Defenders of Destiny Book One: Conflux

Chapter 13: Second Anchor

The water splashed around his neck and his boots sunk into the mud but he did not relent. He trudged forward, climbing over hills of dirt and grass and descending into pools of water as thousands of stars and a pall of darkness looked down on him. Sometimes the water was over his head but it didn't bother him. He kept walking through any obstacles in his path, his large battle-axe in one hand. He climbed one mound of dirt and glanced back, water dripping down his rags, chainmail, grey hair and white porcelain mask.

Scores of werewolves followed, their eyes lifeless, their stares blank as they too simply walked forward, tumbling into the water and climbing over mounds and hills of grass to fall back into the pools on the other side. Some were missing legs or arms, or both, and all showcased gruesome wounds on their bodies. Some were even missing half a head. Their progress was slow but steady but he was confident they would reach their destination in time. A young woman with wavy, blonde hair and grey eyes flew into view, holding on to the hands of a dark-skinned man of about the same age. She dropped the man on a nearby mound of grass and rubbed her aching arms.

"You think we'll reach them in time?" Athena asked Durn.

He nodded. "Yes, I believe we will. It will take time for them to secure the next anchor and at this rate we should reach them before they succeed."

"How do you know all of this?" Seth asked, his eyes on the small army of zombified werewolves. "What if they already succeeded and are leaving this world right now?"

"Then they are leaving," Durn replied with a shrug. He looked ahead and saw the black block in the distance, barely distinguishable in the blackness of night. "The mansion is not so far away. I sense the presence of a powerful being there, one who is undead, like I am. If we arrive when the ones we were sent to kill are gone at least I'll still have someone worthy to claim."

Athena spat. "So we're just doing this for you? That's not fair! I can go with Seth and reach that mansion right now if I wanted to! I don't have to wait for you and your stupid zombie werewolves!"

"Then go ahead," Durn offered. "Fly off with your little friend there and attack them by yourself. You failed last time you tried but maybe this time will be different. Need I remind you that you were very nearly killed by a wolf?"

"He wasn't a normal wolf. He was way bigger than the ones I've seen and Seth and I didn't do that bad last time when we took them all on by ourselves!"

"You did fail, however."

"So did you this time!"

"You do not stand a chance against the owner of that mansion. He is much too powerful for you alone. You will fail quickly without me or my army."

"Yeah, whatever..."

"Athena," Seth said, grabbing her arm and trying to calm her. "Let's just keep pace with Durn and his werewolves. If we don't make it in time then we don't but if we just go charging off alone we'll die. I just want to go back home. I don't want to die in this stinking swamp. Do you?"

Athena took a deep breath and did calm down somewhat. "No... I just hate it how he keeps reminding us that we failed, like he did so much better than we did."

"If it weren't for those werewolves we might have done better last time. This time those werewolves are on our side. Those guys don't stand a chance!"

Athena glanced back as the army of werewolves reached them and grabbed Seth under the shoulders. She lifted him high into the air as a werewolf walked straight through where they had been standing. "They're pretty dumb, more than they were before, but I get your point. We should win this time, or at least kill that damn healer of theirs."