Castle Shyr

So, here we have the introduction of one of the few creatures I created for this novel. :) These guys were my first... I saw them in my shower. :dead:


-The Ju\'agul-

“Good morning there, Rhinwyn.” Rhin turned his head and smiled as he entered a small shop, Kyin at his heels. His eyes were dry now, he was sure it wasn’t possible for him to cry anymore. He had just said farewell to his closest friend, whom he may never see again, and he was now faced with the reality that, come sundown, he would be on the run, leaving behind everything he’d come to know and love. He was reminded of Johan’s speech from the previous night, the tale of how the flute-player had lost his village. Rhin’s heart ached most for Johan, because he knew the musician was about to feel the same absolute loss again, if he survived.

“Good morning, Keji!” Kyin said in the happiest voice she could muster, gripping the edges of her skirt tightly as she skipped up to the counter. She’d noticed that the adults were all trying to act happy and carefree, as if the children couldn’t feel the change in the air, but she knew that if she played along it would make them feel better, and so she did, no matter how hard it was to keep back her tears.

“Daddy sent us out to get a few things,” she explained as she reached into her pocket and produced the list and the gold coin, “he wrote them down here.” She declared brightly, laying the list delicately on the table and fingering the coin.

“Oh my, you two will be up all night with all these sweets!” Keji said in the same fake-happy tone Kyin used as he inspected the list, full of sweets and things the two children would need should they be forced to survive on their own for a day or two.

Rhin managed to fumble a smile, good at keeping his emotions in check, but not at playing happy. He looked around the store in a lost way, as if trying to find something to occupy himself with, but not even the things he’d dreamt about buying yesterday interested him. He heard light footsteps from behind the counter and turned to look as Keji walked towards the back of the shop, probably intending on wrapping the items in two separate bags, so they would be easy to carry. Rhin knitted his eyebrows together, but the onslaught of overwhelming feelings was pushed aside as Kyin bounced over to him and threw her arms over his waist.

“I bet,” she started slowly, and Rhin could tell she was trying so hard to keep his mind from everything, “that I can eat more candy frogs than you.”

“Oh?” Rhin managed, his lips fooled but his voice not. “I don’t know about that, Kyin, I’ve got a pretty big stomach when it comes to eating candy, especially candy frogs.”

“Yeah right, Rhinwyn,” Kyin said in an exaggerated way, snapping her hands to her hips, “you don’t have a big stomach when it comes to anything! I eat more than you!” Despite his sore throat, his aching heart and his forlorn mind, Rhinwyn could not hold back the laugh that erupted from him at this show. He cupped Kyin’s face gently in his hand and planted a sweet kiss on her cheek, smiling a little as he pulled away to watch a blush spread over her face.

“Here we go,” Keji said as he reappeared behind the counter, two neatly wrapped bags now in front of him. “All ready to go.” He said, his fake smile wider and faker than before.

“Thanks.” Rhin said softly, reaching out and taking both bags.

“Here you go, Keji,” Kyin said as she pinned the coin onto the counter, smiling up at him.

“Oh no,” Keji said, shaking his head and sliding the coin back towards the children, trying as hard as he could to keep his eyes free of what he was feeling, “it’s on me today, Kyin. Don’t spoil your dinner, you two.”

“Oh, thank you.” Kyin said, but her fake voice was faltering as she pulled the coin back into her fist. Keji was a nice man, but he was a swindler and a thief, especially when it came to money, yet he’d given them a full coin’s worth of items free. Dead men didn’t need money.

“Rhinwyn,” Kyin said, her fake voice slowly returning as they pushed through the door of the shop, stepping back onto Crawyn’s dirt roads, “hold my hand?” She asked, trying to sound like an innocent child, not the scared young girl she was.

Rhin thought about answering, but knew he couldn’t, so he instead just took Kyin’s hand in his own, giving her a small squeeze before starting down the road.

Rhin hadn’t been prepared for anything that had happened that morning, but nothing could have prepared him for what happened next. He turned into the square, hand locked firmly with Kyin’s, bags set lightly on his shoulder, and stopped dead in his tracks. Like a hawk diving in for the kill, a dark cloud was ascending on Crawyn from the North, the dark shadow being Johan described as it devoured his home village. Everything else seemed to freeze in that moment, the wind ceased to blow, the people ceased to be, Crawyn fell silent, all that was left were the Tev, the shadow of death descending upon them. A part of him said it wasn’t real, that it was all just a dream, but then the world sparked back into life, and he knew it was really happening.

“Rhinwyn!” Shrieked Kyin, her voice barely reaching his ears over the sudden chaos that ensued. The people, seemingly so organized and ready just moments before, spun into insanity, screaming and running in all different directions. Rhin’s eyes grew wide as he watched the people he knew and grew up with run for their lives, tangled up amidst the hopeful escapees from Canibar.

