Rise of Heroes

Chapter 1 - The Trap

Jaden closed his eyes, trying to take everything in — the rustling of the leaves blown by the north wind, the unusual quietness of the forest, and the dark, invisible presence that always made his skin crawl in dread. And above all, there was the pounding headache that threatened to split his head in two.

They shouldn’t have drunk that wine last night.

He had set the trap already, and his men were patiently waiting in their positions. It was too late to change his orders and what was more, it was too dangerous. They had to get rid of the threat or watch someone else get attacked and torn to pieces. They couldn’t afford that — most of the people left in the village were crippled, elderly, or families with small children.

He only wished that he had come up with a plan, a much better plan, on a sober head. Instead, it would seem, he had ordered this one in a drunken stupor and he couldn’t recall the order without losing face in front of his men. He just had to make it work.

“Come on, you bastard,” Jaden whispered to himself as his eyes examined the surroundings once again. Besides the occasional crackling of the branches around him, the forest was quiet. He was used to it by now. Most animals had abandoned it long ago, sensing the danger and understandably, searching for a safer place elsewhere. Although, he doubted there was any such place left in Roder.

His gaze returned to the slaughtered oxen they had set up as bait, its dark blood soaking the ground. He could smell it from where he stood, the strong metallic scent mixing with the odor of death as the body slowly began to decompose. If it were not for the gray clouds and relatively cool weather around this time of the year, the process might have been faster, but the sunlight was scarce in Roder, even in the middle of summer.

A sharp c***k came from the bushes below, and Jaden sucked in a sharp breath. He had sensed it coming long before it revealed itself, but he waited patiently as the demon made its way through the greenery, its giant paws raising clouds of dust. Jaden looked at his men, who were waiting for his command, arrows already set up on their longbows.

He raised his hand for them to hold, then returned his attention back to the beast. It was slightly bigger than a wolf, furry and muscular; its paws barely made any sound when they touched the ground, as if it weighed nothing. It stared at the bull with its bloodthirsty yellow eyes, growling as it made its way to the corpse.

Jaden waited patiently until the demon finally reached the body, sniffing it before digging into it with ferocity, sending chunks of meat flying into the air. He smiled. They had injected poison into the body — an amount that would have easily killed more than two dozen men — hoping it would at least stun the creature.

Jaden whistled the familiar tune, giving the signal to the archers. The demon raises its head slowly, looking around in disorientation, but even if it sensed the danger, it had no time to react. A dozen arrows dove into its body before it could even fully turn, throwing it onto the ground.

Jaden waited, holding his breath, for the demon to move. Seconds dragged, but the furry body didn’t even flinch. The smell of foul demon blood filled the air.

He noticed his cousin Glendon lowering himself from one of the trees, his sword in hand. A few others followed, including Tamara, but remained at a safe distance, watching the trees.

Jaden jumped off the tree and landed in a crouch, pushing himself up. His muscles screamed in protest, but he made sure it didn’t show on his face. He unsheathed both of his swords that were hanging on his back, slowly turning around in search of other demons. The forest remained just as quiet, but he could still feel a dark presence with them, just like every time there was a demon nearby. It was an uncommon skill that had scared him senseless at first, but he had since found a good use for it. That same skill, wherever it came from, was the very reason he was still alive.

“It’s dead!” Glendon announced as he crouched by the demon, poking it with the tip of his sword. “Well, that was easy!” He rose back to his feet and grinned at the frowning Tamara, her unforgiving eyes still examining the forest. Jaden could tell his sister was restless, just like him. It was too easy, and the stupid demon looked even smaller up close. It was impossible that this tiny creature caused all the damage from that night.

He looked toward his sister and when their eyes finally met, her focused expression gave place to a panicking one.

“Watch out!” she shouted, and Jaden threw himself aside, more by intuition than anything else. He noticed it then, the second demon, landing in the space he had occupied seconds ago. It was twice as big as the one on the ground, dirty and dark like a walking nightmare. Its big yellow eyes landed on the body at its feet and the demon lowered its head, sniffing the air around the smaller creature.

Glendon had stepped away from the corpses, hands squeezing the hilt of his sword in anticipation. His body armor made no sound as he moved and his face held all the concentration in the world. This type of demon was blind during daytime and usually used its hearing and smell to attack, so as long as they were perfectly quiet, it wouldn’t know where they were. And with the smell of blood in the air, it probably couldn’t sense them all that clearly.

