Sosa looked into Arella`s eyes. They begged for something she could not give. Even when convulsions broke the stare, Sosa stayed pinned. The room stank of blood and bowels. A puddle of gore spread towards her father but he was frozen, unable to get away or to help. Arella was beyond help. Rem`s shaking hands clutched his sister, slipping over the blood that slicked her skin, unable to save her, unable to soothe her.

　　Arella?` he whispered. Her mouth was locked open as if her scream was too big to escape. Korassi moved first, and jammed her iron spear into the centre of Arella`s chest. Every muscle went taut. Korassi ripped it out in a jet of blood and Arella collapsed in motionless relief.

　　What did you do?` Rem roared, rising from the floor, his hands and arms dripping, face spattered with the remains of his sister. He turned from where her torn body steamed. What did you do?` He tried to grab Korassi, but she skipped back out of range.

　　Talon lunged after him, trying to get hold of blood slicked shoulders.

　　She killed her.` Rem turned to his friend. Look what she did,` and his legs buckled dumping him at his sisters side, kneeling in her blood.

　　She didn`t.` Talon took Rem gently and pulled him close. She was already dead, Rem, it wasn`t Korassi. It wasn`t Korassi.`

　　Rainwater dripped through the hatchway in the roof and was carried away by carved channels in the floor which now ran with clotting lumps of red. Rain was not the only thing now dripping through the hole. Darkness poured like falling fog. It didn`t spread but built a widening column and within moments the centre of the room was lost to it. As it flowed over Rem and her father, Sosa wanted to scream, but a noise stopped her. When Arella ascended the ladder it had gently creaked, but now it strained and groaned in the darkness. Something was in there, in the cloud with her father and Rem. She tried again to warn them, tell them to move, tell them anything, but the black hit her and she could not make a sound. It felt like nothing. It was not cold, or wet, or sticky. It flowed into her mouth with her breath, but she felt nothing, smelled nothing, tasted nothing.

　　It simply seeped inside her and silently stole her voice.

　　Through the thick blackness, something lowered itself to the floor. Could she see it, hear it? Or simply feel it? It didn`t matter, she knew it eased itself toward where Rem stood over his sister, her father beside them. She could see nothing, but through the dark she knew, as if it wanted her to know. As if it enjoyed showing her.

　　In the darkness, sharp things tore through wet leather. Liquid, splashed to the floor - too thick for water, too real for this ethereal dark fluid. The scent of metal filled the air so thickly she could taste it.

　　Sosa backed out of the dark cloud, though it followed her. Korassi had fallen backwards and was lying by the door staring at the expanding darkness. Something hidden flew at Sosa, but the black had stolen her cries. It grabbed her with hands made of flesh, not claws, and drove her backwards until she was well away from the black cloud.

　　The hand`s were her father`s.

　　He scooped up the spearhead and pushed her to the wall. What good would a metal weapon do against darkness? Ego grabbed Sosa and they retreated across the room, pulling each other away.

　　Something snapped in the darkness, something wet and heavy. There was another scream that could only be Rem, and a body fell out of the dark and crumbled, twitching to the floor. Rem was glistening and not with rain. Blood ran from him as if he were a wet cloth being wrung. Other than the blood something about him did not look right. The dark swarmed towards him. Sosa had a moment to realise she could not see one of his arms, then he was gone.

　　Run,` shouted Ego into Sosa`s face, Get out!` and he shoved both her and her father towards the door. Sosa tried not to hear the sound of something tearing at Rem`s still screaming body and ran for the door, but Korassi blocked their way. She was facing the doorway, staring into the dark that pressed from the outside. Something was emerging from it.

　　It was Devon, or at least it used to be. Blood poured from his torn throat and ran in strings and bubbles down his broad chest and onto the floor. He was trying to speak, to warn them perhaps, but staggered and sagged to his knees. Korassi screamed, pointing her iron spear towards the opening.

　　As Devon fell in through the hole, another figure stepped behind.

　　It was Gris.

　　Ego barged into Sosa`s back, but stopped when he saw Gris looking at them, his chest and face was spattered with glistening blood, a knife in one hand. Sosa`s mind span so quickly the rest of the world slowed down. Devon was dead. Arella was dead. Rem was still screaming his last in the darkness, there was no saving him. A creature advanced from behind and Gris blocked their exit.

