This story is being rewritten! The new version, A Price in Memory, can be found here.

I highly suggest you read the new version as this one won't be completed. Also, there has been a lot of changes so you won't be able to continue with the other where this one left off.

Y'rid knelt next to the trunk of the tree, his body concealed behind the bushes in front of him as he strained his hearing, trying to pick up any sound that might give away the position of the alds. From time to time he thought he could make out the snap of a branch in the distance or a low thump from a footstep. He shifted the sword to his other hand to wipe off the sweat from his palm onto the soft moss that partially covered the trunk.

He looked up at the light shining through the treetops trying to keep his mind from fixating too much on the situation, Focus was important but placing too much tension on the body was hardly a wise thing to do at a time such as this. The few bits of sky he could see through the canopy was tinted orange, it was going to be dark soon.

They would reach Dusk tomorrow, the last city before the Nightwood forest. Taking the last opportunity to get some trading material and meat he, Holin and Kali had gone out to hunt. Holin had noticed the trail left by the alds a short while after they entered the forest and had decided this to be a good time for Y'rid to learn to hunt in a group. The hunters of the order usually worked in teams, Y'rid had learned, with a full team generally consisting of between 7 to 10 people.

Apparently, this was necessary for taking down some of the larger beasts. Some even required teams to work together, if they were to have a reasonable chance to kill the beasts without casualties.

Picking up movement out of the corner of his eye, Y'rid quickly turned towards it to see Holin silently making his way over. The man reached him and crouched down.

"Right," He began. "Two of them, one adult and one juvenile. I'll head out first, give me a few minutes then follow. Stop when you see them. I'll make the first move with Kali acting as support. You move in when you get the opportunity, but don't charge in at the first chance you get, wait for an opening, and keep your wits about you."

Y'rid nodded. his heart began to speed up again as the excitement and nervousness in his gut began to grow.

"Good." With that, the man moved back into the undergrowth and quickly faded from view.

Y'rid waited a few more minutes before he started to move forward, keeping his footsteps as silent as he could. He was the last one to get into position for this reason. Kali didn't have to get close and Holin could sneak past almost anything. If he gave away his position then they would be ready to take advantage of the distraction while at the same time drawing the beasts' attention from him.

At least that was how Kali had phrased it. Holin went another direction and simply said he couldn't sneak up on a dead hild in the middle of the night, a creature that didn't have any sense of hearing whatsoever.

Moving past the bushes that obstructed his way, he kept his ears open, listening for any sound of their targets. Soon enough he could hear them. The heavy thuds for their footsteps and the snapping of branches that at first had barely registered were now clear, bringing back memories of the first ald he saw with Holin. The ease with which it tore through roots and the strength contained in those powerful limbs were not something he would soon forget. And that was a juvenile. Once more he wiped the sweat from his palms. Yet despite this, he could feel the excitement building up inside him.

In a strange way, he found a part of himself looking forward to this.

After he had killed the wolf he had gone hunting with Holin a few times, working together to take down some of the smaller beasts in the forest. But nothing nearly as large or dangerous as an ald.

He slowly made his way over, the sounds growing louder along with the beating of his chest. He moved from cover to cover trying to keep himself hidden, before finally spotting movement through the trees. Quickly moving up to the next tree, he pressed his back against it.

Slowly he peeked around it, letting his eyes take in the creatures as they came into view. The nearest one was about the same size as the one he saw a month ago.

Was it really only so short a time since he came to this place?

His thoughts stumbled to a halt as his gaze landed upon the other, it stood further away from him that the first, but that only accentuated its size. Calling it big was... wrong. Horribly wrong. About nine feet tall if he had to guess, standing hunched over on three legs the size of small tree trunks. It faced away from him, but from the sounds it made he could tell it was chewing on something. It turned its head to scan the area, and he caught sight of the lizard dangling from its maw. it was the size of his leg. He heard the snapping as the beast bit down before taking hold of it in one paw and tearing it in two, blood running down its massive jaw.

He saw the beast swallow before throwing the other part into its mouth as well, it quickly followed the first half down into its gullet. Y'rid swallowed. He preferred it when these things were eating roots.

He dragged his gaze away to scan the area for Holin. To his surprise, he actually spotted the man. He was off to the side, only a few strides away from the smaller one, pressed up against a tree, hiding him from the ald's sight.

Holin looked towards him and caught his eye. The man raised a hand and signalled a countdown while his other pulled one of the heavy throwing knives he kept on his belt.

What use is that going to be?

Y'rid shut down the thought before it could expand. Was that really the most important thing to be thinking about right now? Perhaps it was the mind's way to distract him from what was to come?

