Chasing the Prey
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We were at the tree line, now, looking toward Castle Eaves in the distance, less than half a mile away. The two of us were hidden in the forest for now. Morning was making itself known, shining through the trees and painting the field in sun. It would be better to make our move during the dark of night, but there simply wasn't time for that. Things could change for the worse in a matter of hours.
"You'd know best," Lero said, his eyes on the looming behemoth estate in the distance. "What's the easiest way to get inside?"
I shook my head. "There's nothing easy about this estate. It's one of the hardest targets I've ever hit. The Guild ruled against even attempting to come back here."
Lero looked over at me. "But you came back."
"I did." I straightened my shoulders a little bit. "No stupid rule is going to stop me from trying to save my pride."
Lero let a small smile slide onto his face. "It's good to know that you can be as stubborn as me."
"Believe it," I said, then put my gaze back onto the castle. "But this castle...when I got in, it was in the dead of night, and I was climbing walls. I can't imagine getting away with that in the daylight. And obviously we're not going to be walking in through the front door."
The plan was hardly a plan at all. Get inside and kill Eaves. Maybe get some information out of him first, but get in and get out with his blood on our hands. Far, far easier said than done.
"Well, we can't wait any longer," Lero said. "We don't want Eaves getting wind of our escape and to be on guard, or on the hunt. And if he does decide to punish the Guild for letting us escape...we can't just wait for that to happen."
I appreciated him saying that. "Then let's go," I said. "If we go around the east side, the wall dips a little with the hill. It should be a little easier to climb there. Not simple by any means, but better than scaling the front wall."
"All right."
So we emerged from the tree line into the sunlight, which would not be our friend on this mission. And just as we were about to step forward, I saw the gates of the castle creak open, and a figure slip through the crack in the towering doors.
“Wait!” I hissed, and Lero saw it, too. We slipped back into the trees. We'd have to wait until they passed before we could make our way across the open field to the castle. Even though it would only take a couple of minutes for us to be clear, every single wasted second at this point felt a lifetime too long. We had to get to the Baron and stop him before—
"Myra," Lero whispered. "It's him."
My mind stopped its racing and I focused my vision on the figure ahead, the one that had left the castle behind and was heading not towards the road towards the village, but in a direct line towards the woods. Right towards us.
"He must be heading for The Hole," I said, pressing myself against the trunk of the tree I was peering around. "To finish things." It was perfect timing. We weren't going to get a better chance.
"Good," Lero growled. "Then we can end this here." He clawed a piece of bark off of the tree next to him, and then he ground his foot in the dirt before breaking away from the trees and dashing out into the field.
"Lero, no! Wait!" I called after him, but he was already moving full speed, and I had no choice but to run after him. It would have been better to engage the Baron in the woods, where we had the advantage of surprise, but now that was off the table. It was going to happen right here, right now.
I sprinted after Lero, only barely keeping up with him as he moved on a beeline toward Eaves. Our feet pounded the grass and stayed steady despite the morning dew beneath. Thoughts started slamming around in my head again to match the rapid movement of my legs. We hadn't had much of a plan to begin with, but now we were operating on instinct alone, barreling towards our target with no forward thought. Maybe Lero was used to pushing himself forward on pure instinct, but my instinct was to plan and be prepared.
I was fighting myself, because I wanted Eaves' blood, too. And pushing against that voice that was telling me to wait and be smart about this was another voice, a voice that had been simmering in anger since the day I failed at this estate, and just this night had been given enough fuel to burn for a thousand years. He was there—my enemy was in front of me, right there, and only a fool or a coward would stall or retreat.
The Baron saw us right away. How could he not? He was close enough so that I could see the flicker of surprise cross his face. He recognized us; then he turned and ran back towards the castle. He didn't scramble or glance over his shoulder; he didn't run in fear. I should have realized that from the beginning, but my blood was running hot and I thought we had him fleeing for his life.
It felt good.
"Coward!" Lero yelled, and together the two of us hauled after him as he retreated to his castle. The doors were opening back up again at his approach. We were catching up to him; panting, Lero and I were just ten or twenty feet away from him by the time the grass gave way to the stone path leading to the castle doors, but he made it inside before we got any closer.
And we followed after him.
In any other state of mind, I might have wondered why the doors were left open for us, or why a line of guards wasn't there to halt our entry. But there was only the prey. The prey.
