Chapter 19

Kevin had his pistol out and was pointing it directly at the Raven while the other men fanned out behind him, rifles at the ready, but looking exhausted. For his part, the Raven seemed unperturbed, but the same could not be said for his two companions. The woman had an arrow notched and pointed at Hughes while the dogman, or whatever he was, had lifted his blood stained muzzle from his recent kill and was now growling audibly at Kevin and the others. Before Olivia was even halfway down the steep rock face laying between her and the standoff devolving in her absence, things went south.

The muzzled man lurched over the still dying body of his prey and came for Kevin, fangs bared and claws spread wide. It was a blessing that the others were still sluggish from their earlier ordeal and that Kevin himself was limited to his bad arm, because otherwise it might have been a bloodbath. Instead, the four men had been caught off guard and not a shot was fired as the Raven intercepted his charging former ally. Using the thing’s momentum against it, the Raven stepped squarely into the dog-man's path and tossed the fur covered form to the ground violently. Before the vicious creature could react, the Raven had delivered a hard blow behind its ear, sending it slumping unconscious into the sand.

Olivia reached the ground just as the dog-faced man did and she rushed towards the others as the Raven turned to the woman and said, “Lower your weapon. These are not enemies of ours.”

“They do not look overly friendly,” the woman said in a husky voice. Up close, she was even odder looking than the Raven. Her legs were bent at an angle that looked both alien and painful, though their function was clear enough. They were thickly muscled and ended in wide padded feet and it was not hard for Olivia to understand how this woman had been propelling herself through the air during the earlier fight. As she had suspected, the mask was much like the Raven’s, though it was less of a helmet than the Raven’s headpiece and only covered her nose, eyes, forehead and the small bit of skull between her long, thin ears. The face of the mask was stylized as well; four eye holes, with four accompanying eyes, sat above a clearly carved nose and two long teeth that dipped down over her exposed lower jaw. This stylization, along with the ears and legs, made this woman’s resemblance to a rabbit impossible to miss. She expected the Order boys back home would lose their shit over her, but for now all Olivia cared about was whether this woman would see sense or react like the other newbie had.

“We mean you no harm,” Olivia said, trying to keep her voice steady as she joined the others. “We know the Raven. He’s been living with us.”

“Living with them eh?” the woman said, though she sounded more amused than upset.

“In a manner of speaking,” the Raven said. “Much has changed since the last time we walked in this place. We are going to need allies if we wish to remain here as we once did.”

“I can see that,” the woman said, looking Olivia and the others up and down.

“Where the fuck did you go?” Hughes cut in, shooting Olivia a look that was probably meant to remind her who was in charge, as he addressed the Raven. “And who the hell are these two?”

“I can explain,” the Raven said, “but not here. We are not safe in this place. The leader of these Anaye still lurks among these rocks, I am sure of it. He will not let us leave without making himself known. Their kind have suffered too great a humiliation today for him to let us depart unmolested.”

“Lovely. They coming with us?” Kevin asked, gesturing towards the woman and the unconscious figure on the ground. The man was clearly irate, but at least he seemed ready to let bygones be bygones until they got out of this mess.

“Are we?” the woman asked the Raven, her bow string still taught and arrow still aimed at Kevin’s head.

“I am,” the Raven said, “though I do not think we should bring this one,” the Raven added, kicking the unconscious form at his feet. “He is not like us.” He was saying this to the long eared woman exclusively it seemed. “He should never have been brought here. He is not ready.”

“He is one of us,” the woman responded, “and I didn’t bring him. He was scouting out the gate before I got there and once the Anaye showed up too, I figured it was better to work together than risk missing my chance to find you.”

“Not here,” the Raven said quickly, but Olivia hadn’t missed it. They had planned to meet here. That was worth remembering if the Raven tried to lie his way around that slip up later.

“I thought you said they were friends,” the woman said, though she lowered her bow as she said so. “Not very close friends it seems.” Walking over to Hughes, who only lowered his pistol when she’d gotten within a few feet of him, she said, “The last time I was here, your people called me Rabbit. You may do the same if it suits you, or you can use my true name, Ghat-soh.” The Raven’s eyes widened at this, though he said nothing.

