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pvt-p-o-gold-blog · 8 years ago

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Theesa of Foltar

Theesa stepped out of her house; a small wooden hovel in Foltar, a mere ten miles from the forest Tordem. Most of the village was covered in trees anyway. This far south, the only things that weren't forest were where people had removed the trees. The elves frowned on this sort of thing, but Sturgis was a hard village to make it in. And no one had money to live in Droplet Hall. Especially since the Council had deposed the Lord of Water as Lord and Protector. Some said he had retreated to the Great Cave to live with the wild wolves and wolf-men. It didn't matter. It still meant that taxes were higher, and work was harder to come by. A homesteader in the Wash used to be able to get by comfortably. Now it was merchants and mercenaries that ruled, both the villages and Droplet Hall. Theesa had always been a mercenary of virtue. She never took on a job that hurt other people. This left her penniless often. There was plenty to be had if you could extort or steal, but then she would be no better than those vagabonds that spent every eve in the Dragon's Gut, groping serving girls and gulping ale like there would be no sunrise. Her father would be disgusted if she stooped so low. Better to be a bad sellsword and call yourself an adventurer than lie, cheat and steal and call it entrepreneurial. The edge of the village was not far from her house. She made her way to the edge where the forest boxed in the people of Foltar. A friend of hers had lost five sheep in the past week to an animal that did not hunt like a wolf. She hoped that something yet remained of the sheep. It had been a while since she'd had money for meat. Normous sat on his back step, watching his remaining sheep intently. He hadn't had many to begin with, and now had lost almost half of his flock. “If you stare long enough, one of them's bound to grow an extra head.” Theesa said. Normous was much taller than her, with a burly farmer's body. Never held a sword a day in his life, but for the shepard's crook that now lay across his lap. Back when Lord Volt had been in power, they had attended school together. It was now a rotting husk of a building, it's yard overgrown and the schoolhouse collapsing. But they had each other still . “Theesa!” Normous stood to greet her. Their hands danced as she tried to shake his, then she gave up and hugged him. He hugged her back, bending to more effectively do so. “I'm so glad you could make it. After that last taxer came, I've been fucked in every direction I turn.” “What are friends for?” She asked. “Here, let's go inside. I have some tea you might like, and we can chat. Then I'll show you the body.” He said. Theesa tilted her head, flowing blonde hair dripping onto her shoulder and then cascading over her back. “Only one?” Normous gave a little, involuntary shudder. “Let us not speak of it just yet. It is still daylight, so let our business be pleasant. Coming?” He beckoned her inside. Theesa wondered what could make such a large man shudder like that. Inside, his house was cleaner than hers. His plates and utensils sat empty and ready. There were two steaks cooking, which Theesa had to try very hard not to cheer about. A lion skin hung on the wall. She had given it to Normous as a gift for his last Name Day. When the wind blew in from the sea, he would use it as a blanket. She had hoped it would help find her large friend a large woman. Unfortunately, she knew very few women seven feet tall and looking for love. When they were younger, they had courted briefly, until they realized that the reason they never wanted to get intimate was it felt like kissing a sibling. They decided to call it off before people thought anything was odd about either of them. Normous jogged over to the fire, stooping so he didn't smack his head on a rafter. He ladled out a cup for each of them and they drank. Theesa knew she'd had tea like this before, but she didn't remember the name of the flower that was used to make it. “I love it Normous. What's it called?” Normous gulped and smiled. “Bergamont. A merchant came by the other day trying to peddle some plants. When he showed me the Bergamont, I realized that's what's been growing all over my other pasture. When I showed him my crop, he said it was the best he'd ever seen. He said I could expect him in a few days to pay for them and start selling them all over the Wash. Maybe even as far as Nimburn, he says!” Normous grinned and sipped some more. Theesa cheered. “That's amazing Normous! Oh, thank Morbern! What are you going to do with all that money?” Normous frowned. “Um... Mainly, I just wanted to be able to pay you for helping me with the sheep.” Theesa smiled. “If that's what you're worried about, I'd rather just have food if it's all the same. Keep your money. You could use it to farm instead.” She took another sip. “If people like this tea, you'll make a hell of a living growing this. Imagine all the sheep you can buy.” Normous' eyes widened at the prospect of perhaps having a whole