"Stellan!! I'm in here!", Atrius thought he heard Stellan's voice echoing in the field. "Stellan?!", he shouted with cupped hands.
"Keep it down, will ya?", another knight who sits on the ground said. "You'll draw attention", the knight liked to savour the calm after a long pursuit for safety.
"We got to go find him. He needs this staff", Atrius told the about six men with him hiding in the grass.
"Stellan needs no staff, and I'm sure he can very well take care of himself", Gallanthe uttered, unsheathing his sword, wanting to take a moment as he catch his breath.
"Not exactly at this time", Jac uttered softly. He set his glance to the knights who stayed alert and on guard traipsing back and forth on the soft marsh ground. However, he could tell each one of them look beat and exhausted as they carry their heavy breaths. Atrius himself looked drained too. "We'll take a break and find him, ye?", he looked at Atrius in the eyes, still all worried for Stellan.
Silence took over the prairie.
Carefully, the knights anxiously looked around, trying to hear whatever there is in the stillness of the atmosphere. Despite there may be peace in silence, it still amplified the tension knocking in their chests. "Is it over?", one knight asked. The knights answered with a shrugged shoulders.
Then…
Loud grows scattered throughout the field. Grunts of men fighting emerged, and fires ignited in some areas nearby. More sounds of struggles were heard, that led to yells of victories. Hesam is winning in this kind of war.
"That can't be the dark healer", Jac doubted as they listen closely.
"Help..
me"
A voice of man muttered somewhere deep in the grass. "What's that?", a young knight wondered as he set his eyes where he heard it, straying away from the group. "Someone needs help," suddenly, something grabbed him pulling him away. He left with a loud cry of agony, ending with a piercing scream that shattered the stillness of the prairie. Little that they know, there were more creatures lurking in the vast lofty foliage.
They were all taken aback, staring at where the knight was dragged away. "What the fuck..", Gallanthe unsheathed his sword once again, eyes widened and senses sharp.
As the wind blow, and the grasses sway rustling to its gusts, a sharp odor of rotten flesh spread. Followed by a low eerie growl, a pair of glowing eyes appeared from the dark. Then, a tall emaciated slender figure with gray skin stood from where the knight was dragged away. As it slowly reveal itself under the night glow, the creature revealed its long sharp claws… its long bloody fangs, sunken eyes and pale skin with patches of decaying flesh all over its body. It tilted its deer-like skeletal head with huge antlers as it bellow at the men who apparently dropped their jaws at its presence. Jac and Atrius stood frozen at their first pulsing encounter with a horrifying demon. As they were about to flee, they halted at the command of Gallanthe.
"A wendigo!! Position!", Gallanthe ordered, wielding his sword while the knights circle the opponent who just entered the battle ground. "Charge!!", he yelled taking no break to start the fight. With their blades drawn, the wendigo standing as tall as the grass let out a terrifying roar as if it was agitated with the blades pointed at it. Swiftly, the knights exchanged strikes at its body and extremity like savages eager to win the strife
"Fire! Now!!", Gallanthe commanded while one of the knights hurriedly lit a blaze by rubbing two sticks together that he found laying around.
The wendigo violently swirled its long arms, clawing the knights who were constantly hitting its pale skin by their swords. The knights, who were swift on their feet, danced a waltz of swordplay stabbing the wendigo aiming for its chest without getting scratched by the creature's sharp claws. The wendigo's eerie shrieks didn't stopped them. They were all fully engaged to kill the monster, smoothly with proficience.
Jac and Atrius became completely astonished seeing how the knights' alliance and skills handled the wendigo right at their clutch. They saw a form of trust that they earned for one another, and how greatly it is to witness them gamble with their lives in a heartbeat. That is not simply a sworn oath, it's something else.
All the more, it made them discern the unquestionable confidence they have for Stellan. Atrius thought that it is a heavy burden to bear, but indeed, it is a great responsibility that only Stellan can carry. No wonder why none of them questioned Stellan's decisions to face the dark healer. They accepted it and followed his footsteps with no protests. Not one word how the grasslands turned to a prairie despite they normally grow an inch in a few weeks time. The unbreakable faith the knights have was admirable enough for them to entrust their existence in this brotherhood.
Gallanthe's firm commands. The stern look of determination in the knights' eyes. The perfect aim of their swords. As they fight side by side with the knights of Hesam, Jac and Atrius tried as hard to match the knights' mastery in fighting. Without a single doubt, they both submitted to Gallanthe's orders, stabbing and firing bows at the creature's heart of ice. There was no room for fear, not even an ounce… for the men whom they fight with never budged. As they finally hit the core of the wendigo's vitality, they quickly burned its body with fire.
"There were NOT here before", Jacomus said now that the death chase comes with an even more thrill of hide and seek.
"Looks like were not the only one hiding from the dark healer", Gallanthe whispered as he look around warily. "Stay guarded! Wendigos are tricky. Let's go before the dark healer comes", he warned as he carve a path away from the burning wendigo followed by Atrius, Jac and the other knights.