Chapter 1

Storm

Wind. Rain. Lighting. Thunder. A storm raged in the Telek mountain range. The sky would light up and crackle with energy every few minutes. Thunder rolled through the ravines and rivers ran over their banks, flooded with rain water. The animals crowded around trees or in caves. Those that got stuck outside were curled up in balls at the bases of trees attempting to stay warm.

A small cabin was nestled between the trees, at the base of Marail mountain. It was long abandoned and its rotten floorboards were covered in moss. Half of the roof was caved in and the whole thing seemed ready to fall down. But it was good enough for two travelers who had happened to be caught in the storm.

They had found it by luck and were ecstatic to find a dry place to spend the night. They were twins, fire hounds in fact. They were carbon copies of each other, both had short red hair and flaming reddish orange eyes like the rest of their race. They were both relatively tall and muscular. Their hands were rough and calloused. While their teeth were a tad bit sharp but, not enough to be noticed.

But, there was something that made them not look like the others of their kind. It was their skin color. Unlike most fire hounds their skin wasn’t a brown-reddish hue. Instead they completely lost the red tint and brown skin and were more fair. They didn’t stick out in a crowd and liked it that way. The only thing that was different in appearance between them was a few scars and a tattoo.

A black tribal tattoo of a howling wolf was on the half-a-second-younger twin’s upper forearm. It was a quickly done job done by a scide in a shady alley of a shadier town. The other brother had a straight scar on his right cheek. He had forgotten about it, but it was obvious to those who looked at them. It had cut all the way to the bone and he was lucky that it hadn’t torn off his lip.

They sat on the floor, back to back, in the only place that wasn’t completely wet. Old blankets that smelled like dust were wrapped around their shoulders. They both were silent, though it would be hard to hear anything over the storm. They couldn’t sleep through the noise and were forced to stay stuck in their own thoughts.

A flash lit up the room illuminating the old cabin. Their heads shot up the blue light catching their eyes, “One, two, three.” one of them whispered. BOOM! Thunder shook the cabin, the lighting was only three miles out, and getting closer.

§

They stayed there all night, eventually the storm passed, and they fell asleep...

Drip, drip, drip. Water fell from the ceiling onto a brother’s face. Their only dry spot was no longer dry. He wiped it off his cheek and sat up. The hard floor had not been kind to him, his back ached as he stood up stretching. He shook his head rattling his sleep deprived sight away. Slowly his foggy eyes adjusted to the light and he noticed that the cabin was empty besides him, “Resh.” he called heading for the door, “Resh, you here?” there was as much annoyance as there was worry in his voice.

With stiff hands he reached for the rusty doorknob, but it swung open nearly throwing itself off the hinges and almost knocking him out. He stumbled back surprised and raised his hands preparing for a fight. He lowered them when he saw a bewildered Resh standing in the doorway. His face was red as if he’d been running and his hair was flat against his head, “Back inside Kye.” he had strange calm in his voice, and the expression on his face changed to something of worry.

He stepped inside closing the door behind him, “Why, what’s going on?” Kye asked fear spreading through his body numbing his rational mind.

Crazy theories ran through his head, “I don’t know.” he replied going to sit on a broken stool.

“What does that mean?” Resh looked at him eyebrows knotting together.

“You don’t smell it?”

Kye breathed in slowly. He felt the air around him and calmed his racing mind. He smelled the trees and the rain and, “Blood.” Resh nodded standing once more and pacing about the room.

“I went to see what it was when I got up and,” he paused sadness running over his face, he looked down at the floor, “I found them.”

§

Resh had refused to tell Kye what he found and insisted on just showing him. Kye knew he could be stubborn but his curious mind was bursting with questions. He forced himself to hold his tongue and they left the cabin and walked into the woods following the smell of blood.

As they walked they saw what the storm had done. Countless trees had fallen piling up around them, those that had stayed standing were either too young to be affected or to old and strong to be bothered. The rivers had overflowed filling their ears with the sound of rushing water and their paths with mud. The birds seemed unaffected by the countless number of their homes that had been destroyed and were chirping happily. The other animals had seemingly disappeared.

Resh led the way walking slowly, obviously in no hurry to see whatever it was again, “We’re almost there.” he said, emotionlessly.