herd of sheep. They darkened and he said “First we have to stop what's killing them. And I'm sorry, but that task falls to you.” “Don't worry old friend. I can take care of myself.” She said Normous just shook his head. “Maybe you should see the sheep and decide.” Normous beckoned her to follow him. Outside, the sheep had gathered in a small group. Theesa saw they were all back to back. They turned their heads this way and that as they chewed the tall grass. Normous patted one on the head as he walked by them. It leaned into it's master's hand and then returned to the grass. A little farther she could smell it; the death hanging in the air. She thought she smelled something like burned hair and rotten blood. Normous stopped and pointed. The body lay, flayed and torn apart, more or less in a pile. Theesa bent to examine it. Wolves wouldn't leave so much food behind. Down here, the smell was stronger. Whatever had killed the poor sheep had simply torn it appart and left the remains. Depite the powerful stench and the fresh meat, however, there weren't any flies swarming it. There wasn't a single bug anywhere near the corpse. When she felt she could gain nothing more from the body she turned to her friend. “where's the head?” Normous simply pointed. Theesa, confused, followed his finger. Then she saw the sheep's head, on Normous's roof, maybe twenty yards away. “How?” She asked. Normous shrugged. “Still sure it's a wolf?” He asked. She sighed. “Not as sure. Might be another lion?” She hoped He shook his head. “You'd know better than I.” This was true. In school, they had initially started him off in sword training and her in farming. It had taken a week for the other children to start picking on Normous, who, as it turned out, was as deadly as a fresh glass of milk, despite his even then large stature. She had seen him getting hit by the smaller boys and walked up to them. “Would you stop that?” she asked. She always tried to be polite. Her mother always said it was more important to be nice than to be right. One of the boys stopped and turned. “Why?” “Because he won't fight back. He's very nice. Maybe you should just talk to him instead.” She smiled then, hoping that he would call off his friends and they would let the boy be. It was very hard to read with him crying. The boy rolled his eyes, shook his head, and pushed her. He had almost turned around when Theesa appeared in front of him. He almost had a chance to yell before she broke his nose. He screamed and hit his knees. The other two turned, but they were too slow. Theesa punched the next one in the stomach as hard as she could. He vomited over her head, covering his comrade with the broken nose. The third one felt a tap on the shoulder, turned, and then spun to the ground after catching Theesa's magical teleporting fist. They started her in sword training and Normous in farmer prep the next day. Grown-up Theesa shook her head. Lions were much more difficult to hunt than wolves. She'd want long daggers and armor for this. Long swords can't be drawn and used effectively when a three hundred pound animal is standing on your chest trying to claw you out of a suit of plated iron. “Anyway, come. I've made you steaks for your hunt, as well as some biscuits and oats. That should keep you.” Normous said, heading back to the house. Theesa followed him inside. “You don't have to do that Normous. I'd help you for free.” Normous laughed and waved it off. “I have plenty. I grow the stuff for a living. I mean,” He gestured to his large, well-fed belly. “I really do have enough. And if you weren't so damned stubborn, I'd stock your larder all year round. I know how hard it is for honest sellswords to find work.” She gave him a small, sad smile. “Thank you, Normous.” “Don't mention it.” He said. She stood up to leave. “Be safe out there! The food I can replace easily enough, but you are truly unique.” He hugged her and kissed the top of her head. “I would be lost without you little friend.” She hugged him back, though her arms were too short to make it to his back on either side. “You take care too big guy. And bring your sheep in tonight. I don't wanna follow the trail to and from your house for the next few days.” They both laughed. Normous handed her a bag and wrapped up the steaks. He handed them to her and she set off back to her house. It was a mess in there. Dirty clothes and sweaty armor lay on the floor, table, her small bed, and everywhere else possible. She started picking up, looking for a mail shirt with a collar. If the lion knocked her down, it would go for her neck first. She wanted a fighting chance. After moving most of the clothing she found it, along with a rusty greatsword, two short ones, and bronze-and-leather guards for her arms and legs. A bear had attacked her while she was wearing them once. It stared toothless above her fireplace now on a plaque from the new mayor. That job had netted her a small bag full of gold, and many large ones for the blacksmith who made her armor. He supplied her free of charge for all the business she brought in. He'd even been visited by some dwarven apprentices from Black