Windcatcher: Book I of the Stone War Chronicles (30 page)

“
What do they want?”
said Galirras, as he rose to his feet.

“They must have been drawn here by the smell of your kill,” said Raylan, as he held out a hand to Galirras. “Make no sudden movements, there are too many of them. If we’re lucky, they’ll only want the deer remains…”

Carefully, Raylan moved his hand to his shoulder, lifting the string with the two hind legs. The brown timber wolf let out a deep rumbling growl and took a step forward.

“He must be the alpha…the leader of the pack,” said Raylan, more to himself than to Galirras.

Another wolf moved up beside the alpha and was greeted with a quick snarl and a snap of the jaws, before the wolf’s yellow eyes focused on Raylan again. By now, he had the deer legs in his arms. Trying to make no sudden movements, he dropped the pieces of deer in front of the wolf, where it landed with a heavy thud.

The wolf brought his nose down and sniffed. As it looked up at him, Raylan hoped—for a brief moment—their offer had been accepted. A brief moment was all he got, as the brown leader sprung forward, jaws open, aimed at his throat.

Chapter 9

Friends

Raylan’s muscles were more prepared than his mind. Reacting automatically to the danger was more instinct than training as he let himself slump to the left. Falling sideways, his right hand moved to his sword. The wolf had already adjusted its trajectory, but still overshot him nonetheless thanks to its ferocious speed. Rolling across his shoulders, Raylan moved even further to the left. His hand darted out in full swing as he rolled on his feet again, hoping to slash the wolf’s neck. But the wolf reacted too fast, shifting sideways, and the blade only nicked the wolf’s right ear.

The wolf gave an angry growl, after which, it moved forward to pounce on Raylan once more. But before it had the chance, Galirras came in from the side with a deep roar.

“Stay away from him!”

With his mouth stretched wide, baring all of his teeth, Galirras crashed full force into the wolf’s flank. The wolf, unfamiliar with the dragon species, clearly underestimated the danger of his presence.

Galirras showed an unrelenting ferociousness which topped the vicious predators. Driven by his will to protect Raylan, the dragon slashed his claws into the wolf’s ribs and sunk his teeth into his back. The long rigid hairs of its fur protected the timber wolf, somewhat, against the heavy attack. Flipping around on the spot, the wolf tried to lock its jaws on Galirras’ neck, but only managed to reach his shoulder. Despite the rapid growth Galirras had gone through over the last few weeks, the wolf still had a size advantage over him. Galirras let out a short yelp, before clawing furiously at the nose and eyes of the wolf.

Raylan wanted to move in to help, but had no time to focus on anything but his own safety. The remaining six wolves had followed their leader’s example, although less aggressively and more opportunistically. One tried an attack to see if Raylan would react, while another made use of the reaction to see if he left an opening in his defense.

To his side, Raylan heard another loud yelp which drew his attention, even if he did not want to look away. Luckily, it was the wolf who cried out after Galirras’ claw scratched him right in the left eye. Being distracted, the other wolves used the moment and closed the gap on Raylan, in an instant.

Raylan, noticing his distraction mistake, turned back immediately. He tried to slash the incoming wolf across the face, but the wolf actually caught the sword’s tip in its jaws and held it tightly between its teeth. A smaller, black wolf immediately jumped for Raylan’s unprotected right calf. Trying to react, he found his sword, immobile in the wolf’s jaws. His only option was to let go and take the wolf on barehanded. But before he had time to take on the attacking beast, without warning, a strange sound swept through the forest. A whirring too foreign to be an animal or nature. The swishing
toink
and loud
thud
were more familiar to Raylan’s ears, having traveled with Kevhin and Rohan for a number of months. The black wolf, which had been moments away from putting its teeth into Raylan’s leg, was thrown to the side by the force of a black bolt hitting its ribs.

