by Matthew Ilseman
in Issue 158, March 2025
Krya stirred the fire. The flames danced in red and gold on the sticks. It lit up her equally red hair and warmed her gold skin. Her weapons, a bow and quiver along with an axe, lay by her side. On a night like this she wanted them close.
She shivered. As a shrinya, she was more inured to the elements than any human but it was not the cold that made her shiver. It was what could be lurking out there in the dark.
It was one of the darkest nights she had ever seen. There was no moon or stars. Black clouds indistinguishable from the dark between the stars covered the sky like a great cloak. The only light came from the fire. Beyond that was the deep and mysterious Great Forest of the East.
On the other side of the fire, Aleron, her human companion-in-arms, stared into the flames. The hood of his crimson cloak was draped over his head obscuring his face. Krya knew he was praying to his God who was said to dwell in an eternal fire. Aleron had once been a warrior-priest of Kersaises, but now, like her, was a sellsword.
Krya trusted no gods. Instead, she trusted the axe by her side. Though she had at times professed to disbelieve in anything supernatural, on a night like this she could believe in anything.
When Aleron finished praying he said, “You seem nervous. Do you sense anything?”
Her senses, while not equal to those of certain beasts, were beyond that of any human’s. They helped when she had to track someone or something down. That was what they had been doing before night fell.
They had gone into the forest searching for a man who had knifed another man in a tavern brawl. The victim’s family had put a large bounty on his head. They had found him or rather what was left of him lying on an overgrown path. All that remained was a bloody corpse. They did not know what had killed him.
“No,” she said. “I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think so?”
“I caught the scent of something, but I am not sure what it was,” she replied. “It was hard to make out with all the smoke from the fire.”
“Well, keep alert,” said Aleron. “This forest is dangerous. Hunters and travelers have been disappearing. They think it is wolves or, worse, dire wolves.”
“Are they sure?” Krya asked. She knew that dire wolves could tear a person apart, but they were more likely to attack aurochs than people. If there had been famine it might be different, but the season had been plentiful.
“No,” said Aleron. “But there are no known bandits in this part of the forest and we are at peace with the shrinya who live here. At least for now.”
Krya did not trust the peace. The green skinned shrinya of the forest had been the hereditary enemies of her gold skinned tribe. They had often fought each other. Both had fought the human settlers from the West. Now, she fought beside a human.
“I hope that is all that it is,” she replied.
Aleron was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “Remember that spider creature we once encountered?”
“Do not remind me,” she said. “But we slew it.”
“There may be others.”
“You are not helping, Aleron.”
“Sorry,” he said. “It’s just that we know so little about the Great Forest. Anything could live here.”
“My people told stories about monsters that lived in it,” she said. “I never believed in them, but on nights like this…”
“Yes, I know.”
They were quiet for a while. The wind blew. Krya felt a chill.
“You know it is metaphorical,” Aleron said.
“What?”
“This,” he replied. “It is the mortal condition. We sit by a fire not knowing what’s out in the dark. We don’t know what dangers are out there.”
“That is a grim thought for you, Aleron.”
“This is a grim night.”
Again they were silent. Krya used the break in conversation to listen to the forest. She heard the clicking of insects and the wind in the trees. Nothing else. She smelled only the fire and Aleron’s scent. She did not catch the strange scent from before.
“Aleron,” she said. “We should take turns sleeping”
“Yes,” he said. “I can take first watch.”
“No,” she shook her head. “I can’t sleep. You go first.”
Aleron nodded. He lay down and was soon asleep.
Krya for her part stared out into the darkness. She could barely make out the trees at the edge of the clearing. She would have to trust her other senses.
So she listened. She did not know for how long. At first, she heard nothing. Then she heard a rustling in the bushes. She grabbed her axe and made to awaken Aleron. Then she caught the scent of a deer. She put her axe down
She relaxed, glad she had not awakened Aleron. Their day had been hard. It had not been easy trudging through the forest. The foliage had been so dense that at certain places they had to cut their way through. Aleron needed his sleep.
