The Fourth Race PT. 4

When she woke up the next morning, Evangeline had a plan. She could feel it buzzing around in her brain like a bee. She shook Anwel and said “Anwel. Wake up! I have a plan!” 

Anwel, being an Elf, woke up immediately and was alert. “What?” 

“Well, remember where the Inugami came out of the hole? It’s not too far from here…” 

Anwel blinked. “You want to raid an Inugami stronghold?” 

“Yes.” 

“You are a piece of work. But let’s do it. It could be useful. We’d hopefully find their motive.” 

Evangeline nodded. She braided her hair and then sharpened her sword. She counted her arrows and then watched Anwel. Anwel ate some dried meat and then packed up. 

He was going deliberately slow. “Anwel, you’re not afraid are you?” she joked, laughing.  

“Yes. I am afraid. We are going to charge into a stronghold full of killer humanoids. We will most definitely be outnumbered. And you’re going in first.” 

Evangeline laughed. “I’m afraid too. But I know something you don’t.” 

She held out something in her outstretched hand. Anwel gasped. “Those aren’t…” 

“Explosives.” 

“Where did you get them?” 

Evangeline shrugged. “I found them in the bag Onitor gave me. They were in a hidden pocket.”

Anwel shook his head in disbelief. “There’s more to you than meets the eye. Those are so hard to make.”  

So they crept on their silent Elf feet towards the hole. Evangeline threw one of the three explosives into the hole. They heard a boom resonate and the shrieks of the creatures. 

They snuck into the hole, Anwel ready to loose an arrow and Evangeline clutching her sword with both hands. A few Inugami came into sight, and Anwel shot them before they even knew they were there. 

As they approached the meeting room, they could hear the strains of the guttural language. The stronghold was supported with stone pillars and had braziers stuck into the walls. 

When they reached the doors of the meeting room as well as the bodies of the Inugami. Anwel took out the arrows. “So they don’t know who killed them. My arrows are of Wood Elf design.” 

Evangeline nodded. She threw an explosive into the meeting room and then shrunk into a corner to steel herself against the explosion. 

Suddenly, 36 Inugami swarmed from another hallway. “Anwel! They saw us!” Evangeline screeched. 

Anwel’s bow was knocked from his hands and he yelled “Onitor’s present! Get rid of it!” 

Evangeline struggled against the arms of the Inugami. She grabbed the last explosive and hurled it into the crowd. It exploded, killing several, but she and Anwel were caught in the inferno of red, orange, and yellow. She could feel ash scorching her throat and the heat was unbearable. 

She wanted to scream Anwel’s name but her throat was filled with ash. 

Evangeline dropped to the ground and crawled away. She found a hole in the hard packed earth and vomited the poisons from the fire. She felt a screaming pain in her left arm and looked at it. It was covered in red boils and so painful tears filled her eyes. 

She managed to shoot the remaining Inugami using her right hand to pull the bowstring. She crawled out of the Inugami base and collapsed, her body convulsing as she retched again. 

Evangeline fell into an uneven doze and was woken up by a figure. 

She cried out and tried to crawl away. 

When it grabbed her she shrieked and punched it weakly with her right fist. 

“Evangeline. Evangeline, it’s me. Please. I’ll get you to Dragkon. You’re sick and injured.” 

“Anwel?” she said woozily. “Are you okay? I’m sorry I did the explosive. I should have shoved it in one of their bespawling mouths.” 

“It’s okay. I barely got hurt. Can you stand?”

Evangeline nodded and stood up. She toddled along. She felt terrible knowing that she was slowing them down. They were going at a slower pace than usual. 

That night, Evangeline ate some dried apple and then drank some water, restoring her stomach. Anwel made sure she ate everything he gave her and then said “I’m going to make you a salve. What should I get?”

“There will be better salves in Dragkon, but for now get redmint, greenfoil, and lavender. Crush them and then boil them for ten minutes in water.” 

Anwel nodded and returned with the herbs. He made the salve and rubbed some on the angry red skin of Evangeline’s arm. Even so, she could feel herself fading.

“I feel terrible, Anwel. I injured myself and risked your life for nothing.” 

“Not for nothing.” Anwel said, smiling mischievously. 

Evangeline pushed herself up and said “What?” 

He held up a scrap of paper. It said ‘Remeth’ along with some other words in Gamian, the language of Inugami. 

“Remeth?” 

“The Dark Lord. He is a Gendan, an immortal being, as is Onitor. He’s breeding Inugami. Dark times are ahead.” 

Evangeline shook her head. “I don’t want to think about that.” 

Anwel nodded. He took something from his pocket and put it in her hand. It was a small red coin. 

“It’s a ruby coin. They discontinued them at the end of the War of The Black Scar. Now it’s my talisman. Keep it.” 

Evangeline looked at Anwel. “Thank you.” 

She pocketed it and kissed Anwel on the cheek.

 He smiled and whispered “You should go to sleep.” 

She nodded and closed her eyes. While she waited for sleep to come, she could feel Anwel watching her protectively. 

Finally sleep caught her in its soft grey arms. Evangeline felt it engulf her and she slipped away. 

She had terrible dreams that she couldn’t wake up from. Fire and blood clouded her unconscious and she twitched and jerked. 

Anwel quietly rushed to her side as she moaned in her sleep. 

She didn’t wake up until the very beginning of dawn. 

As she opened her eyes, the first thing she said to Anwel was “You didn’t sleep.”  

He nodded. “You were biting your nails in your sleep, so I put a pair of socks on each hand.” 

Feeling embarrassed, Evangeline looked at her hands. Sure enough, black socks were over them. She burned red with her embarrassment. 

“Do we have any more of the salve? The burn hurts like hell.”

Anwel nodded and rubbed some of it on her burn. Since it was cold, it soothed her much better. 

She stood up and drank a pint of water.

“Only 15 more miles, and then we reach Dragkon.” Anwel said, packing up. 

Evangeline smiled and said “Let’s get going.” 

So they started towards Dragkon, with a weak person and a strong person working together as one.