Aurix the Bold

They rode at a gallop but didn’t push the caples too hard. The journey in front of them was long, and there would be little time to rest if they hoped to stay in front of their pursuers. Above, just a black speck in the sky, Nyx circled in her newest incarnation.

Within an arc of darkfall, the hawk dropped out of the sky shrieking like a black comet. She landed gently on Aurix’s shoulder and gave a little screech.

“They’re coming,” he called to Regulus and Inanna.

Regulus nodded. “Unless they found the stags, that should only be the one rider and some Raspula. They shouldn’t catch us tonight. The Raspula have incredible stamina and speed on foot, but they can’t go on forever without a break. Of course, neither can we.”

“If Nyx lets us know when they make camp, we can do the same. That way we won’t have to worry about them catching us sleeping,” Inanna suggested.

Without being asked, Nyx took to the sky again.

Shura slipped beneath the horizon, the last of her light winking out with a bright burst that spread across the atmosphere, like a final gasp of the dying. Darkness began to bully the last of dusk from the sky in earnest.

About seven minutes after sunset, Regulus held up his hands and brought them all to a stop.

“What is it?” Aurix asked.

“Shhh. Listen.”

They stood in silence for more than a full minute. Aurix was about to interrupt the quiet and ask what they were supposed to be listening for when he finally heard it.

A long and terrible wail, faint but clear, drifted to them from the west. It sent shivers up their spines, and the caples huffed and stamped at the sound. It was eerie and set Aurix’s teeth on edge. It went on for a full minute or more before fading into the night.

“What in Amezduleq?”

“The Rilx,” Regulus answered. “Every night at sunset.”

“That was almost ten minutes ago,” Aurix said.

“Yes. It takes the sound that long to reach us at this distance. Tomorrow it will take less time.”

“Why do they do that?” Inanna asked. “It gives me barrochi bumps.” She rubbed her hands over her bare arms, still trying to make them go away.

“No one knows,” Regulus said and spurred them onward again.

Before long, the dark was too dense to see through without the glimstone. The caples were tired and barely maintained a loping trot. Aurix was in a semi-daze when he heard Nyx’s cries above. Their followers had made camp.

“Thank the Gods,” he said.

They found a spot just off the road to stay the night. Their rest wouldn’t be nearly long enough, but it was welcome and needed. Regulus built a fire, and they cooked and ate a plump, long-eared flitch that Nyx had brought back clutched in her talons.

Sleep was short-lived. They woke several arcs before first light and set out again, hoping to extend their lead on their pursuers. Regulus figured they’d have a skirmish on their hands sometime around Nova’s rise. As planned, Inanna stayed to the rear of the pack with her bow slung over her shoulder, ready to try to fend them off if need be.

Nyx stayed aloft circling over their pursuers. At first she was barely visible, merely a dark speck in the distant sky, but as the day progressed, she drew nearer and nearer.

“We should try to take them by surprise,” Regulus said. “Keep an eye out for places that we can hide the caples. A large thicket, perhaps.”

None too soon, they came upon an overgrown treefall to the south of the road. Nyx was near enough now that they would, before long, become visible to their enemies. They quickly guided the caples to the blind and hid them out of sight. Each of them found a place to hide and had their weapons at the ready, but here, victory would depend mostly on Inanna.

A few moments later, a single rider atop his stag came into view, flanked by four Raspula on foot. Watching from his hiding place behind a large pooja, Aurix could hardly comprehend how the Grays stayed abreast of the stag and its long, elegant bounds. He held his breath and waited.

The rider was clad in dull black plate that seemed to swallow the sunlight. Inanna would have to place a perfect shot to have any hope of bringing him down. Her best targets were the lightly armored Raspula. If she could even the odds somewhat, maybe they could force a retreat.

The group came to the spot where they’d led their caples from the road. The rider pulled up his stag and raised a fist into the air, causing the entire procession to stop. He looked around, and when he saw the thicket, shouted a command that Aurix couldn’t understand.

Inanna had found a spot in a tree dense with leaves, and knelt on a series of thick branches. She let an arrow fly, and one of the Raspula dropped instantly, an arrow buried in her back.

The rider pivoted on his stag and rode toward the tree where Inanna was hidden without the slightest hesitation, his spear plenty long enough to reach her nest.

To her credit, Inanna ignored the potential threat to her own safety. A second Raspula fell, clutching its shoulder and hissing in pain.

