Shadow Slaves
Chapter 10: The First Man Down
By the time they decided to stop, Sunny almost fainted. After hours of crossing the rugged mountain slope, his body had almost reached its limit. However, to everyone's surprise, Shifty seems to be doing worse than him.
The eyes of the mischievous slave were muddy and unfocused, wandering aimlessly. His breathing was wheezing and shallow, as if something was pressing down on his lungs. He looked feverish and unwell.
Once Hero finds a suitable place to camp, Shifty instantly passes out on the ground. The most terrifying part of all of this was the lack of anger curses they were used to. The boy lay still and motionless, with only his chest movements indicating that he was still alive. A while later, he opened the lid of his urn with trembling hands and greedily drank a few large gulps.
“Save your water,” says Hero, a little worry somehow finds its way into his usually stoic voice.
Ignoring these words, Shifty drank more, emptying the urn completely.
Scholar doesn't look much better than him. The difficult climb took a heavy toll on the older slaves. Although the cold was unbearable, he was sweating, with red eyes and a grim expression on his face.
Being the weakest of the three, Sunny somehow managed to hold on with the best.
“Can't we melt snow once there's no more water?”
Hero gives Scholar a complicated look.
“Maybe there comes a time when we can not make a fire, so as not to attract unwanted attention.”
No one commented, knowing full well whose attention they should avoid. The memories of the Mountain King's horrors were still fresh in their minds.
Fortunately, today Hero managed to find a natural niche in the mountain wall, perched behind a narrow ledge. The fire was well hidden by the rocks, allowing them to enjoy its warmth without fear of being discovered. No one wanted to talk, so they simply grilled slices of beef on the fire and ate in silence.
By the time the sky was completely black, Shifty and Scholar were already asleep, drowning in their own nightmares. The hero pulled out his sword and moved to the edge of the stone outcrop.
“Try a break too. I'll take care of it first.”
Sunny gave him a nod and lay down by the fireplace, very tired. Falling asleep in a dream is a new experience for him, but, beyond a doubt, it turns out that it's just normal. As soon as his head touched the ground, his consciousness slipped into the darkness.
After what felt like just a second, someone gently woke her up. Groggy and confused, Sunny blinked a few times, finally realizing the Hero was hovering above him.
“Both don't look too good, so better give them time to recover. Don't let the fire go out and wake us up when the sun comes up. Or if... if the monster appears.”
Sunny quietly got up and changed places with Hero, who added some wooden sticks into the fire and immediately fell into a deep sleep.
For a few hours, he was alone.
The sky was black, with dim stars and a sharp crescent moon that was newly born. However, the light was not enough to pierce through the darkness that enveloped the mountain. Only Sunny's eyes seemed capable of doing so.
He sat still, looking down at the direction they were coming from. Despite the fact that they had managed to climb high enough the previous day, he could still see the ribbon of the road in the distance. He could even trace it back to the stone platform where the fight with the tyrant occurred.
The little dots scattered on the rocks were the corpses of the slaves.
As he watched them, a dark figure slowly crawled on the platform from under the cliff. It remained motionless for a while and then moved forward, scraping its claws onto the ground. Every time the claw hit one of the bodies, the tyrant would clutch and carry it to his jaw.
The wind carried a muffled sound from the crunching bones to Sunny's ears. He flinched, unintentionally pushing a small stone from the ledge. It crashed, crashed into a slope and then rolled down, causing several more to follow.
The sound of these falling rocks sounded like thunder in a silent night.
Far below, the tyrant suddenly turned his head, staring straight at Sunny.
Sunny froze, petrified. He was afraid to make the slightest sound. For a while, he even forgot to breathe. The tyrant looked directly at him, doing nothing.
A few agonizing seconds passed, each one feeling like forever. Then the tyrant calmly turned around and continued devouring the dead slave, as if he had not seen Sunny at all.
“It was blind,” Sunny suddenly understood.
He took a breath, watching the Mountain King with widened eyes. Thas right. The creature cannot see.
Sure was! Everything makes sense now.
***
At daybreak, Sunny had woken the others. Hero hopes that a full night's rest will benefit Shifty and Scholar, but his hopes are shattered. Somehow, the two slaves looked worse than before. It was as if yesterday's ascent was too taxing on Scholar.
However, Shifty's condition cannot be explained by simple fatigue. He was extremely pale and trembling, with half-conscious eyes and a puzzled expression on his face.
“What's wrong with him?”
The scholar, who himself did not do well, helplessly shook his head.
“Perhaps because of mountain sickness. It affects different people differently.”
His voice sounded hoarse and weak.
“I'm fine, asshole. Out of my sight.”
Shifty has trouble putting together a complete sentence, but still insists that he is fine.
The hero frowned and then took out most of the supplies that the rebel slaves were supposed to bring before adding them to his own burden. After a slight hesitation, he also gave some to Sunny.
“Did something happen while we were sleeping?”
Sunny stared at him for a few seconds.
“The monster ate the dead.”
The young soldier's frown deepened.
“How do you know?”
“I heard it.”
The hero moved to the edge and looked down, trying to see the distant stone platform. After about a minute, he clenched his jaw, showing signs of uncertainty for the first time.
“Then we have to move faster. If the creature is done with all his body, he will come for us next. We have to find that old road before nightfall.”
Scared and sad, they set out again and continued climbing. Sunny slowly died under the added burden. Thankfully, Shifty and Scholar had drunk most of the water, lightening it up a bit.
‘It's hell,’ thought.
They rise higher, and higher, and higher. The sun climbed with them, slowly approaching the peak. No talking, no laughing, just breath gasping. Each of the four survivors concentrated on his own steps and footing.
However, Shifty is getting left behind. His strength left him.
And then, at some point, Sunny heard a desperate scream. Turning around, he only had time to see a panicked face. Then Shifty fell backwards, his feet slipping on the ice-covered rock. He hit the ground hard and rolled, still trying to grab something.
But it's too late.
Frozen on the spot and helpless, they could only watch his body fall down the slope, leaving traces of blood on the rocks. Every second, Shifty looks less and less like a man and more like a rag doll.
A short while later, he finally stopped, smashing into the top of a large boulder protruding in a pile of broken flesh.
Shifty is dead.