Bloodred Anyu
FaeflowerTree spirits liked nothing better than seeking the taste of new rain and would eagerly follow the clouds over stretches of untamed land. The legends say these benevolent forces of nature were lured to the ocean and there drowned by evil spirits that fed on their last moments of terror, giving form to the Nothers. Others say it was the Nothers themselves that did the luring. No living creature, man or beast, can say for sure which is true. They can only guard their young with their lives and fear the dark hours of night.
Didymus plodded a goat track meandering over rolling green hills, barely glancing at the crumbled foundations of houses long abandoned. Even the mice had ceased to scavenge in the shells of kitchens where they once grew fat on grain. How many years had it been since Greenhaven's settlers had sacrificed all they owned in the hope of finding new lands? It was hard to say. A Ranger's concept of time was very different from a man's, for bears of his nature could live well into their seventh century.
With the risks he took, he would be lucky to see his fourth.
One forgotten cottage contained a bush of bright red flowers that had grown wild and overtaken the lawn. Didymus paused for one brief moment. The girl who planted the blossoms had been taken by bandits. The look on her face when he'd rushed the cave had been reward enough. The bandits were boys, their rusted swords no better than sticks against steel-hardened armor. He had seen the girl home, refusing offers of gold and a bard to record the ballad of his deed. Others had sought glory despite their oath to the Rangers, their pelts ending up on a hunter's rack when greed overpowered their passion to do good.
Chivalry was their code. Didymus dedicated his life to protecting those who could not protect themselves.
The waving grass gradually surrendered to deciduous trees, green leaves tipped with gold as autumn approached. Ambrosius paused at the line of trees, snuffling the ground and darting a look at Didymus.
"Couldn't we go around just one section of forest? You know there will be Nothers in there. They love shadowy places like this."
Didymus snorted. "If it was up to you, my friend, we'd spend our days lazing in the sun and our nights cowering in candlelight."
"What a grand idea. You must be getting tired of making all the decisions after two hundred years. Why not hand off that duty to me and take a much needed rest?"
"Come one, coward. I promise not to let the monsters eat you."
Ambrosius sighed. He could have been companion to a scholar, spending his days curled up before the hearth in the Scroll Library while his master read dusty tomes in the hope of finding the source of the Nothers. He sighed. What had possessed him to bind himself to Didymus as a companion. His mother might insist it was in his nature to be heroic but Ambrosius maintained it was bribery. How Didymus had known his weakness for dried jerky strips, he never had been able to determine.
Didymus leapt forward as the sound of pained cries reached him. Ambrosius followed reluctantly, doing his best to hop from one patch of sunlight to the next. The sun couldn't kill Nothers but it certainly did slow them down.
A russet fox stood her ground before a hollow stump, fangs bared at a Nother in the form of a hawk. The shadowy bird watched the three kits huddled behind their mother with coveting eyes, its beak rippling as it shrieked and launched itself from its perch, blood dripping from razor-sharp talons. The fox's heaving flanks revealed the source but she had no time to lick the wound.
The Nother never saw Didymus as he leapt into the air, using his weight to bring the hawk down. Ruby-tipped claws raked the length of the hawk's body, tearing Nother flesh, making it dissolve. The rubies studding the surface of his armor turned the creature's blows aside; blows that could have easily killed a plain bear and cut it in half.
So much about Nothers was unknown. They could feed on any life force yet would ignore entire herds of sheep paralyzed in fear to feast on a single lamb, for they loved the flavor of innocent youth. Rubies could pierce Nother flesh while a diamond's touch had no effect and an emerald would double their size.
The vixen soothed her kits as Didymus placed a leaf before the mouth of her den. Nestled in its fold was a small pile of red berries.
"Squeeze the juice onto your wound to keep out infection. You'll need all your strength with such a family to care for."
She dipped her head. "I did not think Nothers would venture this near the border where the sun eats most of the shadows. They grow bolder." She shot Ambrosius a look. The willowy canine had somehow managed to slink past her guard, huddling in the cluster of kits. "I would appreciate if you took your talking moss creature and left us. My children have had quite enough excitement for one morning."
