{"id":3301,"date":"2016-03-22T00:01:43","date_gmt":"2016-03-22T04:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tellest.com\/?p=3301"},"modified":"2016-04-01T07:24:26","modified_gmt":"2016-04-01T11:24:26","slug":"hunt-in-the-valley-of-mist-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/hunt-in-the-valley-of-mist-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunt in the Valley of Mist, Part Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

Read Part One<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hunt in the Valley of Mist
\n<\/strong>A Story by Aaron Canton
\n-Part Two-<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Another hour of tracking brought them past four more traps, all of which Kelten disarmed without difficulty. The blood trail grew more distinct until it was clearly visible to the full group despite the omnipresent mist, and Kelten said, \u201cShe\u2019s probably already bled out. We should find her body soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before anyone could respond, something growled in the thick forest to their left. Kelten drew his sword again as Malcolm readied his axe, Sarassa her pike, and Chrys the crossbow from her belt. \u201cWhat was that?\u201d asked Chrys.<\/p>\n

\u201cMountain lion, likely,\u201d said Kelten. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of them in the valley. We\u2019ll stay together and\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

The lion burst out of the forest and leapt at the group. Kelten had just enough time to look into the creature\u2019s eyes and note their odd, silvery color before he grabbed Chrys and hauled her to one side. Malcolm and Sarassa dodged as well, and the lion missed them as it hit the path. Chrys drew her crossbow and shot a bolt directly into the creature\u2019s back right leg. \u201cHah!\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of fleeing like Kelten expected, the wounded beast roared and turned around for another attack. Kelten had barely opened his mouth to shout before the animal leapt directly at Chrys while the mercenary struggled to load a fresh bolt into her crossbow. She screamed and managed to fire a bolt into the mountain lion\u2019s shoulder, but again the monster didn\u2019t notice. It tackled her and bit down at her neck.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo!\u201d shouted Sarassa. \u201cGet away!\u201d<\/p>\n

As the beast crouched to pounce again, Kelten rolled to his feet and jumped onto its back. It immediately tried to buck him off, but he held on, and when it ran forward, Malcolm and Sarassa blocked the way with their long weapons. For a single moment, it stopped as if thinking through its next move\u2014and Kelten whipped his sword under its head. Its next bite was too slow to dislodge him, and he slashed its throat with one clean cut.<\/p>\n

The mountain lion staggered for a few paces before collapsing in a heap. Kelten climbed off its body and glanced back at Chrys long enough to confirm the rookie was dead, her throat completely ripped out, before telling the others, \u201cThat wasn\u2019t normal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo kidding.\u201d Malcom was scowling. \u201cThat harpy did something to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard some of them have magic,\u201d said Sarassa. She moved to Chrys\u2019 body and gently closed the corpse\u2019s eyes. \u201cMaybe she cast some spell on it…\u201d<\/p>\n

She trailed off, and the three remaining mercenaries looked at each other. Malcolm was the first to speak. \u201cLook, I\u2019m not giving up. This ain\u2019t about money anymore. We owe her some payback now.\u201d He grinned as he hefted his axe. \u201cAnd delivering that payback\u2019ll make all this worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHold on.\u201d Sarassa raised a hand. \u201cTark was one thing, but Chrys was trained and got killed anyway. I mean, we haven\u2019t taken a loss in, what, six months before this?\u201d She let out a long breath. \u201cWe should head back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThought you wanted that payday?\u201d asked Malcolm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also want to spend the gold I already have.\u201d Sarassa scowled. \u201cWe\u2019ve all got nice, full accounts back in Viscosa. I\u2019d like to actually do something with my money before I die.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two glared at each other before looking at Kelten, who let out a soft sigh. He\u2019d never understood Sarassa\u2019s greed; they already had more than enough money to last them their lives even if they lived as exorbitantly as possible. And he couldn\u2019t comprehend how Malcolm could still be dripping with bloodlust after all the hunts they\u2019d been on. But then again, he thought, it wasn\u2019t like he had any better reason to be there than they did, so who was he to judge?<\/p>\n

He realized he\u2019d fallen silent and the other two were staring. \u201cWe\u2019re already here,\u201d he said. \u201cMight as well keep going. It\u2019s…\u201d Something to do<\/em>, he thought but did not say. \u201cA point of pride.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a moment more, he turned on his heel and resumed making his way down the path.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They caught up to the harpy thirty minutes later.<\/p>\n

