The Lost Runes Saga [Epic Fantasy]

THIRTY-ONE

The beast turned and lunged, but Vidar proved the quicker. A burst of flame from the logiz rune set the hideous creature ablaze, the goop covering its body popping and sizzling as it screamed in pain with that all too human voice.

Even using the dragon's essence was taking its toll at this point. He wasn't sure for how much longer he could keep going. The other creatures almost surrounded him as the sound of snapping wood thrummed through the night, the burning house falling in on itself in the now far distance. With a groan, he saw one of the creatures speeding across the field toward him, having escaped the house. Still backing away as the dog-like creatures yipped and barked in excitement around him, Vidar chanced a glance over his shoulder and thought he saw movement down in the village, but he might have imagined it.

Vidar rejuvenated the logiz rune using dragon's essence, then added some to the algiz runes tattooed across his body. Just in time, too, because two of the monsters threw themselves forward and lunged at him in perfect unison, almost like they were able to communicate with one another.

Triggering a stakra rune from one of the wooden discs, he killed one of them and was thrown to the side and into the snow by the counterthrust, away from the snapping jaws of the second beast. Once he was down, they all rushed him. The algiz barriers held but did not protect him from the goop splattering from the monsters and onto his clothes and skin. It burned. His entire field of vision was filled with monsters trying to devour him. Soon, the barrier runes would run out, and that meant the end.

It was now or never. He needed to burn them once and for all, but pinned to the ground under their weight, that was impossible. So instead, he put weight on his elbow and triggered the stakra rune. A sucking sensation hit his stomach as the thrust from the rune carried him up and out of the pile. He shrieked, suspended in the air, and landed several strides away from the monsters.

This time, he didn't let them attack first. He triggered the logiz rune. Fire lit up the dark night, gushing forward to consume his enemies. Clumped together, they burned and screamed, their agony filling the night air. When the rune ran out of dragon's essence, the snow had melted away in large patches around himself, around the now-dead monsters, and in a large area between them.

A sound made his ears prick. He turned and saw the creature that escaped the house hurtling toward him, only a breath away from reaching him. One monster remained. No, two.

The pile of charred creatures stirred, and one pushed its way free.

Vidar threw himself to the side to avoid the leaping monster closing its jaws around his throat, screaming, "Leave me alone!"

As if the enraged things would listen and back off. The burned one was terribly injured, its flesh and muscle blackened and gray. Its stench, made even worse by the burns, filled the air. He spun to get his feet under him and stand, and saw a glimmer of something. He blinked, and against all instinct, turned from his attackers toward the village.

Torches. A whole bunch to them. They were coming his way. Rescue. But by the time they reached him, it would be too late. He needed to buy more time, somehow. He needed to push through.

The creature from the house charged. A stakra thrust took it right in its face, but Vidar messed up the triggering in his haste to protect himself, only opening the circle halfway. With lessened force, the monster did not die.

Vidar bought himself a few moments as the thing stirred in the snow, dazed. That left the burned bastard. It ran at him with charred lips cracked to show broken flesh beneath. The burns slowed it enough for Vidar to step aside and kick at its side with a yell filled with fear and anger. The creature whined with pain and moved away from Vidar's reaching hand, perhaps remembering what happened to its monstrous brethren when it allowed the styrka rune to touch it.

Letting out a curse, Vidar threw himself at the dazed monster instead, just as it was getting up, but failed to touch it with the rune. Instead, a far heavier weight than he'd anticipated tackled him from behind, and the three of them tumbled down to the snow-covered field in a heap. Eager mouths tore at his clothes and sharp teeth soon penetrated skin, flesh, and muscle.

Vidar screamed and tried reaching behind himself to get at the one who'd bit into his side. Unable to, he elbowed it in the face. Each strike made it clamp down harder and the tug of it brought on enough pain to make the world spin. A haze covered his vision. Strength left his body.

No. Not yet. Vidar's mind struggled to focus on the runes on his back. He winced as another dull ache appeared in his arm. Blinking, he peered down to see another set of jaws having closed around his forearm. Somewhere far away, he heard a scream. His own? He wasn't sure. The logiz rune. He needed to burn them. Burn them before he lost consciousness. Very little dragon's essence remained in the rune and even less in his heartwell. Blood poured over his hands, staining the snow in a line.

Stolen novel; please report.

Line. The thought burned in his mind. Line, like with the styrka runes. He needed to make the runes come together and make something new. The idea was so simple he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it before.

In the struggle, the sleeve of his coat had bunched up around his elbow, revealing his forearm. With his one free arm, he drew a line of blood from the logiz rune. The abomination, keeping his arm in an inescapable grip, looked at his finger as it, little by little, traced a path to the algiz rune right next to its bulbous eye. In Vidar's mind, a second rune appeared the moment his blood connected the two. Algiz and logiz. Two runes come together to create something new. Vidar triggered the two without missing a beat. A barrier of flames sprung up around him, burning bright while that blueish shimmer protected him. Despite the immense flames, he found himself able to see through them.

