Page 114 of Eldritch
The bigger Letalisz lifted his boot and hammered it into the door. Once. Twice. On the third kick, it swung wide, and as both of them stepped inside, Kazhimyr frantically scanned over the room.
Dolion stood pressed against the wall, his eyes fixated to the left, where a cloaked figure scrambled across the floor toward him. Behind the stranger, prowled a figure woven from gnarled branches and roots, each wrapped around a rotted skeletal form draped in moss. The sound of creaking wood marked its every move, followed by a scrape and thunk of its limbs.
Creak, scrape, thunk.Creak, scrape, thunk.
Its glowing eye sockets anchored on the stranger, and a roar crackled from its chest like trees riven by lightning. The beast swiped out a clawed hand, tearing the cloak of the stranger to shreds in one stroke, before yanking him backward. Smoke curled around the captured stranger, as if he’d tried to conceal himself, but it quickly dissipated.
“You cannot kill him, your magic is useless!” Dolion warned. “The victim cannot kill his own curse.”
“This isn’t my fucking curse!”
The voice was familiar, and Kazhimyr lurched forward, training his gaze on the man who’d spoken. When the cloaked figure turned around, Kazhimyr’s muscles tensed. “Dravien?”
His old traveling companion didn’t bother to look at him, his blade trained on the beast. “Get the hell away from me!”
Dolion chuckled. “Hell, indeed. He, er—you—probably crawled up from the very pits of Nethyria.”
“What is it?” Torryn asked beside Kazhimyr.
“That would be an ombrevor. Beautiful, isn’t he?” Morwenna’s lips stretched to a smile, as she stared back at the creature. “No worries, he won’t harm any of us. Only him.”
Dravien swiped with his dagger, severing one of the branches that grew out from the ombrevor’s bony shoulders and the back of its neck. As he scrambled backward, the ombrevor let out another roar and scampered on all fours toward him.
“As I said, once set into motion, you cannot kill this creature. No matter what you do, you cannot stop an ombrevor.”
Dravien climbed over the bed, the ombrevor chasing after him, knocking over the bedside table and firelamp.
“Should we do something?” Kazhimyr asked, watching the beast tear through the room after Dravien.
“Why should I?” Morwenna crossed her arms over her chest. “Bastard broke into my house. He’s lucky I didn’t find him first.”An object flew through the air, and as Morwenna stepped aside, a candelabra landed between them.
“Stop this thing!” Dravien screamed, when the ombrevor took hold of his leg and jerked him closer. “J’mil redrisz!”
“Are you certain of this?” Dolion asked.
“Yes! I’m certain!” Dravien clawed at the floor in a futile attempt to get away.
“As the occupant of the room you’ve invaded, I banish you!” Dolion called out, stepping toward the beast, and waved his finger, as if drawing something in the air. A strange glyph glimmered a pale blue, lingering in front of him.
The ombrevor swung around, looking back at Dolion with glowing, silver eyes. It gave one more snarl toward Dravien and scampered up the wall, before disappearing into the ceiling.
Still breathing hard, Dravien sat trembling, holding out his knife.
“What are you doing here?” Kazhimyr strode closer, flipping the knife in his hand for a quick jab, if necessary.
The Elvyniran lowered his blade and pushed to his feet. “It occurred to me we hadn’t discussed a meeting place.” He disappeared into black smoke, and Kazhimyr spun around in search of him. Dravien reappeared, his blade propped beneath Dolion’s chin. “I’m here for him. No one needs to get hurt.”
Behind him, the ombrevor appeared just outside the window, staring in on them like a dark shadow.
“All I need to do is say the word, allow him entry back into my home, and he’ll rip you apart, devour every inch of you, and leave nothing more than a pool of blood on the floor,” Morwenna warned. “Not even your vanishing trick will be quick enough. Trust me, I’ve a bit of experience with this.”
“How’d it get in, if it had to be invited first?” Torryn asked.
Arms crossed, Morwenna huffed. “They don’t need permission to enter. They need permission when banished, as Dolion so graciously offered the scheming little codsucker.”
“Let him go, or I’ll put a blade between your eyes,” Ravezio yanked two blades from the holster at his chest.
Dolion glanced down at the one propped below his chin and raised his hand. “He can’t kill me. In his culture, it is forbidden to kill, or bring harm upon, the man who saved his life.J’mil redriszis Elvyniran for I surrender my life to you.”