“Rhinwyn! Rhinwyn!” Kyin continued to shriek, pulling viciously on his hand, his sleeve. He had frozen in place, like time had stopped for him, and wouldn’t even blink as she clapped her hands in his face. Tears began to pour down her cheeks as she watched the horrid thing come closer, and now, she could hear it. The thunder of hooves, the thudding of boots, and the cries of warriors lusting for blood, for death.

“Rhinwyn, oh Rhinwyn please!” She cried again, moving in front of him and wrapping her arms over his waist, hiding her face against his chest.

“L-let’s go!” Rhin said, suddenly sparked into life as he felt Kyin’s tears on his shirt. He looked down and grabbed her wrist, turning and pulling her away. He heard a strange whistle behind him and turned, just in time to watch an arrow go whizzing by his ear to lodge itself in the roof of Keji’s small shop. He lifted a shuddering hand and touched his ear where a small trickle of blood began to flow.

“Rhinwyn!” Cried Kyin again, ducking as more arrows began coming their way.

Rhin shook his head and started off at a run again, pulling Kyin behind him roughly. He knew he was hurting her, his grip was so tight, his strides were too fast for her to keep up, but he had to get to Zeva, to his parents - he had to do what he’d promised Johan he’d do.

As they continued to run he was alerted to the sound of a familiar voice shouting directions, it was the old school teacher Irby, yelling for everyone to head towards the pass.

“Rhinwyn! Kyin!” Irby shouted as he ran towards them from the opposite end of the street. “Your father told me to send you to the pass! He said to-”

“Hrrruuuurrrr..” A nasty sound suddenly stopped both children and teacher, and they looked to the top of the statue in the center of the street.

“R-rhinwyn! Wh-what is it!?” Kyin shrieked, hugging so tightly to Rhinwyn that her nails were cutting into his skin. However Rhin couldn’t answer - he had never seen such a beast before. At first glance it looked like a dragon, a long, lizard creature with all the size and muscle of a full-grown horse, crouched like a gargoyle atop the statue’s head. It’s muzzle was long and sneering, extending upwards to include ears like a bat’s, each a foot in length, and three rows of narrowed, vicious red eyes. Its head was topped with a tattered horse’s mane, which spun downwards to taper off between his shoulders, showing off a scaled body of nothing but muscle. Its long tail was nothing more than bone, and it seemed to be decaying from the backside up. A sort of gray cloud of smog hung around it, seeming to come from its feet, each of the four enabled with a claw three times the size of the others.

“C-children,” gasped the teacher, standing perfectly still as he looked to them, “y-you get to the pass.. I-I’ll distract him.”

Rhin’s gaze snapped away from the beast towards the man and he shook his head vigorously, he knew what Irby intended to do.

“You can’t..” He whispered fiercely, knowing his voice hadn’t reached the man, but that his words had.

“On the count of three..”

“Rhinwyn, what’s he doing?” Kyin sobbed, her face just barely visible under Rhin’s shirt.

“J-just get ready t-to run, Kyin..” Rhin whispered, moving his hand from her back to grip her wrist again. He felt her stiffen under him, try to hold in a sob, and nod as bravely as she could.

“One, two-”

“Rheeeaak!” The beast threw back it’s head, letting out a sound horrible enough to match it’s appearance, then leapt from the statue, almost gliding through the air as he came to land. He stretched out all four claws, bringing his back legs up under himself and smacked into Irby, instantly crashing him into the ground. Rhin heard the man utter only one short scream before there was a sickening ripping, wet sound, and the creature tossed it’s head back, a trail of blood rising in the air along with it.

“Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!” Kyin began, panting so hard her chest was about to burst. The creature slowly turned it’s gaze to them, jaw slick with gore.

“W-we have to run!” Rhinwyn said suddenly, yanking Kyin’s arm nearly out of it’s socket as he turned and pulled her behind him, around the statue until the forest came into view.

“R-rhin! I-I can’t keep up!” Kyin gasped, her slippered feet tripping against the ground.

“Yes you can, Kyin!” Rhin growled, stumbling to the side himself as one of the Nanion fleeing from the village toppled into him, hitting their shoulders together and throwing them both off balance. He let out a gasp as he was hit from the opposite side and his hand released Kyin’s wrist. He turned to try and see where she’d gone, but all he saw was rising smoke and bodies running towards him.

“Th-they’ve set it.. A-aflame…” He gasped to himself as he was knocked to his knees on the ground. He brought a hand up to block the approaching feet of another villager, and pushed himself to stand to avoid being trampled in the mad rush.

“Kyin!” He shouted, starting to push his way back through the crowd, back towards the smoldering buildings and surreal creatures.

“Rhinwyn!” Kyin gasped, holding her arm as she pressed herself up against a tree. “O-over here!” She cried out, her voice mocked with pain as blood trickled between her fingers.

“K-kyin! Kyin!” Rhin gasped, pushing his way out of the crowd and stumbling into the girl, pushing her against the tree. He groaned and wrapped his arm over her waist, turning to look back at Crawyn. He felt the fear grip his joints, felt his feet weighed to the spot, even as his mind yelled and tore at him to run, to keep going - they were almost there, just a few more feet.

