The Lost Bloodline 1 - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

By the time Koda hit the edge of it, the camp was already in disarray.

The other three hunting parties had waited only moments for the group that was pursuing their fellows to exit the camp before they shoved the prepared logs and rocks over the cliff edge to crash into the tents.

Someone had even managed to get one of the large logs to land in the cooking fire, spreading burning embers into the nearby tents and setting several ablaze.

As Koda watched, two hunters shoved the large boulder he’d positioned over the edge of the cliff. It tumbled down to crush two of the Crooked as they rushed to try to put out the fires. The rock bounced and rolled, taking out three more tents before coming to a stop.

Arrows flicked down from the trees and took down more of the Crooked while the hunters used their height and angle to strike with impunity.

Crooked screamed and died, while others rallied together and pushed to hurry up the narrow paths that led to the cliffs. Still others worked to climb the cliff face itself, moving like fleshy spiders with unnatural grace.

“Block the path!” Koda called to Sienna, rushing to do just that as the first of the Crooked reached the top of the narrow animal trail.

Using the toe of his hiking boot as a scoop, Koda kicked a fistful of dirt and small rocks at the lead Crooked, who yelped in surprise as the grit got into all three of its eyes. The creature’s left hands—it had two of them sized like a child’s attached to its left wrist—batted at its face to clear its vision.

Seizing his opportunity, Koda brought his lead foot stomping down from the kick. The heavy leather of his hiking boot crashed down on the bare toes of the Crooked even as he straightened his fingers and drove them forward in a knife-hand position.

The Crooked opened its mouth to scream at the pain of its crushed foot, but only let out a wet gurgle as Koda’s knife hand drove his claws into its throat before slashing down. Sienna was there, driving her spear into the creature’s chest just to the side of its breastbone where its heart should be.

Twisting her hips, Sienna gave a grunt of effort as she used the leverage of the long weapon and her bodyweight to toss the Crooked back into those following it, sending another crashing down the narrow track and back into the little valley with a scream. The scream cut off after barely a second of falling when the duo landed with a crunch on the valley floor.

“Thanks,” Koda grunted, stepping up around Sienna while she spun her spear around to reset her grip.

He met the next Crooked head-on, batting aside the spiral-bladed sword it thrust at him with the back of his gauntlet, then slamming his palm into its chest. This unbalanced the creature enough that Sienna’s blow into the side of its knee also sent the monster over the edge.

The two of them worked together, Koda leading the way because of his shorter range, and Sienna slipping around him to use the length of her spear to cover his back.

Fighting his way down the ramp, Koda sent a mental prayer of thanks to Thera as he could feel something guiding him in the punches, slaps, slashes, and thrusts with the bladed gauntlet. Occasionally, the tug and guidance would throw him off balance, but he managed to keep his feet and was slowly beginning to expect what would come next.

Slashing his claws across the face of one of the Crooked, sending the misshapen creature to one side and directly into the thrusting path of Sienna’s spear, Koda bulled forward to the bottom of the ramp. Another handful of blows and a squeal of pain from their target followed, and then a brief moment of calm opened up at the base of the ramp.

To the north and the east, Koda could see small swarms of the Crooked flowing up the ramps and into the trees. Only on their ramp did they fight through the enemy. Above him on the ledge, Koda heard the hum and snap of bowstrings while the hunters sent arrow after arrow into the ravine.

“Sienna!” Netta called out from above. “The big tent! Something is moving inside it, and I can see some of the Crooked heading for the captives!”

“Shit!” Sienna cursed, and Koda felt an odd thrill hearing the beautiful woman swear. “Okay, pick off the ones you can. We will push to try to get them free. If we can arm the captives, we can fall back.”

“Maybe set fire to the tents when we exit?” Koda suggested, checking himself over during the brief lull to make sure he had taken no injuries. A pair of scratches on his left arm bled sluggishly, but other than those, he was fine as far as he could tell.

“No!” Netta called down. “We can’t risk the fire getting into the forest with how spread out they are. It would only take one bit of canvas blowing into the trees, and we could burn out the mountainside. I’m already going to tear Gregor a new one for risking it with that log in the cookfire!”

“Got it.” Koda nodded sharply before glancing at Sienna to check on her.

The red-haired spearwoman was in far better condition than he was. While Koda was panting for breath, Sienna looked barely winded. The only blood she wore was on the blade of her spear and a small smudge on one cheek that gave her a wild air. Her short hair hung tousled, and sweat marked her forehead from the exertion.