Hill not long ago. Theesa kept cleaning/digging. I really need to clean up sometime, she thought, tossing laundry with reckless abandon. She decided on three steel daggers, a wide shortsword, and took her clothes off to get into her leathers. Then came the mail and the plates. Many mercenaries preffered bows for this sort of thing. Theesa was never that good with bows. She didn't really have to be either. When she was angry or scared, she moved much faster than a bowman could reload. She'd killed plenty of cocky bowmen to prove the point. She almost skipped on her way back to the sheep's remains. The smell had stayed the same while she was gone. There were still no flies. It didn't take her long to find the tracks. They looked off, somehow. Theesa couldn't place it though, so she shrugged and followed them up the hill and into the woods south of the village. The forest was always calm. Theesa loved hunting for that alone. Birds chirped in the trees above her and sang long and complex songs. Her father had always joked that there was a little elf in her blood, because she always felt at home in the forest, taking her shoes off and dancing with the woodland creatures. The tracks lead her southeast now. She hoped they might pass the river. It would be a great place to stop and eat at. Sadly, the tracks turned due east as she followed them. As the lion had walked, it seemed to quicken it's pace, it's paws going deeper into the ground. Theesa frowned and looked around. It hadn't caught an animal nearby. She pressed on. After a few hours of walking the sun started going down. Theesa started looking for a place to camp. She was deep in the woods now, so it didn't take her long to find a sturdy tree. She climbed up about forty feet until she found a good branch cluster. She tied up her hammock to the tall branch and set her pack in it. Then she ate, savoring every bite. Normous sure knew how to cook. When she was done, she pulled a small, shaded lantern out of her bag, and an old book. Her father had never learned to read, so she made sure she never forgot how. Even if, like now, it was one she had read twenty or so times. This one was set in some other world, where a group of young men fought a war after their world was destroyed. It made her wonder if there were other people, living among the stars. It didn't seem like it, from what she had been taught of Morbern the Great in school. He seemed to prefer a smaller creation. Theesa often wondered why, when stories like this were so interesting and wonderful. She started to get tired, put the book back, set the pack on a sturdy branch, hanging by a sturdy strap of leather. Then she got in the hammock and blew out the lantern, hanging it next to the bag. Something sounded odd about the forest tonight. She couldn't place it and drifted off trying to figure it out. She woke up the next morning from a dreamless sleep. Whatever wasn't right in the forest last night had sorted itself out while she slept. The morning light had inspired the birds, and new songs greeted her while she scarfed down breakfast, packed up, and climbed back down the tree. After she got to the bottom, she scored the tree with her dagger and found the tracks again, setting out once more in search of the lion. It took her six more hours of walking before she saw anything at change at all. When she stepped into a clearing, however, she frowned. The smell of death pierced the rich forest air. She thought she heard something, but when she listened, she couldn't hear anything. The tracks stopped, then started roaming in circles, as though looking for something. She looked around, half expecting to see it watching her. She could see no lion. She thought something had moved in the corner of her eye, but she looked and saw only a bush moving in the breeze. Eventually the tracks took a new heading and she followed them north. Now the poor thing just seemed to be lost, wandering from tree to tree. She came to one with four long, deep scratches in it's bark. Sap poured like molasses from the tree's wounds. Theesa stopped there. Something had been bothering her for a while now, but she couldn't figure out what. She looked around. She knew this part of the forest. Nothing looked wrong or out of place. A branch snapped somewhere behind her, and several things became clear at once. The same death smell had been following her since she had left the clearing with the circles of tracks. Since she had been to that place, every sound she was used to in the forest wasn't wrong, they were gone. She spun and drew her sword. What she hadn't considered before was that what she was hunting didn't walk like a lion. It's feet weren't even right. More like cloven hooves. Easy enough to dismiss until you remember that lions have toes. You can see their toes in their tracks. You can smell their piss when you found their home, and anywhere they've been. Most importantly, they had big claws, yes. But the wounds in the tree were far too deep for any cat, no matter the size. And far too wide. She saw it. It wasn't a lion. Sitting on it's haunches, looking directly at her, was a beast