Tina Yeager's Blog, page 6

Lethean Shroud

Rayanna folded her shoulders inward, but the bitter night wind thrashed against her bare skin. The chill intensified the quiver in her voice as the knife-wielder inched over the threshold toward her, right hand behind his back. She stammered, “I–it was a camping accident. At least, I think so.”

“What do you mean, you think so?” The officer narrowed his eyes at her, then gestured with his gun at the blouse in Reeve’s grip.

Reeve tossed her the rent garment and reclaimed his spot in the doorway.

As she laced her arms into the sleeves, the tatters of her blouse scraped like barbs over her fresh burns. She grimaced and drew in sharp breaths. “Campfire flames on my arms woke me up. I must’ve hit my head pretty hard.” She clutched the front of her shirt together, then pointed to the wound on her head. “I don’t remember much before that. I was trying to find help, when this psycho brought me into his cabin.”

Reeve stomped forth, brandishing his blade. “I won’t stand fer that varmit’s lip. She’s a low-bellied prowlin’ liar, I tell ya!”

She retreated.

The trooper stepped between them and aimed his gun at the weathered mountaineer. “Stand down, and drop that knife!”

Reeve scowled. “Why should I do that?”

He stiffened and adopted a firm, loud tone. “Because if you don’t, I’ll shoot. Also because I’ve got the badge, and I plan to take one of you to the station in town.”

“Think I’m a-feared of the likes of you, do ya?” He raised his wiry-bearded chin and flashed a craggy sneer. “I’d take you out before your next breath. Take another step and see, boy. Ain’t much concerned with your law, neither.”

“Is that so? You volunteering for a night in a cell?” The trooper rolled his shoulders.

The cabin dweller locked into the lawman’s gaze, but didn’t answer him. Reeve’s jaw shifted, as if he chewed at something. Rayanna backed her way down the creaky steps. Her heels crunched in the brittle grass. In the surrounding thicket of fog-flooded woods, a twig snapped. The hint of a growl rose. As Rayanna flicked her gaze at the unsearchable screen of brush, the sound vanished.

Must’ve imagined it.

The trooper broke their silent stare. “Well, I’d like to wrap this up here. So what’s it gonna be there, fella? Stay home tonight or come try out the cots downtown?”

“Your heart set on takin a captive tonight, eh? Heh-heh. Ain’t that irony for ya.” His gaze aimed beyond the officer, toward the forest. His glance then narrowed at Rayanna before he turned his focus on the officer. “Reckon you best get that critter off my property if you’re gonna take somethin. And don’t take yer time on the way out of them trees, neither.”

“I don’t recommend you threatening an officer, because I can–”

“I’m not threatenin’. I’m a warning ya. There’s hungry thangs out in these parts, boy.” He stabbed a finger toward the dark, tangle of trees behind Rayanna. “Might even make their way into your purty little town if’n they catch your scent and follow it in.”

The wind hissed through through the high boughs. Fog swirled up and dissipated at the edge of his tiny yard, like a fleeting ghost.

“Want to be more specific about that, so I can note it in my report?” The officer widened his stance.

“Don’t give skank-spit about yer report. But you best never set foot out here again.” Reeve clutched the doorknob. “Don’t be pokin’ yer little pistol where it don’t belong.”

With that, the mountaineer slammed his door against them. A bolting thump resounded promptly within it.

As the trooper hustled to her side, Rayanna gazed at the mist-haunted, winding path down the mountainside.

She asked, “Where will you take me?”

The officer ventured into the brush and the shadows swallowed him whole. His deep voice sifted through the titter of underfoot crackles and swishing leaves. “First, we have to make it to my patrol car.”

 

*** TO BE CONTINUED ***

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Lethean Shroud

Rayanna twisted her sweat-slicked wrist and wrenched free from his grip.

He snatched the hem of her blouse and snarled. “No, you don’t.”

She pulled away with every ounce of strength. “Lemme go!” Her shirt ripped as she lunged for the door. The rent fabric peeled from her body and scraped at her raw arms. With a guttural yell, she threw aside the board bolting her exit.

The knob torqued and she fell through the opening door. Crashed against the burly chest of a uniformed trooper.

The officer stumbled back a step.”What’s–”

Rayanna folded her arms over her bra and huddled behind him. “He’s gonna kill me!”