Jaden’s leg lost its footing as he was slowly moving into a crouching position, the dry earth crackling underneath him.

‘Damn it!’ he cursed himself.

The demon’s head snapped toward him and the creature bellowed with rage, baring its sharp teeth as it jumped forward. Jaden got up just in time, twisting to the side to avoid a direct clash with the beast, the tip of his sword nicking the belly of his enemy all the way to its neck. Unfortunately, it didn’t even come close to any of the creature’s weak spots, so the only effect it had was to make the beast angrier. The demon landed behind him, giving him barely enough time to prepare for the next assault before lunging at him again.

Raising one sword over his head while the other remained between the demon and his body, Jaden jumped, aiming for the beast’s chest. He kept on pushing forward, attack after attack, forcing the demon to retreat a few steps. He knew he couldn’t stop, stopping meant giving it the chance of overpowering him, and Jaden wasn’t foolish enough to think he was the stronger of the two.

His sword finally dealt some damage, plunging into the demon’s shoulder. It didn’t take him long to realize he had missed the soft spot where its throat was, so the wound wasn’t fatal, but it took them dangerously close to each other. All Jaden had time to do was raise his other sword to parry the next attack. His weapon met the demon’s paw directly, and the force sent him flying back, crashing onto the ground and rolling a few times.

“Archers!” He heard Glen shout just as Jaden was about to rise. The air above him whiffed as a dozen arrows flew in the direction of the creature, but the monster jumped out of their way with such speed that Jaden barely caught the movement. Two of them seem to hit the weak joints in its shoulder, but that was not nearly enough to take it down. The demon changed direction and shot toward Glen, who was already waiting for it with his sword raised, swinging his weapon with a roar that drowned even the beast's growl.

Two more arrows found their mark on the creature's hind leg, but the demon just growled, shifting its weight and attacking again. Glen swung his sword toward its enormous head, but the beast ducked swiftly, returning the favor faster than the soldier could react. Blood splattered the earth as the demon’s claws tore part of his armor off and cut into his forearm.

Glendon pulled back just as another arrow flew past his shoulder and thrust into the creature’s forehead. The surface of its head was almost as hard as the natural armor-like skin on its back and sides, but there was a single spot where the tissue was softer and for a keen archer, that spot was the difference between life and death.

Jaden glanced at Tamara just as she was lowering her bow. Her scowl deepened as she watched Glen kick the demon in the muzzle, cursing profusely. The creature didn’t move anymore, its glowing yellow eyes staring blindly at the ground while a dark pool formed around its body.

“s**t, that was close!” Glen grinned. He glanced down at his hand, clicking with his tongue. There was a deep gash running from his biceps to the middle of his forearm, with blood already dripping from his fingers.

“Are you alright?” Jaden asked, stepping closer, his eyes stopping on the wound for a second. It wasn’t deep, the armor had taken most of the hit, but the skin was grazed and it looked like it might need stitches.

“I’m fine. That bastard was too fast!” Glen complained, sheathing his sword with his good hand.

“You’re an i***t!” Tamara grumbled as she joined them. She crouched next to the creature, pulling her arrow out and shaking off the blood.

“She’s right, you know.” Jaden nodded. Tamara turned around, glaring at him this time, then gestured at the men to take away the creature. She was probably going to order them to bring it to the castle — the Keeper of the Chronicles would most certainly be delighted to have another specimen to study.

“You’re an i***t, too.” She added, moving her disapproving eyes to her brother. “You could have both been killed! I can’t believe I let you convince me to...”

Ignoring her, Jaden looked down at the creature as the soldiers secured it with ropes. Blood was dripping heavily from the wound, black as night and thick as oil. His attention lingered on the eyes of the demon, meeting its empty gaze — a feeling of hate prickled into his body, like a foul, sticky substance seeping into his skin. There was fear imprinted in those glassy eyes, a disturbing memento of its final moments.

“Sire,” a voice took him out of his trance and he turned, nodding at the soldier standing by. “There is a messenger waiting for you in the village,” the man said, eyes glancing toward the corpse at their feet. “He carries a message from your father, His Majesty the King.”