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Stone and Wolf (Part 5)

Lykes' mind was still lost in thought. Mostly about Ilisha, although he always returned to the burning question of exactly what was inside this castle.

It had become bone dry, in the air and in the soil. Crags' tongue lolled out, panting desperately. Still he pressed on with huge paws beating at the dusty earth. Lyke had become quite thirsty himself.

"Hey!" He shouted, bending down for Crag to hear. "How about a short stop for a drink?" Crag slowed to a brisk walk and continued a ways before stopping completely, like he had forgotten how to stand still. Lyke hoped off. His muscles where stiff, but they had gotten better as the day wore on. Crag panted heavily and moaned in anticipation as Lyke retrieved the water from the ration bags. Lyke uncapped the large water skin and held it out to the big cats' mouth. "Open up" Crag spread his jaws wide, revealing his massive teeth. Lyke poured the water into the abyss that was his throat. Crag knew not to lap at the stream of water too much. To do so would be to spill and waste it. Lyke stopped and let Crag lick his lips while he took a long pull himself, his snout wrapping around the nozzle of the water skin. "Ah... oh my. I think we needed that." Crag nodded with vigor. Lyke capped the skin and replaced it into its compartment. "Alright. Let's see if we can't find that castle before sunset."

He was just throwing his leg over Crags' back when an unearthly screech echoed from behind. It came from deep in the trees, so at least it would seem whatever creature made the sound was not in line of sight. Lykes' ears strained to hear movement, but there was none. "Forward. Out run the thing." He told Crag, and they were off at a gallop. Lyke unhitched one of the metal war spears from his back and turned to face the noise should it try to overtake them. His ears twitched as he heard the bristly undergrowth crash. The thing was following, fast. He shifted the heavy spear up in both hands. He didn't want to waste a weapon this good throwing it unless he knew he could recover it. The screech came again, and Lykes' paws griped the shaft tight. There was movement: a black and grey shape flitting in and out of the undergrowth. It was fast, faster than Crag. "Keep pace, Crag. Whatever happens, don't speed up. It's getting closer. Ah ha! Here it comes!" Lyke made ready to pounce on the thing, but stopped himself. Now that it was in plain sight, he could scarcely believe his eyes. This beast was a Wolf much like himself, except for two major differences. It ran on all fours, faster than any Wolf he knew of, and it wore stone armor much like the Warg he killed on the mountain. The Wolf was a male with charcoal black fur. Its jaws parted in a silent and continuous growl. It let out another scream as it got within just a few yards of them.

"Ooaahhhh! Kill you! Kill you both!" Lyke was disturbed by this pitiful yet horrific sight. Its armor didn't seem to slow it at all. It wore a mask over its face that was carved to vaguely resemble a growling Wolf. An amulet much the same as the one that hung from his belt dangled about its neck. It was almost in the spears' range. Lyke braced himself with his foot-paws on Crags' back. He found he didn't have the heart to kill the thing until he knew it was beyond hope.

"Sir Wolf! You need not harm us! Whatever evil rests in your soul is not yours, I'm sure of it! Please! We can talk! I can help you!" It jumped up and snapped at Lyke with its jaws. He used the butt of the spear to hit the side of its head and it fell back. However, it regained its ground quickly and soon it was in position again. Lyke took a deep breath. If that's how it has to be. Forgive me tortured soul. He struck down with the sharp blade of the spear onto the back of the things' neck. It yelped and Crag pulled ahead of it.

"Blood! Rauahh!" It scrambled after them with unnatural speed. Lyke readied another blow.

"Don't come near! I will kill you if you persist!"

"Die!" It leapt up. As it did, Lyke hauled the spear into it, impaling it through the back. The thing didn't slow down. Instead it took hold of Crags' thighs with its elongated claws. Lyke was thrown backwards as Crags' momentum was abruptly halted. He hit the ground hard, and slid a few feet. Picking himself back up as quickly as he could, he put his paw on the hilt of his sword and ran forward to the two wriggling animals. Crag had stopped and was now spinning in place, trying to dislodge the Wolf from his rear. To Lykes' surprise, the thing kept its hold, even with the five and a half foot spike of iron through its middle. It looked like it was trying to say something, but all that escaped its maw was gargling sounds and a trickle of blood.