Wielding the Bowie knife, Reeve stomped forward. His eyes bore the same garnet sheen, though no longer reflecting the firelight. “Step aside. This ain’t none of yer affair.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” The trooper aimed his sidearm at the grizzled mountain man. “You mean to harm this lady?”

“That what you think? Wouldn’t catch me harming ne’ry a hair on a lady’s head.” Reeve snort-sniffed. He sauntered to the threshold. “But that there varmint ain’t no such thing.”

“Let’s see how judgmental you feel from a jail cell. You can come quietly or–”

“You ain’t got no cause to arrest me. I got rights.” He slapped the door jamb beside him.

Through chattering teeth, Rayanna shouted, “Rights?”

“Self defense against invaders.” He pointed the knife at her. “Caught her prowling around my property. She’s the one you ought to throw in yer clink. Lock her up for good.”

“Liar!” She hugged herself, but the bitter wind scathed her burns and her violent shivering persisted.

While keeping his weapon trained on the homeowner, the trooper darted a glance at her. “So, how’d you come to be here, missy?”

Rayanna gulped. How could she answer when she didn’t know?

**** TO BE CONTINUED ****

 

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Lethean Shroud

She howled as the fiery steel sizzled against her flesh. Burnt skin odors burrowed into her senses. Writhing, she thrashed against the rocker. Jerked against the crazed stranger’s grip.

“Hold still.” Cursing, Reeve wrenched her wrist in a tightening grip. “You ain’t goin’ nowhere.”

He peeled the blade away, ripping a layer of seared skin. She shrieked. Excruciating pain flared across her arm. Knees buckled.

Her captor tucked the knife in his belt. Stretching her raw forearm, he sniffed at the bubbling tissue. “Hmm, can’t rightly tell if you got a lycan’s burn level with the campfire wounds and all. One thing’s for certain, though.” He narrowed his slate gray eyes.”You ain’t one of my kind.”

She choked back sobs and squealed. “Let me go.”

He cast her to the floor. She collapsed onto the gruesome, fur rug. Nausea roiled in her gut.

Boot steps thudded across the outside stoop. “Sheriff, open up.” The door rattled against the barricade under the pounding of a fist.

Rayanna’s voice cracked as she yelled. “Help! He’s gonna–”

Reeve dashed to her side and clamped his smoky, calloused hand over her mouth. “I ain’t presentable, Sheriff. Gimme a second to cover my unmentionables.”

*** TO BE CONTINUED ***

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Lethean Shroud

She wanted to jump to her feet and shove the old man. Call him crazy. Tell him he couldn’t be more wrong. More than anything, she wanted to run. Rayanna darted a glance at the door–ten paces or so.

Reeve let out a slow, throaty chuckle and turned the tip of his Bowie knife over the flames.

The twelve feet to the threshold might as well be a mile. It’d likely be the last sprint of her life.

As she grated her teeth to restrain her urges, another thought rustled in the dark corners of her mind. The beast darted across her memory and sent logic spinning toward a crash. Too large for a wolf. Wrong gait for a bear. Maybe not, though. Hadn’t her mind already failed her?

He drew the glowing blade from the fireplace and curled his bristly lips into a sneer. “Let’s see what yer made of.”

She drew back with a squeal. “No!”

He snatched her wrist and pulled it close with a twist, baring the tender skin of her inner arm.

“Wait!” She locked her gaze into his glinting eyes. “Couldn’t you just … spare me? Please?”

Her shallow breath halted. Her tongue went dry. She had been spared. Twice. Why had the creature left her unharmed in each grisly attack? The metal’s heat flared against her skin as Reeve pressed his blade closer. Tears blurred her eyes and spilled down her flushed cheeks.

What if he could be right?

***TO BE CONTINUED***

 

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Lethean Shroud

“My wounds look human to me. And you seem …” Rayanna’s lips pursed aside, unable to spit out a valid description of him as a normal man.

Reeve dipped his stubbled chin and arched a brow. “So, how do you reckon I seem? Odd?” Eyes riveted to her, he bared the upper half of his yellow, uneven teeth and worked the tip of his Bowie knife between his canine and bicuspid. The blade produced a stringy bit of stew meat. A few feet away from the fire, he eased the tip nearer to the mouth of the fireplace. Before his knife passed the hearth’s threshold, smoke curled from the flesh and the wet scrap of meat burst into flame.

