Darkness came swiftly to the mountains, and with it came the attack. Krosa had been leaning on her spear, staring into the darkness and idly bringing roots up from the ground to entangle the barricade, hopefully adding extra strength. She thought of the creatures that had attacked them on the road only a few short months before, and shuddered slightly. Her awareness of the roots beneath her granted a slight warning as she detected a tremor through the roots of nearby plants as they experienced the crushing weight of heavy hooves and paws. Krosa hissed an alarm and brought her spear to the ready, wiping her hands on her tunic in a vain attempt to dry the nervous sweat from her grip.

She felt a presence nearby and saw Gost out of the corner of her eye, bow strung and ready, half a quiver of arrows leaning up against the barricade. She turned her head slightly and met his eye, feeling reassured as he gave her a slight nod before turning his gaze to the forest, a cocky grin growing on his face. Next to Gost, Pepehi stood like the stump of a great tree, ax freshly sharpened. Seeing the two warriors looking confident, she felt her spirits life as she turned back to the shapes that were now emerging from the darkness.

As shadows reformed into coherent shapes in the light cast by a few torches set on the barricade, Krosa thought she’d perhaps prefer to fight shadows. The same wretched fiends that they had faced before now stalked from between the trees into the clearing where the small fortress stood to defy them. Dozens of grotequese versions of deer, wolves, bears, and other forest creatures advanced on the defenders, all sprouting horns and antlers and extra limbs, teeth bared from gaping mouths. Pepehi swore softly, “Uha, that’s a lot more than last time. Where the hell do they all come from?” Another hunter spoke quietly, voice trembling slightly, “By the Gods, we don’t stand a chance.” Krosa found herself agreeing, but her thoughts of what it was about to feel like to be torn apart by the slavering jaws of the creatures that were still coming in to the light was interrupted.

“HA! Pepehi, they come from hell and to hell is where we’ll be sending them. As for you,” he pointed his bow at the other hunter who had spoken. “The only God we’ll be seeing tonight is Uncle Death, when he comes to pick the battlefield clean for the souls of these damned beasts!” Leaping to the top of the barricade in an astounding feat of athleticism, he threw off his cloak in a dramatic fashion that would have been more suited to a stage than a beleaguered barricade. “HUNTERS! TONIGHT THE PREY COMES TO YOU! NOW LET'S KILL ALL THESE BASTARDS, OR CHOKE THEM WITH OUR CORPSES!” WIth that, he pulled an arrow from the quiver at his hip and faster than Krosa could follow, shot it into the eye of and advancing wolf. Arrow after arrow sprung from his bow, manic laughter ringing out in the glade.

After only a short pause to witness the absurd actions of the tall, scarred hunter, the other defenders shouted their own warcryies and the ones that had ranged weapons began letting loose into the crowd of monsters. The beasts took this as the signal to rush the barraced, massive stags leading the charge with several large bears close behind. Twisted wolves circled the perimeter, probing for weaknesses. Antlers slammed into the barricade, and Krosa felt the roots she had woven through it creak in protest. Short after, the bears hit the wall, massive paws attempting to rend the fragile timbers apart. They were met with spears, arrows, axes, and long hunters knives, wickedly sharp. Krosa thrust her spear through a gap in the wall, feeling it sink into the chest of a stag who’s antlers were tangled with roots that held it in place. She felt the strain of holding the roots while also trying to strike a vital area in the struggling animal. Finally, she managed to sink the blade of her spear into the beast’s chest, stopping its struggles.

Just as it began to collapse against the barricade, a massive wolf used the haunches of the still-trapped deer to leap at the top of the barricade, only to be thrown back when it met the booted foot of Gost, who still stood atop the wall. He seemed to draw the beasts, laughing and leaping from side to side as they came, arrows flying from his bow at point blank range into the small horde. Next to him, Pepehi had climbed the wall as well and swung his ax at all comers, scoring deep wounds on any foe that approached too closely.

The others on the wall benefited from the attention they were drawing to themselves, and were holding. All of them were seasoned hunters, well versed in the most efficient way to put down the animals that the beasts before them had originated from, and they went to work with grim efficiency. But the beasts kept coming. Soon, they were entirely surrounded, and the barrier was groaning under the strain. Groaning, but holding. Krosa focused her will even further, concentrating on pulling up more roots from the ground to weave in between the wagons and barrels and random timbers that sheltered them. Hold. She thought. HOLD! She thrust mindlessly with her spear as all of her concentration went into keeping the barrier intact.