Realising that he was still doing it, Y'rid looked down at his sword, drawing his attention back as he took a few deep breaths. He looked back up to see Holin reaching the end of his count, a wry smile on his face as the man looked at him. Holin reached the end of the count before he suddenly paused, his eyes snapping towards the side, looking passed alds.

A hissing sound echoed through the air as a blur of motion shot out of the treeline. It struck the big ald with enough force to send it stumbling forward as it latched on to the beast. Y'rid's eyes widened in surprise as they took in the sight of the new creature. it had two long thing-looking arms ending in oversized claws that closed onto the ald's neck while the rest of its body tapered down into a long tail that wrapped around the beast's waist.

Its head was tall, its cone-shaped forehead reaching up with two vertical rows of black eyes running down it. On its back was a growth-like protrusion with glowing patterns running down next to it, pulsing with a blue light.

The ald tried too roar, but the sound came out as a loud wheeze through its constricted throat, it reared up onto its hind legs as it reached for the caws of the creature on its back. The creature opened the jaws and bit into the ald's neck, before a loud hissing sound emerged from it.

The air shimmered as the ald began to thrash about trying to shake the creature. Y'rid instinctively turned away as a heatwave washed over him, stinging his eyes. He forced himself to look back at the scene as his mind raced to process the turn of events.

The other ald roared at the creature and charged forward. The creature, realising its predicament, released the ald from its mouth and inhaled. Y'rid watched, transfixed, as the protrusion on its back inflated in moments, forming an orb-like structure almost as large as the rest of it. The pale grey skin and a purple membrane stretched over it in a patchwork.

the air rushed through its mouth and into the orb on its back, filling it up and lifting the creature into the air, as its claws tore open the neck of the big ald. The ald trashed and flailed as it panicked from the blood streaming out of its now ruined neck. To Y'rid's horror, he saw the skin on its back blackened and half-melted, the stench of burnt meat filling the air.

But the creature clearly wasn't fished. The hissing sound started again and the creature charged into the younger ald, too fast for Y'rid's eyes to keep track of it, all he saw was a blur and a trail of shimmering air. Its claws latched onto the horns of the younger ald holding its face in front of that of the beast as it opened its mouth.

The ald began yanking its head from side to side as the heat wave came and the orb on the creature's back deflated. but the creature held on, refusing to release its hold on the beast.

This time Y'rid could see the skin of the ald blistering and cracking as it burned before starting to melt. The beast screeched in pain and tried to swat the creature but it was too fast. The creature threw itself over the ald and it spun in the air, its long tail acting as a whip, striking the ald across its back with enough force to drive it to the ground.

The hissing sound came again as the creature dove towards the grounded beast and sank its teeth into the beast's neck. The ald swiped at it, the blow catching the monster's side, sending it through the air, but it quickly righted itself as the orb inflated once more, carrying it into the air as it inhaled.

For a moment it stared down at the struggling beasts before swinging its head towards a tree to the side. The one Holin was hiding behind.

"Shit!"

Y'rid heard the curse a moment before the thing accelerated towards the tree and whipped its tail around the trunk. A resounding crack rang out as the limb struck the bark, but Holin was already rolling towards the side, barely escaping the blow.

Holin rolled to his feet as the creature retreated into the air before plunging down again. He ducked to the side and swung his sword catching the creature's arm just above the wrist. the blade sank deep before the creature passed him ripping out the blade in a spray of purple liquid. Y'rid could hear the sizzling sound of the blood as it landed on the ground and plants.

The creature struck its uninjured arm into the ground and pivoted around it, swinging towards the man. A whistling reached Y'rid's ears moment's before an arrow sunk itself into the creature's side. The creature released a series of grating and clicking noises as it withdrew into the air, giving Holin enough time the right himself before it dived down once more.

He narrowly avoided the tail that came swinging his way, whistling through the air as it did so. But the creature was faster, it reached out and caught a hold of his shoulder, dragging them closer to each other. it opened its mouth and blew out the scalding air. Holin cried out as he twisted his head trying to protect his face. he swung down the blade still clutched in his hand, this time succeeding in severing the creature's arm at the wrist before rolling away, dodging the spray of purple blood from the stump.

The creature hissed and accelerated towards Holin who was trying to get to his feet, he couldn't avoid the tail as it struck him in the chest and threw him through the air. The man landed with a heavy thud near Y'rid. He could see the burnt and cracked skin across one half of the man's face leaking blood through the broken surface. He saw the creature prepare for another charge as he snapped out of his daze.

With a shout, he leapt from the undergrowth to meet the beast as it plunged down. it quickly turned its sight upon him as it swung its tail. Y'rid crouched down and raised his bracer hoping to guide the strike overhead. The glancing blow struck the bracer with enough force to lift him off his feet and send him spinning into the air. His vision blurred with the motion, the ground rising up the meet him all too soon as he struck the earth, knocking the air from his lungs.

