Chapter 5: A Sedate Escape, Part 2

[Well, that's it for Chapter 5. Tune in next time (hopefully on Thursday) to see the beginning of Chapter 6: Odd Convergence.]

“By a Gra’Jak,” Kerim finished.

Sthana hissed in surprise – and Joachim very nearly whimpered. Sthana’s friend looked about to object, probably in disbelief, when a harsh squawk resounded through the still forest air. It was guttural and drawn-out, like a perverse blend of a wolf’s howl and a wounded duck’s squawk. Joachim had never heard anything like it before, but he could not imagine any normal creature creating that sound.

Gra’Jak – the dreaded bear demons. They were said to follow magic like hounds tracking a scent, and would chase you to the ends of the earth. Ten feet tall, with the head of a bird, body of a bear, and ten eyes. It was also said that its cry is like no other, alerting its prey of the inevitable doom.

“Joachim!” He snapped out of the half-trance his thoughts had pulled him into. For some reason, the entire group was heading off the road, into the forest. He made an uncomprehending sound, then rode over to them.

“What-” Sthana interrupted his half-formed question.

“Gra’Jak move slowly in woody areas. We’ll be able to outpace it as long as we avoid clear spaces.” Joachim didn’t really understand – why would a demon bear move slowly in the woods? – but he acceded, seeing as how everyone else seemed to be thinking along those lines.

They moved through the woods at a fast walk. At one point, Joachim had been about to ask why they were fleeing at such a calm pace – but just as he was about to open his mouth, he saw Kerim discretely shake his head. He’d shut up, then. Maybe the Gra’Jak had good hearing or something.

The howling squawks did not cease. They continued, each one a couple of minutes after the previous one. Around them, the only sound was the muffled thuds of the horses hooves striking the earth. No animals made any sound around them – Joachim had thought the forest was quiet before, but now it was practically silent. It was eerie.

He tried to keep himself from dwelling on the silence, or the intermittent calls of their demonic pursuer. He suspected that that was part of the creatures tactic – to keep its prey in a state of constant panic. Maybe it expected them to do something stupid. It wasn’t working. It was not working.

Please don’t let it be working.

He found himself thinking of the demon bear itself. Granted, he didn’t know all that much about the things, but it seemed a bit odd. If they were so slow in woody areas (and the fact that it hadn’t caught up yet seemed to indicate as much), why was this one in a forest? After all, you couldn’t get any woodier than, well, the woods. It didn’t make sense.

Also, how was he going to fight it? He was unclear on what they could do when it caught up to them. That it would, he had no doubt of. It was a demon (or so he presumed, seeing as it was called a demon bear), while they were just humans (and horses). They’d probably get tired long before it stopped chasing after them. And even if they did manage to escape it somehow, where were they going?

Joachim jerked upright in his saddle. Oh crap. Are we lost? Had this escape resulted in them being somewhere in an unknown wilderness, doomed to wander around fruitlessly till their death?

A hand fell on his shoulder, jolting him out of his reverie. He looked over – Sthana had moved her horse right next to him, and had reached over to pat him. There was a comforting expression on her face – the kind one would give to a kid while saying “Don’t worry, everything’s all right.”

It was a rather annoying expression.

He swallowed his irritation and managed to give her a weak smile. He didn’t blame her for her actions – she was probably just nervous, and was using him to calm her own nerves.

They kept on this manner for what felt like days, though it couldn’t have been more than a few hours. By the time Sthana’s friend first sighted the town, they were all haggard and exhausted, Joachim more so than any of the others. It ticked him off a bit that he was the weakest of the lot, but the emotion was forgotten in the collective surge of relief they felt when they saw the walls of the village. They were safe now. Surely the demon can’t get in through those walls, Joachim thought.

They had arrived at the village of Cazeel.

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