"Crag! Stand still for just a second! Give me a shot at him!" Crag did as he was told. Lyke came up behind the creature and was about to bring his sword down on it when he again saw the amulet about its neck. He swung down and cut the leather strap around the amulet and it fell to the earth. The thing stopped struggling and collapsed, following the stones' decent. Crag had suffered only a minor wound. Seeing this, Lyke turned his gaze to the thrashing ball of stone and fur. It seemed to no longer be able to endure the damage done to its body. It kicked at Lykes' legs weakly, pausing briefly to vomit blood over the dusty ground. Squishing noises came from the wound as it's paws clutched at the spear. Lyke pointed his sword to its throat. "Nod if your rage has subsided. I'll ease your departure if you answer my questions." His sword was batted to the side as the thing let out a final, deep-throated roar. It rose up to a sitting position and screamed until its lungs had no more air. Then a wash of blood issued from its mouth and it fell into the puddle it had made face first.

After a moment of silence, Lyke knelt beside the corpse. "In peace, brother. Let whatever evil that infested you in life, leave you in death." He kissed his paw and passed it over its head. Then, using the point of his sword, he cracked, and pried off the things' mask. The stone fell away and the face of a Wolf greeted him. Its eyes had been gouged out, but otherwise, it was perfectly normal. Possibly even serene with the expression of calm it held on its... his face. Crag came up beside Lyke and nuzzled his shoulder, for he knew Lyke was grieving for a fallen brother. "Thanks, Crag. This was unnecessary. It's these damned amulets I bet!" He reached over and snatched up the fallen amulet, holding it and the Wargs' amulet up to examine them together. They were about the same size, but the greenish stone the where both cut from was slightly different in shade. The Wolfs' amulet was darker, but the markings, as far as he could tell, where the same. A thought came over him; more of an impulse than anything else. He dropped the Wolfs' stone and made to put the Wargs' around his neck. Crag growled loudly and put a heavy paw on his. Lyke smiled. "I know. It's crazy... Tell you what..." He leaned in close to Crags' mouth and wrapped one loop of leather around his left Sabre. "Now I'm going to put this on. I want you to pull it off me in five seconds regardless of the results. Got it?" Crag nodded. "Alright" He braced himself. "Now!" His paws tied the strap behind him and he let the stone fall about his neck. A shiver went through his body, but it wasn't cold, it was warm... Hot even. It was blazing hot now. He suddenly felt very angry. He wasn't sure what he was angry at, but he was certain it had to be destroyed. Images of blood and death plagued his mind. He loved them. He wanted more, and more came. He saw himself tearing out the throats of Wolves. He found he was tied to the sabre of a tiger. That was bad. That cat should die! Just as he took up his sword to strike, Crag jumped back, pulling the amulet off Lykes' head. Lyke stood straight up, holding his sword aloft. "I'll kill you! Kill... Oh..." He swooned on the spot, dizzy. "Moon... that felt odd." He felt his forehead to find he was burning hot. He saw Crag a few yards away, the amulet hanging of his sabre. "Good boy, Crag. Thank you. I was foolish to try it, but I think we learned something about it." He knelt back down. "Here, give it back now. I won't do it again, I promise." With a slight hesitation, Crag approached. Lyke took both the amulets and tied them to his belt once more. He replaced his sword at his side, and then his gaze returned to the corpse. "Well, can't waste a good spear. Sorry brother, but you don't need your body anymore. You don't mind if I just..." With a sickening pull of suction, Lyke removed the shaft from the body. It was soaking wet with blood and other, less pleasant bodily fluids, not all of which was red. Lyke have it a flick, but there was no good way to get it all off. "Damn." He said standing once again. "I would hate to use my sword cloth on this... I guess we could let it drip dry."

