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"SPEAK!" he shouted at her. "Tell me if you are real or a phantom of the fog or I shall cut down this wolf that you once held so dear!"
Finn rose and pulled out his sword. Aein held up her hands to stop him. "I am real!" she said. "I am real..."
Lord Arnkell lowered his blade. He wiped his face with his hand. "Thank the gods. Oh thank the gods our prayers have been answered!"
But Finn was not ready to believe they were the answer to anyone's prayer, much less Lord Arnkell. He spun the hilt of his sword to adjust his grip, keeping the tip up and ready to fight. "Just let us go with our friend and we shall leave you forever..." warned Finn.
"No!" said Lord Arnkell, panicking. "NO! You cannot leave! You cannot leave us to these... these... things!"
Finn glanced back at Aein in confusion.
"What things?" asked Aein slowly.
"There are monsters," said Lord Arnkell, waving his sword out at the swamps. "There are monsters everywhere. We retreated here. It is the only place they cannot enter. We keep trying to leave the swamp, but the fog... the fog won't let us. It keeps turning our feet and we keep ending up here. Why won't it let us leave?"
Lars whimpered and she realized that while Lord Arnkell may not have set a trap for them, they were trapped nonetheless.
"What do you mean?" asked Finn.
Lord Arnkell seemed terrified and weak. Dark circles ringed his eyes and his face looked haggard and old. Aein realized it was the first time in his life he had not been in control. This was the first time he wasn't surrounded by people who were ready to make his nightmares go away. He had never been to the swamp before, never faced the fog, never seen the creatures of the border. He always sent someone else to do it. And for whatever reason, the swamp decided to give him a full taste of what he missed. He motioned impotently with his sword. "You have got to get us out of here."
"Why should we help you?" asked Aein.
"Because there are monsters here," explained Lord Arnkell, his eyes wild, "just like my father once warned me. They are coming through the border and soon the swamp will overtake the land. The edges are already shifting. It will eat up everything my family has fought for, just as the prophesies foretold. We have to stop these creatures before they get out. None of us will survive if we don't stop them." He threw aside his sword and fell against Finn, grabbing him by the shirt and begging on his knees. "We have been fighting the creatures of the swamp since the day we arrived. Since the moment we arrived! You must save me. I shall go mad!"
"You mean like you left Lars here in the swamp to go mad?" Aein reminded him.
"I was wrong..." blubbered Lord Arnkell. "I was a fool and didn't know..."
"I should run you through where you stand," said Finn, his words cold and impartial.
"You need me as much as I need you," warned Lord Arnkell. "Just try to get back to the edge of the swamp. Just try. You'll see. You'll be picked off by harpies. Eaten by ogres. Set on fire by chimera. The swamp will never let you leave. There is only strength in numbers. Help me get out and I will help you get out, I promise."
"We will part ways the moment we reach the edge of the swamp?" said Aein.
"I promise," said Lord Arnkell, bobbing his head. "I promise you whatever you want. What do you want? Gold? Land? It is yours. Name your price."
Anything, Aein thought. She had gone from orphaned kitchen wench to reviled pariah to having her lord and master beg at her feet. She could ask him for anything in the world and he would make it hers. She looked at Lars and Finn. There was only one thing she wanted. "You shall call an immediate peace with the Haidra Kingdom and cease this war," said Aein.
"It is yours," he promised, desperately. "I swear it! It shall be the first thing I do."
Aein walked to Lars and placed her hand on his harness.
"Don't!" shouted Lord Arnkell. "He will attack you! They have all turned and attacked!"
Aein put her hand upon the buckles, her eyes never leaving the face of Lord Arnkell, just challenging him to stop her. He did not move a muscle. Aein released the harness and it fell to the ground with a clank. Lars got up, shaking his fur. And then he began to growl and advance upon Lord Arnkell.
Lord Arnkell fell back, tripping over himself and falling to the ground. "I told you! He is wild! He will kill us all! Strike him down!"
There was something about Lord Arnkell's fear, about his powerlessness, which delighted Aein. She should not have felt such joy to see him so weak, but she loved it. She loved watching him grovel and squirm and cry like a frightened child. There was a voice inside of her which seemed to whisper that she should command Lars to attack, she should let Lord Arnkell feel the pain he had inflicted on others and experience the fate he had doomed his people to.
And then she felt a hand upon her shoulder.
"Look down, Aein," Finn said calmly.
