could hold out a few more seconds against the beast. He first had to deal with the blighted forest creature that was versed in sorcery, and not a pleasant sort of sorcery.
He pointed his spear at the one who’d cast the enchantment his way, saying, “Leave, and we’ll let you go without harm.”
The one he pointed to sneered, breaking open a fluid-filled boil on its face as it did so. “It is you who should leave. We require the Horned Aspect. Lest blight take you, deliver her!”
Horned Aspect? He’d worry about that later. Too many names to match up with faces, though he wondered if the creature referred to Ash. He decided that his job of the moment was to see that the sorcerer ate its words.
Almost of its own accord, Justlance took flight. He knew even as the shaft left his grasp that it would speed true. He had just time enough to see the sorcerer’s filmy eyes widen before another volodni knocked him to his knees with a blow from behind. Where’d that little stinker come from?
He tried to spin around and back, though it was difficult on his knees. His immediate aggressor clutched an iron-headed mace. It grinned. “Too bad you had to kill Molkai,” it said, gesturing to where the sorcerer volodni was pinned to a tree by Justlance. “Now I kill you, easy.”
The mace-wielder had no way of knowing Marrec’s secret, so when the rot fiend’s triumphant charge ended suddenly on the point of Justlance, its look of surprise before it expired was absolutely justified. An instant prior to stopping the charge, Justlance left the quivering body of the nearby volodni sorcerer. His spear could never be parted from its owner for long.
Gunggari had about mopped up the last of the remaining volodnis. Marrec levered himself to his feet and looked for Ash… Ah! The child still sheltered partly behind the roots of the large tree. Ash’s unknown female protector was also still in the game, rushing in to hack at the fungal lion, then dancing away just in time to avoid a lethal claw swipe. If the creature hadn’t been so focused on going back for the child, Marrec wondered if the woman would have fared so well. Each time it broke off its pursuit of the woman, she slashed it again with her blade. Still, she was obviously tired, while the greened lion seemed as strong as ever despite several lines of its own blood on its sides and some quantity of the same squalid fluid the volodnis leaked.
“Let’s get the cat, Gunggari!” shouted Marrec as he dashed in on the lion’s flank.
The woman heard him, too. As he came up behind and to one side of the lion and gave it a good jab with his spear, she closed on the opposite side, her leaf-shaped sword stabbing and slashing. The lion turned and swatted at him with a huge claw, green with rot, but he got out of the way. The woman got in another few telling blows, taking advantage of the creature’s divided attention.
Gunggari finally showed up, his dizheri soaked and matted with evidence of its recent work. He swung it around with both hands, connecting solidly with the side of the creature’s head. It yelped, blinking, and shook its head.
“It’s dazed,” yelled the woman. “Finish it!”
Marrec didn’t need to be told twice. He and Justlance got to work. With another mighty bash from the dizheri, the lion collapsed, unmoving.
In the ensuing quiet, Marrec and Gunggari eyed the woman. Dressed in sturdy brown and green leathers, she looked like she was more than at home in the forest. Of course! Her thin build and elongated featuresshe was an elf, though her hair hid the most telltale sign.
Marrec said to her, across the length of the unmoving lion, “I am Marrec. Gunggari,” he inclined his head toward the Oslander, “and I chased these monsters down. They kidnapped a child from a village they attacked.” He gestured back toward the girl. “Her father will be overjoyed to discover your part in saving her. Thank you.”
The elf smiled in acknowledgement but said nothing. She looked over to where Ash sheltered.
Ash had left the tree’s shadow and walked tentatively up to join them. All eyes fixed on the frail girl dressed in a simple peasant dress.
The girl glanced at each of them for a second, and said, “Ash.”
She looked to be between four and five years of age.
The unicorn warrior looked the child over for injuries. She seemed unscratched. Poor little tyke. He ruffled Ash’s hair. The girl merely looked at him, staying silent.
No doubt she was still frightened by her recent kidnapping. He felt an instant fatherly affection for her, partly because he couldn’t help identifying with her. They were both orphans, though of course he wondered if her actual origin could be as strange as his own.
“What did she say?” wondered the elf.
“Ash is her name,” indicated Marrec, looking to the girl then back to the woman.
The elf figured out his unspoken question. She smiled again and raised her sword to her brow, as if a salute. “I am Elowen. I am a Nentyar hunter in service with the Circle of Leth. I’ve been trailing these volodnis for some time, trying to find out more about their recent incursions.”
Marrec was unfamiliar with most of those names. He decided to pursue the rot fiend topic. “They look like volodnis of which I’ve heard, but there is something wrong with these,” he said, pointing at the corpses.
“Yes,” continued Elowen. “These poor creatures suffer from an infection of body and mind. When unaflicted, we call them the pine folk, too. They normally live in the Lethyr Forest, the Rawlinswood, and the forests of Rashemen. These are a fair bit south of their natural ranges.”
“I’ve heard of volodnis but never seen them before,” responded Marrec. “I’ve heard that they can be vengeful protectors of the forest. Perhaps the people of Ash’s village somehow riled them up?”
Elowen rubbed her jaw and said, “Well, they can be antagonistic to the ‘warm folk’ as they call us. But I assure you, as a servant of the Nentyarch, I’ve dealt several times with volodnis, and none are like these. Volodnis do not normally rot as if dead but continue to draw breath. These are…”
“They are evil,” finished Gunggari.
She nodded, then looked to Gunggari and back to Marrec. “If you haven’t seen volodnis before, you must come from far away.”
She grinned, looking again at Gunggari. “Especially you.”
The Oslander offered a tiny smile back at her, said, “Far, far to the south was my home. Where I come from, everything is different. I am an explorer.”
“Indeed. And you?” Her gaze was back on Marrec.
Marrec answered, “I hail from the west, where I serve the goddess Lurue. I am here because… this child is somehow important to the goddess, though I have as yet no understanding of how that could be.”
Elowen rubber her palms together. “Let us compare stories, and perhaps some pieces may come together for all of us.”
“Great. Let’s start with why you were trailing these creatures,” said Marrec.
Elowen replied, “As I said, this rot is not something volodnis have exhibited before. As an agent of Leth, it is my job to protect the forests for the Nentyarch. If the volodnis are suffering from disease or have leagued with evil, I need to know. That’s why I’m here following this particular group. Plus, I have a friend up in Two Stars who promised to help me out. She owes me.”
“Whoa… slow down,” said Marrec. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Explain it to me as if I were a complete stranger to your land.” He let a smile touch his lips.
“Sure. The Forest of Lethyr to the northwest of here is home to the followers of the Nentyarch. The Nentyarch is a very, very powerful druid, and he and his followers are collectively known as the Circle of Leth…”
“And the Nentyar hunters serve the Circle, right?” guessed Marrec.
“Right. I’m a hunter. We’re a group made up of rangers, scouts, and warriors. We carry out the commands of the druid circle voluntarily, for the good of the forest. When we join in service, we swear to defend the great forests and do the Nentyarch’s bidding.”
“My goddess Lurue has often found common ground with druids,” offered Marrec.
“Her name is one honored by the Circle, I’ve heard. What brings a servant of Lurue so far east?”
“Her silence,” muttered the cleric.
Elowen waited for more.
“Something is not right with Lurue. I’ve been following portents, looking for a promised Child of Light who will… somehow make things right. I think Ash is the child, but now that I’ve found her, I’m not sure what to do
