Crowid's Hound

Dead end

Over the course of the next year no matter where he went the beast found him. Sometimes he had up to a week of respite, but the creature always came. No city wall, or town guard, or temple was protection against the monster. And that is how he found himself in the frozen mountains of the north lands.

The winds howled through the northern passes, throwing stinging snow into his face and biting through his light cloak. Crowid was exhausted. Yet, only the frozen mountains of the north had offered any hope of refuge. Now, he was near the edge of hopelessness for his hound had followed him. He could hear its keening howl just under the screaming of the winds.

Finding a cave he slipped out of the winds. Here he would set up his last defense. He lit a small fire and spread salt across the cave's entrance. Although salt blocking a demon's path was a simple old wife's tale, any chance was a chance. Taking a burnt stick from the fire he traced a circle of protection upon the rocky floor. The circle began to glow with a small blueish hue when he whispered the arcane words that activated its power. Sitting down within the circle he withdrew the banishment scroll from his pack. It had cost him every last piece of gold he had to his name, but it would be worth it if it rid him of the relentless monster.

The hound appeared suddenly at the cave's opening; its keening cry betraying its approach. Black chitinous skin stood out in extreme contrast to the pure white of the falling snow. It was larger than when he had last seen it, nearly five feet at the shoulder. It reared up on its hind legs as it entered the cave, its tail scattering the salt he had placed there. He told himself that he hadn't really believed the salt would stop it anyway.

Once the beast was within the cave he began to read the scroll. The ink burned from the parchment as the syllables left his lips, leaving only black paper in its wake. The monster c****d its oblong, eyeless head as if it was listening to the words he spoke. “Demon, be gone,” he shouted as the mystic flames purged the last of the ink from the scroll. The creature's mouth opened and thousands of razor sharp teeth seemed to smile at him.

Not enough of a demon to banish it seems, he thought as the monster stalked across the room. Saliva dripped from its open mouth as large taloned hands reached through the circle of protection. Blue flames licked at its arm, but otherwise seemed to do nothing. But demon enough to resist the magic, he thought. A pity.

For a brief moment his screams overpowered the howling of the winds.