Elowen and the Spineback

In the dense, shadowed woods west of Delsk and east of the towering Spine Mountains, the air was thick with the scent of damp earth and ancient pine. Sunlight barely pierced the thick canopy above, casting shifting shadows on the forest floor. For travelers, these woods were a place of eerie quiet, where even the wind seemed to hesitate, whispering softly through the branches as if wary of waking something that lurked beneath.
Elowen had always feared these woods, but the path she walked today was not of her choosing. Fleeing from the city of Delsk, she had ventured into the wilderness to escape the pursuers her father had sent. Marriage to a rich merchant, he said, was her destiny, but she would rather face the wilds than a life of servitude to a man she did not love.
She had only been running for hours when she first heard the low rumble behind her. At first, she thought it was a distant roll of thunder. But then the ground trembled beneath her feet, and her heart quickened. The Spineback was near.
They were creatures of nightmare, born in the dark crevices of the Spine Mountains and rarely seen near the edges of the forest. The massive reptilian beast, with jagged spines running down its back, moved with terrifying speed and precision. Stories told in Delsk said that the Spinebacks hunted anything that moved, from wolves to men, leaving no trace of their prey but scattered bones.
Elowen’s breath hitched in her throat as she dared to glance behind her. The creature was closing in. It was unlike anything she had imagined—its eyes burned with a hunger, its gaping maw lined with rows of jagged teeth. Its pale, rough scales glistened like stone in the dappled light, and the forest seemed to bend and tremble beneath its weight.
Panic surged through her veins, and she stumbled on the gnarled roots that crisscrossed the forest floor. "No!" she gasped, pushing herself back to her feet, her lungs burning from the effort. She could feel the heat of the Spineback’s breath on her back, its growls vibrating through her very bones. She knew she couldn’t outrun it for long.
Ahead, the trees thickened into a dense, impenetrable wall. There was no escape—only the cruel fate of being torn apart by the monstrous beast.
But then, through her terror, Elowen remembered the stories the villagers whispered around the fires. The Spinebacks feared one thing—an ancient sound, a resonant frequency that echoed the call of the Great Serpent, a long-forgotten creature from which all Spinebacks were said to descend. Few knew the call, but Elowen had heard it once from a traveling bard who had come through Delsk, performing the eerie melody on a bone flute.
Frantically, she searched for something—anything that could make the sound. Her hand brushed the small copper pendant hanging around her neck. A simple trinket, given to her by her mother before she passed, yet somehow, in the depths of her mind, a memory surfaced. The pendant had a hollow chamber, and as a child, Elowen had blown through it, producing a strange, haunting note.
She yanked the pendant free and brought it to her lips, her breath shallow with fear. She blew.
The sound was faint at first, a thin, wavering note, but as she adjusted her fingers over the openings, it grew stronger, more resonant. The Spineback, mere feet away, paused mid-stride, its maw snapping shut, its body trembling as if struck by an invisible force.
Elowen blew again, longer and louder, the eerie tone echoing through the forest. The Spineback let out a shrill, agonized screech, backing away, its spines bristling in fear. For a moment, it hesitated, its glowing eyes locked on her, then it turned, crashing through the trees, retreating into the shadows from whence it had come.
Gasping for breath, Elowen collapsed to her knees, the pendant still clutched in her shaking hands. She had narrowly escaped the jaws of death, but the woods were still dangerous, and she was far from safe.
As the echoes of the Spineback’s screech faded, Elowen rose to her feet, knowing she could not stay here. The city of Delsk was lost to her now, but perhaps the woods held a different kind of sanctuary. She would press on, eastward toward the Spine Mountains, where she hoped she could find the road to the Cavern City of Carafon.