal tonight.”

No one else seemed to find joy in the idea, though.

Beside me, Kana muttered, “I hate this place.”

I, on the other hand, felt the pull of my authority. Something down below needed me.

###

The hollow would’ve made a great place to shoot a horror movie. The lonesome woods, the creepy mist that wouldn’t go away, and the story of a massacre long ago—you couldn’t ask for a better setting for spooky-time murder-fun.

There was even a couple willing to run off on their own to have sex. That was a classic horror trope! Poor Kana, the man wasn’t even recovered fully yet, but Tru still pulled him away. At least, they headed back up the hill for their fun.

‘Are they going to die?’ Yuki asked, worried.

This isn’t a movie, I replied.

‘So the answer is… maybe?’

I tore my attention away from the ghosts crowding us to look at where the dolbecs had entered the trees. They’ll be all right. The two of them are veterans, and Kana’s probably okay with anything that keeps him out of this place.

‘How bad is it?’ Fala asked.

Surrounding our camp, the ghosts stood staring, their faces weathered by anguish and time until only the barest of features were visible. Only their red eyes stood out against the pale bodies and white mist.

Pretty bad, I answered. Though the water in the mist isn’t messing with my senses too much.

Very little lived in the hollow—only the hardiest of bushes—so barely anything moved through minuscule droplets in the air. Melwei and his team were well within my ability to process.

I sensed him approach and felt him clap me on the shoulder. “Don’t just stand around; get your bedroll out. Any spot is fine. We’ll keep watches, just in case, but there’s never been a need for them before. It should be a quiet night.”

‘Isn’t that another trope?’ Yuki asked. ‘The certainty that it’s safe.’

“Mmhmm,” I muttered, listening with only half an ear.

‘These horror stories are things you’ve never shared with me,’ Fala sent. ‘I don’t think I like the sound of them.’

We’ve seen the real thing, I thought, and don’t need the monsters showing up in our entertainment too.

###

By the time Tru and Kana returned, I’d gotten myself together and organized my little portion of the camp—my bedroll unfurled, an extra blanket for what promised to be an especially chilly evening, and a pot of simmering rabbit stew over a fire.

Normally, Melwei’s people provided the food, but they were all still moving gingerly, so Fala and I offered to make the evening’s dinner. The taste was unfortunately too salty, since we’d used the preserved, butchered meat from earlier in the journey. Not even my tomato relish helped.

Still, everyone here had eaten worse in their lives, and none took food for granted. We ate until we were sated, leaving the rest of the stew for breakfast in the morning. The fire would burn all night and keep it warm.

Melwei’s team re-formed their Nature’s Spring chain after dinner, with Tru at the terminal end keeping watch on the area. Through Yuki, I could feel their qi reserves draining. Each of them was letting their tanks empty to a quarter of their individual capacities.

‘They must truly think this place is safe,’ Fala observed.

I shifted my seat beside her, not able to find a comfortable position. We’re about to find out for sure. The Deer God is nearly here, and he’ll no doubt have a read on this place.

But I was wrong about the timing—the Deer Good didn’t arrive for nearly another hour. I didn’t know why exactly, just that he’d found something interesting and that the power I sensed through our connection had grown slightly.

He was quite satisfied with himself when he came over the hill to Slaughter’s Hollow, then the feeling of satisfaction spread. Finally, my sense of him told me, I’d done something right and was following the path laid out for me by mis abuelos.

A sorcerer resided here. Someone had deeply unbalanced this place and it was in need of mending. The Deer God nudged me, directing my attention to the far end of the hollow, which lined up with where my authority was telling me to go.

Fala started to get up, and in response to my questioning look, she sent, ‘What? I know you want to.’

The Deer God was also moving. I could feel him bounding down the hillside—the intention that he’d rejoin the herd once we caught up to him.

Melwei looked over, but didn’t seem concerned. The hole we’d dug for people to relieve themselves in was nearby, and he assumed that that was where Fala was headed. His eyebrows rose, though, when I stood up too. A thread of understanding wound through his spirit; Fala and I apparently had that kind of relationship.

Tru flashed us the Diaksh equivalent of a thumbs up.

“If you wander off, we’re not responsible for you,” Melwei said.

“I remember our agreement,” I replied.

“Best stick to the hollow then,” he said. “It’ll be safer than the woods around it, especially if you’re distracted.”

“Okay, okay,” I signed, then picked up my weapons and handed Fala hers.

Then, as soon as we were swallowed by the mist, Yuki cast the whole suite of sensory-boosting spells on me, from Night Eyes to Owl’s Ears and everything in between.

