The Lost Ruins, Chapter 4

The sun had only just risen when Elena’s group left Kummerholt the next morning. According to Nic’s advice, they wanted to cover as much ground as they could while it was still light. Many of the dangers of the Walder only came out at night or were easier to spot during the day. In addition, Nic had spent both his own money and the bag of gold that Elena had given him on dozens of Unguents of varying types. Elena herself carried a flask that he had given her of something called Scourgebane, though she was still a bit unclear on what it did. Something to do with limiting a monster if applied.
Even with his extensive preparations, Elena could not help but wonder if they were ready. The warnings of the Barkhauses still echoed in her mind, especially Rolf’s parting words to her the previous night. She had never met anyone so absolutely certain that she was going to get herself killed doing something. People often told her that she was going to get herself killed chasing down the latest set of Syrneth artifacts, but they never actually meant it. At least, not until she had reached Eisen. Practically everyone in Eisen seemed convinced that they would never see anyone on the expedition again. Such conviction was enough to let the doubts creep into her heart.
She made sure that no trace of her doubt was visible as they made their way through the Walder. Past experience had taught her how important morale was for any large expedition, and it would be doubly true here. The Walder was a dark and creepy place, filled with shadows that flickered and moved right at the edges of vision. More than once, Elena swore that she saw something moving in the trees off to one side or the other of the road, but it never turned out to be anything larger than a rabbit. At one point, she asked Nic about sending scouts out to flank the column and check for anything out there, but he refused, stating that it was far safer on the road.
“The Walder has a tendency to swallow up people,” he said. “Unless we have a specific fixed place – like a campsite – to return to, it will be safer to keep everyone on the road.”
Under his direction, the expedition moved gradually north, then would turn slightly west at some point the next day to reach their destination without getting too close to the center of the forest. After hearing the stories of the Schattenmann, Elena whole-heartedly agreed with the route. It would add nearly a full day to their travel but would hopefully be safer. The plan seemed to be working, for as they moved through the thick forest, they encountered nothing more dangerous than aching feet and falling tree limbs.
At last, the already-dim light filtering through the clouds and treetops began to diminish, hinting at the sunset. Elena consulted with Nic, and then called a halt for the night. Nic and a few others did some quick exploration near where they were and found a location that the expedition could camp for the night. The location was a sheltered grove just barely out of sight of the main road, but close enough that they would be able to find their way back onto the road the next morning without any difficulty. Elena and the others busied themselves setting up the camp, making sure to organize themselves as defensively as possible. Elena had no desire to repeat the events of the bandit attack two nights prior, so she made sure that there were more guard and watch locations than she had employed previously. Nic agreed with the additional precautions and suggested that they have several people patrol the area to warn the others if something was coming before it had a chance to sneak into the camp.
“They should be in groups of no more than two, but no less either,” Nic explained. “Always stay in sight of each other, no matter what. And don’t stray farther than a few dozen feet from camp. Make sure that you can always see the glow of the watchfires.”
“What do you do if you ever need to cross through the Walder on your own?” Marcus asked.
“I don’t do it at night, or I tie myself to the top of a tree when I need to sleep.” Nic’s voice was dead serious, so Elena didn’t laugh.
“I’ll go on one of the patrols,” Elena volunteered.
Marcus turned an incredulous look in her direction. “What?”
“It was my plan to come through here, so I should help to keep us safe. I’m responsible for everyone who came along here.”
Nic nodded in approval. “I’ll patrol with you.”
Once the entire camp had settled down for the night, Elena and Nic moved away from the camp, following his instructions. As they walked carefully through the undergrowth, Elena kept her bow at the ready, an arrow nocked and another one in her hand. Nic did the same, but without the second arrow. They moved silently, only occasionally communicating at all, and doing so exclusively through gestures when they did. Over time, Elena’s eyes became more and more adjusted to the darkness, and she became more relaxed in the forest.
A sudden whistle from her right startled her, and she turned to look. Nic was urgently motioning for her to crouch down behind a bush. Without hesitation, she did so, and he moved to crouch beside her.
“What is it?” she breathed, barely moving her lips.
“Ghoul,” Nic whispered back. He gestured out past the bush, roughly in the direction that she had been moving before he had signaled her.
Elena peered over the bush, searching the forest for signs of anything moving. It took her a disturbingly long time, but her eyes finally fell on the creature that Nic had to be referring to. It was large, and humanoid, though it was crouched over and moved like an animal. It did not seem to be moving towards anything in particular, just quietly shuffling along on a route that would have it miss the camp by about two hundred yards. It came to a halt, turning its head back and forth, and Elena got a good look at the thing’s face for the first time. The creature’s face was elongated, with red eyes, deformed ears, and sharp teeth that glinted in the faint light filtering from the watchfires and distant stars. Despite herself, Elena drew back a bit, a quiet gasp escaping her lips before she could catch it.
“Yeah, not pretty,” Nic agreed with a faint hint of a smile.
“How dangerous are they?”
“They’re not extremely dangerous. They normally only attack wounded creatures. If you aren’t wounded, they usually don’t pose much of a threat.” Nic studied the creature in silence again. “Still, we probably shouldn’t take any chances with this one.”
“Fine with me.” Elena raised her bow and took aim at the creature. Beside her, Nic did the same. Ignoring him, she took a steadying breath and took time to line up her shot. She was confident that she could hit the ghoul, and if it hadn’t been so dark, she wouldn’t have even hesitated. Once her shot was lined up, she loosed her arrow, and heard Nic’s arrow fly at nearly the same moment.
Both arrows flew through the dark forest and slammed into the ghoul almost immediately. Elena’s shot took the ghoul in the forehead, while Nic’s shot buried itself deep in the thing’s chest. It collapsed backwards without so much as a groan.
“Follow me,” Nic said, and he carefully stood up and moved towards the downed ghoul. Elena followed, but stayed far enough back that she wouldn’t get caught if the ghoul turned out to still be alive. Nic moved up to the ghoul, staying outside of its reach, and drew one of his swords. He carefully prodded at the ghoul with the blade, then moved closer. He quickly drove his sword down through the creature’s chest and twisted it a quarter of the way around before pulling it out and wiping it on some nearby leaves.
Deciding that it was probably safe to move closer now, Elena did so. As she drew up alongside him, Nic was looking down at her arrow that had lodged itself almost perfectly between the creature’s eyes.
“Good shot,” Nic said.
“Not so bad yourself.” Elena gestured to Nic’s arrow, which was a heart shot if the ghoul’s heart was in the same place as a human’s.
Nic uttered some kind of noncommittal grunt. He bent and pulled his arrow out of the body, holding it down with one boot as he did so. Elena took the opportunity to retrieve her own arrow, carefully cleaning it before returning it to her bowstring. Once she did, she took a closer look at the creature. It was absolutely not human.
“I’ve never seen one of these things before,” she whispered. “How do you know so much about them?”
Nic shrugged. “Experience, mostly. Some research.”
“What makes a man take up a sword and go after these things?” Elena wondered.
“You don’t want to know the answer to that.” Nic turned away from her before she could even draw a breath and began to walk away. “Come on, we need to get back to patrolling. This body could attract other creatures.”
Wordlessly, Elena fell into step just behind him, turning his abrupt closure of the conversation over in her mind. She sensed that she had inadvertently stepped over some line with him. She decided not to pry too closely, at least not for a little while. Eventually, however, she knew she was going to try to figure out what Nic was trying to keep hidden. Her curiosity was too deep to just leave it behind with the body of the ghoul.