Their eyes met for a moment, and Koda swallowed hard as those blue-green orbs seized control of him.

“Ready?” Sienna’s question broke the spell of her eyes and he blinked a few times.

“Yes”—Koda coughed a moment later—“let’s do this.”

Breaking into a trot, Koda rushed forward into the haphazard rows of tents, slashing at ropes and the like as he went to bring them down on any occupants that remained inside. Arrows zipped past them to clear the way as a few Crooked who had been in hiding crawled out to confront the chaos descending on their camp.

Sienna followed close behind, mirroring Koda’s actions as they sabotaged tents or driving her spear into the wriggling lumps of those trapped inside the rotten canvas. They never slowed their march through the camp, though.

A rank scent, like old fat left in the sun, stained the air as they got closer to the large tent. They would have to circle around it to get to the pen where the captive villagers were. Both gagged at the smell and the acrid smoke that billowed from the firepits as they went. Koda had to stop to kick a burning log back into the firepit as they went, the flames licking at the dry grass nearby.

Twice they had a Crooked who was either hiding out of sight of their archers or playing dead attempt to ambush them. The first one got hold of Koda’s foot and tried to yank him to the ground, only to have that hand hacked off by the flashing blade of Sienna’s spear. The second targeted the wolf woman, but Koda had glanced back to check on her in time to see the movement in the shadows.

Whirling, he grabbed Sienna by the forearms and yanked her to him. This put her out of position for the bloody hatchet that swung through the space where her head had been heartbeats before. An arrow erupted from the monster’s forehead a moment later in a spray of black blood.

Sienna did not react well to being grabbed, even by an ally, and she was mid-snarl when she heard the wet thump and gurgle from behind her.

Glancing back, her eyes widened when she saw the monster that had approached without any hint or clue. She gave him a grudging nod of thanks, and Koda thought he saw a spark of respect kindling in those depthless eyes of hers.

Fine, whatever, he thought. If she respects me, then it’ll be easier to keep her safe along with the others. She’s been the nicest of the lot so far.

Koda released her and whirled back into a jog toward their destination.

The two of them rounded the edge of the large tent in time to see three of the Crooked crawl through the bars of the fence while wielding chunky-bladed swords, baying like hunting hounds with a head cold.

The captured villagers hung back and away, though an older man and two young women stood between the others and the Crooked with grim determination etched on their features. Wolf-ears, horns, and tails like Sienna’s but in a dark gray showed them as fellow beastfolk. Koda saw the old man’s eyes dart to them and widen in surprise as the monsters approached.

“Help is here! Hold them back, girls!” he shouted, assuming a crude boxing stance and stepping forward to put himself first in the path of the hobbling monsters. The two sturdy farmgirls mirrored him, the wan light of the evening glinting off the fur of the ears that poked out of their hair as they prepared to defend themselves.

Bending as he ran, Koda scooped up a loose stone and hurled it at the monsters as they closed to attack range. He’d been aiming for the Crooked’s head, but the stone slammed into the creature’s wrist as it brought its blade down in a chopping motion. 

Squealing in pain, the Crooked dropped its weapon and clutched its wrist with its right hand. One girl dove for the dropped weapon even as the other two feinted and lunged at the old man.

The corral was made of heavy logs interlocked and pinned in place with iron spikes, but gaps existed that were large enough to wiggle through if someone was careful. It rose up to Koda’s breastbone and had no shade at all for the captives inside. As they approached, Koda debated whether to try to climb through a gap or over the wall. 

Sienna had no hesitation at all.

As Koda slowed to jump up and begin climbing, Sienna continued moving at full speed. The part-wolf woman planted the butt of her spear into the earth and used it as a vaulting pole. This gave her the leverage to crank her body up and over the barrier and land on the far side, still in motion.

A feral snarl tore from Sienna’s throat as she came crashing down on the Crooked who still clutched his hand as her weapon came around to drive into the side of another of the trio of monsters, even as the beast pulled its weapon back from a slash across the old man’s forearm.

“Sienna!” Koda called as he slid to a stop and began to climb the barrier to join her.

The only warning Koda got was a brief twinge of oncoming threat before something far larger than a regular Crooked hit from the side. All he saw before he went flying was a fist the size of a watermelon coming at him before it landed.

The blow caught him in the ribs, sending him tumbling to one side across the rough ground to slam into one of the tents set up around the corral.