Kye had known, the smell of blood had become more noticeable. Resh ducked under a tree branch and stepped into a clearing. Kye froze as he stepped away from the safety of the trees to stand next to his brother. He took one look and immediately turned his gaze down. Twenty human bodies lay in the grass blood flowing from open wounds. Many had their eyes open fear radiating from all features. Their features were frozen in place forever frightened by an unknown threat.

They were dressed in black and green. Leaves were embroidered into the silky cloth. Weapons were scattered about, most were swords but there were some crossbows still clutched in the dead’s cold hands, “What happened?” he whispered solemnly, looking at Resh.

He returned the gaze, “Come here.” he said walking toward the closest body.

Kye followed, Resh got down on a knee and flipped the body over. He grimaced, the man’s eyes were open, fear etched on all his features. His mouth was open a scream cut short by a slit throat. He was middle aged and had a long scar that ran from his left eye to his lip. Brown hair stuck out of his hood. Resh closed his eyes and looked up at his brother, “What do you notice?”

“He’s human.” he said after a few seconds.

“Continue.”

“No armor so not king’s men but, they have well made weapons,” he said picking up a bow. It was midnight black and had silver hand-carved spirals running up its sides, “It doesn’t have an insignia and they don’t look like hunters or trappers.” he bent down to examine the dead man, “There are claw marks on his body so perhaps an unfortunate group of travelers attacked by wild animals.”

Resh nodded, “Sure, but that doesn’t explain the weapons. I’ve never seen that kind of craftsmanship on just any travelers. And look at this.” he said rolling up the dead man’s sleeve. A tattoo of a crescent moon with a sword beside it was on his forearm, “It’s on all of them. I don’t know what it means but I don’t think an animal did this.” Resh stood and walked across the clearing to another body, “These are sword marks,” he said pointing to the dead man’s chest. Kye looked noticing his brother was right, the flesh was cut clean through, the man had bled to death.

“Who did this then?” an idea hit him, “What if it was someone like us.” Resh nodded.

“I thought of that but, there are no burn marks,” Resh ran a hand through his hair and sighed, “Honestly, I don’t want to know. I just want to get out of here before they come back.” he said standing.

Kye nodded the smell of iron filled his lungs and was beginning to make his head ache. They left the clearing quickly and headed towards the nearest town, Elm. Resh led once more, jogging, in a hurry to leave the gruesome scene behind him. They wandered through the chaos of the storm for around twenty minutes. They were about three miles away when Resh stopped and held out a hand to tell Kye to stop as well.

His twin glanced around nervously. The trees were still, and birds chirped happily. Then he breathed in, the smell of iron filled his lungs again. Kye’s heart beat sped up, a twig snapped, both the brothers jumped, nothing happened, “Maybe it’s--” Kye didn’t get to finish what he was saying before the sound of several branches snapping came from above.

They jumped out of the way as a body tumbled to the ground at their feet. The brothers both took another step back suppressing screams. It didn’t move and wasn’t breathing. They glanced at one another both wishing the other would move. They both were frozen like children on a stage. Finally, they took a step forward together, and quickly flipped the body over then lept backwards.

It was a man, he looked human, mid to late twenties. His short black hair had sticks and moss tangled in it. He would have been quite handsome if he wasn’t coated in blood. Crossbow bolts stuck out of his chest at gruesome angles. His shirt was torn open revealing a mass of sliced flesh. Blood was still running from the open wounds.

They both screamed as his eyes shot open. They glowed red, not a red like the firehounds but, the shade of blood. The man gasped coughing up blood. The brothers backed away again as his eyes lost the glow and turned a dark shade of blue. So dark it was almost black. His eyes rolled back in his head and his body shook once before laying still.

“Is he alive?” Kye asked staring at the motionless body.

“Why don’t you check.”

“No, you check.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Well neither do I.” Kye said exasperated.

They looked at each other fear in both their eyes. Resh took a step forward and without kneeling felt for the man’s pulse, it was there, slow but there. Resh stepped back from the body worriedly running his fingers through his hair, “I can’t believe I’m about to say this but, help me pick him up.” he grabbed the man under his arms and looked expectantly at Kye.

“Can’t we just leave him for the wolves?” he asked staring at the body as if it were going to jump up and attack him.

“We are the wolves and we found him, now help me.” Kye sighed and got down beside his brother.