Eramane (2 page)

“We have to try; please do not take the baby!” Ramaya pleaded.

“Do you not think that I have considered this a thousand times, Ramaya? Yes, he was my son, and I miss him dearly, but this child is special, Ramaya. He needs to be raised as one of us. If these men fail to destroy the Nameless One tonight, we will need this child to do what they could not. Do you not understand this?”

“I understand that you are going to keep me from my beloved.” Ramaya’s voice faded to a whimper; she knew that Ivan, Cole, and the men in the next room would never allow the Nameless One to leave with its child. She realized that she would never see Kaleb again.

Kaleb’s murder was rumored throughout the lands neighboring Ramaya’s hometown. A short time after his death, another stranger visited Ramaya; this one came to help. His name was Cole, and he was hunting Kaleb’s attacker. He explained to Ramaya how he’d lost his wife because of the fiend. Cole told her that his wife could not bear the thought of growing a child in her that belonged to what she believed was a demon.

“She threw herself over the ocean cliff,” he explained, his tone solemn. “I have been searching for this creature since the day my wife died a little more than ten years ago.”

Cole retold Ramaya stories of the beast that he had heard along his travels. “Most people believe that the myth of a flying demon is just that, a myth. But those few that have laid eyes on the creature know the extent of its power, and they are fearful. Those folks, the ones who have seen it, call it the Nameless One,” he said. “They say he is a demon that escaped from the dark world to roam our lands freely.”

After hearing Ramaya’s story, Cole knew that he was dealing with the same creature, the one responsible for his wife’s death. “I do not know why the fiend changes into a human form, but the only stories of the creature transforming have to do with him passing that yellow light into women. There have only been three that I know of: my wife, a young woman who was hanged by her own people, and you.”

In the decade since his wife’s death, Cole had searched relentlessly for the beast. Not once had he ever been so close to actually seeing the monster with his own eyes as he would be tonight. Cole knew the beast would come for the child. As far as he knew, Ramaya was the only woman to have carried the fiend’s child to its full term. But the Nameless One was crafty and unpredictable. There never seemed to be a specific time of the night when it would attack—it just came. But this night Cole waited in eager anticipation, for he truly believed that he, and the men he had gathered, would stand a chance of defeating the beast and freeing the land and its people of the monstrosity.

A small brigade of ten men gathered around the hearth in Ramaya’s home. Six were dressed alike: leather pants, long-sleeved shirts, and black cloaks with hoods. Each man also had a satchel just large enough to secure and transport a newborn. A low, steady tone of voices floated about the room as each man discussed his thoughts on the Nameless One. One of them tossed a small cut of wood into the fire, rustling up the embers.

“Get those ashes out of the fire and cooled. We cannot use them if they are hot,” Reeve ordered. “Here, take these and soak up as much birthing waste as you can,” Reeve continued as he tossed several rags to the woman aiding Ramaya, who was now only moments away from birthing the child. The men knew the nameless fiend would soon arrive, and each held a firm grasp on his weapon.

“The baby is coming!” Ramaya shouted as she began to bear down in pain. Her screams of childbirth were matched with the angry winds that beat against her home. It did not take her long to deliver the son of the Nameless One. Ramaya looked over the child while the housemaid wiped it down. The hefty baby boy favored his mother, and Ramaya noticed it right away. But she wanted nothing to do with the child, since she knew these men would not let the creature take him, and they would not let her keep him. Ivan explained to her that the fiend may have a link with her, and that if she were to reunite with her child, the beast might be able to locate them. She would not get to be a mother to the baby boy, so she turned her head to keep from viewing the child.

“Take it!” she shouted at the woman holding the baby. “Get it away from me!” she screamed. The young woman bundled the child in blankets and handed it to Ivan. He was to take the child and ride as fast as he could to the caves of a nearby mountain range. A trusted friend, a man with moderate talents of magic, a man capable of raising such a special child would be waiting to take the infant to a secret place where the Nameless One could not find him.

“He grew in your belly, Ramaya; remember that. This child will not grow to be like his father. He will be a pure spirit, just like his mother. The FateSeers have revealed this to us, and they are never wrong,” Ivan said, trying to console her. “That beast cannot bring our Kaleb back. Not the Kaleb we knew and loved. He would not be the same—just a body without a soul, Ramaya,” Ivan said as he approached her. “Give the child your blessing before we part,” he suggested, holding out the child to her.

“Please, I cannot bear to look at him,” Ramaya wept, and her voice trembled.

Ivan took the child to Reeve, who smeared ash on the child’s skin to mask the newborn’s scent. “You must go now,” Cole commanded. He gave rags covered in afterbirth to each of the men. They stuffed them into their satchels. Cole’s hope was to distract the demon, with these riders bearing the scent of the child. These men would dispatch in different directions, and Ivan would be able to reach the cave with the child.

The night was at its peak, and Cole, Reeve, and the rest of the men who were not part of the distraction were prepared for an encounter with the Nameless One. Thunder rumbled and a bright bolt of lightning illuminated the darkness—and the entrance of the Nameless One, the beast Cole had waited so long to see.

The winged creature burst through the door, ripping it away from the structure of the house. It landed with a calculated thud and did a rapid scan of the room, looking for its child, but the distributed smell of the afterbirth puzzled the fiend, confusing it. Ivan and the six men who were to ride off with him were unable to disperse before the fiend arrived, and now the beast was blocking their only exit. The creature was massive, the size of several men. Black, leathery-looking skin covered the beast like impenetrable chain mail. Its eyes burned a fierce yellow-orange, and giant horns protruded out from its brow, turning back and coiling down by its ears, as if to cover its head like a helmet. A long mane of silver hair parted the horns and draped halfway down the beast’s massive back.

