Disclaimer: The author of this fanfiction does not, in any way, profit from the story. All creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s).
The Reclamation of Paralon
by Pout
Chapter 10: Beast Out of the Wilds
The air was jabbing in and out of his lungs as he panted from the strain of the flight. Ignoring the pain, Momoshiro could only keep running. Beside him, Inui was certainly keeping up, but his breathing was unlabored and he took the time to check over their shoulders every so often.
“It’s catching up,” the tall statistician said without breaking his stride.
Momoshiro gulped air, but could not spare the effort to reply, focusing instead on the need to keep running.
The beast had come at them from the darkness as their fire was sputtering out. The two travelers had come to rest in the middle of a lightly forested region for the night. They had slept, thinking that Momoshiro’s protection spell would keep them safe from any night creatures. But alas, no simple spell would keep this predator out.
As the creature approached, the horses had reared and sounded the alarm, breaking free of their tethers and racing out into the night. Momoshiro rolled to the side just as the beast lunged at him. It was a fatalanx, a violent creature that took traits from the wolf, the bear, and the leopard. It was shaped as a bear bred with a wolf, with the stunning spots of a leopard. Massive bear claws, the snapping jaws of a ravenous wolf, coupled with the agile speeds of the leopard made this creature a formidable enemy. What’s more was that fatalanx were creatures of the Wilds which made this one that much more dangerous since it was hunting in human territories.
After dodging the initial attack, Momoshiro had been saved as Inui cast three powerful blasts at the snarling animal. Untangling himself from his blanket, Momoshiro had cast and sent their dwindling fire hurtling at the beast. The move hardly disturbed the fatalanx, but it gave Inui enough time to draw his fingers through the air, writing out a complicated blue-green signograph. The magic coalesced and hit the creature in the left flank. The fatalanx froze for a few moments before it began to break through the spell, but it was enough to give the two humans enough time to grab their packs and run for it. The slowing spell was working, but the fatalanx was still moving fast enough to keep the two men at a flat-out sprint.
Don’t trip, don’t stop, don’t slow down. That was all that Momoshiro was focused on. Behind them, the sounds of the animal chasing them grew steadily closer. An angry growl punctured the night as the fatalanx screamed angrily. This is not good, not good at all, Momoshiro thought to himself. We need to do something.
As if reading his thoughts, Inui said, “We can’t keep running.”
“Split up,” Momoshiro managed to pant, and without waiting for confirmation, he veered off to the left. Inui responded and turned right.
The beast took a moment to decide, then turned right to follow Inui.
The moment the creature changed directions, Momoshiro took a deep breath and turned to follow it. “Inui! Circle back when I tell you to!” he called out, then he started to climb.
Inui was a little annoyed. What an inexplicably persistent creature, he thought to himself. They had been running for nearly twenty minutes and still, the beast was literally on his heels. This could not be natural behavior.
“Ok! Circle back!” Momoshiro shouted. He was now perched on the lower branches of a sturdy tree. With an unhindered view of the clearing underneath him, he waited for Inui to return.
Following the order, and hoping that his traveling companion knew what he was doing, Inui led the fatalanx back towards Momoshiro’s voice.
Momo steadied himself and made sure that he was well anchored to the tree. Then Inui came racing through the clearing with the fatalanx no more than a few feet behind him. With a firm, resounding clap of Momoshiro’s two hands, a globe of dark blue shot down towards them.
“Oh, shit!” Momo cried. The fatalanx roared happily. It had jumped away to avoid the magic, but Inui had been hit and was now standing there precariously frozen, mid-stride, his face stuck in an expression of disbelief.
Just as the creature stepped in to make the final attack, blue struck its shoulder and it faltered. Another clap froze the beast a few lengths away from his prey, and a series of fifteen further claps, one after the other, finally stopped the creature in its steps, only two feet away from Inui’s frozen form.
Momoshiro wiped the sweat from his brow and quickly descended from the tree before the fatalanx could break through his layers of magic. Taking out his dagger, he wasted no time in slitting the creature’s throat. He jumped back as blood spilled and the fatalanx jerked and screamed through the spells. Seven more claps and the beast was frozen still, dead on its feet.
Exhausted, Momo dropped to the ground and sprawled out on his back. Belatedly, he realized Inui was still frozen. He cast a quick reversal and watched as the other man stumbled out of the spell and turned to face him.
Inui took a few deep breaths. He adjusted his glasses which had slid forward during all the running and turned to address Momoshiro, saying in an almost puzzled-sounding monotone: “You froze me.”
Momo smiled sheepishly. “Sorry?”
“You froze me.”
“I’m sorry!”
Inui sighed and flopped to the ground beside Momo. They stared at the standing carcass of the fatalanx and the pool of blood beneath it. As they watched, the spells wore off and the body tipped over and crashed to the ground.
“What is a fatalanx doing in human territory?” Inui wondered aloud.
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Momoshiro said. “It’s another half-day’s ride before we reach the borders of the Wilds.”
Inui nodded. “This fatalanx is far from home.” After a few more moments of rest, Inui slowly climbed to his feet. “We’d better go before something worse comes to scavenge.” Momoshiro stood on shaky legs and within minutes they had left the fatalanx behind.
The night completed its cycle without further interruption. The two travelers had wedged themselves into the hollow trunk of a fallen tree and secured their location with not one, not two, but five protection spells.
The next morning, they crawled out of their hiding spot and faced the task of walking the entire way to Berridge.
“The horses are not within range for a summoning spell. It is best that we keep moving towards our destination.”
Momoshiro sighed heartily. “I guess it doesn’t really matter. We’d have had to leave them when we crossed the Wilds anyway. But still…” he complained.
“How long will it take to cross through the Wilds?” Inui asked.
Momo shrugged. “Well, we can probably get across in about two days, but at this rate, it’s going to take us another two days just to get to the Wilds. And then I have to find Itsuki. I’d say it’s another five days before we get to Berridge.”
Inui slung his pack over his shoulder and nodded. “Let’s get started.”
Momoshiro sighed but followed along obediently.
Back in Ellestor, Shishido and Ootori were about to embark on their trip to Ootori’s home in Savond.
“We’re off,” Shishido declared.
“Have a safe trip.”
“We should be back in a week or so. Ask my steward if you need anything. If there’s trouble, send for us.”
“Of course,” Oishi responded. “We’ll be awaiting your return.”
Shishido sighed. “All right.” He looked as if he had something else to say, but he only nodded at them, then climbed into the carriage. “Take care.”
Oishi watched the Lord Ellestor and his companion drive off before turning to follow Kaidoh inside.
“Stop worrying so much,” the taciturn bodyguard said quietly.
Oishi turned to his longtime friend and smiled. “I can’t help it. You know that.”
Kaidoh nodded. “I know.”
“Are you going on a run?”
“I thought we could do some training together.”
“Oh? Trying to distract me?”
“Trying.”
Oishi laughed. “All right. Let’s go. But go easy on me, I’m a little rusty.” He led the way to the gardens where they spent the rest of the day trying to keep their minds off of things that were no longer within their control.
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