“W-what was that?” Gamey flavors clawed up her gullet. She clapped a hand over her mouth. Coughed. Swallowed back the gag-urge.

With a tilt of his head, he twisted the sizzling knife before his face. “Distant cousin, most likely. Mebbe closer in relation to you.”

He lunged with the knife. She flattened herself against the chair back. The rocker careened. Her eyes squeezed shut. Smoke and ammonia-like body odor stung her nostrils. His suffocating presence leaned over her. Hot metal flattened against her upper arm. She flashed her eyes wide as he wiped the blade across her sleeve.

“How’d you like that dinner, then?”

She froze. Mouth ajar, unable to breathe. Acrid air parched her eyes. No, she must not have tears.

With a chortle, he flipped his weapon and caught it in the same hand. “Bet you’re wondering what’d get us to hunt our kin. Ain’tcha?”

She gulped.

“We ain’t been on brotherly terms for many a year.”

“How many, exactly?” Her voice creaked. She cleared her throat. “Maybe it’s time to–”

His voice thundered. “Thousands.” Reeve settled onto the stone hearth. “And there ain’t no peace for the wicked.”

“How can you be sure who the wicked are?”

Reflections of smoke swirled in his eyes. “You figger we ought to leave room for divine judgment. Give our enemies a chance to prove themselves, or some such thing?”

She edged forward, hands clasped as if her fingers might press through to her palms. “Yes.”

“We all had a chance. To guard human life would redeem our’n.” He nodded at the flames. “But the lycan … they proved themselves all right.”

“How? W-what happened?”

“They chose selfishness.” He whipped around and stood. She recoiled as he punctuated each word with dramatic knife gestures. “To devour instead of protect. And over the ages it has grown much, much worse.”

“Then, there’s no need for a test. I’ll tell you.” Rayanna squared her shoulders and shook her head. “I couldn’t be like that. There’s no way I’m a lycan.”

He arched a wiry brow. “Really? How can you be sure you’re so righteous?” He leaned close, stew breath steaming onto her nose. “Especially when you don’t remember a thing about your life?”

 

*** TO BE CONTINUED ***

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Lethean Shroud

A wisp of smoke curled from the fireplace and traced the storyteller’s jawline. Reeve sucked his crooked teeth as he surveyed the writhing flames. “There’s critters born tender as kittens. But earth’s foul air can poison things. So a purr can’t be trusted. At any moment, a sweet-sounding thing’ll carve your eye out to save itself.”

Rayanna gripped the armrests and lifted the chair, backing silently away from him. “I don’t see what this has to do with me.”

She froze as he drilled his focus on her.

“There’s another kind of beast. See, some creatures are born evil.” He leveled his ember-flecked glare at her, leaning forward. “Instead of suffocating in the corruption of the air, they thrive on it. Rumors point at them for bringing malice here in the first place. But I couldn’t say. Seems awful plentiful to have come here without a natural place already here for it.”

Sweat trickled along her hairline, but she didn’t dare move to wipe it away. She’d wandered into the shack of a paranoid mountaineer. One wrong move might confirm his suspicions and he’d label her as one of these alien predators.

“I’ve seen that look in your eyes before,” he said.

She blinked. Shook her head. “I’m just listening. Like you told me. I–”

“You think I’ve lost my mind.” He stood, retrieved a Bowie knife from the mantle, and perched back on the hearth.

“No, I just don’t understand the whole story.” She held up her palms. “Maybe you could just explain the details. So it makes sense to someone who’s never heard it.” She stopped short of adding a comment about her memory lapse, in case it’d tempt him to think this was her own forgotten backstory.

“Don’t matter what you think of me.” Reeve cleaned his fingernails with the blade’s tip. “Truth don’t make no never mind of opinions. And neither do I.”

“So, can you help me here? Are you saying those beasts outside and this creature here …” She pointed to the monstrous fur rug. “Were some sort of werewolves?”

“Wipe that look off your face, varmint!” He stabbed the knife within an inch of her nose. “These are lycan. Not movie or storybook werewolves. And not like anything one of them fool humans in town would’ve ever seen before.”

