Ashes of Aldyr by Russell Archey

Author:Russell Archey [Archey, Russell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: 5 Prince Publishing

Her hands clenched, gripping piles of something both limp and crisp. Grayce swore she heard a voice, a man’s voice, calling out. Her eyes opened and she groped about for her blade.

“Fang?” she called out, rolling to her side.

“Fang?” she tried again. Then, her eyes adjusted and her head stopped spinning. She remembered a wall of matted fur, piebald skin, a skeletal face and corpse-like eyes slamming into her. Though she felt no pain at the moment, her muscles promised her days of discomfort and soreness. Sitting there, working her way out of a daze, she noticed a mound of disgusting animal nearby, huddling close to a tree. She felt around for her sword again, keeping her eyes fixed on the pile of needle-like hair. Finding no trace of her weapon, she stood on unsteady legs and took in her surroundings. One headless barghest lay where she had decapitated it. The trees blew almost noiselessly in a limp breeze. The air smelled of copper – or was that her? She dabbed her nose and her hand came away tinged in red.

Damn.

She recalled her and Fang’s discussion – that there two of the beasts. Both now lay dead, but could there be more? There were only two on the statue, so she had to rest her hopes on that. Now, where was Fang?

The thought had barely finished when she noticed an arm protruding out from the side of the second dead beast.

“Fang!”

She ran to him, using all the strength she had left to move the four-legged demon as much as possible. It was just enough to see Fang slumped against the trunk of the tree. The barghest’s head lolled to the side and Grayce saw the point of a blade sticking out from its skull. She reached around pulled the blade free. Black blood poured from the now-open wound. She looked at Fang, her heart aching. His eyes were empty. His jaw slack. These were not entirely unexpected, but then she saw the tears. They ran down his cheek, leaving trails in the dirt on his face like scratches. She had never once seen Fang cry, or even show the effects of crying. Never in all their years in the shitty little village.

“What made you cry, Fang?” she asked aloud. It would always haunt her. She felt he was ready for death at any moment. She hoped he slept well.

It only seemed right to try and bury him. But, she had no way to dig a grave and nothing to fuel a fire. She stood there, looking about for anything that would mean she wouldn’t have to leave him. The small house was back in the forest and she didn’t recall seeing anything there that would help. She looked at him again and closed his eyes. Then, she looked up and realized the tree he had died against. It was an aldyr: dead and without any leaves to speak of. It was the only one the area. The rest of the trees were typical of those found in the Blackwood.

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