She glanced at her feet. The fog had breached the clearing. It wrapped itself around her ankles like shackles, chaining her to her hatred, and dooming Lars to memories of murder.
"Come back, Lars," she commanded.
The werewolf bared his teeth at Aein and snarled.
"Remember who I am," she said. "The fog is making you forget."
Lars continued to growl, but it was softer. It lacked the violence of his earlier threat. The removal of the silver and the pain which remained was tapping into his wildest survival instincts. But he was listening.
"Lars," said Aein. "The fog will try and trap us in the swamp. It is hiding the path. It wants us to destroy one another. It wants to keep us here for itself. Resist it, Lars."
A noise came from behind Lord Arnkell, a roar and the sound of battle cries.
"It's coming closer," he whispered, shaking in fear. "We need to go now."
"This way," said Finn, stepping into the water.
Lord Arnkell grabbed Finn's dripping sleeve. "NO! There are creatures in there ..."
"The road is blocked by a girtablilu," said Finn, shaking him off and pointing out what seemed like the obvious. "We shall die if we go that way. This is the only way out." He waded in deeper and Aein moved to join him. The sooner they left the swamp the better.
"Stop!" Lord Arnkell cried. "Do you think we have not tried? Do you think we have not attempted to get out that way? The moment you set foot in the water and head in any direction other than deeper into the swamp, the monsters will come for you. The fog will let you in, but it will not let you out. I left with one-hundred men, half of them werewolves. They are dead. Every one. That thing which looks like a scorpion is finishing off the last of them now. Not even my wolves survived. They found a way to snap their silver harnesses and killed one another.”
“The wolves can’t be killed except by silver or dismemberment,” said Aein.
“Can’t?” Lord Arnkell laughed madly. “There is no such thing as ‘can’t’ here. They are dead. They killed one another, as viciously as rabid dogs. And now those strong enough to win are out there waiting for us, hiding in the shadows. They have hunted us, picking us off, one by one. We must fight our way out through the road."
The water around where Finn was standing began to ripple. Aein felt her mouth go dry. Finn saw it, too.
"Finn..." said Aein, holding out her hand to him. "Come to me."
Lars began to whine.
"This is what always happens," said Lord Arnkell as he backed up.
The surface of the water began to boil with air bubbles.
"FINN!" Aein cried.
He leapt as the jaws of a gigantic eel snapped right where he had been standing. The creature was the size of a cart. Finn hacked at it as it chased him to the bank of the clearing. The eel threw itself out of the water and onto the land, swiping Finn with its head and knocking him down. Finn's sword clattered out of his hand. Without a pause, Lars charged the eel and landed on its head, biting its eyes. The eel slithered backwards, flailing as it tried to throw Lars off, but the wolf had dug his teeth in deep. There was a crackling and popping sound. Fingers of lightning spread from the eel across the water. The heat singed the air. Lars's body convulsed and the eel tossed him aside before sliding away into the liquid depths of the swamp.
Heart in her throat, Aein ran to Lars's side. "He's breathing," she announced with relief as she stroked his head.
Finn rolled to his knees and grabbed his fallen sword. He used it to push himself up from the ground.
"This is what I am trying to tell you!" yelled Lord Arnkell, waving his hands impotently at where the sea monster disappeared.
"You win," said Finn, wincing as he limped over to Lars. "We'll stay away from the water."
Lars's eyes began to flutter open. "Thank the gods," said Aein, burying her face in his neck. His fur was crisp and smelled burned.
Finn reached down and rested his hand on the wolf's shoulder. "Too tough to die, that's what you are, Lars. When the balladeers sing your praises, it will be a song about that time you wrestled lightning and not even the gods could steal your thunder."
Lars rolled himself to standing with the panic of a downed animal. Though he was shaky, he kept his feet. He seemed completely uninterested in the praise of his brave deeds. He kept circling the clearing until the stunned look left his eyes.
The battle outside the clearing suddenly stopped. Lord Arnkell paled, rubbing his arm. "It is done. That creature has killed the last of my men."
There was a clacking sound on the road outside the clearing, and the boards groaned as if under a great weight. They all stood silent, not even daring to breathe, until it passed them and the noise faded to nothing.
"It's gone," whispered Lord Arnkell. "We need to leave before it comes back. We need to leave now."
Aein and Finn locked eyes and came to a silent decision. Queen Gisla commanded that if all was lost, to choose to hold the border. But it was time to acknowledge that this situation was well beyond the means of their army of three. Their deaths would be meaningless. The border was lost. Aein turned to Lars. "Can you lead us out?" she asked.
