Callisto

Jespar

Rain-Born waited in the darkness, eyes trained on the canyon floor that stretched before the mouth of her cave. The voices were getting nearer. Louder. But they spoke in Guthra tongue – their guttural, shrill language fit only for mongrels. She only recognized the agitation in their incessant barking. And there was something else. Something rattled against the ground. A charm, perhaps? Did they have a Shaman with them? If so, her quest would surely end prematurely. Rain-Born knew she could not hide from a Shaman's evil gaze. She crept forward, raising her bow, and nocked an arrow. A warrior's death was preferable to being destroyed by a Shaman's curse.

She saw them then in the middle of the canyon floor. Two. Both shouted something at the other. And there was something with them. A small four-legged creature, bound in rope, its mouth a massive maw of metal. Its skin was chalk white, starkly contrasting to the sunburned, dirt-caked Guthra that held it. Rain-Born recognized it as their captive when one of them struck its face with a balled fist, prompting it to fall to the ground before being ordered to rise and hobble after its masters. Such brutality inflicted on the creatures of the land was everyday practice for the Guthra, Rain-Born knew. Even so, she was enraged at seeing the pitiful beast beaten.

The party walked on, passed her cave, not seeing the huntress crouched within, and Rain-Born considered that, after all, she could merely allow them to pass by. With the luck of the Great Spirit on her side, she had made it to the edge of the canyon now. The marshes waited.

She fired her arrow.

She did not quite know what prompted her attack, for though hidden, she was outnumbered, and this time her aim faltered. Her target was struck in his tattooed chest, and he fell, clutching the arrow shaft and shouting at his friend. He pointed with ferocity at the cave. Directly at Rain-Born.

She nocked another arrow and loosed it just in time – for the second, Guthra was already running to the cave mouth with the speed of a hunter possessed, bellowing his ferocious battle cry and brandishing a gleaming cleaver thick with dried blood. Her arrow found his arm, and at once, he dropped his weapon but not his speed and in a moment later, he had made it to the cave and had pinned Rain-Born to the hard ground with his weight. Her bow skidded across the cave floor, and she immediately tried to grab her knife from her pack, but the Guthra held her arm with his good hand and used the other, still with an arrow lodged in its elbow, to grab a rock from the ground and bring it down on her face. He succeeded once, smashing it across Rain-Born's brow and drawing blood that splattered across the ground. She held up a hand to block his relentless attacks and weathered blow after blow as the rock came down on her till her hand was nothing more than a beaten, bloody pulp. Finally, she let it drop and saw the grizzled face of the Guthra, his teeth bared in a vicious smile, ready to deliver the killing blow.

He screamed – an animalistic and guttural sound - and fell beside her. Then teeth gleamed in the cave's darkness and found the Guthra's throat. They clenched down on the flesh of his unprotected neck, and the crimson liquid that was his life ran down their jagged edges. The Guthra struggled and convulsed, trying in vain to grab a chunk of the creature on top of him with his good hand. Then he gave a sudden jerk, twitched slightly, and his hand fell to the floor. Finally, his body stopped moving as his soul returned to the evil spirit that had brought it into this world.

Rain-Born stood, staggered slightly, and fell beside the cave wall. She avoided the creature before her; its fangs were an image of red death. It was a dog, she now realized, not some spiritual protector of the canyon as she had first thought. Though now the metal maw that had encased the beast's snout was removed, revealing a face that was long and irregular – almost cone-shaped, with ears that pointed up as though always listening. It rose from its fallen prey and fixed Rain-Born with its two beady eyes.