Looking around, Raylan expected to see Kevhin or Rohan—hell, perhaps even both—with their crossbows at the ready again; but the sight was much stranger and completely unexpected. Two figures came down from the trees, above them a tall rope—or cable—reaching all the way into the lower leaf canopy. Their faces were almost fully covered by leather masks and hoods. In their hands, one-handed crossbows, which looked really small for the punch they packed. As one reloaded, the other shot a bolt in the hind leg of the wolf with Raylan’s sword. It immediately released the sword, and it leaped away from Raylan, whimpering. As the two figures reached the ground, the whirring stopped. Both men pulled on levers, before firing another salvo. One hit another wolf, the other barely missed, burying itself deeply into a tree trunk.

Shouts were now heard in the distance.

“Raylan! Where are you? Answer us!”

“Galirraaaas!” another joined, as the voices closed in, rapidly.

The alpha wolf, which Galirras had been fighting, raised its head, ears erect. With an unknown danger coming from the trees, along with the shouts of at least a handful of people quickly approaching, the odds turned against its pack. They would find other prey to feed on, more familiar prey. As the wolf broke off the fight with the dragon, it was chased by Galirras, for just a few steps. But noticing the unfamiliar men, Galirras stopped before he lost sight of Raylan. He was not about to leave him alone in such a dangerous place.

Returning to Raylan, Galirras walked slowly and deliberately. Blood ran down the dragon’s shoulder where the wolf had bitten him, but it did not seem to bother him much. Moving in front of Raylan, he kept a steady eye on the two mysterious men with their strange backpacks and ropes going up into the trees.

Running footsteps approached rapidly. Richard, Kevhin, Gavin, Xi’Lao and Ca’lek came skidding around one of the large tree roots.

Kevhin noticed the two strange looking men first, and aimed his crossbow at them in less than a heartbeat. The others, with swords and knives in hand, slid to a stop, spreading out around the unknown danger. One of the two men turned around and aimed his crossbow at the arriving party, while the other kept his gaze on Raylan and Galirras.

“Who are you?” demanded Gavin. “Put down your weapons!”

“Hold on, Gavin. They helped us,” spoke Raylan.

But Gavin was not that easily convinced.

“Tell us who you are. Do you understand me? We have you outnumbered, so lower your weapons and let us see your faces.”

The situation quickly grew tense. Raylan saw the larger of the two men slowly shake his head at Gavin, gesturing with two fingers at his own eyes and then pointing behind the small group up in the trees.

At the same moment, the strange whirring disrupted the sounds of nature once again, as three additional people came down from the trees. One twisted around a large tree trunk, running along it, spiraling downward until he reached one of the root plateaus. Another halted halfway down along the trunk, and rested his feet on the tree trunk, while balancing his crossbow, taking aim. The third, dropped just to the right of Gavin.

The distance between them was close enough to be dangerous, but was far enough to be reactive to any attack Gavin might attempt. Raylan saw his brother shift nervously, back and forth, trying to decide the best course of action.

“Listen to me, Gavin,” said Raylan. “They really helped us. There were wolves, big ones! They helped chase them off. I don’t think they mean harm. They’re clearly not the men we fought before.”

Gavin did not move an inch. This was enemy territory. What were the chances that they would actually find allies, or even friends, this far from home. It was his duty to protect everyone, not to expose them to any unnecessary risks.

The man, who had made the gesture to them, slowly lowered his crossbow. One hand in the air, palm forward, he slowly put the crossbow down on the ground with his other. Turning around, he gestured for his companion to do the same. The other man rolled his eyes, in disbelief, before he, too, lowered the crossbow. The other three soon followed.

Raylan saw his brother and the others relax a little. Once everyone lowered their weapons, the man—who put down his crossbow first—pulled off his hood and mask. Underneath was a man with a rugged beard and long dark brown hair tied back in a ponytail. On his cheek, a large scar was visible, as if someone had branded him. It was shaped like a closed fist.

The man looked at Raylan and produced a big smile on his face.