　　Sosa might fit through a window hole, but would the others? Before she could move her father pulled her to one side, away from both the bodaki and Gris. Ego was turning as if to defend their retreat. Korassi was turning her scream of fear into a war cry.

　　She saw other things too. The fury on Gris` blood spattered face. The way the dark reacted to him, flowed around him. The old man was no thief and outcast. He was himself bodaki. He was one with the darkness. He controlled it, perhaps even the creatures within.

　　Korassi launched herself at Gris, spear first. He swung the knife to turn the spear`s tip away. Her body barrelled into him and they both went down in a heap. The doorway was clear. Korassi had given them a chance to escape.

　　Someone pushed Sosa forwards and her own legs did the rest. She bolted outside, aware that out there was nothing but darkness, but she knew the dark in here had teeth.

　　She plunged into darkness and rain, running blindly, but after only a few paces she broke free of it. It swirled after her like smoke, but she was no longer drowning in it.

　　Two screams told the story of what she could not see.The first was inhuman, Gris` monster. The second was a defiant death-cry that could only be Korassi. The bastard had killed Devon easily with his knife, but he`d let his creature finish Korassi off.

　　Ego turned back ready to defend their escape again, but Sosa grabbed the boy and yanked him after her. Then the three of them were running, flying through the ruins towards the boat. Screeching and growling followed after. Gris had sent his bodaki to chase them down. The sounds were awful, as if the desire to catch them, to kill them, caused their pursuers physical pain. Perhaps it was just blood lust, or perhaps they were running faster than the dark flowed and being in the light hurt them.

　　Sosa risked a glance behind. There was only Gris, his knife still drawn, sweat on his brow. More dark liquid, Sosa assumed it had to be blood, was covering his torso. He was giving chase. He might have let the creature kill Korassi, but he wanted these three himself.

　　Ahead of them, the darkness mustered. Gris was using it to cut them off. Each time the wisps reached out they ran through it. The dark itself could not stop them. It was what was in the dark that could.

　　What was in the dark could be outrun every bit as much as Gris himself.

　　Sosa kept her breathing deep and measured, not letting the panic force her to take desperate gasps. She could hear Ego behind, each ragged breath exiting with a tired shriek of fear. If he panicked, he might fall and be lost.

　　Sosa considered dropping her spear, but knew that if something came at them from the gathering dark, it may be her only chance to buy them a moment to escape. Instead she ran with it levelled, clutched in the middle to keep it from snagging or tripping her.

　　Gris` footsteps grew distant and she dared to think they might make it. They would need to be fast. There was no time to fumble with the boat. She tried to remember how Korassi had tied the ropes and how to quickly release them. Would there be time? Maybe she could keep Gris at bay for the moments it would take her father and Ego to cut the ropes and shove the boat out into the water.

　　She thought about Korassi. He`d killed her without a moment`s fight. She`d taken him down and a moment later was screaming her last.

　　How long could Sosa expect to occupy him?

　　A ruined wall to her side collapsed and something in the dark fell through the gap. Stones rolled at Sosa`s feet and she hit the floor, trying to see the monster that would be her end.

　　Did it have claws? Teeth? How might she defend against it? She could see nothing but the silhouette of danger. She rose, a sudden pain in her leg threatening to dump her back onto the mud, but she fought to stay up and raised the spear ready to jab into anything that came for her from the dark. Then Ego was there, standing before her, his own spear raised and pointed at the cloud.

　　Run!` he shouted. The darkness surged forwards and Ego charged into it.

　　She reached for him, but he was too quick and then he was gone. No!` she shouted. Just run!`

　　The dark swirled for a horrible moment, to reveal something huge rearing up, flinching away from the sudden exposure to light. A small boy hung limp in its maw, shattered between its teeth. With a sharp jerk of its head and clench of its jaw, parts of Ego come off and flew in different directions before it recoiled back into its darkness.

　　No!` Sosa raised her spear.

　　An arm hooked around her waist and yanked her away. She was moved, her feet barely allowed to touch the floor until she was upright and facing the right way. Her legs caught up with the idea of running for themselves.