Lero was just ahead of me as we ran through the gates into the familiar hall of entry we had escaped just hours ago. I could still smell the blood from the last time we were here, although it was too dark for me to see it. The massive hall was empty save for a few small torches on either side, bracing grand stone arches that led to other parts of the castle.
Eaves disappeared into the third arch on the left.
"We have to stay on him," I cried. "We can't let him lose us in here."
"He won't. Come on!"
Now our feet were slapping against cold stone. The sounds echoed in the cavernous hall, making the castle feel as empty and silent as a mausoleum. We dashed through the opening in the wall and entered into a long, long room. The ceiling stretched high above our heads, and an ornate red-and-gold rug was draped entirely down its massive length. Sunlight was cast down in vast towers from the wide twenty-foot windows spaced evenly down the opposite wall. I recognized this room. It was where Eaves had first questioned me when I was lying tied up at his feet.
Eaves was nowhere to be seen, which was unbelievable—the room stretched back almost two hundred feet, and there's no way he could have made it to the exit at the opposite end before we came in. But we were not alone in the room.
A rank of ten guards were standing in line before us, halfway down the length of the room. Some old, some young, all armed and with clear targets. Us.
I slipped my dagger out from its scabbard. The small, old weapon might as well not have even been in my hands for all the good it would do against what we were facing.
There was only one way.
"Lero..." I looked over to him, and he was already changing. There was anger burning in his face and his eyes, even as the fur started to sprout and his limbs started to thicken. Lero ripped off his shirt and threw it to the ground as he changed.
It happened fast, much faster than I thought was possible with no moon to help. Lero's righteous fury spurred him faster than even the moonlight could.
The guards had started to move toward us instead of waiting for us to approach, but that changed quickly once they saw what was happening. I looked at them and wondered how many of them were part of the carnage last night. How many of their friends had died, or what they had heard by now about the monster that had torn loose from the castle.
My answer was the fear in their eyes. Not a fear of the unknown—a fear of the known. Most of them knew what Lero was and what he could do. Now he stood beside me, a fearsome beast of legend, brimming with more rage and thirst than he had even the night previous when he was fighting for his life.
Lero could probably kill them all. But here, in this one room, ten against one or two? It wasn't a guarantee, and he could be badly hurt.
"Drop your weapons!" I called to them, before Lero could leap. I could hear his panting breath and snarls as I stared the guards in their shining, fearful eyes. "If you want to live, run, and let us at Eaves. He's the one we want. Your lives don't need to be lost, too."
I looked over at Lero, and then back at them. "He will kill you all."
My words coupled with the sight in front of them reached something in them. They were already wavering in fear; all they needed was a shove, a little assurance of their fate, to be pushed off the edge.
"It's not worth it!" One of the men dropped his bow and broke rank, stumbling backward across the rug. Another followed. I watched swords thump to the ground and men dart their gaze one last time, panicked, toward Lero's hulking werewolf form before they turned tail and herded out of the exit. All but one.
He was older, and he reminded me of Lundgren, though his face was not as cruel. He was a grizzled warrior, without doubt, and likely the captain of this company of guards. A brave man. He was unwavering, one hand on the hilt of his sword which rested in its scabbard. His guard's uniform was clean and maintained, and he stood straight and tall.
Calmly, he said, "What business have you with the baron of this castle?"
"We're not here to talk," I shouted. "If you don't escape with the rest of your men, you're going to die here."
"Yes, I know," he said. "I saw what he did last night. I probably would have ended up among the dead if I were a bit faster to the fight."
"Then flee," Lero growled, flexing his claws.
The man stood firm.
"You don't know Baron Eaves well, do you?" I said. "You and your men are hired hands. Out of the academy in Ketla, I would guess?"
"Aye."
"You're in the pocket of evil," I said to him. "Eaves is a man who has slaughtered innocent people without hesitation."
"My loyalty is to those who pay me and my men," the captain said.
"If you're going to die for someone," I countered, "it should be for more than money. It should be for honor. For a cause."
"I don't have a habit of believing anything from the mouths of thieves and monsters," he spat.
"Enough!" Lero roared. He dug his feet into the rug and sprung forward.
And at that exact moment someone pinned my arms behind my back and slipped a blade up against my throat.