Krya wondered if whatever had killed their bounty was lurking out there. Fear crept into her.
She shook her head. She knew she was no coward. She made her living dealing with dangerous men after all. Still, something about the night unnerved her. It was not knowing what was out there that frightened her.
So she listened.
The clouds parted and a beam of moonlight fell on them. She looked at Aleron as he slept. Despite a hard life, his face remained boyish. That and his gentle manner surprised people who knew only his reputation as a sellsword.
Krya had long ago realized she loved him. She was almost certain that he felt the same way. It was only his devotion to his vows of celibacy that kept them apart.
The clouds rolled on and blocked out the moonlight.
Then the dark thoughts came. She remembered her time with her tribe on the plains west of the Great Forest. Now her tribe was dead. Plague and war had killed them. She had lost a husband and son.
For a shrinya, tribe was all. There was nothing worse than losing your tribe. After their deaths, she had wandered aimlessly. She did not like to remember those days. Her wanderings ended when she had found Aleron wounded on a battlefield. For reasons she did not understand herself, she had nursed him back to health.
Now she considered Aleron her tribe.
A scent wafted over the night breeze. She immediately became alert. It was the same strange scent from before. It was unlike any she had ever known. She reached for her axe. As she did so, she heard the beating of wings.
Whatever was out there could fly.
She listened intently. The beating became louder. A shiver went up her spine. She grabbed her axe and stood.
She shook Aleron awake. She said, “Get your sword.”
The priest stood and unsheathed his sword.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I hear the beating of wings. It’s getting louder. Something is coming from above.”
They looked up. Above them was only darkness. A single star pierced the cloudy sky.
They stood waiting. Krya held her breath. She felt like she did before going into battle. Only it was worse because she knew not what they now faced.
The star blinked out. The sound of beating wings stopped. Krya knew that the unknown creature must be diving toward them.
Then a cry pierced the silence. It was a strange cry. Not like the howl of a dire wolf. Not like any cry she had ever heard. It grew louder.
Suddenly something large and black crashed down on them. It came at such speed that Krya only saw a dark blur. It grabbed Aleron and lifted him off the ground so fast that he seemed to vanish into the air.
Krya looked around in confusion. Fear ran through her. She heard the beating of wings in the dark. She caught Aleron’s scent on the night wind.
She slung on her weapons, grabbed a stick from the fire for a torch, and ran into the forest after the creature. It soon disappeared into the night.
Krya followed its scent. She ran heedlessly through the trees. Branches scrapped her. She ignored the pain. She only hoped that she could track the creature. So she ran.
The scent grew stronger. Krya heard a shout. She recognized it as Aleron’s voice. She could smell blood. Krya could not tell whose it was. Her heart beat like a drum.
She ran as fast as she could. She crashed through the forest carrying a torch in one hand and her axe in the other. She kicked something aside. She stopped
It was Aleron’s sword.
Fear gripped her heart. Aleron would not have abandoned his sword. Though she trusted no gods, she prayed to any that would listen that Aleron was alive. She wondered briefly what Aleron would have thought about her sudden act of piety. Then she continued running.
The clouds parted as she entered a clearing. Moonlight shone down on a single figure standing in the middle. Draped around it was a large crimson cloak that Krya recognized as Aleron’s. Krya caught his scent mixed with that of the unknown creature.
“Aleron,” she said. “Are you all right?”
He did not respond. He stood absolutely still. She came closer.
“Are you hurt?”
He remained still.
Krya stopped. Something was wrong. She sniffed the air. The creature’s scent was all around her. It mixed with Aleron’s. She looked around for the first time.
The ground was covered with the bones of animals and people. This was some creature’s feeding grounds. Whatever it was brought its prey here to be eaten.
Krya continued walking through the bones toward Aleron. She gripped her axe tightly. Everything inside of her screamed of danger.
“Where is the creature?”
Aleron still did not reply. Fear mixed with worry.
“Aleron, answer me!”
As she reached him, the light of the torch lit up his face. Fangs shone in the light. Red eyes gleamed. It was the face of a bat.