I heard Kana whisper to his teammates, “I don’t think it’s sex. John is a traveling merchant, right? Specializing in expensive spices and herbs. Wouldn’t it make sense for him to have a nose for natural treasures?”

“Hardly anything comes through this hollow,” Wilaeina commented. “There probably are precious things laying around, undisturbed for decades.”

“That may be,” Melwei said, “but John and Emma also do have that kind of relationship. I can tell from the way they look at each other.”

Kana sighed. “Whatever he finds, we won’t get any of it. I had expectations for our meal, with him specializing in spices, but all I tasted was salt. Salt and more salt.”

For some reason that triggered Tru to start chuckling, a low rumble that carried through the mist. I probably would’ve heard her even without Yuki’s spells.

Still no sign of betrayal, I thought to Fala.

‘Then let’s move on,’ she replied, letting me lead the way. She had her own spells running, but was focused on the deeper parts of the hollow.

Tuning out the conversation behind me, I also focused my attention forward, scanning with all my senses for anything strange or out of the ordinary. Meanwhile, Fala switched to covering our sides.

Step by step, we carefully moved forward. We passed weedy bushes that were tenacious and stubborn. They gripped the soil as if they were about to weather heavy winds. Meanwhile, the human ghosts stayed by the fire and were replaced by the ghosts of beasts: javelinas, skunks, foxes, lynxes, and more. They came in both normal and giant-sized versions. There were no birds, though, either alive or dead.

An eerie silence covered the land, and we walked softly through it.

By that point in my life, I’d become sensitive to anything that affected the already thin skin of Tenna’s Gift surrounding me. And now, I noticed how the barrier between the living and the dead was becoming… attenuated. The deeper we walked into the hollow, the more it thinned.

There came the mournful call of a moose, but not from up the hills. The sound came from within the mist ahead.

What he’s doing down here with us? I wondered.

‘Who?’ Fala asked.

That moose just now, I answered. Then I sensed Fala pause, so I stopped my approach too.

‘I didn’t hear anything,’ she sent.

Oh, I thought.

Fala frowned. ‘To confirm, you didn’t pierce the barrier of Tenna’s Gift?’

I did not, I replied, eyeing the throng of ghosts around us.

The moose’s call came again, and the frown on Fala’s face deepened. “I think… I heard something, but it sounded far away.”

That shouldn’t have been possible. The god’s gift precluded communication. The only way to speak to the dead was to pierce the barrier, which was an ability unique to me as far as I knew.

“The moose sounds like he’s only fifty yards from here,” I said. “Your gift from Tenna must also be affected.”

“What are the ghosts doing?” Fala turned this way and that, but the spirits remained invisible to her.

“They’re watching us for now,” I said.

“And if you look deeper?” she asked.

I let myself sink more into the land, my gaze penetrating into the ghostly forms. Then a sigh blew out of me at what I saw. “They’re hungry for revenge. They desire to leave, but they can’t. Something traps them here.”

And at that realization, I felt myself bristling, my authority taking umbrage at anything interfering with the natural cycle of life and death. Like a gear ratcheting, I turned toward the direction we’d been heading.

Fala came closer to touch my elbow. “The pressure inside you is building. The mist is falling under your influence.”

What she’d observed was a truth. I’d been keeping my authority locked tight while with Melwei and his team, so that I didn’t give my level away. Now though, I’d unintentionally let myself spread, and the mist shimmered with my fury.

My beloved leaned in. Her breath was soft against my ear as she whispered, “Are we soldiers, or are we hunters?”

Her question cooled my temper, and I reined in my influence, releasing my grip on the mist.

“That’s better,” Fala said.

I nodded. “The authority is mine,” I said. “Not the other way around.”

“That’s a good lesson to remember… for all of us,” Fala said, separating. She checked the mist again, then cocked her ear to listen. “Tenna’s Gift is holding well enough for now. We should continue.”

So, I led the way once more. By my reckoning, we’d only walked half the hollow’s length.

The number of ghosts increased as we proceeded. The plants, meanwhile, were more spread out and lonelier. The ground seemed dustier too, like it hadn’t seen water in seasons. This, despite the recent heavy rains and the mist clinging to the hollow.

The distance wasn’t long; even moving stealthily we covered the ground in only handful of minutes. Yet it felt timeless, like we were trapped with the ghosts inhabiting the hollow.

Eventually, we came close enough to the Deer God for him to join the herd. His presence was a protective blanket. I also sensed his eagerness, but he quickly tucked it deeper inside himself, as if he’d put a smoldering coal behind insulation.

We walked another twenty yards after that, then things started to happen.

