Teaser Flashback

Allel hadn't been ready for the attack. She was so busy watching the skies and listening for the telltale crack of an opened portal that she wasn't paying as much attention to her charge as she should have. A low growl was the only indication she had that something had invaded the room before the young Desmion began to scream. The screams stopped by the time Allel had reached the bed, and Desmion's blood coated the bed, her neck torn open.

A trio of creatures stood around the bed, pure white fur still dripping with the girl's blood. They looked like a cross between a wolf and a rabbit, though something had gone terribly wrong. They were all about the size of tigers. Their hind legs were taller and stronger than their fore legs, giving them an almost hunched over look. Their tails were long and thin, almost completely bone, twisted and broken in several places.

But the strangest feature by far was their heads. It looked like something had taken their heads and rearranged the features. The eyes were just slightly below the gaping maws of the creatures. The ears were long and as twisted and deformed as the tails were. They sat lower on the head than they should have been. As Allel watched, stunned, the heads twitched with a cracking noise.

They stared at her for a bit, as if contemplating what to do with her. Allel could see a dark intelligence behind those eyes. Then largest of them picked up Desmion's limp body and turned to go.

Allel snapped. She refused to believe that Desmion was dead. She wasn't going to lose another of her charges. She was either going to get Desmion back, or die trying. She didn't remember much of the fight after she drew her staff and dealt the first blow. She wasn't even sure how she killed the first two of the creatures. All she knew was that with each of their deaths, she grew stronger. By the time it was just Allel and the biggest one, she had regained her senses.

It lowered its head and dropped Desmion. Whatever it was taking her for, it didn't want her body to be damaged anymore than it was. It faced Allel. I didn't look angry that she had killed two of its kind. It didn't look annoyed either. It almost looked sad. Its throat moved as if it was going to speak, but no sound came out.

"You give her back to me." Allel said, knowing full well that it could understand her. It shook its head, and leapt.

Allel ducked and quickly thrust the end of the staff up and into the beast's throat, stopping its lunge short. Hot blood rained down, burning her hands. Its oddly placed eyes swiveled to look at her, sending chills down Allel's spine. It was unnatural. It shouldn't be able to look at her where she was. With a sigh the full weight of the beast fell on her. She felt as it breathed its last breath, as its heart slowed and eventually stopped.
She struggled to get out from under the creature. As she pushed herself out, the only thought in her mind was how soft its fur was. Where it wasn't covered in blood at least. And then her mind caught up with her actions.

"Desmion!" She ran around the creature's body to get to where the body had been dropped. Before she got past its head, though, she fell to her knees. Desmion was sitting up, rubbing her eyes as if she had just woken up. There was nothing to show that she had been hurt. No blood on her body, no wound in her neck. She look confused when she found herself on the floor, but shrugged and crawled back into bed.

As Allel breathed a heavy sigh of relief, the sound of tearing flesh reached her ears. Before she could turn around, a hot stab of pain ran down her right arm. The beast's head had separated itself from the body, and now its mouth was clamped around her hand. Its fang had run down her arm and stabbed right through her palm.

She screamed and called for help, though she was sure that all of the other Storytellers had gone already and no one in the house could hear her. She couldn't do anything else. She was exhausted, and her staff was still with the body. The creature's head was still again, the last bit of fight in it gone, finally truly dead.

Eventually, Sarah came back to look for her, worried that she hadn't returned to the Forest. She freed an unconscious Allel from the creature's jaw and dragged her back to the Forest to care for the wound. Somewhere along the way Allel had woken up and told Sarah not to mention the creature, to say she got her injuries fighting an Incubus. Sarah agreed, more concerned for her friend's health than telling stories anyway.

Allel thanked her, and fell back into a pain filled dream world.