“Where is my son?” screamed the Nameless One, continuing to sniff and scan the room as it made its way to Ramaya. She sat up in a futile attempt to defend herself.

“He is dead. He lasted only a moment after birth and then died,” she said faintly, terrified by the beast. The frightful creature grabbed her by her throat and demanded the whereabouts of its son once more. Even if she’d wanted to speak the truth, the brute had too strong of a grip; she could not breathe. Cole hurried to defend her, shooting an arrow in the beast’s lower back. The Nameless One released Ramaya and rushed Cole, pinning him to the ground. The crushing weight of the colossal creature forced the air from Cole’s lungs, and he lost consciousness. A man with a wooden pail tossed a liquid mixture on the back of the beast. The Nameless One paused for a moment to examine the greasy liquid. It ran its fingers in the oily substance and brought them up to his nose. Then it smiled at the man with the empty pale. The beast yanked drapes from the window pane and used them to wipe some of the liquid off. Nearby a man plunged a small tree limb into the embers of the hearth, igniting the cloth tethered to its end. He was unsteady and frightened by the surprising might of the Nameless One. With desperate aim, the man tossed the torch at the beast and struck his doused target.

Fire engulfed the creature’s lower back and parts of its legs, places where the drapes had missed the splattered liquid. For a moment, the Nameless One dropped to its knees, the flames and black smoke temporarily dazing it. While the creature scrambled to rise, Ivan, Reeve and the remaining men bolted from the home, hoping that their plan to trick the fiend would still work. They ran out of the house and mounted their frightened horses. Gaining control of the steeds, the men dispersed in separate directions.

The inflamed demon jumped straight up, busting a hole in the roof of the small house. The flames continued to burn on parts of the beast’s back and legs, and it screamed in frustration, sending an echo of its anger into the wilderness. As the Nameless One headed for a nearby pond, it scanned the area for the riders … locating each of them. The creature approached the pond and dove down into it and back up into the air again, flames extinguished. It sniffed for the scent of its child, only to locate it in all directions. The Nameless One headed for the nearest rider, who struggled to keep his horse in control. The beast grabbed the rider from his horse and saw that he was carrying only rags containing the scent of its creation. “Ahhhh!” the rider screamed as the beast brought him up to its face.

“Where is my son?”

“I … I do not …
ahhhhh
!” The man could not finish his words before the Nameless One gripped his head and tossed him in the air. The creature took flight again and sought a second man. This time it took a bit longer, as the men had entered the protection of the thick forest. Unfortunately for this man, he’d reached a sparse area where the forest thinned out a bit and made it easier for the Nameless One to seek him out. It swooped down and speared the rider off of his stallion, sending him to the earth. The rider bounced across the ground as if he were a stone skipping across the water. The fiend grabbed the man during his ground rolls and slung him against a tree. “Where are they taking my son?” the beast asked calmly as its breath penetrated the lungs of the battered rider. The man had suffered a deep laceration across his eye and was close to losing consciousness.

“Kill me. I will not tell you, demon,” the brave man stated. At that moment, the creature knew it would not locate the child; too many men for the beast to track had left Ramaya’s home and darted in separate directions. Now they were in the forest, and the Nameless One could not see them from the air. The scent had grown faint, and the beast could barely smell anything more than the blood oozing from the rider pinned against the tree. Lacking the desire to end the life of the severely injured rider, the Nameless One loosened its grip and let him fall to the ground, leaving him there to die slowly and painfully.

Twenty years After …

CHAPTER TWO

Eramane

IT IS A SUNNY DAY.
Sounds of laughter and celebration fill the village of Eludwid. The quaint town bursts with excitement as festivities move through the streets like a fast breeze from the ocean. Lord Emach Danius has brought his men home from a victorious battle just in time for Autumn Blossom, the yearly jubilee. Eludwid’s Autumn Blossom festival began many years ago. The celebration received its title because of the redtail flowers that turn the fields into flames. They blossom at the end of summer when the other flowers have lost their blooms. All of the surrounding villages come together to celebrate Autumn Blossom. Young ladies flit about, hoping to catch the eye of a hopeful sweetheart, while others reunite with their loved ones from neighboring villages. The season is changing, and though the days have been warm, the nights get cold enough to warrant the warmth of a beloved.

Near the apothecary, in an open area of grass, eager children are preparing to compete in a sack race. The first prize is a small, wooden, hand-carved trinket: a mountain cat, the territories’ symbol, or a horse. “On three!” shouts a plump, red-faced woman. “One, two, three!” She smacks two round wooden discs together to sound the start of the sack race. Each contestant steps inside of the brown sack laid out in front of him or her and jumps up and down, making a run for the finish line. I make a weak effort to win. After all, I am competing against small children; my little friend Olli asked that I join in. I make sure to stay behind Olli; he is in last place, except for me. He tries with all of his might to keep jumping, but the day is at its hottest, and Olli feels it, mostly because of a prolonged period of an empty belly. His feet tangle inside of the sack, and he falls to the ground.
Thump
! I make a few more hops to reach him.

“Are you okay, Olli?” I ask. I am truly concerned for him. From where I was, he looked like he had taken a hard fall.

“I’m fine,” he says, disappointed by his not finishing the race.

“Do not worry about it. Those wooden toys are not that great anyway. If you play with them too much, they will break,” I say, trying to lift his spirits. I look up at the other contestants in time to see a girl in braids cross the finish line first. She squeals in victory, her braids smacking her face and shoulders as she jumps up and down.