The pressure lessened abruptly and she threw her attention back to the attacking horde, startled. They were backing away, still snarling. “They’re giving up!” one of the hunters shouted in excitement. But he was wrong. Out of the forest, came a new beast. In the high mountains, seldom seen except by those that hunt them, there lived giant Aurochs. Massive wild cattle that could grow to over twice the size of their domestic counterparts, and stood over six feet tall at the shoulder. Only Gost and Pepehi could have seen over the back of the monster that now emerged at the edge of their clearing, heavy hooves crushing down the fresh-dug dirt on the new graves. Its massive curved horns curled upward, making it taller still. It loomed higher than their barricade, and the usual two horns had branched into an absurd battering ram, points splitting off in seemingly random directions. Small antlers had sprouted along its back, giving it additional armor. In place of the normal cud-chewing placidity of a bovine mouth, there was a red maw filled with razor-sharp teeth, and a seemingly prehensile tongue curled and whipped about.

Without preamble, it lowered its head and charged. Krosa felt herself wrenched off her feet as Gost leapt down from the barrier and picked her up, throwing her to the side. The barrier shattered as the battering-ram horns struck it. She felt her roots twist and break under the hooves as the monster destroyed everything in its path. Gost was struck by a piece of the barricade and thrown through the flimsy wall of a nearby hut. Pepehi likewise was slammed to the ground by the creatures charge. The other hunters shouted in fear but still managed to lob some weapons into the creature’s side, which seemed to have no effect as it charged through the camp. Shying away from the large fire at the center of the huts, the aurochs began smashing its way back around to the largest concentration of humans. Krosa regained her feet and her spear just as the first twisted wolf leapt through the breach, snapping a segmented jaw full of serrated teeth. She thrust out with her spear but the wolf avoided the point and bit down on the haft. Like a dog playing tug-of-war with its owner, it pulled on the spear, nearly ripping if from her grip. Before she could react, the wolfs head was cleanly severed by by a gleaming axe blade. Pepehi had also gotten to his feet, and had never lost control of is weapon.

Now he lept into the breach, roaring a challenge to the incoming beasts. As he did so, an answering roar came from the trees. The air seemed to shudder around them as all the combatants froze. The only one still moving was Gost, pulling himself painfully from the wreckage around him. Throwing aside his broken bow, he pulled a short sword. Staggering a bit as he walked over to Krosa, he grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her. “Get out of here, as soon as you see an opening. Get to the trees, use your magic. Run. Get back to the village, and don’t worry about the rest of us, we’ll make our own way. Understand?” She nodded her head, recognizing that this was not a time to argue. She realized in that moment that despite there still being much she didn’t know about the man, she trusted his judgment in battle completely.

The hunters had also regained their wits, and were using the lull in the attack outside to focuse their attention on the aurochs. The thing was powerful, but not very agile. Spears and knives sunk into its side, axes thrown and arrows fired. Gost ran to stand by Pepehi, striking down the monsters that once again attempted to exploit the breach. The pressure on them was greatly lessened as many of the beasts had turned towards the source of the roar, suddenly finding themselves fighting on two fronts. Krosa ran past the aurochs, considered trying to strike it with her spear, then reconsidered as it threw out a hoof that smashed the hut nearest to her into splinters. A large piece struck her in the forehead, and she felt blood run down her face as she stumbled out of the way. Falling to the ground, she wiped the blood from her eyes and felt a swlling of anger.

These were the beasts that had taken her father from her. They were trying to kill her, kill everyone she knew. Destroy her village, her life. They’d probably taken her best friend. She was going to run, run away and live to get strong enough to destroy the curse and all it’s monstrous spawn. She couldn’t fight the horde, and she couldn’t fight the aurochs, not directly. Instead, she reached her will into the ground, and pulled with everything she had on what she found there.

The aurochs smashed into a hunter, and outside of her intense focus she heard bones breaking as the man’s chest was crushed by the force of the blow. Two wolves that had made it past the men guarding the wall were pulling down another hunter, who stabbed at them with his knife, screaming curses. Bloody tears running down her face, Krosa sharpened her focus and wrenched with her will. A thick root speared up from the ground, directly into the underbelly of the rampaging monster. Its own momentum served to drive the spike deep into its vitals. The root snapped, and the creatures fell to its knees, bellowing in rage. As soon as it was down, two of the hunters who had been harrying it leapt on its fallen form, stabbing and slashing until it finally lay still, dead.

The hunters threw her a grateful look, and then returned to the wall. She pulled herself to her feet, staggering as she felt the aftereffects of what she had just done. Remembering Gosts instructions, she made her way to the back of the wall. There was much less activity there, as most of the monsters seemed focused on the breach, where Gost and Pepehi were still holding against all comers, with the remaining hunters guarding their flanks. Fighting the urge to disobey her friend and teacher and return to the fray, she climbed the back section of wall, checked for any threats lurking in the dark, dropped to the ground, and sprinted for the trees.

As the sounds of battle faded into the distance, she felt tears running down her cheeks as she sent a silent prayer into the world. The only response she got was another one of the ear-splitting roars. Sobbing for breath and for the hunters, she continued to run into the woods, finding her way through magic and pale starlight.