almost as tall as Normous. It's back legs had hooves, but they were far bigger than any she'd seen before. It's front paws looked more like hands, but each finger ended in razor-sharp claws. It's front legs were huge and well-toned, covered in matted and filthy gray fur. There were patches of flesh missing from the beast. They weren't bites, she was sure of that. She knew of no animal that would knowingly approach that thing. It looked, rather, like the thing had died at some point and come back, wounds rotting and all. It's back legs and hips were small, widening out in the torso. It's shoulders were as wide as two horses abreast. It's face was half the skull of a goat, with hollow-looking inky black eyes and a mouth full of short, pointed teeth. Theesa's eyes widened in horror and she took a step back, holding her sword in front of her. She had no idea what it was going to do. She went over everything she knew, everything she had been taught, and drew great big blanks. She would never have guessed that the monster would stand on it's hind legs and speak. “Where... am I?” It sounded like the yowling of a cat and growl of a wolf at the same time. It's voice sounded wet and raspy, like an old man with setting sickness. “where is... my home?” Theesa was paralyzed. The thing tilted it's head. Standing, it was several feet taller than Normous, towering above her. “At... least...” The creature began shuffling toward her. It didn't speak like a human. It paused either too long or not long enough. Every word was spat out as quickly as possible once it was started. “At least there's food.” And it pounced. Some part of her brain that had been sounding the alarm abandoned it's post and reacted. Theesa swung her sword as fast as she could. It stuck in the lean, ropy muscles of the thing's arm. It screamed and swung, open-handed at her. Still holding her sword, she flew between trees and landed hard, her left shoulder plate hitting a rock. Her shoulder lit up with pain. She ignored it and got up, sprinting. She didn't stop until she saw more familiar trees. At some point when she was running, she'd become aware of the death smell going away. The heat of the moment having left her, her shoulder screamed. She unlaced her armor, wincing when her arm moved. The birds were around her again, singing without a care in the world. She pulled off her mail one-handed, then undid her leathers and peeled them off her shoulder. It had swollen up three times it's normal size and was a deep, weeping purple. “Fuck” She whispered. She pulled the leather back into place and threw on the mail shirt, leaving her left arm guard off. She looked around. At some point, she'd stopped heading to the village and made her way to the clear and deep waters of the Emin Folska. She dropped her pack and dug out a biscuit for the walk. It would take only an hour to get back home from here. She didn't linger. She knew every step on this path. She kept low and moved as quick as she could, hoping that whatever that thing was, it hadn't chosen to follow her. The birds seemed fine, and it smelled normal. She didn't stop looking though. Her left arm hung, limp by her side. Her right was held out with a dagger. She wouldn't take a chance with that beast again. It seemed to her like it took hours, despite making excellent time, until she left the trees and saw the sun setting over Normous' house. The impending night filled Theesa with fear, and she jogged the rest of the way down the hill, through the pasture, and into the front door. Normous, who had no idea his friend would be back this soon or suddenly, nearly jumped out of his fucking skin. Disregarding his fright, she ran up and hugged him with her good arm. She was more relieved to see him than she had been since she was still a girl. She broke down and started sobbing. The past day had caught up with her all in one moment and slapped her across the face. He tried to put his arms around her, but she yelped when he brushed her shoulder. “You're hurt!” Normous sat her down and took off her mail, then peeled the leather away with a gentleness surprising for his size. She continued to gently sob. She could still hear it's voice. She thought she'd never, ever forget that awful sound, or that hideous face with it's dead eyes. Normous ministered to the best of his ability, using cooling ointments to soothe the pain. “Okay, I'm going to go get someone. If that little bastard isn't already drunk, Gunter can fix this with a snap of his fingers.” Normous started to the door. “NO!” Theesa flew across the house, stopping right in front of him. “That thing's still out there! You can't leave, it'll kill you!” Normous frowned. “Lions don't come near people if they can help it.” She saw him sniff. The smell was back. With a vengeance. “It. Isn't. A lion.” She said, turning. She barred the door. “I don't know what the hell it is.” She pelted off to the back door and barred it. “But it isn't a lion.” “How bad can it be? You killed a bear.” Normous chuckled, but Theesa was beginning to make him nervous. Somehow, she went from next to the kitchen window, shutting and locking it, to