He grit his teeth forcefully pushed himself up even as the world spun around him only to find himself face to face with the beast. Time seemed to slow down as he stared at its twin rows of eyes as it opened its maw. With a wet thud, its head jerked away, an arrow sting from the side of it. it gave a series of clicks as it turned its head towards the threat. Only for another arrow to strike it, piercing the orb on its back. a hiss came from it as the air was expelled from the orb, driving the creature back.

It struggled for a moment, before regaining balance as the purple blood sealed the wound with the arrow still inside. Y'rid raised his sword as he saw the creature preparing to dive once more.

A growl came from behind him. Before he could even turn he saw a shadow flash past.

Holin.

Y'rid watched as he charged at the creature with a speed that outclassed his normal movements.

The creature lunged forward swiping its remaining claw at Holin. He ducked to the side, his blade flying across, slicing through the top of the creature's claw. It roared in its clicking tongue as its tail swung after him. He dived to the ground, rolling underneath the whipping limb with inches to spare.

Y'rid moved to support him as another arrow hit the orb sack on the creatures back throwing it off course with a hiss before it righted itself. With the creature out of the way, his eyes focused on Holin as the man rolled to his feet.

No

he realised, his movement stopping dead in their tracks. It wasn't Holin, it couldn't be. it wore his armour and carried his sword, but it was definitely not a man. not a human. Half of its face was blackened and cracked but the other half revealed wrinkled hairless skin. Its mouth elongated into a short snout, lips twisting upwards into a feral grin, revealing pointed teeth. its ears, higher up that they should be, stretched far further than any person's could and ended in sharp points. Its one remaining eye wasn't the pale red he had come to know. it was a glowing bright scarlet with a vertical slit for a pupil.

He could barely track the movements of the half-beast as it charged forward, to meet the creature as it sped down towards it. the creature reached it and opened its mouth to spew out the hot air inside of it. The half-beast moved forward and crouched down while striking the underside of the creature's jaw slamming it shut. The beast's hand snaked around the creature's neck and pulled down as it lept upwards swinging onto its back. it jumped through the air, the sword in its hand flashing out across the orb.

Gas and blood exploded from the creature's back driving it to the ground as the half-beast twisted in the air to avoid the liquid before landing on into a crouch. The creature tumbled onto the ground. it opened and closed its mouth frantically, trying to draw in air, but the ruined orb on its back failed to inflate.

The half-beast strode over to the dying creature. it tried to drag itself away, but its mutilated limbs failed to latch onto the ground, leaving lines of sizzling blood as it struggled. Its tail swung towards it, trying to keep it at bay but the half-beast avoided it with ease, its eyes locked onto that of the creature.

It ran forward and leapt, twisted over the creature to slash down before sailing over to land on the other side, avoiding the blood spurting from its half-severed neck.

it turned and looked around, its eye momentarily resting on Y'rid. He tensed and raised his sword as their gazes met, the bloodlust in that shining eye clearly visible.

Its lips curled upwards, showing the sharp teeth in a twisted mutilation of a human's smile.

"Holin!" A familiar voice came from the trees followed quickly by approaching footsteps. Kali emerged from the treeline and jogged towards the half-beast. A snapping sound came from it as it dropped to one knee. clutching its chest. Y'rid could just make out the jaw and cheekbones breaking beneath the skin and rearranging themselves into a familiar face. the ears on its head sank down and grew shorter as they returned to their original form.

Within moments, the beast was gone, replaced by Holin as he knelt on the ground.

"Are you okay?" Kali asked kneeling down in front of him.

he chuckled, then winced as the movement pulled on his burnt face. "Broken ribs... half a face," -he said, his voice strained- "Other than that... just great."

"We need to get you back to camp."

Holin nodded.

Kali looked over to Y'rid. "Come and help me support him."

Y'rid hesitated, still holding onto his sword as he looked at Holin.

"Afraid I'm... going to eat you?"

Y'rid paused a moment longer before nodding and seething his sword. Holin hardly looked to be in any condition to cause harm. And he owed the man the benefit of the doubt. He would have his answers though.

"What was that, and more importantly, what are you?" He asked as he walked over to Holin.

"You wanted... the power of those... from the order. That is... what it looks like," Holin answered through gritted teeth, ignoring the first question. "Kali... the skin on its back. We need those runes."

"We don't have time for that, we need to get you back-"

Holin looked up at Kali, meeting her gaze for a moment before she nodded. She drew a knife at her waist and moved towards the corpse.

"Come," Holin said waiving him nearer. "Help me up."

Y'rid moved over and slung the man's arm over his shoulder, helping him up. He had to resist the urge to recoil as the smell of burnt meat reached his nose.

