Hidden Within


            “Look! The beast passed this way,” the scrawny guide, no more than four feet nothing, shouted. It was easy to hear the despair emanating from his voice.

 Countless nights had passed since his last chance to sleep. The beast was taunting the group, and to be clearer, it was toying with everything they knew to be normal during the Great Hunt.

 “How can this be,” Carson whispered while scratching the top of his head. “The tracks just stop at the cliff’s base. Impossible!”  He leaned over and placed his callous covered hand at the center of the deep impression that the beast’s paw had left behind.  “This one is a big one, boys,” he shouted as he looked straight up to judge the height of their climb. “Best be ready for anything, gentlemen. Take it slow, and watch your footing.”

“Aye, aye,” the group of 14 well built men and one small female Elf responded.

From high atop the cliff, the beast looked down, and while laughing evilly within, she thought, “They are closing in on me. Which morsel should I taste first?”  With a perfectly sharpened claw, Sarea flicked a boulder. “Let’s see how they deal with this pebble,” she scoffed. 
            Amber, seeing the boulder’s path, determined with her keen Elvin instinct that Carson was in danger, and took action. With speed uncanny to her race of midget elves, she scaled the cliff, in Carson’s direction, shouting in native tongue, “Paromay es te luvaso!” meaning, move your sorry backside.”

The boulder narrowly missed Carson’s thick scull as she snatched him from beneath its path. The man below, unable to speak the Elvin language failed to comprehend Amber’s cry.  The boulder met Morlack’s face with a tremendous force, crushing his scull and dislodging his powerful grip. The entire fall was unknown or felt, but despite this lack of knowledge to his senses, he ended up flattened below with a bone crushing splat.

Carson found Amber’s eyes, then said, “Why did you do that I had everything under control!”

“Yea right, I’m always saving your sorry little butt,” Amber said in disgust.

“Just climb okay, climb!”

The beast peered over the edge of the cliff, staring at Carson with black eyes that could penetrate the soul of any mortal. Carson shuddered, despite his immortality, and froze. He watched as the beast slowly moved away from the edge of the cliff. Slowly Carson shook his head and after a series of moments passed, his trance came to an end.

The group began to climb again. When the party crested to the top of the cliff there was a woman sitting under a tree. “Don’t hurt me," was the first and only thing she cried. Her shriek was filled with such despair that each member of the group felt the chill.

She was frail, brittle if you will, and her snow white hair moved within the breeze. She appeared tortured and as the group approached, the woman’s  skin started to move, slow at first, but more violently as time passed. It appeared as if some kind of creature, perhaps worms, lived beneath the skin's surface. The woman’s eyes slowly transitioned from a soft green, to a fiery red. It was as if the fire burned within them and as the intensity grew, the woman's skin turned black.
            This was not a woman. This was something else. She was changing into some sort of creature. Eventually her transition was complete and  in her place stood a winged demon with crimson horns and stood in place on four massive paws. Snakes protruded from its cat-like body from just behind its neck.
            "What wickedness is this?" Carson shouted as he unsheathed his blade.
            Amber lifted her right hand. A white sphere appeared in the palm. "Shall we ask questions later? I think now is not the time."
            The men were paralyzed with fear...   

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