An ache clubbed at all sides of her skull. But she had to think. To say something. She forced her trembling lips to spit out the first words she could summon. “Couldn’t I just be a fool human, like the townspeople? I did manage to get lost in the worst possible place. And roll into a fire afterward.”

“Nice try. If only I were the kook or fool you were countin’ on. That’d be a sight easier on us both, now wouldn’t it?” Ashy whiskers bristled around his craggy sneer. “You’re lost all right. More’n you know. See, you ain’t no more a human than I am, varmint.”

 

*** TO BE CONTINUED ***

The post Lethean Shroud appeared first on Tyeagerwrites.

Lethean Shroud

Between her shoulder blades, hairs prickled up her spine to the nape of her neck. Rayanna shuddered under the grizzled hunter’s glare and forced herself to sit in the unsteady rocker. “If I don’t know my story, how can I …” She hesitated, regretting the impulse to blurt her concern aloud.

“You wondering if you can trust me?” Reeve’s stubbled lip curled into a sneer. “I got no reason to trust you, neither. But one way or t’other, we’s both in this. Enemies or otherwise.”

“But we’ve never met before … have we?” She scanned the room for potential weapons. He shielded the rifle and poker at his back. A sheathed machete hung from its handle strap, but on the farthest wall from the exit. A shovel leaned against the corner near the door. Not much hope against the mountain man’s rifle, but she might have to make do.

“This is bigger’n the two of us, and goes back long before we was born. Don’t much matter whether you met an enemy you was bred to kill, does it?”

With a hiss and snap, the fire spat an ember at the back of Reeve’s neck. Without turning, he whipped his hand behind his head and caught the spark in his fist.

Rayanna gasped as he uncurled his fingers to reveal a glowing coal on his bare palm. “How? Doesn’t it–”

“Like all my folk afore me, I’s forged in fires thousands of times hotter’n this.” He extended the blazing nugget toward her. “Take it.”

“What?”

“Need to see what you’re made of.”

She recoiled, shaking her head. “I don’t know what you are, but I’ve been burned enough for today.”

“That’s what perturbs me ’bout you.” Reeve grabbed her wrist and shoved the remnant of her sleeve to bare the scabbing on her arm. “Did you roll into the fire and get nothing but a few singed spots? Or did a little heat buckle your skin from a distance?” He dropped her hand. “You. Don’t. Remember. Or so you say.”

The ember’s glow waned. He breathed as if blowing a kiss onto the surface, but the tiny coal crumbled to dust. “Guess I’ll have to pluck another’n out.”

“Wait.” Rayanna bit the inside of her cheek as he arched a furry brow. Stall him. Somehow. “You were gonna tell me what all this is about, right? Can’t you do the fire test afterward?”

“Seem awful spooked to be one of my kind.” He studied her a moment, sweeping his narrow gaze head-to-toe. With a pat onto his rifle stock, he concluded, “But you ain’t going nowheres. Might as well see what the tale brings out. Best to kill a lychan suffering the truth of its foul nature.”

“Lychan?” She scoffed. “Like a werewolf?”

“Hmph.” He folded his arms and spat at the flames, sending up a shower of sparks. “Not like any of the fairytales you heard.”

 

*** TO BE CONTINUED ***

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Lethean Shroud

 

Musky stew grease still coated Rayanna’s tongue. And her host’s line of questioning didn’t help the swill of bad tastes filling her mouth. She grimaced, unable to swallow away traces of bile.

“Guilty of what?” She rose a few inches, but didn’t make it to her feet.

Reeve kicked the rocker, scooting it a couple of feet from the hearth, and stood. Rayanna gripped the arms of the keeling seat.

Spittle flew from his chapped snarl. “Sit!” He slung the last bits meat from his plate into the fire. Sparks flurried around him as he turned to face her. “You best listen close here, varmit. I got a thing or two to tell ya.”

“Varmit? If this’s how you treat a young lady, maybe I should take my chances with whatever wolves are out there.” She scrambled clumsily from the chair and stomped toward the door.

“They ain’t wolves, I tell you. But you take up with them and see if it don’t end your life.” He pointed his chin from the rifle to her hand on the doorknob. “Whether at my hand or theirs.”

She tightened her grip on the knob. “You plan to kill me like some animal? You’re c-crazy.”

“I’m lot of things, but I ain’t bats.” He arched his brows. “And you ain’t no young lady, neither.”

