Chapter 1

(Chapter 1)

     Nire unslung her bow from her shoulder and took a minute to check it for any damage to the string or frame. She readied a shaft knowing she might only get one shot if she was lucky enough. The bow she held was strong yet lightweight and durable. It also made it harder to aim but easier to pack. She carried it for another reason. It was a piece of home that she now carried in her hands and that thought alone gave her new strength of heart.

     She steadied her rapid pulse over the next few minutes with some slow deep breathes. Her eyes closed and she thought of home. Her heartbeat slowed. Her shoulders relaxed. Her head tilted downward slightly as her single auburn braid blew behind her in the wind. She knew the next few minutes would most likely determine her living or dying!

     Her lungs inhaled and exhaled deeply. Her body would need the oxygen very soon. This was her test of patience. There was only a small chance of getting through this part of the journey. She had had no problem with the lack of food or companionship or guidance. Those skills and lessens she had already mastered. This test, she realized, was the final trial. Those who had failed had never told anyone how or why. They were never seen again!

     She checked the short sword at her belt, opposite her mother's dagger. It was her brother's journey sword. Seeing the hilt of it made her tighten her left hand on her bow - her father's. For a brief moment, she felt as if all her family had surrounded her with their presence. She was ready to make her move!

     The fire in front of her still bellowed smoke from its circle of safety. Nire thought quickly for a moment before putting away her bow to pick up a large branch and dip the end of the almost straight five and a half foot branch roughly two inches thick, into a glob of pitch oozing from a tree nearby. The pitched end of her staff caught quickly when she touched it to the flames. She repeated the process on the other end until both were lit. The sun was lying low on the horizon now. This was it - now or never.

     With the flaming staff in her hands twirling in circles above her head, Nire began her climb up toward the shadowy peak of the mountain above her. She needed to crest this mountain and be down the other side by sundown or she wouldn't live to see the sun rise! She saw a clear boulder field to her right that wasn't too close to the dark thickets of brush and trees. However, the closer she came to passing the thick patch of trees and dense undergrowth, the more her uneasiness grew.

     When she was ten feet away, her heart leaped several beats as the omninous click sound started once again - this time right next to her! It sounded as if two bones were knocked together.

Instinct and training had Nire swinging her firey staff at the bush at the same time she that a rustling sound had come from just inside the bushes in front of the the large tree grove to her right. The sound now grew with intensity as she continued to wave and twirl the flamed staff in large arcs keeping the spinning flames between her and the trees.

     The rustling continued as she made her way farther up the hill parellel to the forest, the rustling noise following following close behind. She slowed her progress to peer around intently, vaguely trying to make out what was following her.

     Stabbing pain suddenly shot into her left foot as it twisted sharply between unseen two rocks. Her body jerked backward to a halt as her snagged limb finally pulled itself free by her momentum.

     As Nire reached down to feel her ankle, she was struck on her left side by something soft and sticky. Slowly she felt the substance tighten, as if hardening, onto the side of her tunic. Her one quick glance showed her a molten glass-like substance that quickly turned from a white opaqueness to almost perfectly translucence.

     Nire next felt herself jerked off her feet towards the brush, being dragged by the almost clear line attached her. Right before the brush would have swallowed her up, she ripped the short sword from its scabbard and aimed a savage hack at the clear line. The blade made a loud vibrating ring that hurt both her ears and arm. Then at the last possible moment at the edge of the brush, Nire clenched her teeth dugged her heels into the rocky ground and gave a massive lunge away from the forest of clicking sounds, towards freedom!

     With a loud tear, a large chunk of her tunic ripped off her side to disappear into the edge of the forest leaving her startled for a moment. Sensing the need for flight, Nire scrambled to her almost burned out branch and struggled upright with it, limping. Only one end was still lite, glowing red, the other smoldering.

     She was getting closer to the ridge now but still was a hundred yards below it. Her breath coming in big gulps now as the incline became steeper.

     The light aroma of the alpines had become heavier further up towards the peak. Nire recognized the familiar scent of the timberland areas in her home region but here, something was different. Something smelt wrong - out of place. The tall alpine evergreens normally gave off a seasonal scent, an environmental signal for the indigenous animals. But this scent , this signal was ...unnatural. The scent was musty and sickly to smell.

     Nire recognized the stench of decay as soon as it assailed her nostrils. However, the foul stench wasn't what bothered her, she had dealt with the sick and dying. Life was difficult in the mountain regions. The difference here was that the stench seemed to exuburate from everywhere! It was as if the mountain itself radiated the overpowering smell!

     Less than a hundred feet now from the pinnacle, Nire glimpsed a small sharply raised area on the right of the mountainside - a natural outcrop. It was out in the open but it was at least high up off the ground and would give her a visual of an attack.

     What had begun the day as excitement and hope had quickly dissapated into gloom as she had realized the sun was about to set. The first sensations of desperation and panic were now setting in. Nire had, up until now, not actually considered the possibility that she might not be coming home....

     

Author's Note

Only part of the first chapter... more to come!