The path led Kelten to a small clearing, the other end of which was hidden behind the omnipresent mist, and in the center their target. The harpy\u2019s left wing was bent at a bad angle and partially covered by an improvised bandage of leaves already soaked through with blood. A nasty bruise covered half her head, and the rest of her body was covered in scratches Kelten guessed she\u2019d picked up while crawling through the woods. A campfire blazed in front of her, but she didn\u2019t seem to notice as she shivered. Nor did she look at the small open satchel by her talons, which was spilling a few apples into the damp grass.<\/p>\n

Kelten glanced back at the others, put a finger over his lips, and gestured for them to climb into the trees on either side of him. Normally he would have sent them to flank the harpy, but the monster\u2019s penchant for setting traps made that dangerous. The harpy couldn\u2019t seem to get off the ground, though, so the treetops would likely be safe enough to spring an ambush. They\u2019d be able to take her head with ease.<\/p>\n

Once Malcolm and Sarassa had climbed into the trees, Kelten crept to the very edge of the clearing and removed his longbow from his back. He nocked an arrow and pointed it at the monster, then took a deep breath to steady himself. Sarassa, who had Chrys\u2019 crossbow, would take the shot first, and he and Malcolm would take their own if the monster dodged away. Take the shot, Sarassa<\/em>, he thought to himself. Let\u2019s finish this.<\/em><\/p>\n

The bolt blasted into the clearing a moment later, but the harpy threw herself to one side as soon as the twang<\/em> of the crossbow echoed through the woods, and Sarassa\u2019s missile hit the monster in her injured wing instead of her heart. The harpy screeched and thrust her good arm into the bag. Kelten and Malcolm fired their own shots at the same time the monster thrust the bag upwards, resulting in their arrows tearing through the bag instead of the harpy. The monster withdrew her arm to reveal a crude crossbow of her own and fired it into the trees. Kelten quickly nocked a new arrow\u2014<\/p>\n

Then he heard a cry above him and looked up in time to see Sarassa fall to the ground, an arrow through her throat. Kelten\u2019s mouth dropped. Between the foliage and the mist, Sarassa should have been completely obscured from the harpy\u2019s sight. She aimed that precisely by the sound of Sarassa\u2019s bow?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cDie!\u201d Malcolm fired his next shot, which went wide, then leapt down and charged instead of reloading. The harpy tripped and fell over when trying to dodge away from Malcolm\u2019s axe but then threw herself into her opponent\u2019s legs, succeeding at knocking him to the grass. They grappled for a few seconds, Malcolm drawing a short sword from his belt and the harpy seizing a knife, and Kelten briefly saw her hand glow silver as she reached up and grabbed Malcolm\u2019s chin.<\/p>\n

Malcolm stiffened and fell back as his eyes flashed the same silver as the mountain lion\u2019s. He smiled dreamily before the harpy stabbed him in the throat.<\/p>\n

Kelten was already moving to shoot at the monster, but she rolled to one side as soon as he fired and shot a single return bolt. It punched through the bow in Kelten\u2019s hands and would have hit Kelten himself if he hadn\u2019t twisted out of the way in time. He rushed to Sarassa\u2019s body to grab her crossbow before catching himself. That beast\u2019s a better shot than I am<\/em>, he thought. I can\u2019t win like this<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So he drew his broadsword and raced toward the harpy as she loaded yet another bolt. He reached her before she finished and swept his blade out to knock her weapon away and send her tumbling to the grass, but when she tried to tackle him like she had Malcolm, Kelten skipped out of the way and struck again with a slash that barely missed her neck. She screeched, then forced herself to her feet and swept a glowing silver hand at his face.<\/p>\n

But Kelten knew better than to risk letting her make contact. He ducked under the blow, drove the hilt of his sword into the monster\u2019s chest, and slashed her wing hard enough he almost cut it off. The monster howled before turning and stumbling towards the edge of the clearing.<\/p>\n

Kelten raced after her, pushing into the trees only seconds behind his quarry, and swept his blade at her back. He scored a light hit, and she cried out again before suddenly dropping out of sight. Kelten grabbed a tree and stopped himself, then looked down and realized he was at the edge of a deep ravine.<\/p>\n

And somewhere within it was the harpy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Read Part One   Hunt in the Valley of Mist A Story by Aaron Canton -Part Two- Another hour of tracking brought them past four more traps, all of which Kelten disarmed without difficulty. The blood trail grew more distinct until it was clearly visible to the full group despite the omnipresent mist, and Kelten […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[349,145,146],"tags":[273,1235,149,1234],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Short-Story-Panel.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1UVey-Rf","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3301"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3301"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3303,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3301\/revisions\/3303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}