Four Horsemen: Chapter 20

Chapter 20:

A shadow opened his eyes. Great claws flexed and relaxed. The shadow unfurled to his great height as tall as two men.

Crystals flickered around the cavern. In its middle lay a ritual circle carved deep into the stone. The reagent within its form shifted like liquid obsidian, shifting without a clear pattern.

Shadows, like insense spread from the edges of the inscription at the center of it.

At the edge of the circle, a shadow held a man kicking and yelling. With a quick, almost bored stroke the shadow’s claw tore the man’s neck open. He gurgled and went still, his mana drained from his body. The shadow tossed the man into a pile of bodies, human, beast, it mattered not where it came from.

Humans were the richest fuel in the woods, the monsters lacking in mana.

The greater shadow reached out towards what had awakened it.

People had entered the forest. His forest.

The master had given him strict orders. Send out the sneaky shadows. Have them kill the things that would enter the darkness. Use them for the ritual.

Soon his master had promised. Soon they would spread beyond this forest. They would blot out the sun, through valleys, over mountains, into the cities filled with many to fuel the ritual to dominate the land. Destroy the one that harmed his master.

Then he would see who was the master.

The shadows obeyed no one, they hid from the sun carefully. Though they never disappeared totally.

With time he would come into his full power on this plane and harvest great rewards.

The darkness shuddered around him as four creatures formed of shadow, fog and malice congealed at the edges of the room. They were half the size of a man, floating in mid-air, cloaks of shadow covered their features except for the four claws on either hand, each claw as long and sharp as a dagger. Perfect for rending and stabbing.

He pointed in the direction of the creatures. “Hunt.”

They faded away, dashing through the shadows of his forest. Tonight he would feast well.

He closed his eyes to the sound of a deer being sacrificed to the ritual.

***

Night was coming on quickly, everyone had finished up their set tasks and settled down to have a meal together. Petor had cooked up some more of the deer he’d killed earlier in a rough stew with grilled up vegetables and some bread.

Slow cooking it had broken down the deer’s toughness some at least.

They’d stored their mounts away in their buttons to get some good rest.

Desari looked at the forest around them. She didn’t know the intricacies of stitching, though she’d felt the mana of each item Mya created. Ropes, nets as well as armored vests, bracers and pants with Valter’s metal sections. None of them felt like less than a rare grade item.

Petor had needed to take several breaks to refill his mana to feed the Emberbloom, but he’d harvested, and then regrown it two more times.

Each of them were limited by their cores and what they could do, but in a day she expected they’d all increased at least half a stage in their cores and settled into their newfound power.

The steel and weapons Valter turned out seemed simple but they were stronger than they should’ve been.

She’d seen him pull out Mithril and try to work on it before putting it away.

She drew her gaze back from the forest.

Petor moved through fighting stances with the spear in his hands, wearing his new breastplate, inscribed with runes to enhance the steel’s strength.

“It’s a bit heavier for me now but I’ll grow into it soon I feel,” Petor said.

“Good, I wasn’t sure what kind of inscription to add to it. I could enhance the cutting edge like with the other spears. Add in an inscription that would send out a blast of condensed mana-“

“I’d like that.” Petor interrupted. “Can’t have too much range and my slings aren’t packing the punch I’d like. Though hopefully with the vine and emberbloom rounds I cut it should make things more interesting.”

Mya hurled a vest at Desari. She caught the black leather, weighted much more than it appeared.

“I sowed it into some Dark-whale leather, it’ll be quiet and water proof.”

Desari moved the armor around it was well made, the leather strong, the stitching tight to the armor plates that could be removed and new plates inserted.

She turned it over, the quality of the hide, the stitching. It had to be of the rare grade.

“Thank you,” She took out pouches and walked around, passing them to everyone.

“Each contains a general anti-poison, four health potions, and two stamina potions.”

Mya stilled as she accepted the pouch.

“Something is watching us.”

Desari reached out with her senses. Nothing through the ground, the water the air. Beasts.

Desari pulled out her bow and drew back a piece of the Emberbloom stem, it formed into an arrow of fire, the wind wrapped around it as Mya stood infront of her, aiming behind Desari.

Desari released at the same time Mya fired.

Valter rose, his armor appearing around his body. Petor drew a section of stormvine and threw it.

Desari’s arrow illuminated the night, and creature that raced from behind a tree. It winced away from the light of the fire-arrow.

A scream tore from its throat, high and unnatural as it burst into blue flames.

“Bastards! Use spells or magics!” Mya dropped her pistol, disappearing as she drew another, prowling around Desari as she fired again.

Lightning went off in a blinding flash, a tree exploded and two of the creatures ceased to exist.

Desari turned to the last creature, seeing a flash of mana out the corner of her eye, Mya’s mana enhanced shot hitting her target.

Nothing moved after the sudden fury.

“I don’t feel any other disturbances to the mana,” Desari said.

“The heck are they? Looked like those shadow golems.” Petor said.

“Shadowlings of some kind,” Desari drew and actual arrow, filling it with fire mana she advanced to the creature she’d burned to death. The blue flames dissipating. Mya stalked beside her. Valter and Petor fanned out keeping a watchful eye.

Desari crouched next to the remains, it smelled of burnt wood and stale water.

“I didn’t notice it before, but its awfully dark for this hour of day, and I can see it lighter over there,” Mya pointed through the trees.

Desari hadn’t seen it from their camp. A clear line cut late afternoon.

“Magical darkness.”

“I guess we should accept that quest now,” Petor said.

“Seems like Windmolen has a shadowling problem,” Valter said.

“Seems like Windmolen has a summoner problem,” Desari countered. Thankfully working on the potions had transformed her core from mixed orange and yellow into solid yellow.

“Well shit, those guys always suck,” Mya said.

Petor let out a grunt with something darker behind it.

“Can you track them?” Valter asked.

“I can track higher shadow density. That should lead us to where they’re doing their summoning and the others shadowlings.”

“Guess the vacation’s over.”

“Half a day was enough right?” Valter snorted, he held out his hand, his forge shrank into an orb and landed in his out-stretched hand.

“At least we got those stamina potions.” Petor untied the waterproof sheet over the sleeping area.