holding onto Normous' collar, hanging by one arm. She pulled herself up until her face was level with his. “Has a bear ever scared me this much? Do they often fling people fifty fucking feet away when they're hurt?!” she let go of his collar and dropped, silent, to the floor. “It's a monster, Normous. The fucking thing's bigger than you. This thing's...” she stopped, staring. “It's what?” Normous had noticed the smell now. It wasn't helping the fear already twisting in his gut. In an almost silent, terrified squeak, she said, “it's right there in your yard.” Normous looked out the window. He would never have noticed if she hadn't said it. There stood the most terrible creature he'd ever seen, staring right at the both of them. It had broken the necks of his sheep and was standing, looking at them, idly pulling the sheep apart to keep it's huge, horrible hands busy. It tilted it's head again. “Kill... You.” The beast crouched to spring faster than Normous could see, but Theesa was prepared. A dagger flew out the window, spinning fast. The beast tried to swipe it out of the way and the knife went through it's hand. The beast stopped, looking astonished at the knife burred hilt-deep in it's blood-soaked hand, as though looking for enormous brass balls at the base of the handle. Then it laughed. It was a grating sound, like rocks grinding together, but still grotesque and wet. Then it turned and walked straight to the village. Both stood in shocked silence for a moment. The Normous; “We have to go warn everyone!” “Are you fucking crazy? It hasn't left, it's out there waiting for us to go do a fool thing like that!” Said Theesa. “Don't you have a crossbow in here or something?” Normous looked guilty. “You know how I feel about weapons in the house. I don't even kill the sheep, I always ask you to do it because I get attached.” “Ugggggh!” “I'm sorry!” Theesa held up a finger and sniffed the air a few times. “Oh” “What?” Normous asked. Theesa picked her sword back up. “It really did head to the village. C'mon.” She was out the door and dashing down the road. Normous heard the first scream, groaned, and followed his friend. The first scream came from an exceptionally heroic knight named Sir Paddick who had just gone out to take a leak by the side of the Dragon's Gut, already thinking about that next sweet pint. Back in Cerule, alcohol wasn't permitted to anyone at all. So naturally it was all underground and hidden away from their Lord's prying eyes, as well as the eyes of peasants like these. They really did know how to make it out here though, Paddick gave them that. As he moved his crotch plate out of the way, he looked around for his typical beggar to urinate upon when he remembered he was far south of Ender's Lane. He shrugged and focused on the wall again. Finished, he buttoned his fly and turned, now looking at a monster so terrible it must have crawled here from the Great Dragon's shadow itself. Then he screamed. Then he stopped. People poured out of the Gut. “Who screamed?” “Must've been a wee lass.” “Do you think that damn hero got her?” “If he did, he'll die a hero tonight.” On of the drunkards slipped and fell on his rump, to the amusement of the other pubflies. The drunk was not amused, at the offending liquid had already soaked the seat of his pants and backs of his legs. Two of his friends felt around for him in the dark. They helped him back up. “Could we get a few damn lights out here?” said the drunk, not at all happy about how quickly the liquid was drying, crusting around his private parts. “Is that someone yelling?” The Barman came out last, with one lit torch, in the process of lighting another, when they all saw what the drunk had slipped in. Blood. There was something on the drunk's boot. He bent over and picked it up, turning it. He dropped it in horror when he saw it was a scrap of the Cerulian knight's face. “Someone's definitely yelling.” Some turned, now listening to the woman coming from the south side of town. Behind her, giant footsteps could be heard. “That's Theesa and Normous, callin' it.” Said a drunk. “How the fuck do you know?” asked his friend. The first drunk shrugged. “Never have I met a man with so high a voice, nor a woman as loud.” The second looked like he might protest, thought about it, and then simply nodded. “Does it smell bad out here to you?” He asked. The others started sniffing by the time Theesa and Normous reached them. Some waved, some glared. Most were still celebrating the Hero's death. “Hey, Theese!” Called the correct drunk. “Any idea who the public servant of the day is?” “Huh?” This was not at all what Theesa was expecting. The skeptical drunk continued. “Yeah, we've got a regular good Morborian on our hands.” Pointing to the scattered remains. “A little keen for the job, I think.” Theesa and Normous looked at the small pile of bones and flesh that didn't quite make the technical definition of a body, then the ripped and rent armor. “Oh, thank Morbern.” She said, heaving a huge sigh of relief. “I hoped it wasn't one of ours. Hero was he?” “Oh yes.” said the town whore. She'd actually been in the same year as