Aurix went for the remaining Raspula, while Regulus emerged from behind the same tree that Inanna was in and knocked the soldier’s pike away with a fierce blow made worse by surprise. The rider just barely managed to hang on while the stag bounded away from the unexpected threat.

Inanna stayed focused on the Raspula, waiting for a clear shot. Regulus jousted and parried Banjax’s warrior with his spear—what he lacked in skill, he made up for in sheer strength, and they remained locked in combat, evenly matched.

Aurix held his own against the two Raspula and their shining ringblades, but when the injured Raspula rose and joined the fray, he was outmatched. It was all he could do to parry their weapons as they sang and sliced through the air.

“Down!” Inanna called.

Aurix dropped to the ground and rolled away. There was a whistle and another Raspula collapsed, blood spraying from a wound in the side of her throat. Some of the acid splashed on Aurix’s hand and neck, burning his skin.

“Fex!” he shouted, and scurried away from the body and the poison spilling into the dirt. The other uninjured Raspula leapt for him and got a sword through the belly for its efforts. She fell on top of Aurix, spilling more blood onto him. Fortunately, his armor took the majority of it, but it smoked and sizzled as the corrosive ooze burned into the leather.

On foot as he was, Regulus could not find an advantage to exploit. And the warrior was good. He blocked a thrust from Regulus with the shaft of his spear and slid it forward. The blade caught Regulus’ arm. blood flowed. The warrior drew back with the intent of driving the blade into something more substantial, but was interrupted by a shriek and a dark blur of motion.

Nyx clawed at the soldier’s face with her razor sharp talons. The rider screamed and tried to knock her away, but she was away again before he had the chance.

Blood poured down the man’s cheeks. Before he raised a gauntleted hand to his gouged and gory face, Aurix saw that one of his eyes was gone. He turned his stag and raced back the way he’d come, still screaming.

The remaining injured Raspula started to run after him, but an arrow to the back ended her pursuit.

“Are you boys alright?” Inanna asked, swinging gracefully down from her perch in the tree. She collected her arrows and wiped them off in the grass before putting them back in her quiver.

Regulus tore a pooja leaf from a tree and wrapped it around his bloody arm. “I’m fine,” he said. “I’d have beaten him soon enough, but thanks, Nyx.”

She made a repetitive cawing sound from a nearby tree. It almost sounded like laughter.

“Aurix?” Inanna called.

He hissed through his teeth. “Drak, that stuff burns.” He shook his hand out at his side. His leather armor was blackened and singed where the Raspula blood had come in contact with it. “Otherwise, I’m okay.”

“Alright,” Regulus said. “Let’s keep moving. According to the map there’s a small hamlet ahead where we can get cleaned up and resupply, but we can’t stay long. The other riders will be on their way by now, and who knows how many more Raspula they’ll have convinced to come.”

Small didn’t begin to describe the town. There was a tiny market, nothing more than stalls in a single long structure, a dozen or so tiny homes and an inn of half a dozen rooms. The “stable” was a fenced-in corner of the little town with nothing more than pickets to tie off the caples, a trough of dirty water and some hay in a pile. Aurix thought Regulus looked appalled.

They paid for a full night at the inn, but were in and out in less than two arcs after baths and a short nap. Aurix felt strange about using Shlee’s money, but remembered the old man telling him it was his to begin with, bequeathed to him by a dead king. If anything, that made it even stranger. He couldn’t help but gasp the first time he opened the large coin purse tucked inside the rucksack. Even after all of their spending, there were still several thousand dyne inside.

They returned to the road, feeling refreshed, if not rested. Regulus did some calculations based on his knowledge of mount speed and their needs for rest. By his best guess, it would be a sprint for the Wraithwood. If they managed to get there first, it would be by the narrowest of margins.

With the threat so far behind, Nyx stayed perched on Aurix’s shoulder for the most part, only taking to the air every now and again to hunt and to prevent any unwelcome surprises from their adversaries.

It was just three minutes after sunset that the unnerving cry of the Rilx made its way to their ears. Not for the first time, Aurix wondered what he was getting them all into. He tried to tell himself that an unknown threat was far better than certain death at the hands of Xu’ul’s Aegis, but the thought didn’t provide him much comfort. He might very well be leading them to their deaths anyway, and potentially a fate much worse.

The only reassurance he could give himself was that they really had no choice. Xu’ul’s warriors would hunt them to the ends of Valeria, but maybe—just maybe—they wouldn’t follow them into the Wraithwood.