“Kevin Hughes,” Kevin said almost begrudgingly. “I’d love to exchange pleasantries, but we need to move. My men are in piss poor shape and I’d like to get out of this pit before this last Anaye, or whatever you called it, finds us. And if the Raven doesn’t trust your pal, I am not taking him with us,” he added, pointing at the figure that had charged him moments before.

“We cannot leave him here to wake alone,” the Raven said. “He would be no friend to your kind.”

“Well I will not allow you to execute him,” Ghat-soh said, her arms crossed as she stared down the Raven.

“Make a decision fast,” Hughes growled, watching the two masked figures standing off with more annoyance than awe in his voice.

“We must take him or kill him,” the Raven said flatly to the woman.

“Then we must take him,” the woman responded. “You forget your own early days, Raven. He is suffering as we all suffered. I will not abandon him to madness and I will not exacerbate his condition by sending him back so soon.”

“Will you take responsibility for him and do what is necessary if he forces your hand?” the Raven asked her.

“What makes you think I would not?” she asked coldly, rising up on her odd legs so that she was now a full foot taller than the Raven.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“We bring him then,” the Raven said, walking away from the woman as if he hadn’t cared how their argument turned out either way.

“No way,” Hughes said, shaking his head. “That thing came right for me. Not happening. Way too risky.”

“All of us or none of us,” the Raven said, stopping before Kevin so that the beak of his mask was inches from Kevin’s nose. He had a bad habit of doing this to people and Olivia still wasn’t sure if it was some sort of intimidation tactic or if it was just a side-effect of having that awful thing stuck on his head all the time.

“I can drug him up,” Olivia offered. She didn’t know how effective this would be, but she wanted to get moving. If there was one more of these things lurking around, standing here in the open wasn’t a good call. “I have morphine in my medical bag. Should conk him out until we get back.”

“Should is not good enough,” Kevin said.

“Why wouldn’t it work?” Noah wheezed from behind her. Apparently he’d made it down alright after all.

“We have two cars,” Olivia said, ignoring the exhausted man behind her. “He can ride in mine and you can ride in the other.”

“Oh and I guess we’ll just get two planes as well?” Kevin scoffed.

“You want to tell Wynters we left the Raven and two of his allies out in the desert because you were afraid to ride on a plane with them? Margaret will handle the logistics of getting him back and I’ll handle the sedation between here and there. All you need to do is let it happen.” She didn’t like going toe to toe with Kevin like this, she liked the man just fine most of the time, but this was a no-brainer for her. They needed as much help as they could get and more of this kind of help wasn’t going to come often.

Especially without the Raven.

“You sure you can keep him under til we get back?” Hughes asked after a moment.

“I’ll make sure of it,” she said. So far these things had been similar enough anatomically to them, so she didn't see why it wouldn't work. Plus, they had the Raven and this Ghat-soh woman with them now, so she didn’t see what Kevin was so worked up about.

“If he wakes, we will handle it,” Ghat-soh said, as if reading Olivia's mind.

“Fuck it then,” Kevin said. “Let's get moving. This is on you if he wakes up and blows our cover, or worse,” he added to Olivia as he took point.

“You sure about this, man?” Hector asked as he joined Kevin and Olivia.

“Ellis is right,” Hughes said. “Wynters will want all of them if they’re willing to come. No sense going back only to get sent out after them again.”

Hector didn’t look happy, but he kept quiet as the Raven and Ghat-soh hefted their companion’s lifeless body between them. Soon the odd assembly was headed into the tunnels. The Raven seemed to know the way out, so he and Ghat-soh had traded places with Kevin and led the way despite their unwieldy burden. It took them maybe an hour to leave the mass of rock behind, but they managed it without incident and were headed back to their cars as the sun began to set.

“He’s found us,” the long eared woman said suddenly. She and the Raven dropped their ally unceremoniously to the hard ground as they looked off into the desert in the direction of the cars.

“What are we looking at?” Olivia asked, peering out into the dusk. She could definitely see something in the distance, but nothing definite yet. Lifting her gun, she put the advancing figure in her sights and waited for a response.

