KINGDOM OF THE STONE -- a Wattpad featured novel

Chapter Fifteen

He scanned the surrounding landscape, trying to get his bearings.  He had not often come by this side trail and in the dark everything looked strange and out of place.  He spied a tall tree in the distance he vaguely remembered having once passed on the southern trail.

Macander paused to listen.  No breeze disturbed the snow as it fell around him.  He slowly crept forward, sniffing the air for even the faintest whiff of wet-dog smell.  Something snarled nearby.

Macander froze, heart pounding, fearing he'd already taken one step too many.  He waited until he'd lost count of his frantic heartbeats then slowly moved one foot forward.  Hearing nothing further, he moved another step.  Crouched low over the white powder, he nearly crawled to the intersection of trails before he heard the rumble of deep panting.  Peering around a bush, he spied an angoran sitting on a stone, eating a gristly chunk of bloody meat while three drwg watched and sniffed the air.  It didn't appear the angoran was going anywhere soon and the waiting drwg looked dangerously bored.

Creeping slowly backwards, he waited until he put a slight rise between himself and the beasts before hurrying back down the trail.  They were going to have to find another way.

-=====|==

 "Now what are we going to do?" Theris said.  "We don't dare cut across country in weather like this.  We'd freeze to death in the middle of the night before we got anywhere."

The young children, whom the women had just calmed, began crying again.  "Theris!" Aunt Sairu admonished.  "You're not being helpful."

"He's right though," Karux added.  "We can't go south from here and we don't dare go back."

Mahd Uday, his wiry old gray-haired neighbor, nearly hidden within multiple blankets, pushed forward.  "What about Korion-Fugo?  Perhaps these...things...haven't got to the far side of the valley.  This trail will take us there.  At least we could find some help."

Karux looked at Theris, who shrugged and Pronos, who nodded his agreement.  Though Korion-Fugo wasn't on the way toward anywhere, he couldn't think of any alternatives.  "It's worth a try," he said.

It took them what seemed hours to reach Korion-Fugo.  Their feet and hands had grown numb and the women staggered under the weight of the small children they carried.  Karux had slung Eiraena over one shoulder like a sack of feed.  He tried to keep his hopes in check as they approach the circle of buildings, but when it became clear the houses were still intact and smoke still streamed peacefully from their chimneys, he let out a ragged sigh.

"Help!" the children cried and the women took up the chorus.  "Help!  Help!"

In moments the first adult emerged, soon followed by others.  The women of the village quickly swept up the women and children of Korion-Garanth with much cooing and fussing and tucked them away in various houses to be warmed and fed.  The elders gathered in the common area and lit a fire in an open fire pit, asking urgent questions as the story of Korion-Garanth's attack spilled from the boys.

Gerron, the village's chief elder, took charge, silencing the barrage of questions until he could make sense of all the different accounts.  "Where are your fathers?  The men of your korion?"

The boys looked at each other and some of the younger ones started to cry.  Arnion, at twenty-one, was the oldest male from Korion-Garanth.  He looked down at his empty hands then shamefacedly looked back at the elder who had spoken. "They stayed behind to fight."

The chief elder's grim face softened in sympathy.  "Are you all that are left from your korion?"

The boys nodded.