　　They were at the river.

　　The dark sat thick among the reeds on the bank. Something small scuttled within and Sosa stabbed blindly, hitting nothing but mud. Talon leapt sideways with a yelp at some unseen attack from the other side. He pulled Sosa after him but her spear remained lost to the river mud.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

　　They ran towards where the boat should still be moored. Sosa reached for the knife she`d taken from Devon but it was gone, fallen from her belt in the struggle.

　　A knife!` she shouted to her father who felt in his own belt, but all he had left was the bronze coloured spearhead.

　　It was sharp, maybe enough to cut the rope faster than they could untie it.

　　Cut what you can,` Sosa shouted, I`ll&` but her father had slowed.

　　She looked at the boat and saw why.

　　It was filled with darkness the way a cleaved waternut shell half filled with juice. It swirled as one of Gris` bodaki, moved inside, awaiting them. Something like claws or teeth snapped together as if it knew they had arrived. Talon screamed in anger and defiance and armed only with the spearhead, he hurled himself into the boat.

　　No!` Sosa screamed. She could not watch these things kill her father as well.

　　But it didn`t.

　　As Talon landed in the boat with the spearhead held aloft, the darkness dissipated at once, like drifting smoke caught in a sudden squall. Something in the boat screamed as if burned and threw itself into the water.

　　Sosa didn`t dare pause and hit the boat with all her weight Cut the ropes!` she yelled as it began to slide.

　　Sosa should not have the strength to push a boat large enough for seven people, but if she didn`t get it into the water before Gris caught up with them, they would die. Feeling joints pop and muscles tear, Sosa threw every bit of strength against the boat as Talon sawed at the ropes. Muscles in her back pinged like snapping strings and she screamed in triumph as it slid out onto the river. Without a pause they grabbed oars and heaved against the water.

　　Gris stopped on the bank, staring after them. He still clutched the knife he`d used to cut Devon`s neck. The darkness dissipated now, giving way to the dim light of the rainstorm. Now they had escaped, Gris had no need for it.

　　He clearly controlled the darkness and the monsters within. There was only one small part of Sosa`s thoughts not dealing with the pain in every part of her body, or with the fear, or with pulling as hard as she could on the oars. This part wondered if their village was under seige by the darkness and bodaki by design. Did they live this way because that`s how this evil thing that controlled the darkness kept them?

　　It was too much to think about. Not now.

　　Stop.` Talon said from behind her, breathless. Stop. Let the current do it, we`re clear. We`re clear.`

　　They were indeed a good distance downstream and Sosa was glad to let the current do the work. They drifted for a time, then her father tied a rope to an oar and threw it to snag on the bank as an anchor stopping the boat before they reached Highstream. They were a safe distance from the darktrees here, but that hadn`t stopped the dark back at Gris` house, had it?

　　There was no sign of it or the bodaki.

　　The boat stilled its flight and bobbed as they sat and breathed. Sosa scooped water into her mouth and then rubbed it onto her face, letting it run down her shoulders and chest. She stared at her undulating reflection. Her father reached over and pulled her to him.

　　Are you okay?`

　　Sosa just nodded, afraid that if she opened her mouth she`d start crying and not stop. She looked up, unable to ask but wanting to see he was okay too. He looked terrible, tears carved clean lines down the blood on his face. She panicked before remembering that none of it was his.

　　She leaned over and threw up into the water. Talon held her close and the two of them gripped each other. The shaking and crying began.

　　I`m sorry. I`m so sorry,` Talon chanted over and over until Sosa got herself under control enough to speak.

　　Why? You didn`t do anything wrong. I wanted to come, you didn`t make me.`

　　I nearly lost you.`

　　I nearly lost you,` she said. But we`re both still here.` Then she thought about the others, about Korassi and her last scream, about Rem and Arella, about Devon`s throat. The way Ego had just& Oh Ale-ki, he just&` She crammed her hands into her mouth to keep her sobs inside because she was afraid they`d come out as screams.

　　Don`t worry.` Talon hugged her close and she folded into him. He felt sturdier now, as if he`s recovered part of himself for her.

