Marysvale (10 page)

The beast turned and filled the path
where I had come. I gasped; there was no hair around its eyes and
squashed nose. It had a broad sloping forehead. Large feet and
hands replaced what I had first thought was a paw; both were tipped
with long, black, claw-like fingernails. A wide mouth, with lips
twisted in a snarl, revealed sharp, yellow, pointed teeth as long
as my fingers. The black, human-like eyes burned with hatred and
fury. A new terror seized me as I recognized the dark, sucking void
of emptiness behind its eyes. Like the monster in the clearing, it
too had no soul.

Lifting its massive head towards the
sky, it emitted a loud, high, staccato-like cry that sent the
silent birds in the treetops screeching into the air. I listened in
horror as a similar cry answered frightfully close by. My blood
turned cold when, incredibly, another call also responded a little
farther away than the last.

My curiosity satisfied, I kicked Smoke
hard into action. We tore down the path at a frantic pace. My heart
leapt in my chest when, minutes later, I heard crashing through the
forest. With a snarl, a second monster burst onto the path behind
us, and the deadly chase began. We flew down the trail, ducking
branches and weaving through the trees. The pursuing beast slowly
faded behind the raw speed of Smoke; but it wouldn’t be enough.
After another mile, ahead and off to our side, I saw small trees
and bushes give way as a third monster pushed its way through the
thick foliage. The ugly brute was just about to materialize on the
trail in front of us. Amazingly, it was even larger than the other
two, easily surpassing my height on top of Smoke.

As quickly as I could, I unlatched the
crossbow with my good arm, brought it up, aimed, and
shot.

Incredibly, the beast realized what I
was doing and, as I fired, it slid on its feet and leaned back just
as the first arrow sliced through the air, inches from its head.
The arrow sailed past and embedded into a tree with a
thump.

The shot wasn’t a complete loss,
however; it slowed him enough to allow us to gallop past. The
monster continued its pursuit and crashed onto the trail behind us
with an angry, bellowing roar, which made the hair on the back of
my neck stand on end.

Smoke increased his pace without
needing to be told. I re-secured the crossbow and dumped the extra
weight of the packs, with the exception of my arrows. There was no
need to keep the extra gunpowder, balls, and other things, when
what Smoke really needed was less weight.

The forest grew too thick to do
anything but stay on the trail. I looked back and saw the beasts
still in pursuit, but they were fading back now and losing
ground.

We reached the top of a gently sloping
hill and were greeted with another surprise. A large, fallen tree
blocked the path—it was too late to stop.

We’re going to collide,
I
thought in a panic.

In one last, desperate move, I coaxed
Smoke to keep going and took our only chance of escape….We leapt.
I’d never seen Smoke (or any other horse, for that matter) jump, or
even attempt to jump, something so high. Up we flew. Unable to look
at our impending disaster, I closed my eyes and waited for the
impact. Miraculously, we still continued up and up, and then
crested. I opened my eyes in time to see Smoke’s hind legs tuck up
as we sailed over the trunk. I couldn’t tell if they had scraped
and had no time to debate it. We came down hard, but Smoke
magnificently bore it in stride and kept going. I whirled my head
around to see if the monsters would give up. To my disappointment,
they didn’t even slow down. Only a second apart, one after another,
they leapt. Planting the palms of their hands on the top of the
tree, they heaved themselves up, tucked their legs into their
chest, and launched over it, landing lightly on their feet. I
cursed under my breath.

The chase continued and the trees
thinned out. The beasts flanked us, spreading out, with one on each
side. Stealing another look, I stared with a strange fascination as
they easily dodged trees, occasionally using their long arms and
knuckles to catapult over and around obstacles.

Smoke’s breathing grew labored and
sweat drenched his dark gray coat as he struggled on. The miles up
and down the valleys and hills were taking their toll. If he
collapsed now, we’d both be dead—though odds were we were going to
die anyway. The only question was: would it be under the crushing
weight of Smoke as he cartwheeled into the ground; or, would it be
by sharp teeth and claws tearing us to bits? I decided it would be
better to make a stand and not go out like some scared rabbit
fleeing from a wolf—even though I felt more terrified than any
rabbit.

I looked back one last time to
formulate a strategy and saw that they, too, were tiring—but not
fast enough. If Smoke hadn’t run so much just two days previously,
on top of our long trip, I think he could have easily outrun and
even outlasted them. As it was, it looked like they would catch
us.

I could see a clearing ahead. For
better or worse, we’d make our stand there.

W
E
burst into the clearing. I don’t know what I
expected, but it wasn’t this. There was a large lake, with trees
growing right up to the water on the far shore. The shoreline
nearest me had a rickety rowboat tethered to a sagging dock. In
front of the lake, facing me, sat a beautiful cabin with large
windows and a porch that wrapped around it. There was a barn to the
left of the home; and a lush green pasture, in which cows were
grazing, stretched out before it all. Everything was surrounded by
a wooden fence that was now only a few yards away. We hurtled over
it and dashed through the pasture toward the house. From the porch,
a dog started to bark wildly and a thin man, with a broom in his
hand, turned and gaped at us. I imagine seeing a rider pursued by
two huge monsters isn’t a sight you’d likely experience every
day.