He noticed Crag was looking off to the right, which was the direction they had been running in. Lyke looked there as well. Thought the stunted trees, he could see a rocky cliff edge. The land stretched into the distance in a near featureless plain. Lyke saw there was a large grey shape through the trees. Could that be?! "Come on, Crag! I think we're there!" Lyke ran on foot toward the cliff, dragging the spear behind him. Crag followed at his side. His face lighted with relief as he broke through the trees. A gargantuan castle loomed monstrously tall against the pale sky and paler earth. It's walls where thick, and it had many layered battlements. The main building itself arched upward like a chapel. A single tower shot from it, scraping the sky. Crag let out a roar of triumph. Inspired by the animals' joy, Lyke threw his head back and howled a long, mournful call that Wolves use to find others. There was joy in his howl, but there was also a longing for Ilisha. He let the sound echo over the distant cliff sides, almost expecting Ilisha to call back to him. Why shouldn't she? If she's alright, there's no reason she wouldn't return my call. There was no answer. Either she is deep in the castle so she can't hear, she is hurt or incapacitated in some way, or... she doesn't want to call back. With those possibilities in mind, he turned to Crag. "Let's find a way down into the plains. You go that way, and I'll go this way. Call out if you find anything." Lyke took the left hand side. The cliff edge went for quite a ways. The forest went nearly up to the edge. This whole plain was a bowl in the earth. Cliffs encircled it on all sides that Lyke could see. Sometimes it would rise into a higher, more mountainous panicle of rock making travel directly around the edge impossible. He walked at a brisk pace among the stones, looking down the fifty foot drop to the plains floor. There didn't seem to be a safe way to get down these rocks. Lyke thought he might be able to make it, but Crag would surely fall and hurt himself. Just then he heard Crags' roar again form the right. Lyke looked up to see him half way down the cliff, stepping carefully on a series of rounded rocks. Once he ran over to the spot, Lyke could not help but notice more horse tracks in the dry earth near the edge. Just one set of tracks. It must be Ara. Lyke followed Crags' lead down the cliff, taking a path seemingly carved into the side of the rock. It was specially made to be hidden when looking at it from above. It was most likely carved by the ancients who built the castle.

Crag waited for him at the bottom, but as soon as Lykes' foot-paws touched the brittle grasses of the plain, Crag bounded ahead. Lyke couldn't blame him. The grass felt nice under-paw. "Save your strength! We don't know what evil lurks here! You saw that twisted Wolf! Something caused that, and I have little curiosity as to what. All I need is Ilisha and we're gone. So, let's stay focused, yes?" Crag was a bit disappointed, but fell into step obediently beside his master as they crossed the plain to the castle gates. The great stone structure was even more impressive from this angle. Lyke was suddenly glad he had chosen to rest and eat before this time. These would be no opportunity to do so again until he left. His muscles had recovered for the most part. He was ready for whatever ancient terrors awaited him. He looked over at the two bloody marks on Crags' hind quarters. "Does that hurt?" Crag shook his head. "Looks like the bleeding stopped shortly afterwards. Good thing. I can't patch any wounds up right now... Speaking of wounds..." He noticed he still held the spear. The blood had mostly coagulated. He bent down and scraped some of it off on the grass before returning it to its strap. The breeze picked up. It was colder than the wind in the Racalli Mountains.

He clutched his arms into himself and wished he had thought to bring clothing. His leather straps didn't provide much warmth. With his head bent to the wind, he saw more horse tracks on the ground. The hoofs had cut deep into the earth like it was carrying a heavy load and running. "half a moment..." Lyke crouched next to the prints. Crag stopped and looked on as he poked at the earth. "These prints are much more recent than the ones at the cliff edge. But they lead toward the castle... So she didn't leave... but Ara was out here with a heavy load, or at least running fast..." His gaze shifted up and followed the tracks with his eyes right up to the gates. His heart stopped as he saw a large black shape standing in the archway. Crag began to growl. Apparently it had only just appeared there, or Crag would have seen it. The shape started moving toward them, fast. It was a horse. "Ara!" Lyke called and waved his paw in the air. He put two claws in his mouth and whistled. His paw froze dead in the air and a shot of adrenaline was pumped onto his tongue. This black horse wore stone armor, spiked, with a mask closely resembling a whinnying horses' face. This horse did not slow its charge.