My Owl’s Ears caught multiple whirring-fluttering-spinning sounds approaching from different directions. Almost immediately afterward, the Deer God signaled danger—we were being targeted. And then those attackers moved into the range of Yuki’s influence, the creatures’ qi burning bright within their senses.

About a dozen fast-moving birds shot at us, each the size of a pigeon. I grabbed toward Fala, but she was a beat ahead of me and merged into her figurine. Then, Yuki blinked us out of the line of fire.

They were god-damned skents is what they were. I got my camera working on a couple before they shot past.

Skentleitu (Animal, Dusk)

Talents: Spearhead, Don’t Blink, Heartstopper, Tamed, Controlled Rage

Skentleitu (Animal, Dusk)

Talents: Drill Bit, Faster Than Fast, Light Hungry, Tamed, Controlled Rage

Last year, the lodge had lost a hunter to a flock of skents. By the time, his team had heard them, it was already too late. His chest had been pierced, and the bird had started the process of looking for a cozy place inside him to lay its eggs.

The hunters’ teammates couldn’t even recover his body. All they could do was run from the rest of the flock.

The lodge mobilized immediately—skents wouldn’t be tolerated anywhere near the village—but all we found was the shell of the man. The eggs’ incubation period was known to be incredibly short.

Rosak was his name; yes, that was it. And his death triggered a drive within the lodge to equip more hunters with armor, especially the newer ones. Hardly anything was faster than a skent on the attack, yet if the bird hit metal instead of flesh, there was decent chance it’d break its neck instead of punching through.

Think of it this way, if cutter hawks were the equivalent of flying knives, then skents were stilettos shot from rifles.

I cast a Dog’s Agility, and Yuki doubled the spell. I’d normally be buzzing as a result, but the need to go fast-fast-fast was locked down and under my control. Being silvered mattered more than the spell’s demands.

For their second spell, the hidden mind cast Iron Body on me.

The skents had shot past the range of my influence, but I picked them up again as they approached for another run. The mist parted as they flew through it, the water giving them away to me.

A smile came to my lips then. Until they started their runs, they might as well be…

‘Sitting skents?’ Yuki offered.

Just about, I thought in reply.

The draw on Princess Lilly was smooth and deceptively easy. A bystander wouldn’t easily notice the coiled power hidden behind the nocked arrow.

Ready check three, I thought.

Fala’s obsidian knife emerged from our Hoarder’s Pocket. A cluster of thin, stone needles joined it. ‘Ready three,’ she replied. ‘I have the defense.’

And in the time it’d taken her to do so, I’d counted down.

In, I thought, loosing the arrow. As soon as it was away, I drew another and released. Then three arrows and four. Like a machine, my muscles operated under the influence of my intent—silver hunter and dawn weapon in harmony.

She was eager to please my Princess Lilly and knew her business. By the time the fifth arrow was away, the first skent was down. The birds falling one after the other.

The remaining skents, realizing they were under attack, launched themselves at me. Whir! Whir! Whir!

Yuki blinked us out of the line of fire, and I picked up where I’d left off. The birds were moving too fast even for Lilly and me, so I cast an Unerring Arrow each time I released. Another two skents went down—one pierced through the neck, the other her wing clipped. She fluttered on the ground, unable to fly again. Fala took her life with a needle through the heart.

The rest of the flock shot out of range of my influence. They might’ve fled under normal circumstances, but the situation didn’t resemble anything normal. Not only were the skents Tamed, but in the most recent attack run, I spotted a black mark on their spirits. The birds flew too fast for me to make it out, but the size and location was the same on all of them—covering the tops of their heads and stretching down the back of their necks.

Half left. An arrow was already nocked; I’d barely had to think about it for it happen.

This time, though, the skents began their attack run while outside the range of my influence. They came whirring and a half beat later shot through the space Yuki had left behind us—a not quite empty space. Fala had positioned her needles there, the birds impaling themselves on them. Only three survived the run.

The number decreased to two after an unerring arrow took another one down.

I waited for the skents to return, my head cocked listening, my other senses spread through the mist. Time drew out. A touch of restlessness arose within me, yet the temptation to move stilled before I needed to take action on it. Anything other than my need to hunt was unnecessary.

In the back of my mind, I heard Yuki go ‘Hmm.’

But the message wasn’t meant for me, so I disregarded it. More time passed, and they recast the suite of sensory spells.

‘They seem to have gone,’ Fala sent.

Slowly, I eased the tension out of the bowstring. It would seem so. And yet the mist lingers and my authority calls on me to continue.

‘There are stones under the earth. Shall I build a stronghold?’

Let’s get closer, I thought. So far, all we’ve seen are the symptoms. The disease is deeper still.