　　Sosa felt like she might shatter and never mend. They all came because we asked them to.`

　　You didn`t ask anyone. They came because I asked them to. They came because they wanted to. They came to get Gris. They came for Halo.`

　　But we failed, Pawe. What will happen to Halo now? What if the bodaki come for us in the night?`

　　Halo will be fine, Sosa. I will protect you, both of you, I promise.`

　　What do we tell their families?`

　　We don`t tell them anything. I will take care of it, just hush.` Her father held her until the horror eased. She didn`t think it would ever leave her, but eventually the crying stopped.

　　Talon released the boat but they moored it as far above Highstream as they dared. Sosa still expected everyone they encountered to point at them and scream, but no one did. Why would they? They had removed the blood, and her father darkened his stained skirt with mud. They would be fine provided no one tried to speak to her. Instead of words she might just crumble. Her pace grew faster as they walked. She was running by the time she got home, in a race against the returning tears.

　　Mmawe was there and Sosa ran straight into her arms and let her mother hold her until exhaustion hit and Sosa was lowered onto a cot. Kala looked at her husband for the first time and, without asking any questions, she punched him in the face. Sosa tried to stop her but found she could no longer stand.

　　They slept, each in their own blanket of exhaustion. Sosa`s mother lay next to Halo who she had brought back home to care for in his own cot. Garlands of bright orange flowers wrapped around the boy to guide him home, and nuggets of metal from the hearther`s kept the ki at bay. It made Sosa cry to look at him. When she closed her eyes, worse images came.

　　In her dreams she fled. Sometimes the beast that followed would grab her, shake her, tearing her apart and she would wake, sweating. Sometimes she would run through the trees, over and over, each time with a different person in place of Ego and the dream would make her watch as they were shaken to pieces. She would awake in terror, fighting off something that grasped for her. It was usually her father who held her and whispered quietly in her ear It`s not you, you`re alive. It`s not you,` as if he knew exactly what she was dreaming. In his dreams, it would be her being torn apart.

　　The nightmares turned to sleeplessness and Sosa quietly got up, drawn to the spear head in its new hiding place. Strange, she hadn`t even seen where her father had put it, but she found it without thinking. She sat back on her cot, examining it, feeling the sharp edges and the etched pattern. It did not entirely bring her peace, but its cool feel had a calming effect. She dragged her blanket beside her father and lay down next to him, clutching the spear head and fell asleep. No more dreams came to torture her.

　　There was predawn light the next time her eyes opened. She rose clutching the spearhead, careful not to disturb the others.

　　Except Halo was not there to be disturbed. His cot was empty.

　　A solitary orange flower from his garland marked the spot where had lain.

　　Halo was awake! She felt elated and was about to cry out, but something smothered the feeling with dread. Still clasping the spear head, she shouted to wake her parents and ran for the doorway.

　　There`s another!` Sosa saw the petals, glowing orange in the dawn light. She ran past it towards the trees, but she didn`t need the trail of shed flowers to know where Halo was going.

　　The dark was calling to her already. She could feel it. It had come back inside of her and now it pulled her back to the trees. Who knew what had come back inside of poor Halo? At least Sosa and her father had been able to wake from their nightmares. If the dark filled Halo`s head like it did hers, he had been listening to it, helpless for days.

　　She ran hard. She had to catch him before he got to the trees. Behind, her parents were calling, but she didn`t stop. Another flower and another, each one a blow to the hope that Halo had simply awoken and was only a short distance away. Each one mocked, telling her where Halo had gone, that she was too late and too late and too late.

　　The last lay just between two darktrees. The thick dark swirled beyond them. She could see it now like she never had before. Perhaps she had never really looked until she`d watched it flow over her friends like a liquid, and feed them to the beasts it harboured. Sosa looked at the spear head and then at the dark.

　　Behind, Talon shouted.

　　Sosa took three quick breaths, staring into the forest and then lunged forwards.

　　Something wrapped around her waist, snatching her from mid air.

　　It was Talon. No, no don`t go in there.`

　　But he`s in there, Pawe, he`s in there and it`s our fault. The ki have taken him. They have all of him now.`

　　They don`t get you too.` He took the spearhead, wait here.`

　　He walked into the trees, calling Halo`s name and gripping the spearhead ready to swipe at anything that moved.

