Page 67 of Artemysia
Regrettably, I’m wrong, and my elk rears and twists. The Syf must be controlling my poor girl. She’s never been affected by them before, though I’ve never encountered so many at once. I stay on, but with the next series of bucks, her hoof catches on a large toadstool.
She stumbles, and I’m thrown off.
To her credit, she stamps on a shirtless Syf male as she gallops away toward Ivy and Delphine.
I tumble over the mossy floor, shielding my head to avoid being kicked by her hooves as she runs off. When I try to roll up, two wild-eyed Syf are upon me. I slash my sword to fend them off, but a third stabs at me. When I dodge, one of the others manages to bash me across the temple with the hilt of his sword, and my vision blurs with jarring pain before the trees spin. A splintering headache whisks me away into darkness.
“They’re tall, and their tails swish like the panthers of Serpent’s Moon Mountain as theyclose in.”- Delphine
We’ve leapt off our elk, but big effin’ surprise, Riev refuses to follow suit. The Syf do not harm the elk, but somehow communicate with them tobuck us off or run the other way. I tether mine to Throg’s and set them loose.They’re trained to return when called.
I instinctively edge toward Throg. We’ve done this a thousand times before, and we have each other’s backs. My strengths are in outmaneuvering the enemy, predicting their strategy with my quick movements and thinking. Throg has endurance, brute force, and a long reach from under which I can assess the incoming Syf to call out our tactics.
Eight tall, lithe Syf approach wordlessly, one with a spear and the rest with broadswords. I’ve never heard them speak and it’s unknown whether they understand our language, or if they have one of their own. Their kaleidoscopic wings drape behindthem like soft capes, but like humans, their skin color varies from pale to dark.
I draw my long sword.
Ivy faces three Syf closing in on her with spears or axes in one hand, old broadswords in the other. There is no organization, no leadership, no formation among the Syf. It’s chaos, but that’s to our advantage. I need to coordinate the four of us, but when I scan the blur of forest around me, my heart takes a sharp dive.
Riev is bucked off and vanishes from my sight into a circle of Syf.
When Ivy whistles, his elk runs to us. The poor animal is spooked.
Against my better judgment and out of desperation to save Riev, I grasp the reins of his elk, slip my foot into a stirrup, and swing aboard. I charge the Syf surrounding him. His elk seems to have resisted Syf influence the longest, so I take my chances on her. Even my own elk bucked and tried to run off when the Syf first came charging, but Riev’s elk remained under his control, until now.
I charge past where Riev lies unconscious and slice into the neck of a Syf female. The others rage and come after me, and I fight them off. I need to draw them away from him.
“Get up, Riev. Wake up!”
His eyelids flicker.
The Syf scatter away from him and six of them come after me. They’re tall, and their tails swish like the panthers of Serpent’s Moon Mountain as they close in around me. After all this time, it still unsettles me how human their faces look, but their tails always throw me off.
Riev’s elk bucks beneath me and retreats the other way, kicking out. I steady her with my legs, centering her attention on me. The Syf pull back to avoid being trampled.
Every time I charge the Syf blocking my way to Riev, Riev’s elk rears away at the last minute, and I struggle to stay on.
On the third charge, I’m thrown off but land on my feet. I knock away one Syf and slash at another.
Throg and Ivy yell that I’m wasting my time, but I get back on Riev’s elk and try one last time. She rears, though I’m prepared for it and I’m able to wrestle control of her, reminding her I am in charge with sturdy leg cues and rein work.
I employ a soft but firm voice and a calm, low whistle that has always worked on frightened elk on my father’s farm.
Her ears finally swing back to focus on me, and she seems to follow through on my commands now as we gallop back to Riev without bucking. On such a large elk, I overwhelm the next few Syf with speed and power, decapitating two of the enemy in one swoop and returning with another pass to take down one more.
I make it to Riev.
His head is bleeding, and he wobbles as he stands, but at least he’s conscious and on his feet again.
Throg and Ivy work together and kill three more, but more Syf filter through the trees like swarming wasps. Some must have been slow to leave their meal, wandering in as if they weren’t told to fight. I’m confused. How do they organize their attacks, if they have no apparent strategy?
Strategy. What weakness can we exploit? How are we going to get through this?
I wipe the sweat beading at my temples and ready myself for the next onslaught of Syf charging at me with rusted swords.
Strategy.
I notice an odd detail that will change the fight for us.