Charging up to the cabin, I leapt off
Smoke, flew over the railing, and landed on the porch. The dog
growled furiously. Ignoring it, I grabbed the man by the hand,
pulled him into the cabin, and lowered the wooden arm that blocked
the door. He came easily, without protest; but then, I was
surprised that he hadn’t run into the cabin upon seeing us and
barred the door himself. I thought painfully about Smoke still out
there and hoped the monsters would leave him and go after easier
prey, like the cows.

“
Shouldn’t we perhaps
introduce ourselves first?” asked a smooth, silky, feminine
voice.

I whirled around and was surprised to
see that the man wasn’t a man at all, but a woman dressed like a
man with boots, breeches, a white shirt, and striking blue eyes.
Her long brown hair, pulled behind her head, showed strands of
gray; and she had slight wrinkles around her eyes. She was actually
quite beautiful. Though she looked to be around 40 years old, I had
the impression her age was deceptive, and that she was probably
older.

Urgently, I demanded, “Do you have any
weapons, ma’am?”

With an amused look, she pointed to an
array of muskets, pistols, knives, and swords hanging above and
around a huge stone fireplace, and said, “Over there.”

How did I miss them?
I
thought.

“
Are they
loaded?”

“
Yes.”

Ignoring the burning pain in my
shoulder, I grabbed two pistols and tucked them under my belt.
Next, I grabbed a musket and flung myself against the outer wall,
expecting the beasts to smash the door and charge in at any moment.
Nothing happened.

The dog had quit growling and now fell
silent. I slid against the wall over to a window and peered out,
expecting the worse. Smoke stood untouched, but still covered with
sweat and breathing hard. I looked around and saw… nothing. I
unlatched the door, stepped back, and braced for the
onslaught…again, nothing. Using my foot, I flung the door open and
leapt out, swiveling the musket left, then right…still nothing. The
dog sat on the porch looking at me as if trying to figure out what
I was doing. I made my way down the steps and scanned the tree line
and everywhere else.

“
Are you expecting
someone?”

I turned and looked up at her. She was
leaning against the door frame, with the door still wide
open.

“
If you tell me, maybe I can
help. Should I arm myself first?” she asked with an amused
look.

“
They…they were there,” I
stammered, “right behind me!”

“
Who was?”

Now I was getting irritated.

“
The monsters!!!” I
exclaimed. “Good heavens! How could you have missed them? They were
right on me!”

Her smile faded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t
mean to poke fun at your situation; it’s just that you were the
only one I saw.”

“
They were probably only
feet away from me when I cleared the tree line.”

She doesn’t believe me,
I
thought with despair.

“
They followed you all the
way to the edge of the woods?” she queried.

She seemed more curious than
concerned.

“
Yes ma’am,” I said. “Do you
believe me?”

“
I do. But when you say
they…” She gasped. “Oh my, you’re wounded. You’d better come in so
I can take care of that.”

I couldn’t agree more, but asked, “What
about the monsters?”

“
I don’t see them, do
you?”

I had to admit that I
didn’t.

“
Well then, come in and let
me have a look at that.”

Still scanning the tree line, and more
than a little baffled by the turn of events, I stammered, “I…I
should tend to my horse first.”

Looking at my arm, which was still
oozing, she said, “He looks to be in better shape than you do.
He’ll be fine; I’ll take care of him after we get you all patched
up.”

“
No ma’am,” I said as firmly
as I could muster under the circumstances. “I need to take care of
him first. He just saved my life, and I want to make sure he’s
unharmed. I owe him that much at least.”

She looked disapprovingly at me, but
gave in. “All right, I can see there will be no convincing you
otherwise. Hold on for just a moment.”

Disappearing into the cabin, she
quickly returned with two large, red apples and a strip of
cloth.

“
You look pale and hungry,”
she noted, handing me the apples. “Here: one for you and one for
your horse.”

Then she took the cloth and tied it
around my injured arm. I winced, but said nothing.

“
There, that should slow
down the bleeding some.”

I looked into her eyes. “Thank
you.”

She smiled. “There is food and water in
the barn, and grooming supplies on a nearby shelf. I’ll get some
things ready for you when you’ve finished. Now off you go. And
hurry back before you faint from hunger and lack of blood; I’d
really rather not have to carry you.”

My apple lasted about as long as it
took me to get over to Smoke, and it was delicious. Smoke must have
thought so too, because his disappeared in two bites. I quickly
scanned his legs for any injuries. Amazingly, he looked unscathed.
I led him into the barn where two other horses were stabled.
One-handedly, I removed the remainder of the gear, groomed and fed
him, and then returned to the cabin.

I hesitated at the door, wondering if I
should knock or just go in. My answer came quickly.

“
You didn’t bother to knock
the first time, why start now?” she called from somewhere in the
cabin. “Come on back to the kitchen.”

I did and was greeted by the smell of
something wonderful roasting in an oven; it made my mouth water. A
table was pushed up under a window that gave a spectacular view of
the setting sun reflecting across the tranquil lake. On the table
were two lit lamps, some clean rags, a needle, thread, and a bottle
of some kind of liquid.

“
How did you know I was at
the door?” I asked.

“
The boards on the porch
squeak for a reason—they let me know when someone is
coming.”

“
Oh, I didn’t think of
that.”