The already burned one let go the moment the flame barrier sprung into existence, perhaps having learned proper fear of fire, and renewed pain surged through Vidar's back. He gasped and staggered back as the second beast released him to escape being reduced to a cinder. The flame barrier lasted for no more than three seconds before winking out. Struggling to think, Vidar triggered the kenaz rune on his forehead in an attempt to blind the two monsters. It failed. They didn't seem to care their bulbous eyes following him without blinking.

Despite limping, neither of them backed off. Vidar couldn't catch his breath. His arms didn't obey and his knees almost buckled the moment he tried to take another step toward the village. Nothing remained in his heartwell. Dry. Parched like his throat. Fumbling for another rune, Vidar dropped the remaining wooden discs. They disappeared beneath the snow.

All out of options, Vidar reached for the monster's essence in the styrka rune burned into his hand. Pulling it along the pathways in his body made him physically ill, but he persevered as the creatures dared step closer again, perhaps smelling his weakness. Every ounce of essence he'd pulled from that thing went into the logiz rune, but it was still barely enough to fill a fifth of its circle.

Vidar waited for them to get close enough before he triggered the logiz rune. The flames within the runic symbol responded, billowing out with a sick, brownish color that turned Vidar's stomach. Nevertheless, it burned like regular fire, taking the unburned in the face before the rune ran out of essence. It wasn't enough to kill it, but both of its disgusting eyes popped, blinding the beast. His own eyes weren't working right either and a fuzziness covered the world, making it difficult to see. Still, he saw enough. The creature he'd just blinded was right in front of him and it was Vidar's turn to lunge.

He threw himself at the thing and wrapped his arms around it. The styrka rune did its business and drained it of essence while it still writhed in pain from Vidar's previous attack, but leaving his back open was something Vidar paid for, as the one now sole-surviving fiend bit into the back of his shoulder. It tugged, throwing Vidar off balance. He rolled, flailing, trying to grab the offending monster to drain it of essence and end this fight. But he didn't reach. The damned thing let go, darted back, and pounced again, digging its disgusting teeth into Vidar's ankle. Pain surged. Vidar could almost imagine the black sludge running through his body, the brute's venom messing with his mind and making him sluggish to act.

Again, the thing let go and ran back. Vidar transferred the new essence in the styrka rune to his hand, going for the stakra rune this time, but the darting beast was difficult to track, until it bit down again on Vidar's uninjured forearm. It was like it knew that it couldn't let the styrka rune touch it. The beast had a low sort of cunning.

Vidar didn't hesitate. He put his palm against the thing's neck and triggered the stakra rune. The weight of the creature lessened but did not disappear. Vidar looked down and saw its severed head still hanging from his arm. He'd decapitated it with that last stakra blast.

"I got you, you bastard," Vidar whispered, looking into its dead little eyes.

Lights swam in his vision, and the silent night was full of voices.

"By the fallen angels, what happened here?"

People. Vidar blinked. He hadn't imagined it. They surrounded him and helped him to his feet. One of them slid a piece of metal between the beast's teeth and pried its jaws open. Vidar cried out in pain when the head fell away but remained standing, propped up between two men. Everything blurred before his vision, but he managed to get one word out, no louder than a whisper.

"Monsters."

"Aye, lad, we can see that," a voice replied. "Looks like you got them all, but they sure did a number on you. Haven't seen anyone survive more than a nibble from an oozehound, and looks like they got ye good."

"I'm fine," Vidar managed to get out before a coughing fit took him, phlegm going everywhere. Even with his terrible vision, he could see the vile splattering on the snow. Black like their venom.

"Best bring him with us, at least," another voice said. "The lad deserves a proper burial after killing this many."

"How'd he do it?" a younger voice asked.

"Was he the one who burned down the house?" a female voice added.

The first one who'd spoken gave an answer, but not one that would satisfy any of the questions. "By the state of him, I don't think we'll ever know."

Vidar cleared his mouth and spit, then almost chuckled as he pressed another word out. "Runes."

"Rune scribe," someone choked out.

"We'll have to send word to the guild," the woman said.

Ignoring them all, Vidar looked inward and almost cried from relief. His heartwell had been empty, without a speck of dragon's essence remaining. Now, the tiniest sliver of rainbow-colored essence had regenerated. Even after drawing upon his well of power until it ran empty, the essence returned to him. It wasn't much, but it was something. As two burly men more than half-carried him across the fields, Vidar summoned every ounce of focus, forcing himself to penetrate the fog in his brain.

Little by little, he pulled on the dragon's essence, using it to expel the venom from his wounds.