Though Lars eyed Lord Arnkell like he would rather make him lunch than help him, the wolf walked out of the clearing, sniffing the air for anything that might be in the shadows. Though Aein had her small knife, she realized she was going to need more. There was a stained and dirty sword next to one of the abandoned bedrolls. She picked it up. She might not be able to wield it well, but at least it was something. Finn found a discarded chainmail shirt and pulled it over his clothes. Lord Arnkell ran to one of the lanterns and held it to his chest, as if terrified to stand anywhere but in the protection of its light.
Lars gave a soft bark and Aein interpreted it as a sign the coast was clear. The remaining three walked out onto the wooden road. Immediately, they were shrouded in mist. There was a faint glow from the lantern, but she could not even see the shadows of the others. Aein brought her fingers up in front of her face. She saw nothing but fog.
"Grab onto one another," she instructed. Aein reached down and rested her hand on Lars's back, then Finn’s hand rested on hers. "Everyone together?"
"I'm here," said Finn.
"And I," added the shaky voice of Lord Arnkell.
They walked on without a word. The fog pressed down and played the last sounds of the battle with the girtablilu. She heard Lord Arnkell stifle a terrified sob. She hoped his guards' screams of terror haunted his dreams.
Suddenly, she felt Finn trip and his hand left her. "Finn? Are you all right?" she asked. She searched the fog for him, but the moon's light could not pierce the gray.
"I'm here," he said.
She breathed deep. He grunted and placed his hand back where it had been. She told her heart to stop beating like it was about to pound out of her chest. But then she realized it was not Finn behind her. The angle of the hand was wrong. It was too big. It came from a shoulder too tall. The fingertips had claws which tested her shoulder to figure out how thick her protection was. And the answer was she was not protected at all.
Without a word of warning, Aein took her blade and swung it against the arm. There came an inhuman scream. The arm fell to the ground. It was smooth like it was made from amphibian skin and it bled a tar-like substance.
"What was that?" she heard Finn cry from off in the distance.
"You are not following me!" warned Aein, striking out again and hitting something that sounded hollow like resin or wood. She could not see what it was. It was a glancing blow, nothing that could do any damage. It had been too long since she held a heavy sword and the sharp edge of the blade was wrong in her hand.
The furry body of Lars rushed past her thigh, his dog-like battle cry in his throat, snarling as he attacked whatever was in the mist. There was the ring of metal striking something hard and roars coming from the direction of Finn's voice. The mist parted just enough to show what was behind her.
It was the girtablilu.
It had been a trap.
The creature had pretended to go away to lure them out of the clearing.
His pointed, scorpion-like feet clattered on the wooden planks like hail. He was the color of midnight, his skin was slick and oily. Where she had cut off his arm, another was already growing in its place. Aein dodged to one side as his scorpion tail pierced the mist to strike her, hitting the ground directly where she had stood, then raised up to strike again. Lars leapt at the girtablilu and hung on. The creature's pincer-like front legs were snapping at Aein, but paused as the human half of the girtablilu took Lars by the scruff of his neck and threw him into the swamp. Lars struck a tree with a sickening crunch. Aein prayed that the water would not begin to ripple and boil.
The girtablilu advanced on Aein, claws clacking as he swiped at her, trying to cut her in two. She held the sword in two hands wondering how on earth she could kill this thing. She struck him again and again, but his armor was tougher than any steel. The only point of weakness was his upper torso and he would not let her near enough to strike him again.
Lars appeared out of nowhere and landed upon the girtablilu's back. The girtablilu began dancing in circles, trying to reach behind himself to grab the werewolf. The creature's venomous stinger struck Lars, burying itself deep in his pelt, again and again. Lars bled, but he did not let go, tearing at the creature's backbone with his powerful jaws.
And then the girtablilu struck out once more and missed, and when he missed, he struck himself instead. His stinger pierced his own back with such force, the tip went clean through and emerged in the front. The creature's face was puzzled as he looked down. His legs collapsed beneath him and he fell to one side, twitching.
And that was when Aein saw this monster had another weakness. On his underside where all the plates of his insect-like skeleton met, there was a soft spot, a spot which she might be able to pierce.
Lars was panting and wobbly. Even though he was immortal in wolf form, he needed time to recover, for his body to expel the venom injected into him.