“Who are you?” Raylan posed, even though it was unlikely the man understood.

“Someone who’s overjoyed to hear free people speak the language of his motherland in these uncommon lands after so many years!” he replied, to Raylan’s surprise. His grin grew even wider.

The man had a thick accent but definitely spoke Terran.

“You speak Terran?” Raylan said, surprised.

“Ever since I was little.”

“You’re all Terrans?”

“No. Some are from here, some are Southerners. Me, I’m Terran…it’s a nice mix of things. But we all have one thing in common.”

“Oh, and what’s that?”

“We’re all former slaves of the Stone King.”

With this, the other men removed their hoods, showing different skins tones, but all wearing the same burn mark on their faces.

“Slaves? But how did you all end up here? How did you survive?” Raylan fired off questions, rapidly.

“Easy there, mate. You’ll have plenty of time to get to know us, I expect. You and your lizard.”

“He’s a dragon, not a lizard.”

“A dragon? You don’t say. I thought those existed only in stories.”

“Not anymore, as you can see.”

“Interesting!”

The man looked at Gavin.

“You’re the commander, correct?”

“Indeed I am, and you are?”

“The name’s Sebastian, but my friends call me Seb. I would like to invite you back to our base. I believe our council would be interested in meeting y’all.”

“Why’s that?”

“Cause they’re the curious type and it’s not every day that we run into fellow Terrans in these parts. In fact, we never thought anyone would get this far without being killed or captured. As you may have noticed, this part of the world isn’t exactly safe. We spotted a soldier patrol half a day’s walk from here yesterday, so I suggest we start moving. Since no one knows we’re here, I assume they’re looking for you guys. There are more people of your group nearby, right? I think we better get them and be on our way.”

“Hold on, how do you know there are more of us out there?” Gavin said, voicing his suspicion.

“We spotted your group a few days ago and have been following you ever since. You didn’t seem like normal soldiers, so I got curious. Imagine my delight when I heard you all speaking my native language around the campfire at night. But we can talk later. Let’s get everyone somewhere safe, first.”

Sebastian whistled and motioned upward to the two farthest men. They pulled a handle on the side of the strange contraptions on their backs, and pushed off hard, descending all the way to the forest floor. As soon as they touched it, they pushed off, forcefully, while pushing the handle the other way. The metallic whirring filled the surroundings as both men shot into the air to the lowest branches. Raylan could not believe his eyes, and he felt Galirras share his feeling of awe, in his head.

“
What is that?
”
said Galirras.

“
I have got no clue,
” replied Raylan, privately.

Sebastian called out to the younger guy who had landed close to Gavin.

“You take the high road, too, Twan. Tell Otis and Martin to follow us and keep an eye out for trouble. We’ll be heading for the stables. Ivar and I will stay on ground level, so unclasp us when you get topside.”

The one called Twan, released his lever and pushed off just like the others had done. With crazy speed, he shot upward, disappearing into the lower canopy.

“Ivar and I will walk with you guys, if that’s okay. Safe grounds are not far from here. If we pick up the pace, we should make it to the stables by nightfall.”

A different whistle came from above, signaling the cables dropping. Both men pulled the lever to partly rewind the cable, allowing the remaining length to crash on the ground next to them. Picking up the end of the cable, the last of it disappeared neatly in the strange contraption on their backs.

“Ready when you are,” said Sebastian to them.

The camp was quickly broken up, and they were well on their way before the sun hit its highest point of the day. The others in the camp were as surprised as the rest to see friendly faces so far from home, although an overall weariness was present in each member of their group.

Sebastian and Ivar took the lead. Every so often, they would make birdcalls with their hands, which were then echoed back from the tree branches where the rest of their group were following. Raylan tried to spot them up amongst the branches, but rarely saw more than the occasional shadow moving between the leaves. The members of each group kept careful eyes on their surroundings, making sure they were not getting surrounded or walking into a trap.