Crimson Revenge... Payback in Blood. Part 4

Joliset bounded through the woods as fast as she could, chasing the flame trail and trying not to dump her passenger.  Ravvyn held on with a tightly as branches tore at her armor, cloak and hair. A a mob of angry beasts scurried behind them.  Joliset was fast in deer form... but Ravvyn wondered how good was her stamina compared with the werewolves and dire wolves following closely behind them?

The woods began to thin and then Joliset's hoof beats began to click on an ancient cobblestone road.  They had come upon an ancient city.  The light changed as the darkness of the trees disappeared and the fog remained.  The air around them felt lighter.  The ruins of grand mansions and temples faded in and out of the fog and there came a wind that whistled and moaned.  Ravvyn sat up to look around her, checking behind to see where the beasts were.  There was no sign of them. Ravvyn's skin prickled and the hair on her neck raised.  What was so bad that it could turn evil creatures away?

Joliset the deer was panting heavily.  She slowed and glanced behind her.  Seeing nothing behind them, she slowed to a trot and then to a slowed walk.  Ravvyn slid down off of the white deer as a cloud engulfed it and changed into humanoid form.   Ravvyn awkwardly let go of Joliset's neck.  Joliset merely turned around and smiled kindly.

"We are not safe yet, but we can rest for a bit before we continue on." Joliset spoke as she rested on an old wall, still trying to catch her breath.  Ravvyn nodded and remained standing, scanning the area for trouble.  Then her heart sank when she realized the fire trail was gone.  She knew without a doubt there was no way Joliset knew the way out.  The Whispering Woods had a way of making travelers walk around in circles until they perished. Usually, it was because they were eaten by any number of horrible creatures that dwelled within these woods.

Ravvyn narrowed her eyes at Joliset, "How will we find our way out of here now?", she asked.  Joliset merely smiled and produced some food from a small pack.  She silently offered Ravvyn a sandwich.  Ravvyn was starving, so she took it and began eating, her white eyebrows furrowed with worry and suspicion.  Joliset drank from a water pouch, then offered it to Ravvyn who drank greedily.  As they finished eating and drinking, the day was turning into night.  The ruins began to darken once again and the air smelled strongly of wet earth and something else Ravvyn could not quite put her finger on.

The whispers of the long dead was so powerful now.  It was making Ravvyn's skin prickle with goosebumps and the hair on her neck stand up.  She felt they were being watched, but couldn't see, hear or smell anything. One glance over at Joliset and Ravvyn knew that she felt the same.  They were not alone.

Joliset sniffed at the air, then growled a low rumble that didn't seem to match her beautiful features. Her magical lightning cloud covered her and then there was a massive dire bear in her place.  It's shoulders as tall as Ravvyn stood there with a white streak down its back and wearing all of Joliset's ear piercings and necklaces.  The dire bear growled at a specific place in the dark fog.  Joliset spoke in a deep growly voice, "Get on my back, quickly and hold on!"  That was all it took for Ravvyn to hop on.  As she glanced at the spot Joliset was staring at, she saw blue, iridescent light materializing before them. A spirit of the dead had arisen from it's resting place. It glared directly at the pair of intruders and screeched in anger as it raised it's claw-like ghost hands, it's hair flying around it as if by some otherworldly wind.  It was an ancient high elf female, but she was twisted by some evil force now.  She was not a high elf anymore... her mouth opening unnaturally wide as if to swallow them whole. Rows of needle sharp fangs lined her maw, ready to chew up their souls. Her elaborate gown was torn into rags that fluttered in the spirit wind with her hair. She would have been splendid to behold back in her time.  Now, as a twisted spirit,  she was frightening beyond belief.

Ravvyn broke out in a cold sweat as she held Joliset's bear fur in a death grip.  Joliset growled menacingly at the ghost, as more and more spirits began to materialize around them.  Many different high elf males and females who were now twisted evil spirits surrounded them.  Their once-beautiful features warped into the stuff of nightmares.  

The first spirit swiped it's claws at them as it screeched.  Joliset was scratched and blood was leaking from the wound.  She growled in pain, reared up and swiped her giant paw at the evil spirit.  The razer-sharp dire bear claws sliced the ghost in half, ripping the tattered gown as well.  The ghost stared at her stomach then went out like the flame of a candle, disappearing from her tortured existence.  This only infuriated the other spirits, causing them to advance faster, claws and teeth ready to strike the duo.

As Joliset reared up again, Ravvyn rolled nimbly off, disappearing into the dark fog.  Joliset the dire bear growled with all her might, standing on hind legs.  As the evil spirits came within striking distance the bear swiped with it's claws striking two enemies at once.  Another spirit approaching from her flank was chomped in half and thrown by her enormous fangs.  Joliset was getting sliced by the spirit claws. She searched around her, looking for Ravvyn, dreading she had been abandoned when Ravvyn appeared from thin air behind one ghost and decapitated him, disappearing after he went out.  Ravvyn then appeared behind a screaming spirit about to strike Joliset from behind. She chopped off it's head in one smooth motion, and disappeared once again.  

That night, every spirit in those ruins found their release from purgatory to the plane of existence that awaited them next. All at the hands (and paws) of Ravvyn and Joliset.  When they felt as if the danger was passed, Ravvyn curled up next to Joliset, the warm and furry, dire bear as they both fell asleep exhausted, a bit bloody and sore.

[to be continued]

*Disclaimer I do not claim any of the artwork in this story as my own.  All rights go to their perspective owners/creators.  I am a huge fan and if you are too, visit their pages and let them know.  :)