A high-pitched scream pierced the air, coming from the direction of Finn and Lord Arnkell. She ran into the darkness towards the sound, hoping it was not the fog leading her in the wrong direction. Ahead, she saw the dim light from the lamp that Lord Arnkell had been carrying.
They were fighting another girtablilu, but this one's torso was shaped like a woman. Both Finn and Lord Arnkell were weary, unable to get inside its defenses. Aein dropped her sword and pulled the silver knife from her waistband.
"RUN!" Aein shouted as she came towards them.
Lord Arnkell picked up the lantern and headed one way. Finn ran the other. But Aein ran full tilt towards the girtablilu. The creature was distracted, not sure which one to follow. Aein fell onto her side and let the momentum carry her as she slid beneath it. The creature lifted its legs, sensing something wasn't right. But it was too late. With all her strength, Aein jammed the silver knife into the weak spot and prayed it worked.
The girtablilu let out a screeching cry and fell to its side, its legs scrabbling to reach the blade like a dying spider. Suddenly, Finn was there, grabbing Aein beneath her armpits and hauling her away from the sharp feet to safety. They stood, breath heaving as they watched the creature die. Aein was aware of Lars limping towards her and leaning against her body. She rested her hand on his fur until the girtablilu gasped and exhaled its last breath.
Silence fell over them as the fog began to thin.
She reached out to Finn. "Are you okay?" she asked.
He nodded, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. "I'll live."
Aein suddenly looked around, realizing they had lost one member of their party. "Where is Lord Arnkell?"
It was at that moment an eerie light filled the fog. It flickered golden and the wet mist was replaced with the smell of smoke and the sound of crackling wood.
Aein locked eyes with Finn in terror. They raced towards the flames.
They reached the edge of the swamp and ground to a halt. Lord Arnkell had dashed the lamp upon the boards, and the oil caught the ancient wood like paper. Lord Arnkell had set the road on fire, trapping them inside. It was what they had all been trained to do if the border was ever breached. The bog surrounding the swamp would not allow any creature to pass. They had witnessed its grip the moment that time the horse had fallen off the road.
Lord Arnkell stood at the far end of the burn, his figure wavering in the heat.
The darkness of the night was beginning to lift as the sun began to rise.
"I'll tell everyone to burn their roads to contain the creatures of the swamp! I'll tell that queen of yours that you perished to save my life!" shouted Lord Arnkell. "The balladeers will sing songs of you three and how you led to my return! You are responsible for the glorious revolution I shall bring!" he shouted, holding his sword up high. "May your death be quick and painless!"
Aein, Finn, and Lars watched him as he walked away. They stood there watching him until the fire forced them back and they had to retreat into the swamp.
They ran in front of the flame, the road falling behind them into the water, leaping over the bodies of the creatures they had slain to save that traitorous man.
They reached the sacred clearing just as the sun rose and watched as the fire consumed the road just beyond the entrance. The soot and smoke brought tears of pain to Aein's eyes.
But the swamp did not burn. Only the road which would let them out.
Lars shifted back to himself, whole and healthy once again. He stood, facing Finn and Aein. He was terrified. He knew what it meant to be trapped in the swamp. He knew what madness would meet them here. He knew that within weeks, they would all be begging for death.
"What do we do?" he asked, unable to keep his voice steady.
Finn tried to infuse them with strength before the sun rose and stole his human form. "We travel to the Haidra Kingdom through the swamp and we warn Queen Gisla that now Lord Arnkell has abandoned the border. Her war with him is now the least of her worries." But his words, for the first time, rang hollow.
Aein stared out into the swamp’s forest, a land filled not just with the dangers that came across the border, but the wild werewolves who had rebelled against Lord Arnkell. Just beyond the clearing, the fog waited for them.
But it was at that moment, a hawk landed in a tree. He cocked his head and fixed his eyes upon Aein. There was intelligence there. The vision of Cook Bolstad filled her mind and his request, something so important he reached through the veil of death to ask her: to seek him out. Had he known secrets about the swamp no one else was aware of? Did he know these birds that watched them? Was there something else besides monsters here?
"The border is not abandoned," she said. "It must always be held by two, and by my count, we have three." She reached out to both Lars and Finn, grasping each of their hands in hers. "We travel to the Haidra Kingdom and we hold the border, just as the guard has always done. We survive."
The hawk flew a few branches away, as if beckoning her to follow.
"Besides," Aein added watching the creature. "I do not believe we are entirely alone."