“The master of the creatures you killed,” the Raven said. “He is a formidable warrior, but I doubt he anticipated his servants would be dealt with so quickly. We will deal with him.”

“Leave this to us,” Ghat-soh nodded in agreement, notching an arrow to her short, curved bow as she did so.

“Guns at the ready,” Hughes said, though everyone but Noah already had their guns trained on the approaching figure. Olivia suppressed a grin as she watched Noah scramble to ready his own weapon and join the others.

Turning her attention away from Noah, Olivia watched as the large figure grew closer. It was a humanoid, that much she could tell, though it was riding a large animal of some kind. As it got within firing distance, it picked up speed and Olivia took aim as the creature rushed towards them. The man, such as he was, was far larger than a normal human and had two faces squeezed side by side on his single, blocky head. He was shirtless, his muscles standing out in the failing sun, though he wore a kilt of animal pelts and his head was adorned with brightly colored feathers and gemstones. His steed was not a horse, but some sort of predator that had the heft of a bear, but the features and build of some type of saber-toothed cat. Skidding to a halt just shy of them, this imposing figure shouted at them using both of his large mouths.

“Fools! Who are you that dare to stand against me?!``The man’s voice seemed to hit Olivia with actual force and she was forced to take a few steps back as his words buffeted their small party.

“You should never have come here, demon,” the Raven said, short stone blades drawn and a dangerous edge to his already ominous voice.

“You!” the thing screamed as if it had only just noticed the masked man standing in their midst. “You have sided with these weaklings? Against your own kind!” The growing fury in this thing’s voice made Olivia have to dig her heels into the sand to avoid stumbling backwards again. “I will send you back Deceiver! I will wipe your memory from this place and then find you again upon my return, so I can finish you for good. You will know a never ending suffering at my hands you traitorous…”

The shot shocked Olivia as it cut the menacing man’s tirade short. Kevin Hughes strode forward, parting the Raven and Ghat-soh as he did so, pistol raised in his good hand. His first shot had struck the man’s steed square between the eyes, killing it instantly and dumping the two faced creature forward into the sand. Pushing himself up to see who had dared attack him, Hughes sent a second shot through the leftmost of the man’s faces.

“You dare!” the remaining face screeched at Kevin’s advancing form, but the power of its voice had been broken and Hughes’ approached the thing without so much as a hint of fear.

“Shut the fuck up,” Kevin growled as he put a third bullet in the second face. “Mutherfucker has some kick,” Kevin said, holstering his weapon and shaking his wrist. “Can’t say the same for him though,” he added, nodding towards the now dead man and his steed. “Too fucking chatty.”

“My kind have much to learn about this place,” the Raven said. “We aren’t used to the prey fighting back.”

“No idea what the hell that’s supposed to mean,” Kevin said, spitting into the sand, “but hopefully you all don’t learn too quickly. I’ll take mouthy and dead over the alternative any day.”

“What did we just witness?” Ghat-soh asked the Raven as they picked up their companion from the dirt and walked past the corpse Kevin seemed content to leave a few miles from the road. Olivia knew these things didn’t last long in their world once they’d been killed, but this was still a little too sloppy for her liking.

“A great new leveler,” the Raven said. “We have much to learn from them. They could change everything.”

The woman said nothing to this and the team made the rest of their journey back to the cars in silence, though Olivia had plenty to think about as they moved through the darkening desert landscape. When they finally reached the vans, Kevin reactivated his phone and called Margaret as the Raven and Ghat-soh loaded the trunk with their unconscious friend. As Olivia gave the muzzled creature a heavy dose of sedative meant to keep him out cold for the foreseeable future, she watched the team loading the cars with gear and waiting for instructions from base. They all looked exhausted and most wore marks of their near brushes with death out in that maze of rock, but they were all alive and well, a miracle considering how things could have gone.

Finishing her work, she locked her patient in the back of the van and leaned heavily against the back door as she took a short breather. She hoped this was the last time Wynters let something like this happen. If not, this was likely the beginning of the end of Olivia’s time with the EDTF.