Escaping to the Top
Something didn't sit right with Saki and she tugged at Hunter's sleeve.
"I know, but we can't do anything about that right now…" he responded to her unspoken question.
"Tam, reduce their numbers," he commanded and the black man veered to the left smoothly without breaking stride, his daggers already dancing in the air.
Tam joined them after a while.
"Sorry, I couldn't get most of them. Only the ones closest to us. I was hesitant to go too far," he apologized to Hunter.
After a couple of minutes, they reached another clearing with only some trees to break the monotony of the scenery. Not far ahead is the sheer cliff face that Hunter described.
The area is enclosed with big rocks that seemed to have tumbled off from the mountain to form an elevated fence towards a slightly higher but flat area.
No enemy can come from any side other than the front. It is certainly defensible if only for a short time.
They ran to it.
They didn't have to wait too long for the enemy to catch up.
Milo and Frank are now armed with the fallen attackers' long rifles and they took the two opposite sides near the 'entrance'.
Tam and Hunter are in the middle front while the others are huddled in the back, guarded by Saki and her blade.
A tall, cloaked man strolled casually to approach them. He has a sinuous quality to his movement that Saki likened to a walking oil spill.
The darkness around them seemed to be thickest around this guy.
Hunter can see the others behind this man taking positions.
"That's far enough and you have 2 seconds to convince me not to kill you right where you are!" Hunter said between clenched teeth. He doesn't like being put in a defensive position.
"Careful boy, no need to be too violent" the guy sounded like he had gravel in his mouth.
"Judging by how you are too careful in your attacks, you know I am no boy," Hunter straightened and stepped forward.
"In our business, prudence is always needed," the oily man countered.
"And what business is that?" Saki asked.
"A business that the dead has no business knowing," the man chuckled.
Hunter lowered his hand, palm towards Saki gently. She gritted her teeth but stayed where she was.
"You are not raising the odds for your survival, asshole," Hunter walked towards the shadowy man.
In the blink of an eye, Hunter's hand is on the smiling face.
Clouds of dust and smoke billowed up.
When it cleared, the man was not on the ground...or anywhere else for that matter.
His laughter echoed around them.
Saki gasped as thunder exploded.
She knew that the guns were aimed at Hunter and with a sinking feeling, she watched as bullets found their target.
Tam, in a gust of wind that seemed faster than the bullets, is now in front of Hunter who never moved.
Bullets lay in front of them, smoking.
"Impressive," the disembodied voice said.
"Let us try to be civilized once more. I only want you and the girl. I will let the others go if you agree," he said.
"I don't see how you are in a position to bargain. You did not catch us. We led you here," Hunter is trying to locate the man's position through his voice.
"Hahaha! You know you can't defend this place for too long. Not from us and certainly not from the thing around this area that you seem to fear."
"Then come if you dare. Bring an army if you want." Hunter is becoming angry by the minute. He knows that true darkness is coming and the creature that he warned the team earlier about is going to wake up soon.
The black man is right. They will have to finish this.
"I know now that bullets are not effective against your slaves but can they deflect a mountain?" he laughed.
A rumble behind them made Saki look up and as if on cue, a large boulder began moving towards the edge of the cliff above them.
"Decide now or die!" the voice said ominously.
Hunter stood silent. His face as hard as granite.
The large rock continued sliding out and as small rocks rained on them, Jiro screamed.
The boulder stopped moving and the smiling face of Calad peered down.
"Hello down there!" he waved as if nothing was happening below.
"You were saying?" Hunter challenged the voice.
"I have 50 men with me and you have but 8. Half of you are not warriors. Sooner or later, you shall fall."
"You had 30. Now you have 20. Pretty soon you'll have zero", Hunter stated matter of factly.
"They are seriously confusing me with their math," Earl whispered to Jiro.
Silence.
The wind is starting to blow and birds are crying somewhere.
"I still have more men…"
The whole valley shook and the rocks in front of Hunter started detonating one by one.
The darkness lifted and in the weakening light of dusk, Saki saw Hamarr grinning openly while holding two men limply. Duren is with him carrying a fainted Jake.
"You were saying?" Hamarr imitated Hunter but the voice was gone.
Their reunion's euphoria was short-lived as they still needed to climb the mountain.
They managed to get on top fast enough to watch the last light of the sunset fade in the horizon.
As the rest of the group sat around the fire, waiting for the food, Hamarr, Hunter and Saki were talking a few meters away.
"Something about what the shadow said bothered me," Hamarr said more to Saki than to Hunter.
"You were listening?" Saki asked the stocky old man with some asperity in her voice.
"Yup, just wanted to see what they'd do first," he replied blandly.
Saki's stare was stony but that did not seem to bother him.
"You were saying?" Hunter prompted him.
"Oh yeah, he said something about the thing that frightened Hunter here…"
"It means they were able to hear us back then," Saki suggested.
"No...no one was near us in a one mile radius. We made sure of that," Hamarr declared.
"And back there, it was the first time somebody said anything about the thing around here that comes out at night. It was only unleashed when we first came here before we met. No one knows about it but us," he added.
"You're not suggesting…" Saki let the question hang.
"I am afraid you have a traitor in your team," the old guy said with certainty that left a cold feeling in Saki's core.
She looked at the horizon and the spreading darkness.