Ambrosius huffed as they moved deeper into the trees. "Moss creature indeed. If anything, I look like a cloud. A beautiful, fluffy cloud that brings rain to the forest."
"All the more reason you should join the battle, Ambrosius. The Nothers would never find a place to bite through all that fur of yours."
"This coming from the one wearing steel, yet the foul things have spilled your blood more times than I care to count and I am left to bind your wounds while they all sing your praises. When they build you a statue in the Last Human City, you can bet they won't think to include the humble companion that saw you through so many fevered nights."
"Certainly they will. You'll be a small blob of marble hiding behind my leg." Didymus chuckled lightly as Ambrosius grumbled about bears with rotten senses of humor. They both came to a stop as they crested a hill thick with spruce trees. A thin ribbon of smoke rose on the air, coming from the direction of the old Tower.
It had been used as a vantage point to look out for the approach of Nothers until the soldiers within realized how their dark foes could creep from one stone's shadow to the next, squeezing through keyholes to invade even locked rooms. The Tower was reduced to a few scattered stones still pointing at the sky, its base room the only part that survived the wrath of superstitious soldiers.
Didymus did not hesitate to investigate despite Ambrosius' whine of unease. Nothers certainly did not build fires.
A woman stirred the contents of a small iron pot hung over a weak fire. The little girl at her side clung to her patched dress, sucking a thumb and staring in his direction with wide eyes.
A fat black body hurled itself to the ground between him and the pair, eight legs trailing shadows as the giant spider Nother clacked pinchers with an eerily loud noise. The mother's wooden spoon fell into the soup as she joined her daughter in screaming.
Didymus was already in motion, covering the distance before that spider could scuttle halfway to the Tower's base. It turned with a malicious hiss, rearing as it put its thorn-tipped legs to use. Two points bounced away harmlessly. The ranger's chuckle was cut short as a third caught him off guard, lodging beneath his armor and piercing his skin.
He could feel the Nother's influence even as he raised his front paw for a counterstrike. The vile shadow was draining him, red eyes almost gloating.
"Ambrosius, I could use a distraction."
Nothing. Didymus looked at his paw, hovering in the air. It was so heavy. He started to lower it, coming up against something that was hairy yet slimy. He was so repulsed that his claws dug into the horrible flesh of the Nother. Its form wavered, unable to withstand the bite of ruby stones shaped into claws, yet its grip on his lifeforce was lending it strength. He plunged his paw into the thing's center, groaning in revulsion. It was enough. The spider dissolved with one last hateful look, leaving Didymus panting in the dust. His strength would return in a slow trickle without the threat of the life drain. For now, he could not even find the energy to get on his feet.
Ambrosius emerged from the tower base, bearing the little girl on his back. The companion's fur was braided with tiny bits of red ribbon. The child went readily into her mother's arms, freeing Ambrosius to approach his master with a mouthful of leaves. He spat the mess onto the wound with a grunt of disgust.
"Awful, bitter things, but we must work with what we have and this pair doesn't have much."
"I could've lost that one, no thanks to you. Just once, would it kill you to actually come when I call?"
"That is precisely what I'm doing, Master. I just didn't see fit to be killed, knowing full well you would emerge victorious."
The woman fell to her knees, touching the palms of her hands to the ground and bowing her head. "I thank you for the life of my child, Mighty One. It is not my place to question the will of the Chief, but you have given me hope that I may yet succeed in pleasing the gods."
Didymus frowned, grunting as his too-thick legs finally allowed him a more dignified position. Yes, sitting was definitely preferable to lying in a heap. "What do you mean?"
"The rains have not come to us for two years. They kill our crops and leave nothing for us to eat. Just as the shadow beings are a curse for our sins, the drought is a warning that we have displeased the heavens. It was decreed a child must make the journey to the Last Human City of Thenia. If the chosen child is worthy, the gods will protect against every shadow in their path. For the first time, I have hope we may succeed."