　　Sosa stared into the thick dark hoping to see any sign of where her brother had gone, but it was impenetrable. Please, Pawe, don`t go any further. If it closes in you might not see your way back.` He had walked beyond the first row and was standing by the second. Only a moment ago, the dark had hung here, but she could still see him. It was retreating.

　　Was it dawn? Did it retreat with the light?

　　She knew it did, but at the moment it was only retreating from her father. Her father who carried the spear.

　　I can`t see him. I need to go deeper. See if he might have left any more&`

　　No! Pawe, look!` Sosa held out a closed fist, pointing from the edge of the trees at something only yards away. The dark had covered it only a few moments ago.

　　Talon saw and ran over. A broken string of orange flowers lay at the bottom of a tree. That would be the end of their trail and it had not gone far enough to even give them a direction. He`d not followed the exile`s path this time, there was no way to tell which way he had gone.

　　Oh, Pawe.`

　　It`s okay. The dark, it is moving away. I can go deeper, I can look for him.`

　　All Sosa could see was Ego being torn apart, replaced in her dreams, by her father. No! Pawe, please.`

　　She saw the futility in his face, but still a determination to go. If it had been her out here, lost in the trees, nothing would stop him coming.

　　Blinded by tears, she ran forwards. Okay, but we look together.`

　　No, Sosa, there`s no sign of him. You have to go back, I`ll go and&`

　　What, Pawe? You will go and do what?` Now they were here, she could see how hopeless it was. The dark pressed in and although it had retreated from them, creating a pool of light on the edge of the forest, she could see it, feel it, trying to surround them. One more pace into the trees and it would close behind them like a curtain. Halo had come out into this and now it wanted them too. She seethed with hatred towards Gris, the man, the thing, that controlled the darkness. The man whose bidding the snarling creatures within followed.

　　It`s a trap, Pawe.` She whispered, staring at the menacing black that threatened to smother them. It brought us out here, knowing we`d follow. It wants us. We escaped it, escaped Gris, but now it wants us back.`

　　Talon shook his head as if it was ridiculous, but she saw on his face that he knew it was true. She edged closer to take his shoulders and ease him away from the forest, from the clear trap that would take him from her, but something stopped her.

　　Pawe&`

　　I know Sosa, but&`

　　No. Pawe, look.` The spearhead in her father`s hand was glowing, oh so faintly. He held it up. The dark reacted, moving away like a wary predator. Sosa touched the metal, then withdrew her hand as if it was hot.

　　I can feel it.` Sosa looked hopefully at her father. Its repelling the dark. Can we use it, do you think?`

　　Her pawe looked back at the narrowing gap in the dark and she knew what he was thinking. For some reason the spear kept the dark at bay, but it would not stop it closing behind them, not stop them being cut off, and it might not stop the beasts within.

　　It would not help them find Halo.

　　They shouted his name but there was no reply. Only the bodaki called back, their screeches mocking, perhaps angry that the two were so close to the edge of the dark but still out of reach.

　　Go back,` he said.

　　Why?` Sosa looked at him. In her unwillingness to let him go alone, she saw the truth, it was too large and painful to fully realise yet.

　　Because we can`t lose you too.`

　　But we`ll get back. We`ll find Halo and come back.`

　　No.` Talon looked at the dark and it pressed in as their little circle of light weakened. I don`t think we will.`

　　Sosa nodded, the painful truth now uncovered. Then we don`t come back. We do that together too.`

　　No, Sosa, I&`

　　Get away from there.` A voice shot through the dusk air, from the direction of the village. It was Kala. She was running towards the trees. Get out right now!` With no sign of fear she ran between the trunks, through the gap in the darkness as if she didn`t see it, and grabbed them both.

　　Mmawe! He`s in here, he`s here and we can&`

　　No!` Kala pulled, dragging them back until they were out of the trees.

　　Mmawe, the ki have him.`

　　Can you see where he went?`

　　Sosa bit her lip to stop the tears but shook her head.

　　Yet, you`d give them my whole family so easily?` Her mother hugged Sosa`s head to her breast and covered the top with kisses. Then she looked at her husband. I can`t lose you. Either of you.` For the first time since they returned in the boat, her parents embraced. The ki can`t have you. I won`t let them.`