“Rhinwyn, we-we have to make it to the bridge!” Kyin gasped, reaching up and pulling roughly on Rhin’s collar. She saw him jerk, as if she’d woken him from a dream, then nod, and tighten his grip on her waist. She winced as he moved his hand back to her bruised wrist, but it was a welcome feeling amongst the others in her head.

The two tore off along the path, winding their way back into the sea of panicking people, stumbling as they tried to carry their belongings and keep track of their loved ones. Rhin caught glimpses of a child on the ground as they ran, his arms and legs sticking out at odd angles, marks and dents throughout his pale skin - he’d fallen, and hadn’t gotten up in time. Up ahead his mother had stopped running, and was now nearly spinning in circles, screaming and pleading for her son to come to her.

Rhin suddenly smacked harshly into the man in front of him, and took a step back, looking up at the man with fear - why had he stopped? He looked around the man, planning on just running around him, but he realized that all the runners had stopped, the whole village had reached the bridge, and stopped - none of them crossing the bridge to the pass which would lead them to safety.

“Rhinwyn, what’s going on? Why did everyone stop?”

“Rheeak!”

“Rheeeaak!”

“Kuk kuk!”

Rhin’s knees nearly gave out on him as he heard the beast’s cry, this time joined by companions, four of them at least. That was why the villagers had stopped, Rhin didn’t need to see the bridge to understand - the nightmarish beasts had somehow beaten the Nanion to the bridge: they were out of options.

They would have to fight to survive.

Kyin squeezed her eyes shut as she listened to the people around her. Children wailed, mothers pleaded as husbands and brothers and sons began to realize what they must do.

“For Crawyn!” Shouted a brave soul, picking up a stick from the ground and rushing towards the bridge. It wasn’t long before other voices joined his, all crying out in desperation.

“Rhinwyn! No!” Kyin shrieked, feeling Rhin start to pull away from her. “Y-you can’t! Remember what Johan said! Please, Rhin! Please!” She wrapped her arms over his waist and pressed herself to him as tightly as she could, shaking her head violently. “Rhin, you can’t leave me!”

Rhin’s face twisted into an angry grimace as something inside him told him it was too late, he’d already failed to honor Johan’s promise. He looked down at Kyin and met her eyes, feeling his bravery waver and perish as he saw the fear and hopelessness in her eyes.

“Come on,” he said, forcing himself to sound brave, and succeeding, “we need to find another way across the gap.” He didn’t even try to return the smile she forced herself to give him, he just held her gaze, moved his hand to her own, and turned around to look back at Crawyn.

“Hrrrruuuuhhh…”

“R-rh-rh-rhin…” Kyin stuttered, frozen in fear as the beast merely inches from them lowered his head, bringing forward his enormous ears. She couldn’t feel herself breathing, her chest was locked in place, but she could smell the beast. It stunk of blood and bogs, of muck and darkness. The smog that had been dripping from the feet of its companion seemed to swirl around the two Nanion, chilling them to the bone and furthering their frozen state.

“K-kyin..” Rhin gasped, unsure of how he was able to form coherent words from his jaw, which was chattering violently as the icy gray cloud ate into his being, “m-move be-be-be-hind me..” He felt Kyin shake her head slowly against his arm, and her nails began to bite into the palm of his hand. He wanted to turn and shove her to the ground, then lead the beast away, even though he knew he couldn’t fight it, knew he couldn’t out run it.

“Rhin- we have to jump!” Kyin shouted suddenly as the beast lunged forward. Rhin shoved Kyin sideways as the beast’s jaw clamped down.

“Aahhh!”

“Rhinwyn!” Kyin screamed, scrambling to her feet and grabbing Rhin’s free arm. “Let go of him! Let go of him!” She screamed fiercely, reaching out to strike the monster’s nose. Amazingly the beast pulled backwards with a shrill shriek into the air.

“Rhin! We have to jump!” She repeated, dragging him towards the end of the gap.

Rhin nodded and stumbled forward, hearing the beast let out another roar just behind them, the creature’s breath pooling on the back of the Nanion’s neck. His arm began to throb and sting, just below his shoulder where the creature’s jagged and uneven teeth had sunken in. He felt Kyin stiffen beside him and looked down. The drop had never looked so far; Jir had never looked so unforgiving.

He felt Kyin’s hand squeeze against his and he turned to look down at her. She met his eyes and an unspoken agreement passed between them.

“Hrauk!” The two Nanion leapt suddenly forward, the jaws of the beast clamping and shredding the back of Kyin’s dress as she plunged forward. The breath was sucked from both of them, leaving them unable to scream as they careened helplessly towards the rushing river below. Rhin turned his head upwards, focusing his clouding eyes on the rise of land floating away from him. The beast was glaring down into the darkness, tongue lolling out of its mouth as its six thin orbs tore into Rhin’s soul.

Then his world went black.