The creature screeched and lunged forward, tackling Krya to the ground. She dropped the axe and torch. The creature bit deeply into her shoulder. Blood ran. Pain shot through her followed by a numbing sensation. The creature released its bite. Then it bent its mouth toward her neck for the kill.
Instinctively, Krya kicked the creature off her. It tumbled on the ground. Quickly, it stood wings spread. The crimson cloak fell to the ground.
The patch of grass where she had dropped her torch caught fire. It lit up the clearing. What Krya saw horrified her.
The creature, no longer draped in Aleron’s cloak, had the face and wings of a bat, but its body was that of a man. It was covered with black-brown fur. Beneath its wings were long arms with clawed hands at the end. There was a bloody wound in its torso. Krya knew Aleron must have stabbed it there with his sword.
The thing screeched. Rage and fear filled Krya. She knew not whether Aleron was alive or dead.
Krya grabbed her axe from the ground. She swung at the creature. Her axe bit into its shoulder. It screamed. Reflexively, it knocked her away. She lost her grip on the axe. She fell. There was a crack as her bow broke.
Krya pulled herself up. She reached back and drew an arrow from her quiver as she rose. She sprang upon the creature.
She plunged the arrow into its chest. It went in deep. The shaft broke. The creature screamed again.
A clawed hand grabbed her arm. The creature picked her up and threw her. She landed on a pile of bones. One of which stabbed into her back sending a shock of pain. She could feel blood running down her back.
The creature began beating its wings. Krya felt a rush of air. It lifted up from the ground.
“No,” she said. “You are not getting away from me.”
She pushed herself off the ground and picked up the bone that had pierced her. Berserk fury grew within her. With the bone she attacked the creature before it could fly out of reach.
She drove the jagged bone into its stomach. The creature’s scream shattered the night air. Blood ran. She could smell the scent of bowels.
She twisted the bone. More blood gushed out. Her only thought was to kill the creature. It had to die.
A kick from the creature knocked her down. With the bone still in its stomach, it flew off into the night.
Then Krya was alone.
There was no sign of Aleron. She did not know if he was dead or alive. She tried to find his scent. She could not.
The thought came to her that Aleron’s cloak was the symbol of his Order. Even though he had long been exiled from it, he had kept the cloak and would not have parted with it easily. The same with his sword. Krya walked over to where the cloak lay on the ground.
Krya knew then that he was dead. She fell to her knees and began to weep holding the cloak. Again she had lost the man she loved. Again she had lost her tribe.
She wondered what she should do. Many shrinya in her place would kill themselves, but that was not her way. All she could do was mourn.
It was then she heard a branch break behind her. She realized that the creature must have returned. Fear and anger ran through her. She got up and wiped her tears. Alone she would have to face the creature. She told herself she had to live. She turned.
Aleron walked into the clearing from the forest.
“Krya,” he said. “Are you all right?”
“Aleron, you are alive?”
“Yes, I was able to stab the creature and slip out of my cloak while we were in the air. The fall knocked me unconscious. I woke up in a dense part of the forest. The only light I saw was from this fire so I went toward it.”
Krya realized that she had been so focused on tracking the creature that she must have ran right past Aleron in the dark.
“I saw you stab the creature with that bone. If it does not die from its wounds, I imagine that it will be loath to attack people anytime soon.”
He came closer. He said, “You’re bleeding.”
Krya had forgotten her wounds. Blood ran down her shoulder and arm. It covered her back where the bone had pierced her.
“It’s not deep,” she said.
Aleron walked over to her and took the cloak from her.
“I will use my cloak to bandage you. We also need to beat out that fire before it spreads. Luckily, the ground is moist from rainfall. Then we will leave. I don’t want to be in this forest any longer.”
“Aleron,” she said.
“What?”
“You’re alive.”
“Yes.”
She embraced him in the light of the fire.
©March 2025, Matthew Ilseman
Matthew Ilseman was born in Texas and lives in Colorado. His work has appeared previously in Swords & Sorcery.
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