The impact of his body hitting the tent snapped the support poles and tore two of the strings right out of the ground with sharp twanging sounds. It drove the breath from Koda’s body, and he fought to get air into lungs that were busy panicking while he fought his way free of the canvas, slashing it indiscriminately with his claws to work his way free.

What greeted Koda’s eyes as he finally rolled out of the entangling mass drew a roar of anger from his throat.

A massive… something stood over the side of the corral.

It was easily around eight feet tall, with shoulders as broad as a barn door that were knotted with distorted muscle. Its right forearm split at the elbow into two separate, smaller forearms that were of a more normal size. Short but stout legs supported the creature’s broad torso, which was capped by a lumpy head as smooth as a bowling ball and about the same size.

The creature wore only a crude kilt of mottled red-brown cloth around its hips and had in its right hand what looked like a meat-cleaver forged out of a hunk of someone’s car door.

Currently, the monster had its two left hands wrapped around Sienna’s throat from behind and was holding the wolf-woman aloft while it wound up with its cleaver to hack her in two.

Fury gathered in Koda’s gut at the affront of this monster threatening Sienna. Instinct, or maybe Thera’s hand, guided Koda to roll to all fours from his position on his side.

A kick of his feet threw him to the back of the creature, and he lashed out with a slashing motion as he threw himself past the back of the grotesque monster.

The claws on Koda’s gauntlet, sharp as ever and coated in the gore of the other Crooked he’d slain, caught the creature in the wrist right as its arm swept forward and above Koda.

The blow jarred its grip, and the cuts to the tendons in its wrist sent the chopper flying through the air to crash into the side of the corral, splintering wood and driving through two logs before getting stuck in the third. A rain of black blood followed Koda as he rolled to a stop on the monster’s other side.

Squealing in pain and surprise, the beast dropped Sienna and slapped its left hands over its wounded arm, whirling to look to its right for whatever had wounded it.

Gritting his teeth, Koda fought against the grinding pain in his chest from the earlier blow. While his adrenaline was high, he couldn’t tell how bad the injury was. Maybe he had a broken rib or two, but it was impossible to tell. All he knew was that he didn’t have any problems breathing at the moment, and the beast in front of him needed to die for threatening Sienna.

With fury still singing in his veins, Koda lunged forward and laid a slashing blow across the back of the creature’s thighs with his claws. The bladed tips were only a few inches long, but it was enough to get through the crude cloth of the monster’s kilt and bite deep into its legs, taking out the hamstring on its right side.

Koda wasn’t fast enough to get out of the way of its reprisal, though. The meaty right hand of the monster came around in a backhand that caught him in the right arm. Koda was alert enough to get his gauntlet up to block the blow, even though the weight of it still sent him flying to crash into the splintery logs of the corral.

“Koda!” The raspy shout of Sienna from inside the corral told him that she was okay. It added to the fire in his gut, giving him the strength needed to shake off the confusion and return his attention to the hulking monster that snarled at him from close range.

Now that he was closer, Koda could see the beast had four eyes—two where they should be, one set high on its forehead, and the other looking out from beneath a bent nose from a socket in the wide lip above its drooling mouth.

“Man meat!” the creature howled, blowing spittle past teeth that looked like a forest of rotten stumps. “Man meat to eat! Crooked walk, Crooked take! Crooked kill the man, then bake!”

The fact that Koda could understand the hulking monstrosity was even more disturbing than the words that it was speaking.

As it slapped out towards him with its still-bleeding right hand in another backhand motion, Koda lashed out with his gauntlet to fend it off. The blow caught the creature across the back of its hand and sent it wheeling back with a squeal of pain.

“Sienna! Get the villagers out of here, and I’ll distract it!” Koda yelled over his shoulder, dodging out of the way of another wide slap. This drove him closer to where the cleaver lay buried in the logs.

“Not going to leave you behind! That is a champion!”

Both the logs between them and the ringing in Koda’s ears distorted Sienna’s protest. He could feel his shirt sticking to him because of the spilled blood, but whether it was his or belonged to the Crooked he’d killed, Koda wasn’t sure.

“Bake and take! We walked a mile, never but a single file!” shrieked the monster. It bulled forward like an angry ape and swung both its arms overhead to bring them down in a hammer fist at Koda. The distorted rhyming of its speech made its words all the more disturbing.

Lunging to one side, Koda took the opportunity to open up the Crooked’s side with a slashing blow, sending another river of blood down the creature’s chest.

