The Gods Among Us: A Gleaming Blade

Night had fallen once again, and Cladus and his little group walked between the trees. The Everfree had always been unnerving, but now? Jeez. He caught his hand shaking ever so slightly time and time again as they made their way south of the camp. Over and over he thought he saw yellow glowing eyes, but every time he looked again they were gone. Rumor was that there were Timber Wolves in this forest. How literal that was meant to be taken, he had no idea.

“No sight of them so far,” Merry landed beside him, back from treetop duty. “If they’re scouting, they aren’t doin’ it here.”

“Or they, more likely, avoided you,” Cai mumbled so Cladus could hear him. He wasn’t sure if anyone else did though. None of them reacted to it. Or maybe Merry just didn’t want to start something while out here. If she had heard it, it would likely be hell to pay for doubting her.

“Did you hear that?” Gold Fire whispered, almost frantically gesturing for them to stay quiet. Cladus hadn’t heard anything and neither had Merry, if her confused expression was any indication on the matter. The shadows of the forest started to seem like they moved, being dense enough to hide anything from their sight.

No, this was not the time to get superstitious about the Everfree! Cladus could feel a pearl of sweat form on his forehead and his hand automatically went to the hilt of his blade, but be didn’t unsheathe it.

“What?” he whispered back when Gold Fire didn’t say anything more.

“I… not sure.”

The group stayed quiet for a minute or so, with only the sounds of the nightly birds to distract them. Was Cai right? Was their scouts here, and could they be aware of them? Merry had just gotten back from treetop duty, so they could have seen her land. Or maybe they had walked passed a sentry of theirs.

“We should move,” Cladus eventually said, trying to keep the uncertainty of his voice to a minimum. He said it a little louder than he had whispered shortly before, but, under normal circumstances, no one should’ve been able to hear him if they were further away than his companions. They nodded.

**

Half an hour or so passed without incident as they walked through the forest in the direction they had seen the encampment a couple of days ago. No one said anything, just followed the signals Cladus gestured in their directions. So far so good.

They should have reached the camp by now, or so he thought. Maybe it was because they moved a bit slower this time, to hopefully avoid attention of someone they knew was there somewhere? When they found it they had moved quickly on a routine scouting mission. Maybe the differences in the external factors caused him to feel time differently, thus throwing off his inner clock?

“Cladus, come see this,” Cai whispered from the left and waved for him to come closer. He pushed aside some branches, revealing what looked like it was an abandoned camp. “Think this is it.”

“Shit,” Cladus drew his blade. This wasn’t good. Not at all. Slowly he walked through the opening Cai had revealed, into a clearing of the forest that had the signs of someone keeping a fire.

Looking around, he could see a myriad of footprints. There was places where it looked like something had been pulled up from the earth, holding roughly a rectangular shape with the short-side aimed at the remnants of a fire within the makeshift fireplace made by placing stones in a circle. There was also some coagulated blood to be seen. Not enough to indicate a mortal wound. Accident while cooking, perhaps?

“Found anything useful?” Merry asked. She, Gold Fire and Cai had followed him into the clearing, keeping an eye out for other people.

“No,” he replied. “This was a campsite, and quite a few people were here, but that is all. Nothing to show who they were, or where they went.”

“They went to your camp, naturally,” Cladus threw himself around with his sword ready to strike when he heard the voice come from behind. Out from the trees surrounding them, a Horn calmly walked in their direction. He wore a red robe, which went well with his white skin. “Allow me to introduce myself, I am… well, my name doesn’t really matter. I speak on behalf of the ones you call ‘invaders’.”

“What do you mean, they went to our camp?” Cladus kept his sword at the ready. Whoever it was he was talking to, he stopped just outside of his reach. Why wasn’t he attacking? “Why are you talking to us?”

“Because killing you wouldn’t yield any benefit,” the stranger smiled, completely calm and his tone was friendly. Cladus glanced over at the other. Merry and Gold Fire seemed just as confused as he felt, but Cai’s eyes had narrowed. “It is not necessary for the plan to succeed. In fact, keeping you alive, at least for now, is estimated to be quite useful.”

“What are you talking about? What plan?” Cladus raised his voice and walked closer to the Horn. He didn’t flinch, not even a bit, when he put his sword against his throat. “Start talking!”

“I am already talking,” he replied, carrying on as if the sword was not there. “No need to threaten me, I have no desire to withhold all my information from you. In truth, I came here to enlighten you on some of our goals.”

“What are you waiting for?” Cai shot in. “What is the signal that allows you to spill the beans?”

The stranger smiled again and gave a short bow, as best he could without the edge of Cladus’ sword interfering, to him.

What the hell? Cladus found his eyes drawn to Cai. Seriously, what the hell? What in the depths of Nightmare Moons grim asshole had just happened? A stroke of lighting lit up the night sky, summoning storm clouds. The Princess of the Night was near.

“Ah, there we go,” the stranger said, calling Cladus attention once more. “You see, your dear Princess of the Night is at the heart of all of this. Our plan worked perfectly then, if she came to help your camp.”

“Cladus, we should go. Now,” Merry and Gold Fire spoke in unison.

“No,” Cai brushed them off. “We need to hear what he has to say.”

“Well?” the strange Horn looked at Cladus. “You’re their leader. Will you stay and listen, or go back to help beat back the failed attempt to take your camp?”

“Failed attempt?” Cladus felt that his heart started to beat faster. He should really go back. They might need their help. Yet…

“Of course. Our goals cannot be achieved yet, so taking your position would be of no value to us. We plan for the Princess of the Night.”

“Plan what?” Cai asked, cautiously looking around. He had walked up to Cladus’ side without him noticing it before now.

“My apologies, but that is as much as I will tell you.”

“Then let’s kill him and get back!” Merry sounded angry.

“Go ahead,” their visitor said. “My death means little. I’ve already played the role I was assigned. Don’t worry; I don’t have any backup that will interfere with your decision.”

“No, don’t kill him!” Cai laid a hand on the hilt of Cladus’ blade. “We should take him back, get professionals to interrogate him. Or torture him, if need be. We need to know what he knows!”

“I have to warn you that I have no intentions of being a captive. My death or free life will serve the goal. My capture will hinder it. You will have to kill me, or let me go.”

“No we don’t,” Cladus, for the first time since the stranger had appeared, smiled. “You’re coming with us back to the camp, whether you want to or not.”

“Disappointing,” the man sighed. “I bid you a good life, gentlemen.”

Fast ass lighting, the man drew a dagger from the sleeve of his right arm and jammed it into his throat. Still able to move a bit, he, with a lot more effort now, placed the tip of the blade against his stomach and fell forward. Before either of the people in the group could reach, he had inflicted wounds beyond what was possible to save him from without real healers.

“What he fuck!?” Cladus exclaimed. His heartbeat had reached a new high this evening. Both Merry and Gold Fire seemed to share his reaction of confusion and anger. Only Cai seemed to have remained calm. Like a few minutes earlier, he eyes narrowed at he looked at the body of the dying stranger.