"That... bad huh?" Holin asked looking at his expression.

"How can you even talk?" He asked.

"Side effect... Aspect. Dulls pain. Not enough... though."

"Got it," Kali said, standing back up. she clutched a piece of skin, chunks of flesh still sticking to it, in one hand. Moving over she took Holin's other arm and draped it over her own shoulder.

They set off, moving as fast as they could through the undergrowth.

The sight of the half-beast still ingrained in Y'rid's thoughts, leaving him to wonder what he had got himself into.

***

Rhone sat by the fire pit, slowly feeding the small flames when heard sounds coming from the trees off to the side. He looked up to see Kali and Y’rid trudge out of the treeline carrying Holin between him, his arms across their shoulders.

“Red,” Rhone said drawing the man’s attention away from his training. Red looked over before his gaze focused on the three.

They quickly made their way over to them.

He moved to Holin and looked at the man’s face, even in the low visibility of twilight he could see half of it was a ruined and burnt mess.

“bring him over to the fire,” He said, moving off to get the waterskin by his pack.

Y’rid and Kali took Holin over to the fire and laid him down next to it.

Rhone immediately knelt down and splashed some water onto his face causing Holin to groan before gritting his teeth. With a cloth, he padded the man’s face trying to clear off some of the blood to see the extent of the damage. His skin was blackened and cracked, his eyelid shut and burnt into the eye socket.

He had some experience with wounds, all hunters did. But this was out of his ability. His thoughts strayed to Jerick. The man had always been the best healer among the team. But he wasn’t here anymore.

He drew his thoughts away from the fallen comrade. The horde at Riversedge had caught them unaware, Losing only one in that battle while saving so many of the citizens was already an achievement.

“How does it look?” Holin asked.

“An improvement,” Red said standing behind Rhone, though his tone sounded a bit forced. “Adds some colour to that pale skin of yours.”

Holin started to chuckle before grunting in pain.

“Wait here. I have something that might help,” Red said moving to the cart.

Rhone turned away from Holin, given Red’s background, he most likely had more experience with burn wounds than most of the order, and certainly more than any of them.

“How did this happen?” He asked, looking at Kali.

“Something attacked us while we were out hunting,” she replied.

“Something?”

He had never seen a beast gain the drop on Holin.

She held out what looked like a piece of skin, dripping with blood. “I’ve never seen something like it. It looked almost like a rish, but,” – she shook her head - “it was fast Rhone. Holin could only keep up with it using his Aspect.”

He felt his eyebrows raise, rish were herbivores, and not aggressive at all, choosing to flee at the first sign of danger. Definitely not something that could do this kind of damage.

He reached out and took the skin from her.

Why did they take the skin-

His thoughts stopped dead in their tracks as he spread out the skin on the ground. His eyes locked onto the patterns carved into it.

Old Tongue.

Carving Runes into flesh. He knew of only one group ever to have any success in such an endeavour. The beastmen form the Orr Caverns. But they did so to themselves, and only in specific arrays, supposedly handed down over generations. Arrays meant to fulfil specific purposes. This was something else.

Could they really be so careless as to experiment on beasts with such a thing?

“Thoughts?” Holin asked.

“These runes… No, just a hunch. We need to get this back to the stronghold as soon as possible and have Kale look it over. If someone is using runes on beasts…” His voice trailed off as his mind raced through the implications.

Red walked over with a jar of some ointment that he began spreading across Holin’s face. “Anuneri recipe. Nothing better for burns.”

Red looked at Holin’s face.

“You’re going to lose the eye,” He said in a flat voice.

Holin grimaced. “Figured… as much.”

“We need to get you to a healer,” Kali said with worry, a frow forming on her face as she looked down at him.

Rhone turned his mind back to them. “We are a day’s travel away from Dusk, If we push through now, we might make it by midday tomorrow. The mage there should have some basic knowledge of healing at least.”

Kali nodded. “I’ll make some space for him on the cart.”

“I’ll start packing up,” Red said.

“I’ll help you,” Rhone heard Y’rid say, moving over to the tents he and Red had set up.

Rhone quickly smothered the fire with sand he scooped up from the earth, but his mind was elsewhere.

A long time ago some people had tried to copy the Orr beastmen. The results had been horrifying and left more than one city a lifeless corpse. If this was applied to beasts…

He could only hope that this was an isolated case. Maybe the would-be mage was killed by his experiment and it escaped afterwards, only to wind up here?

Then the sightings of the last few weeks came to mind, starting with the khatri.

‘Something’s driving them south.’

Holin’s words echoed in his mind, causing his gut to tighten and an unease settle between his shoulders. Somehow he doubted this had been an isolated case.