To the Dead City by Alex Bentley

Author:Alex Bentley [Bentley, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2021-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Swallowed by the Night

We have been travelling for an hour with what I estimate to be another hour to go before the darkness begins to lift, when I hear something in the pitch-clotted woods off to our left.

It is the sound of someone—or something—that does not want to be heard.

It is not the sound of an animal, not just an animal, anyway. It is the sound of a predator. My father has taught me the difference. An animal makes haphazard sounds, little clusters of sound. There might be brief pauses between those sounds but, on the whole, one sound follows another: a skitter of leaves, then another skitter of leaves, then the swish of a branch. When a predator makes a sound, such as I have just heard (the click of a snapping twig), that sound sits alone, as if the thing that has made it has become suddenly very still. It will be a full minute at least until it makes another sound. And that sound may be the last we hear.

“Ethra?” I whisper.

She has the good sense to whisper back, “Yes?”

“Something is following us. Off to the left. Maybe forty yards or so out. That’s just beyond the range of my bow. So, it’s either a clever human or a very clever beast.”

“I don’t think a clever person would be out in the woods in the dark,” says Ethra. “Just idiots like us.”

“True.” Which means it is an animal. An intelligent animal. A predator.

I bring Skep to a halt. Lata wanders a few more paces then follows suit. I unshoulder my bow. Ethra leans back to give me the room I need. I move as slowly as I can, like a child playing scarecrows. If I move too quickly, the predator—and it is a predator, of that I have no doubt—will be alerted to my intentions. That could be a good thing. The predator might know its limitations and scarper. Or it might attack. I slide an arrow from my quiver.

I do not have the arrow nocked when I see the blackness between the trees, no more than ten yards ahead of me, convulse.

A nef.

It has the body of a wolf, but its forelegs are twice as long as the hind legs, making it look like it is rearing up. Its fur is glossy black and its hide is all folds and hanging swags. It looks as if it is wearing a wet, black cloak. It is its face, however, that is its most disturbing feature. Except for its huge split of a mouth, lined with gleaming-white, razor-sharp teeth, it has the face of a hairy, brutish man.

It launches itself at me.

I dig my heels into Skep, and he lurches forward.

Just enough that the nef misses us.

But Ethra is unprepared for the sudden movement and falls back off the horse, hands scrabbling at thin air. She hits the ground with a thud.

I jump down from Skep and slap the horse’s rump, as much to clear the field of combat as put her out of harm’s reach.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.