Chapter 8 - The Shadow in the Trees
The wind carried a chill that night—one that didn't belong to early autumn. Lira double-checked the windows, her eyes flicking to the tree line where Elric had been staring for hours.
Inside, Corwin had fallen asleep beside a stack of parchment, snoring faintly. Elric remained at the window, still and silent, his eyes tracking movement only he could see.
"Whatever's out there," Lira whispered, "is it... watching you? Or hunting you?"
Elric didn't turn.
"Yes."
---
At dawn, Corwin was gone.
His bed was empty, boots missing, and a trail of shallow footprints led out toward the woods. Lira found the front door ajar and a strange smear of dark liquid on the frame—not quite blood. It shimmered faintly in the morning sun.
"He wouldn't just leave," she said, panic creeping into her voice.
"No," Elric agreed. "He was taken."
He grabbed his satchel and tied his cloak tight. "Stay here. Lock the doors. Boil water. Keep a knife nearby."
"You're going after him alone?"
Elric turned to her, eyes calm.
"No. I'm going after it."
---
The forest swallowed him in moments.
Thick trees blocked the sun. The air felt heavier, each breath damp and slow. But Elric moved like a man who had done this before—in another world, in another life, with different monsters.
He followed the trail deeper until it vanished near an old stone circle, overgrown and cracked.
Something moved.
Elric frozen for a moment.
Then—a blur.
Something lunged from the trees, fast and silent. A flash of teeth, a glint of steel, and then—
"Enough," Elric said coldly.
The creature paused mid-leap.
It stood up on two legs, humanoid but wrong. Too thin. Too tall. Eyes glowing yellow. Skin like dry bark.
"You're not from this world, are you?" Elric asked.
The thing tilted its head.
"You've seen sickness," it whispered in a voice like wind through bone. "You carry knowledge... like fire."
"And you're afraid of fire," Elric guessed.
The creature hissed.
From behind a tree, Corwin stumbled out, eyes wide with terror, mouth gagged.
"You want me," Elric said softly, stepping between the beast and the scholar. "But I'm not ready to die again."
He pulled something from his cloak—a glass vial filled with silver powder. Crushed antibiotic pills and powdered vinegar. A trick. A bluff.
But the creature recoiled.
"You are not a healer," it rasped. "You are a breaker."
"Maybe," Elric said, his was voice hard. "But I break things that need breaking."
He threw the vial.
White smoke burst through the clearing. The creature screamed—a horrible, echoing screech—and vanished into the mist.
By the time it cleared, only Elric and Corwin remained.
---
They walked back in silence.
That night, as they sat by the fire, Corwin finally spoke.
"You saved me."
"I saved the knowledge you carry," Elric replied. "Same thing."
"You said that creature wasn't from this world."
Elric didn't answer immediately.
"I think," he said slowly, "that the rules of this world aren't as solid as they seem."
Corwin stared into the fire.
"What are you, Elric?"
The prince stood, brushing ash from his coat.
"Someone who remembers a world where monsters wore ties, not claws. And sometimes... I think this world might be kinder."
Outside, the wind howled once more.
But this time, something howled back.
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