On the Night Road

For Spooktober 2024, word "teeth"

The moon rose, shedding additional light over the road. Galen looked harder into the pockets of shadow on either side of the road, keeping his eyes away from Lisveth and her torch to preserve his night vision.

The attack came from the left, a quick rush with an upraised blade. Lisveth bolted, just evading the downward sweep of the ugly weapon, and as the assailant turned to follow her Galen charged him. His sword took the attacker in the back of the shoulder, but it did not bite as it should. The assailant was armored.

He wheeled to face Galen, sword raised, but he had the presence of mind to glance back to see if Lisveth had turned. She had, circling to flank him, one hand raised with fire licking up from her palm.

Galen kept his weight on the balls of his feet, evenly balanced, ready to move in any direction. “Stand down,” he said. “We aren’t paid more if you’re dead.”

“Dead?” He gave a high-pitched mockery of a laugh. “Worry for yourselves, humans.”

Humans. The word cut through Galen like a blade.

The fire in Lisveth’s hand leaped higher, illuminating the figure between them.

The demon—the Selk—faced them, and Galen stared in horrified wonder. Its ears might have come to a point, just as the legends said, but they were mostly obscured by the creature’s hair. Its teeth were not pointed like a wolf’s or cat’s, and it seemed more likely to use the ugly chunky blade it carried than to attack with claws. But it wore robes which recalled the temple brothers' garb or Galen’s imagination of royal courts, and it crouched like a feral thing, and it bore a gleeful expression unmarred by the bruising it should have felt from Galen’s blow.

“You will die, humans,” it snarled, and somehow the simple address underscored its otherness in a way the ears and clothing had not. “We will swarm from the mountains, we will crush you like ants.”

“You’ve obviously never tried to clear a home of ants,” returned Lisveth dryly. “Come on then, and save your talking.”

Galen adjusted his grip on his sword and prepared to close.