Theesa and Normous in school. She'd been sent to ladyship classes, a rare honor. As soon as she got out of the schoolhouse, she'd been on the corner of the bar, waiting less than twenty minutes before a man handed her a bag full of gold and whisked her off to his room. When asked, she said she'd like to at least have the chance to pick who paid her. “Didn't even tip” “I'm sure.” Theesa said. “But right now we have bigger problems.” Her biggest was that she had no idea how to describe what she saw. “What at first seemed like a lion eating sheep has turned out to be...” There it was “... A new sort of minutar.” “What kind?” Asked a drunk. “A scaled minutar, An elven minutar, what?” “I think she meant 'as yet undiscovered'” said the correct drunk, 2-2. “Oh” Said the previous drunk. “Is it dangerous?” “I don't have time for this, is anyone sober enough to help?” Most of the drunks shuffled back in, save the good guesser, the skeptical one, and the one that had slipped in the blood. “Alright, so here's what happened.” Theesa recounted the tale as best she could. The wrong tracks, the smell, and finally, when she thought about the thing itself she faltered. She looked up to Normous for help. Normous was looking somewhere thousands of miles away, “You'll know it when you see it.” “Ok, so how do we kill it?” Said Barin, the guesser “We'll have to stick together.” Theesa said. “If we're alone, it'll make heroes of us all.” They shook their heads sadly. “I'll get the barman to lend us some weapons.” Said Lance, the unlucky. The skeptic Hawliss followed him. They returned with three plain swords, one of which was handed to Barin. They gathered in a circle, four around Normous, who would look for it over their shoulders. They began to edge their way through the town, rotating slowly. They entered the main street, where the school could be seen. Theesa smelled it again. That sticky, vile blood-smell was back, making the air heavy with it's stench and corruption. “Keep your eyes open.” She said. “It's here somewhere.” They made their way across the street. The drunks, to their credit, didn't flee. Most drunks in the Wash used to be Lord Volt's soldiers until the Council deposed him. Now they got by enough to drink and remember better days with their old platoon mates. They seemed no exception. Theesa lead them to the school, looking over her shoulder the whole way. On her left side was Barin. On her right was the other, she couldn't remember his name. No sign of the thing that made such an ungodly smell. She gave the door a kick. The inside of the schoolhouse was in a state of decay. The paint with the Letters and Marks of Morbern along the top of the wall had flaked away in places. The floorboards were rotten and termite-ridden. The bookshelves were broken, their contents dribbled in a pile next to them. Rusting toys and ruined books. The great fortune of the Lord of Water lay here. The smell dominated the room. It was inside the building with them. To their left was the hall where sword training took place. Theesa led her five there. The alarm was being sounded in her head again. Something was wrong. Of course there was, she thought. I'm chasing a monster that broke my arm just before noon. Clearly, I'm mad. But she still couldn't shake the feeling that the beast might get the drop on them. But how? The practice dummies in the hall still remained mostly upright. Some had begun to droop and lean over time, while others had simply fallen off the stands. The wooden swords, clubs, and axes had long since been stolen by children in the years since Volt's fall. It had been when she was eleven. She was sixteen now. A maid her age would be marrying. As a sellsword, she was just getting to the good years in her career. Assuming she didn't get caught unawares. She strained to look into corners. The shadows were deep. Was there movement in them? Or was it the ghost of the Dark Lord playing tricks on her? The room had been more or less stripped bare over the years. There was nothing for the beast to hide in. She lead them on into the library. The smell grew more complex and even fouler the closer they got. The library had reverted back into a forest, the tall shelves now overgrown with moss , cracked and scarred like the bark they used to be. The books that had fallen or been knocked over by rodents had become pulp in the many rains that came through the school's dilapidated roof. They had formed almost to the shape of roots. Theesa peeked around the corner of a shelf, then motioned for the others to follow, not daring to look away. The smell hadn't been this strong in the clearing. It was an outhouse hole that had begun to ferment, on top of rotting, bloody meat. Where the hell was it? She lead them halfway across the library and stopped. There was no exit save the one behind them. The shelves diverged into three alcoves, deeper in. Splitting up was certain death. The beast would pick them off one by one. Entering one would leave them cornered, and the beast would follow them in. She was going to have to draw it out. “Normous, look down the halls. Keep watch for it, you three...” She