“What?”

He stabbed a crooked, thick-nailed finger at her. “That’s the question. You one of their kind? Or one of mine?”

She twisted the handle while thoughts spun through her mind. Could she sprint into the woods before he shot her in the back? With the knob’s click, chills traced her spine. Her first step over that threshold would seal her death sentence.

Rayanna pried her fingers from the door handle.

“That’s it.” He sneered. “Come have yerself a seat.”

As she shuffled to the wobbling rocker, her sour gut careened. She grit her teeth in an attempt to anchor the dizzy sway of her head. The floorboards seemed to shift like a boat’s deck beneath her steps. Upon reaching the chair, she grabbed its unsteady back. “So, what is it you need to tell me?”

“A story.” He swept an open hand toward the seat. As she forced herself to settle into the rocker, he returned to his perch on the hearth. “Your story.”

 

*** TO BE CONTINUED ***

 

 

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Lethean Shroud

Reeve glowered in the shadow of the flames raging at his back. With his curled lip and statuary position he seemed almost like a grotesque carving mortared in with the hearth stones.

The fire’s heat surged past him and pricked at the scabbing wounds on Rayanna’s face and arms. She dipped her chin and pressed a shielding hand over the cuts on her forehead. How much should she tell him? “I do remember an animal darting across the road in front of my car. Hard to say what … it was so dark. Must’ve swerved to avoid it. But I … blacked out. I woke up on the side of the road with no memory.”

He leaned forward. “What did you see when you woke up? Tell me about this accident scene you failed to mention before.”

“The windshield was broken. From the inside or the outside, I couldn’t tell.” She chewed her lip.

“I’m gonna warn you one last time to tell me everything.” His thick, yellowed fingernails had the unkempt look of a wild creature’s claws. He clutched at the stony edge of his seat, grating his talons against the river rock. “What. Else. Anna.”

She recoiled, triggering the unnerving reel backward of the rocker. Her lips shuddered around breathless attempts to respond for a moment. “B-blood everywhere. I, uh, got out to look, but couldn’t find any sign of an animal.”

“What about police?”

She tightened her grip on the arms of her chair. No way to avoid it. She had to tell him about the other accident.

“Someone stopped. I thought he’d help, but with all the blood, he um … decided to take me to town in the back of his cruiser. But then it happened again. Maybe the same animal, or another one like it … I don’t know. We flipped into a ditch. I came to, and there was nothing left of the officer.” She studied the red flicks of firelight playing at the corners of his eyes. “I had no other choice but to run into the forest. The way it all happened, everything would’ve made me look–”

“Guilty.” With the shifting motion of his jaw, a faint grinding noise joined the snap of flames. “And in more ways than most folks could tell. Even you, I reckon.”

 

*** TO BE CONTINUED ***

 

 

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Lethean Shroud

 

Greasy strings of flesh clung to the utensil as Rayanna rested it against the edge of the pie tin. She inched the pungent stew across her lap, toward her knees. Raising her chin, she inhaled welcome pine smoke odors.

“What’s the story about these wolvish creatures?” As she eased her shoulders back, the rocking chair creaked.

“I told you those ain’t wolves.”

“People once believed giant boars were mythical monsters.” She glanced sideways at the snarling area rug. “Maybe it’s something like that. Just an unidentified species.”

“Unidentified. Unmentioned. Unseen, even. To most folks, that is. But I know exactly what they are. I’m just puzzling to figger your part in the story.” Firelight raved at her host’s back and cast eerie shadows into the hollows of his cheeks. Random smoke wisps lashed out across the hearth to tease his shoulders. “What’s the last thing you really remember?”

“Campfire burns woke me–”

“Wrong!” Springing up, he flung his plate to the fire’s threshold and snatched the poker. “Don’t lie to me, Anna.”

Her throat swelled, choking her words. “I-I was in an accident.”

“What kind of accident?” His knuckles whitened on the poker grip. “I better not hear that story about the fire again.”

“What do you mean? I’ve got burns.” Her arms trembled when she lifted them from her lap, so she grabbed onto the chair to steady them.

“Don’t you play games with me.” With a stomp, he glowered over her. “No one camps in these here parts. Something else put you in this forest. And something put the beasts on your scent.”

 

*** TO BE CONTINUED ***

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