Fast

By Michael Butz

Ghostly figures danced before Erm as he walked down the well worn path, jumping to and fro between the surrounding bushes.  Laughter like the crackling of a raging fire echoed all around him burrowing deep within his mind.  As the demons flew they took pleasure as they toyed with Erm, making him hear things that weren’t there, and see things that made him want to scream.  The bushes would shake violently around him, or the ground would even drop from underneath only to be replaced for him to crash hard into it.  

He was eight days into his Seh’tal, naming journey starved and worn from little sleep.  After his training in the Kiree Ring the na’Sehn had sent him on his way without food or water, only with the instruction to go without.  On the third night the ability to sleep left him taking with it the hunger pangs that wracked his belly.  In their stead came the black apparitions that loved tormenting him so.

He hoped that the shadows that had been pursuing him for the past five days had finally ceased.  They appeared much less frequently until the day before when they seemed to stop all together.  They had left him alone the previous night, but unfortunately they returned with the morning sun, dancing in the trail ahead while taunting him with their cackling laughter.

Swirling around him the ghosts gained momentum, circling ever closer.  About to overcome him the phantoms suddenly vanished when a shrill cry rang through the forest.  Looking up Erm saw a massive raven roosting on a little girl’s shoulder.  In the center of the dirt worn trail the girl stood with two yearling oaks on either side of her, and the thick bush seemed to retreat from her.  She looked five or six winters old; silver blonde hair concealed the girls face, draping over a pale gray dress hiding her tiny figure. 

The raven gave another hollowed cry, as it fluttered its wings.  A look of death marked its eyes.  Standing speechless Erm wanted to say something, but lacked the breath.  Giving another flap the raven loosed a piercing cry.  The girl raised her head, parting her hair to reveal a milky complexioned face with soft features.  She had but one colorless eye; the other had been gouged out leaving a wrinkled scar.

As the bird leaped into the air it dove towards Erm filling his sight with a dark cloud of feathers.  When his sight cleared both the girl and raven were gone.  A large black feather now lay where the girl had stood.  Erm stood up, and as he reached down to retrieve the feather the chilling laughter of children echoed through the surrounding forest.

Erm stood staring at the feather in his hand wondering what had just happened.  Then for some unbeknownst reason he reached up and tied the feather in a lock of his dark curly hair.  It just seemed like the right thing to do.  The urge to continue on washed over him, forcing his feet to carry him forwards.

As his feet dragged him along, Erm noticed the sun was directly overhead.  It had been shortly after dawn when the little girl with the raven had appeared.  All of a sudden he realized he was in the thick of the woods standing at the base of the largest oak he had ever seen.

Erm looked around hysterically trying to find the trail he had been on a moment ago.  He stopped when his eyes came to rest on a large rehtor.  A frightened chill ran down his spine.  Its head was nearly waist high with a large black crest of feathers.  Deep brown spotted feathers covered its body with a white plume of feathers for its chest. 

Spreading its arms out the bird seemed to rake at the air with long, spindly fingers showing off his claws and white under feathers.  Bringing in its arms the rehtor clicked its mussel and teeth as it let out an ululating cry similar to that of a turkey’s.  Scrapping at the ground with its feet the bird extended the large talon of each foot and looked Erm straight in the eye.

Laughter from behind took his attention away from the rehtor.  He spun around to see a middle-aged woman garbed in a plain gray dress.  Long silver blonde hair framed a milky white smooth face missing the same eye as the girl he had seen earlier.  The remaining eye was colorless as well.  A woman’s laughter echoed throughout the forest.

The chortle from the rehtor eventually turned into a shrill cry drawing Erm’s attention away from the woman.  Only halfway around he saw the rehtor pounce on him, filling his vision with a cloud of white feathers as he fell to the ground.  When his sight cleared he looked around stunned that he was still alive.

Both the rehtor and woman were gone and the laughter echoing around the forest had gone with them.  Where the woman had been standing now lay a large dark brown feather spotted with white.  Erm found himself picking up the feather and tying it into his hair on the same strand as the raven’s feather.

Erm took his hands from his hair and noticed the world had become faded.  Taking a closer look he saw that the forest was shrouded in the twilight of dusk, and saw that he was no longer standing at the feet of a mighty oak, but among tall greenery on the bank of a large creek. 

Straining his eyes Erm looked across the water to see on the opposite bank an old woman kneeling with back arced, and wrinkly face staring up into the sky.  Silver hair fell down over a plain gray dress that bunched up around her knees.  On her shoulder a spotted red eagle roosted, staring him straight in the eye.

The old crone lowered her head as the eagle cried out.  She revealed a face as gnarled as an ancient oak, and was missing the same eye as the woman and child before, with the remaining eye just as colorless.  Another cry came from the eagle as it leapt from the woman’s shoulder and swooped across the water, the shrill laughter of an old woman followed behind.

Erm’s sight was filled with red as the talons closed on his face, and when his vision cleared he found himself back on the trail, holding a bright brown feather spotted with black and white.  Quickly he added it to the collection in his hair.

Then his arms gave out falling to his sides.  Erm’s muscles ceased to respond further, and he fell heavily to the ground.  As his eyelids began to gain weight he thought he saw a mamut walking out from the rising sun ahead of him as darkness overcame him.