Kulthar

Chapter 2

The skies are coated in a dark greyish green sludge of clouds, the gentle winds smell of rainy spring weather, and the tree leaves scream in disturbance as they flail about in the wind. An eerie, softly humming F minor rings throughout the forests, shooting frigid chills through my bones. Beneath me is the rocky gravel slope, partially stained with blood. At the foot of the slope lay one of the dead thieves, flat on his back with his bruised purple wrists out above his bloody head. Next to his body, a bit further down the slope sits an erect wooden sign. I couldn’t read what it had to say.

The smells of charring meat lingered about as the earthy winds stopped rushing through the cliffs. In the snow was one of the fractured daggers, this one was a gold blade, with a leather-wrapped handle. About midway toward the top, the metal was bent and cracked down the center, all the way to the handle. Both sides of the blade remain sharp. Already salivating and feeling the thin strings of tender meat between my teeth, I run the blade smoothly through the meat, shaving off thin but juicy slices. I strongly yank the chewy meat apart with the iron grip between my teeth. The meat was in a tough condition somehow, but the meal will warm my empty stomach.

Loud humming echo through the trees beneath me, I froze with the meat still clenched between my jaws, glaring down at the edge of the woods for movement. The trees begin to rustle in the wind, but something rustled louder. Something heavy was trailing through the snowy leaves and branches on the ground. Through the leaves of the trees, I could see whatever it was treading through the snow, drawing closer to the edge to reveal itself. It was dark and covered a lot of ground. It reached the last tree, slowly creeping up to the foot of the slope underneath the tree. My weapons were in the tent, and so was my armor.

Wholly frozen in fear, my heart pumping painfully in my chest, and my blood stinging in shock. The blood in my face ran cold and my eyes zoom in onto the tree as the creature stopped underneath it, right at the edge. My eyes freeze from the lack of blinking and my beard hairs start standing up. I jump in shock as it began howling and treading over toward the dead body. It was just a wolf, feasting upon my kill. I have felt this fear before, once when I was younger. I feared a monster that was feared all across the land, by men like me who hike through the mountain ranges, grown men who could get snatched up in the blink of an eye.

Along the cliffside ran a small formation of land that somewhat wrapped around the foot of the cliff and roughly made its way down to the foot of the slope. It almost formed a perfect road but down towards the bottom, the base of the grade has been aged down over time. Broken down into boulders and gravel, big chunks of which remain scattered about the snow. Before I begin another torturous walk in the dangerous trees, I must gear myself back up and take what will fit in the sack. The rotting vegetables would only waste precious space, however, the meat would store nicely wrapped in cloth. The arrows and daggers were nothing but chaff compared to my mighty battle-ax that could slice an armored human to shreds. But alongside the worthless attempted weapons were plenty of coins. The bottles both reeked of a pungent stench, a spicy odor that almost seared the inside of my nostrils. A scent of death. I was hesitant to even pop the cork, for the aroma alone could possibly be deadly enough to burn my lungs to a crisp. My throat itched very unpleasantly, I coughed and wheezed as my throat withered.

I stood atop the small plateau of the path and gazed down upon the icy stone wreckage. I toss the sack down as well as my ax onto the snow, turn back, and begin to crawl down to the corner of the plateau and clench onto the edge, holding myself off the ground. I buried the toe of my boot into the side of the cliff and began to swing my right foot about the side to feel for a boulder to stand on. Crunch. The armor was too heavy for the small divet to hold, my foot slides out of the earth and the grip under my hands is lost. My right foot violently strikes the edge of a rock, pushing my ankle upward. Almost folding my foot against my shin. Clank! The back of my head takes a hefty blow with an almost deadly force. Similar to taking a swing from a steel Warhammer. Bang! My back slam against the rocky ground with a solid metal crash. My ears burn, my head stings, and my legs ache. The space between my lips was gritty and my dry mouth tastes of the earthy dust. The smell of stone flushes its way into my nostrils as I begin to slide off my helmet. I moan in agony as my sweaty golden hair falls out, stained crimson in my blood. The tension in my muscles reach to their c****x as I try to fight my pain and rise up from the rocky situation. Crunch. I fall back down, and my eyes begin to shut, and I begin to drift away.