Didymus had to work to control his temper. Growling at the stupidity of some fat village Chief would only frighten this poor woman. "I will see to it your journey succeeds. I know the way to the Last Human City and will see you there myself."
"Oh no, Mighty One. This cannot be. We must make the journey alone and ask no help but trust in the heavens to guide and protect us."
"I'm not a mighty anything, I'm a ranger. I have taken an oath to guard the innocent where I may find them. I cannot break it by leaving you to wander the wilds in such a place."
"Please let us go. You do not understand the power of the Chief. If he ever finds out that his orders were disobeyed, he will send men to kill my child." There were tears in her eyes as she hugged the girl to her breast. "He hates me as the wife of his brother, the better man of the two. Please let us go on."
He could not refuse the wishes of a lady, no matter how much he disagreed with them.
Besides, she could hardly complain about his presence if he never allowed himself to be seen.
He was there when the pair left the forest behind, crossing the Moonsweep Marshes over plank bridges built by fishermen who had once filled baskets with their catches. The loud peeping of frogs drowned out even his heavy paw-steps and the pair never once looked back, intent on reaching dry ground before nightfall. Lonely Canyon provided better hiding places for both the burly ranger and a host of Nothers. Ambrosius found a particularly nice crevice in the stone as Didymus ripped apart shadowy weasels and bats.
The great stone walls opened on a valley that had once proven fertile for crops. It was a dead space now with only a carpet of lichen to show the land had not completely fallen to dust. Thenia's magnificent white walls could be seen in the distance, once a beacon to road-weary refugees in times of war. The Last Human City had not seen any new arrivals in well over a hundred years.
The woman hugged her daughter and kissed her cheek before settling her in a blanket beside the fire. "Sleep well, Darling. Tomorrow we will be safe from the monsters, once and for all."
She stared out at the distant city she'd heard described in stories, taking no notice of the small shadow that dropped from the stunted tree she sat beneath. She gasped as the stinger of a scorpion shaped Nother broke her skin. She could see a swarm of the creatures scuttling around the fire's light to get to her daughter but she could not move. Two tears fell before her vision grew too blurry for her to see.
Didymus was in motion at her first gasp, ruby claws making short work of such weak Nothers. The child came awake, too frightened to even cry as she watched the great bear swat shadowy shapes out of existence. Didymus crushed the Nother clinging to the woman's hand, bringing his muzzle close to the woman's lips. She still breathed, but she was very weak. The drain was much harder on frail human bodies than on the strength of a bear.
Ambrosius lay down beside the child as Didymus took to his hind legs, cradling the woman's limp form in his paws. "Climb on my back and take hold of my fur, child. The ranger will see to it your mother is given to those with the power to heal her but we must move quickly. Do not let go."
They ran for open ground as the full moon broke free from a bank of clouds, running from the shrieks of rage that rose from either side. The Nothers were slowed by the light but could not be stopped. They hated the Last Human City, its great walls shaped from bricks containing ruby dust. They would not give up the prize of a human child so easily.
A tentacle reached for the woman's leg, dissolving at a swat from Didymus. Ambrosius ran ahead, the girl clinging in a strangle hold that would have choked the life out of an ordinary hound. Their path narrowed as the Nothers to either side clustered together, sheltering one another from the pale light and forming a tunnel that was rapidly shrinking.
Arrows that glinted in the moonlight fell among the shadows, dissolving them in small puffs of smoke. The Nothers were oblivious to the losses, for they were many cells of a malevolent mind bent on a feast that would give strength to the mass. The gates of Thenia opened, releasing a swarm of men whose ruby pendants could double as daggers in times of great need. A man with a golden circlet on his brow nodded to Didymus, his men keeping the ranks of shadows at bay as he looked over the ranger's burden. He did not flinch at Didymus' size or shape. Rangers came in many forms.
Woman and child were carried into the city by King Thervin's men as the king gave the order of recall. His men folded in neatly like the petals of a flower that has lost the warming influence of the sun.
Didymus used the confusion to slip away. One small victory would not grant him peace while there were innocents left to be saved.
Story by 
Pureflower
