Jeff Inlo - Nightmare's Shad

He gave one last look into the apparition's eyes and somehow he knew if he stayed there any longer, they would all die.

Ryson threw his hand up to his own shoulder and grabbed Holli's wrist. He then pulled her away in a flash of speed that was beyond the elf's to move. He rushed them away from the spirit and back down the path from which they came.

"Run as fast as you can," the laughing voice of Lief called after them. "It won't do you any good. You can't outrun me now. I can attack you without even moving."

Before they reached the cave entrance, however, they heard another voice from the opposite direction.

"Ryson! Holli! Get back here!"

It was Sy's voice calling from the cave entrance, and despite the captain's bravery, the tone carried more than urgency, it carried fear.

"Something's coming at us topside."

Sy couldn't see it, couldn't look above the ledge of the ravine, but he could feel the rumble in the distance.

Ryson didn't even have to hear the warning. The delver already knew.

"Sounds like an entire army. Godson, there must be thousands."

"We have to return to the portal," Holli advised. She remained calm, but her tone was no less urgent than the others.

Ryson pointed to the path they had previously taken down into the gorge. "You two get going. I'm going up top to see what we're up against."

Sy and Holli did not argue, they turned and moved quickly toward the sloping path that would lead up and out of the ravine.

Ryson scampered up the rock wall and pulled himself onto flat ground that served as the ledge for the chasm. As he broke clear of the cliff wall, he almost didn't want to look. The roar was now deafening and it sounded as if more than an army was rushing toward them. It sounded more like the entire realm was collapsing. What he saw made him almost wish it was.

The desolate loneliness of the barren plains before him was broken by the tumultuous charge of monsters too numerous to count. They filled the landscape before him in numbers Ryson never thought possible. The land was now alive with movement-a twisted and angry furor-but alive nonetheless. The dark creatures that made it their desire to avoid Lief and his vessel, no longer held to such a wish. They didn't have to. The vessel was gone. They could sense that. They sensed other things as well. A whisper of knowledge floated to their ears. They knew of invaders to their lands and they hungered for them.

Legions of goblins rolled forward like a massive wave. In some areas, it seemed as if they scurried atop of each other for lack of space to run upon the ground. They moved toward Ryson's position as if he had called them out personally. All the while, they shrieked and screeched and their calls echoed over the land in tune with the rumble of their charge.

Within their ranks, he saw rock beetles and shags-natural enemies ignoring each other-focused not on one another but clearly on the delver at the edge of the ravine. It was a race to see which of them could reach the prized flesh of delver, elf and human.

On the moderate hillsides off to Ryson's right, the outlook was not much better. Creatures of various sizes-bloat spiders, gremplings and rogens-moved with the same apparent desire. They were all headed toward Ryson as if being called upon to greet him with overwhelming enthusiasm, even if they only wished to enthusiastically eat the delver.

The skies were alive with much the same movement. He saw hook hawks and razor crows far off in the horizon, and though they posed no immediate threat of attack, their speed in the air would quickly erase any distance that offered the mere suggestion of safety.

More alarming was the proximity of a giant winged caelifera-basically an enormous locust that had a taste for living flesh as opposed to the decaying plants of a twisted land. It was the most dangerous of the monsters charging forward, and it was the closest to the ravine. Dodging that monster was going to be trouble, especially for Sy.

He looked over his shoulder. The only comfort he could find was that the path back to the portal remained clear, but he wondered for how long. He believed these creatures were being summoned to this place, perhaps even ordered to keep any of them from escaping. He didn't wish to suspect Lief of such treachery, such viciousness, but something was clearly provoking the attack.

Further considerations of Lief's intentions would have to wait. The caelifera could move at great speed and any hope of avoiding it was quickly diminishing. Ryson dashed along the ledge of the ravine and then halfway down the slope to meet Holli and Sy before they came out into the open.

"We have a problem. Our path back to the portal looks clear so far, but we've got creatures coming at us from every other angle.

"Then let's…" Sy started, but Ryson cut him off.

"There's a caelifera already within striking distance."

"Blast," Sy responded. He had fought such a creature only once before. It had attacked Burbon and killed several of his men. It took Enin's power to destroy the thing, but Enin was not there. He didn't like the odds, but he knew the situation. "We can't stay here, so we have to move no matter what. The two of you listen, don't slow down because of me. No sense in us all getting killed."

Ryson wouldn't give in.

"No one's getting killed. Holli, can you cast something to cloak him? You don't need to make him disappear completely, just something that will make him less obvious so it focuses on us instead."

"Illusion is not my power, but I can try."

She cast a quick spell and suddenly Sy seemed to fade out of existence. He was not totally invisible, but he appeared like a dim shadow. It was an unnatural sight when the guard captain spoke.

"Did it work?"

"Not bad," Ryson responded.

"Better than I hoped," Holli agreed, "but that won't cover any sounds he makes or his scent."

"Maybe that's enough to confuse it," Ryson hoped. "Sy, try to follow in Holli's tracks, but don't get yourself killed trying to keep up. Just move as fast as you can. Holli, if it turns away from me, you're going to have to distract it until I can get its attention again. We don't have any more time, so let's go. "

The delver sped back up the slope. The caelifera was almost directly overhead by the time Ryson hit open ground.

"This is going to be rough," Ryson whispered to himself. He broke into an all out sprint, cutting to his left and right, all the while keeping one eye on the giant flying insect above and the other on the path ahead.

Wanting to keep the monster's attention, he called out in grunts, clicks, and whistles-anything to hold the creature's interest and keep it from looking back on easier targets.

The winged insect took the bait and began swooping down in several attempts to grab the delver. Its thin wings beat ferociously against the wind giving it both speed and agility in flight. At times it hovered in midair, other times it darted back and forth, left and right. It tried to anticipate the movements of its intended prey as it made sudden dips to the ground, but each time it came up empty.

Ryson bit back at tremendous terror. He did not believe he had ever been so close to death before, a death that would have been beyond any nightmare ever experienced. If the caelifera gained a hold of him, he would not be able to break free. Without his sword, he had no hopes of fighting off any attack. He had only a dagger and that would be insufficient against such a foe. Unable to resist, he would be pulled apart by the powerful legs that would take hold of him, or he would be crushed and chewed by vicious mandibles before being swallowed, probably half conscious.

The creature came close on several occasions, but Ryson managed to alter his path at the last instant. He had only his agility to depend on, and normally that would be enough against any creature. Speed on the ground, however, did not compete well against speed in the air. His quick movements compensated somewhat for the disadvantage, but eventually his timing would fail. It was only a matter of time.