The Clearing at the End of the Gorge. Midday.
The clearing was small, ringed by boulders, with a stream cutting through its center. The trees pressed close on three sides, their branches twisted, their leaves sparse. The fourth side opened onto the gorge they had just escaped, the walls steep, the shadows deep.
Grog stood at the edge of the clearing, his sword in his hand, his eyes on the gorge. The creature was still there, on the wall, watching. Its too many eyes glinted in the dim light.
Lira moved to stand beside him. "It's not coming down."
"It will." Grog's voice was flat. "When it's ready."
William was helping Aldric to a boulder, where he could sit, where he could rest his leg. Aldric's face was pale, his hands shaking, his leg soaked with blood. The wound had opened during the fight, the leg that had been healing, that was supposed to be resting.
Gwen brought water, bandages. Mirena knelt beside Aldric, her hands glowing, her staff across her knees.
"I can stop the bleeding," she said. "But I can't heal it. Not all the way. Not here."
Aldric nodded. "Just stop the bleeding."
---
The creature moved along the wall.
It was faster now, more erratic. Its wounds didn't seem to slow it. If anything, it was more agitated, more desperate. It wanted them. It wanted to finish this.
Lira tracked it with her bow, but it was too fast, too unpredictable. "It's working itself up," she said. "Getting ready to attack again."
Grog nodded. "How long?"
She shook her head. "Minutes. Maybe less."
William moved to stand beside Grog, his sword in his hand. "Then we hit it first. Before it's ready."
Grog looked at him. "That's not how this works."
"It's how it has to work." William met his eyes. "We can't let it choose the moment. We can't let it control the fight."
Grog was quiet for a moment. Then he nodded. "Lira. Can you hit it from here?"
She looked at the creature on the wall. It was high, maybe sixty feet up, moving fast. "I can try."
"Try."
---
Lira drew her bow.
The arrow appeared—solid, real, the fletching dark against the gray stone. She aimed at the creature's chest. Led it. Waited.
The creature paused. Just for a moment. Just long enough.
She released.
The arrow flew.
It struck the creature in the shoulder—the same shoulder she had hit before, the wound already bleeding, the arrow sinking deep.
The creature screamed. Its hold on the wall slipped. It fell.
Not all the way. It caught itself twenty feet up, its claws scraping the stone, its body twisting. But it was lower now. Close enough.
"Now," Grog said.
---
They moved as one.
Grog was first, his sword raised, the berserker stirring in his blood. William was beside him, his sword steady, his eyes fixed on the creature. Lira stayed back, her bow singing, arrows covering their advance.
The creature dropped from the wall.
It landed in front of them, its limbs splayed, its body low. It was faster than before, more desperate. Its claws raked the air, its mouth opened, that vertical slit splitting horizontally, needle teeth gleaming.
Grog met it.
His sword caught its claws, deflected them, drove it back. The creature was strong—stronger than it looked—but Grog was stronger. The berserker was stirring, the red creeping at the edges of his vision.
Not yet, he told it. Not yet.
William was beside him, his sword driving into the creature's side. The blade sank deep. The creature screamed, turned, swiped at him. William dodged—barely—the claws passing inches from his face.
Lira's arrow took it in the throat.
The creature staggered, blood pouring from its wounds, but it didn't fall. It was still fighting. Still learning.
It turned toward Aldric.
---
Aldric was sitting on the boulder, his leg propped, his hands steady on his sword. He couldn't stand. He couldn't run. But he could fight.
The creature lunged.
Aldric raised his sword.
The creature's claws came down. Aldric's sword came up. The blade caught the claws, deflected them, drove them aside. The creature's momentum carried it past him, its body slamming into the boulder behind him.
Aldric swung. The blade carved a gash across the creature's flank.
It screamed. Turned. Lunged again.
Aldric's leg gave out.
He fell.
---
The creature was over him, its claws raised, its mouth open, its needle teeth reaching for his face.
William was there.
He didn't remember moving. He was just there, his sword in his hand, his body between Aldric and the creature. The creature's claws came down. William blocked.
The impact drove him to his knees. His arms shook. His hands slipped. The blade bent.
The creature's jaws opened. Its teeth reached for his face.
He held.
---
Grog's sword took the creature in the side.
Deep. Through the ribs. Through the thing that passed for its heart.
The creature screamed—a sound that was not a sound, a sound that was inside their heads, that made their ears bleed and their eyes water. It convulsed, its limbs flailing, its claws raking the air.
William rolled away, came up gasping.
Grog drove his sword deeper.
The creature fell.
It lay on the ground, its body twitching, its too many eyes dimming. Its limbs folded in ways that shouldn't be possible. Its mouth opened and closed, opened and closed.
Then it was still.
---
The clearing was silent.
Grog stood over the creature, his sword in his hand, his chest heaving. The red was fading from his vision. The berserker was settling.
William was on his knees, his sword on the ground beside him, his hands shaking. He was alive. They were all alive.
Aldric was sitting against the boulder, his leg bleeding, his face pale, his sword still in his hand. He was alive.
Lira lowered her bow. Her hands were steady, but her face was pale.
Gwen was with the horses, keeping them calm. She was crying, but she didn't know it.
Mirena knelt beside the creature, her staff in her hand, her eyes on its body. She was looking for something. A mark. A sign. Something that would tell them where it had come from.
There was nothing.
---
Grog moved to stand beside Aldric.
"You're bleeding," he said.
Aldric looked at his leg. The bandages were soaked. The wound was open again. "I know."
Mirena came to kneel beside him, her hands glowing, her staff across her knees. "Hold still."
Aldric closed his eyes. The pain faded. Slightly.
William walked to the creature's body. He stood over it, looking down at its gray skin, its too many eyes, its needle teeth.
"It's dead," he said.
Grog nodded. "It's dead."
William looked at his hands. The hands that had held the sword, that had blocked the creature's claws, that had kept Aldric alive.
"We killed it," he said.
Grog met his eyes. "We did."
---
They made camp in the clearing.
The tents were small, the fire was low, the watches were set. Lira took first watch, her bow across her knees, her back to a tree. The others sat around the fire, eating cold rations, drinking water, saying nothing.
William sat apart, his back to the others, his eyes on the creature's body. It was still there, still dead, still wrong.
Gwen moved to sit beside him.
"You saved him," she said.
William looked at her. "What?"
"Aldric. You saved him." She met his eyes. "When the creature was over him, you were there. You blocked its claws. You held."
William looked at his hands. "I didn't think. I just moved."
"That's what soldiers do."
He was quiet for a moment. "I'm not a soldier."
"You're becoming one."
---
Aldric sat by the fire, his leg stretched out, his cane beside him.
His leg was bandaged, the bleeding stopped, the pain fading. He would live. He would walk. He would fight again.
Grog sat across from him.
"You pushed too hard," Grog said.
Aldric looked at him. "I had to."
"No, you didn't." Grog's voice was quiet. "You wanted to."
Aldric was quiet for a moment. "William was in trouble. I couldn't—"
"You could have stayed back. You could have let us handle it."
Aldric met his eyes. "I couldn't."
Grog was quiet for a long moment. Then he nodded. "I know."
---
Lira stood at the edge of the clearing, her bow in her hand, her eyes on the gorge.
The creature was dead. The portal was gone. The thing that had come through was still.
But there was something else. Something she couldn't name. Something watching.
She scanned the darkness. The trees. The walls. The shadows.
Nothing moved.
But she felt it. The weight of eyes on her back.
She didn't sleep.