turned. Normous was watching over her head down the halls. There were now four men standing around him. She remembered Barin, Lance and Hawliss, but the man standing to her left hadn't been there before. He was bald, with clouded blue eyes and grey-ish skin. He looked through her eyes and the back of her head to the stars beyond. Theesa drew her sword, stepping back. The dead man's jaw dropped and his head tilted to the side. The drunks had just drawn their blades, pointing them in mute terror. Normous had slipped behind the line of swordsmen, and cowered above them as tightly as he could. Theesa was almost sick with the stench now, but she recovered more quickly than the beast could exploit. The corpse turned to look at each of them in turn, jaw still open and head off to one side. It didn't seem to move its feet, simply turning. Then it grabbed a thick tuft of hair in each hand. Then it pulled. When the half-rotten skin at the top of it's head split, the shape of the body seemed to change. As the hands peeled off more skin, the thing revealed it's true face. Looking at it now, Theesa could see it's nose, like a wolf's, seemed to dance in the exposure, relishing every new smell. As well as a couple old favorites. It's eyes weren't black or absent, they were simply so deep they couldn't be seen unless you were right next to it. They were bright yellow, and slits like a cat's. Or snake's. Theesa snapped. “Kill it now, while it's busy!” Something pulled her forward, and she charged the beast. The drunks followed her. All four plunged their swords into the monster. The monster stopped. It tilted it's head again, examining the swords that had been put through the human parts of it. The rest of the thing's skin burst off in strips, exposing the beast, swords still inside him, towering above them all, scraping it's horns on the ceiling. Theesa's courage failed her. Dread of inevitability was upon her. She was going to die. She was woefully unprepared, disarmed, and absent the use of one arm. As she went through her self pity, Normous hopped over her, dodged around the beast, and pinned it's arms behind his back. Theesa had never seen Normous move that fast. But her mind cleared; they had an advantage. Barin went in first, jumping to grab the sword lodged in the creature's right breast. He gored the monster as he yanked it through bones and flesh on the way back to the ground. The monster tried to escape Normous' grasp, screaming now. It almost sounded like a woman when it screamed, though it was far too raspy and like the growl of a cougar. Hawliss stepped forward, holding a battleaxe Theesa hadn't seen before. The beast struggled harder, bucking backward and knocking Normous onto his back, with the beast on his belly. The monster did not account for how it's arms were being held, however, as both were broken, under its' back. Hawliss hopped as he chopped the monster's legs. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Switch. Theesa climbed up onto the belly of the beast, now half-deflated and mostly dead. Her sword had been buried in it's left breast, where it's heart would have been if it was human. She pulled it out and knelt on the beast's chest. It glared at her, past struggling, and waited, never taking it's eyes off hers. She drew back and jabbed. Her sword stuck on the back of it's skull. It's glare dulled as it gurgled. Theesa slid off the chest of the beast and limped over to a corner. Normous looked at her as he broke the monster's neck. Theesa jumped. Normous picked up the beast's body and dropped it on his side and stood. “What the fuck Normous, since when do you break necks? That's terrifying! You're too big to be violent!” Theesa ran to hug him, tears stinging her eyes. Normous nearly broke her back in turn. “Are you kidding? I was scared shitless! If it wasn't really dead it was going to fucking kill me first. I'm not taking any chances today.” Lance struggled and pulled his sword out of the monster's groin, and Hawliss' from it's stomach. Barin gathered dry wood and other fuel to burn the body. Hawliss and Lance joined in and built a pyre of warped and broken shelves, ruined books, and dead tree branches that had fallen through the roof over the years. Lance used a spell to spark the fire, speeding the process. When the beast began to burn, the smoke became rancid and terrible. The drunks became sick immediately. Theesa and Normous were merely disgusted. They watched the fire, making sure the body burned completely. When the drunks could no longer vomit, they sung a marching song. Something about angels. Theesa needed to be sure the thing was dead. She dared not think of anything else. They sung low at first, but as the body burned they raised their voices, singing songs of distant lands and foreign women. They started to smile again. Theesa didn't notice she was singing along until the fire was embers and only a few blackened bones remained. She grinned and sang with vigor. Normous joined in and lead them back outside. He pulled a purse off his belt and shook it. It jingled. “Drinks are on me!”

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