“Crooked come, and Crooked take! Do not let our prey escape!” the monster screamed as it whirled. The side effect of its charge missing Koda was that it had reclaimed its cleaver. It slammed the weapon into the ground threateningly before lunging at Koda.

“Go, Sienna! It’s calling the others back! I can handle it!” Koda shouted, feinting to the creature’s wounded side and baiting out a chopping blow with the heavy cleaver. He had to put the villagers out of his mind as Koda now had to focus entirely on the monster before him.

A champion? Well, that is appropriate since I’m Thera’s champion, Koda thought wryly as he studied his enemy. He had to focus now or else he’d die, and he couldn’t accept that.

For all the wounds he’d inflicted on it, the monster was still going strong. Blood dripped from its many slashes and lacerations, and a grimace of fury and hunger twisted its features, but no weakness showed in its frame.

Koda risked a glance over its shoulder to see a trickle of the Crooked beginning to flow back out of the trees to the north and start down the ramps into the camp.

Can’t let this drag out. I need to finish it quick, Koda thought frantically. The monster’s sheer size worked against him right now. It was bleeding and would fall eventually, but Koda couldn’t risk kiting it back towards the ramps and the hunters there. He didn’t know where Sienna and the villagers were.

The next lunge of the monster forced him to move before he had a plan. It swept the cleaver horizontally across the ground at Koda, who swayed back before lunging forward, only to have to throw himself into a roll as the creature reversed its swing with surprising ease.

Whistling overhead, the pitted surface of the cleaver’s blade glittered with a deadly promise. Scrambling to one side, he led the lumbering and wounded creature away from the log corral. Because of his blow earlier hamstringing it, the beast moved in fitful lunges. He nearly fell himself when he tripped on a tent line, and that gave Koda an idea.

“Come on, ugly! You want to eat me, then get your skinny ass over here and eat me!” Koda yelled, yanking one of the crude tent stakes out of the ground and hurling it at the creature. The limping beast tried to dodge the flying stake, but its injuries made that difficult, and the stake bounced off its forehead, just to one side of the glaring eye set there.

Roaring in fury, the creature lunged into a stumbling run, using its left arm to help support its weight awkwardly even as Koda kicked the base of one of the tent poles to shift it backwards and then threw himself away.

The beast brought its right arm up high in an overhand chop as it surged through the tents. Koda thought for a moment that his ploy would fail, but the hulking brute yelped in pain, its left arm coming down to clutch at its stomach where blood suddenly poured out.

Protruding from it’s chest was the tent pole his kick had adjusted, but the remaining lines had kept it hanging roughly at around a forty-five degree angle while making the tent look like it was flat.

And the beast had charged right onto the point of the tent pole, burying it into its guts.

A sharp snapping sound followed as the rough tent pole broke under the monster’s weight, but the damage was done. In the instinctive grab for its gut with its left arms, the monster was now overbalanced by the weight of the cleaver over its head and stumbled, then fell onto its face with a thump.

Koda jinked to one side, avoiding the falling cleaver that was no longer being aimed as the groaning monster clutched at its body.

Lunging forward, Koda drove his bone talons into the back of the creature’s neck and slashed down to open up both sides. The monster shifted from clutching at its guts to clutching at its neck, which gave Koda the chance to snatch up the crude cleaver from where it lay abandoned on the ground.

Turning to put the strength of his hips into it and tapping into the full boost that Thera had given to his body, Koda whirled the cleaver up before bringing it down in a chopping motion that cleaved the sickening monster’s head from its shoulders with a wet thunk.

Silence descended in that moment, only broken by the thunder of Koda’s pulse in his ears.

A stirring of movement drew his attention to his left. He turned to find Sienna with her spear out, a small mound of dead Crooked lying around her while she menaced even more that were staring with eyes wide in horror at Koda. The villagers crowded in behind Sienna, wielding weapons taken from the dead Crooked to keep the converging enemy back.

Deep in his chest, Koda felt an urge welling up. From somewhere deep in his past, a primal part of him that had been slowly growing like an ember burst into flames.

A roar of challenge tore free of his lips. Koda hefted the misshapen cleaver up one-handed to charge to Sienna’s side. More enemies threatened his people, and he would have blood for it.

The Crooked, as one, screamed in fear and scrambled into a retreat with Koda in chase, wielding the bloody cleaver that had slain their champion.