The Oasis of Broken Bones
© 2013, ANDREW WARWICK
Chapter 2 – The Beast of the Oasis
“You can not leave.”
The guard at the gate barred their way, holding up a hand to stop them. A tall man with a thin beard, he had a long scar across his face. The moon had not yet risen, and with the setting of the sun while they had collected their gear and mounts, the only light to be had came from a pair of flickering torches set to the wall of the gatehouse. They lent an ill favoured aspect to the guard’s scarred face, making him appear gaunt and his eyes to gleam alike unto that of a snake. His scimitar he gripped firmly though his spear and shield lay propped against the wall of the gatehouse.
Peregrine, leading her horse with the reins in one hand and her spear in the other, glared at him, her face set in stubborn lines. “You would imprison us here against our wills?” she growled, the Aedring need and desire for freedom boiling within her blood.
The guard had seen the kind of look she gave him before, though only upon the great lions that wandered wild in nearby lands and never before on the face of a person. He raised his hand in a conciliatory gesture and licked at his lips. “Not at all,” he replied, trying to sound assuring though hints of uncertainty crept into his voice. “It is not safe out beyond the walls, not at night, and we only seek to offer safety to those that travel these parts.”
“We can take care of ourselves,” Peregrine told the guard. “You need not fear for us. Now open the gates or we will do it for you.”
“You had best do as she asks,” Blade chimed in. “She will do as she says otherwise.”
The guard hesitated, caught between indecision, his eyes flickering this way and that as he licked at dry lips again.
“What is this commotion?” a voice asked from within the guardhouse. From it emerged another man, a portly Ishmarite in long robes of fine make.
“This pair wishes to leave, sir,” the guard told the Ishmarite.
“Leave?” the Ishmarite exclaimed loudly. “Leave? What madness is this?” He turned to face Peregrine and Blade, peering at them with an intent curiosity; one that they felt also housed a touch of irritation. “I must advise against that,” he said, returning to a more placid tone of voice. “Very few who venture out after dark are ever seen again. Only here in the compound we provide is there a place of safety to be had.”
“I will risk it,” Peregrine told him.
“We can offer you more if you feel that not enough is being done for your comfort here,” the Ishmarite offered, taking on a wheedling manner, as if haggling over some market goods.
Peregrine cut him off with a curt shake of her head and a hard scowl. “What I desire is to leave. I do not like being denied my freedom, and nor do I fear any dangers.”
A sigh came from the Ishmarite and he shrugged his expansive shoulders, sending his jowls aquivering. “If that is your desire then so shall it be. Let them go,” he ordered the guard.
“A wise decision,” Peregrine told him, starting towards the gates, leading her horse behind her.
The guard was joined by a second from the gatehouse and together the pair of them lifted up the heavy beam that secured it before swinging open the gates. Peregrine swung up onto the saddle of her horse and rode on through, heading out into the coming night with Blade beside her.
The Ishmarite watched them go, stroking at his beard as he did. “If I am not much mistaken I fear that they mean to inspect the Oasis. They have the look of those that seek adventure. Rouse a patrol and follow them. See where they go. For their sake it were best that they do not succumb to that madness, but if they do then they will not see the coming of the dawn.”
*****
Peregrine and Blade made their slow way back down the canyon, towards the deserts at the base of the rocky uplands, and the oasis. The moon had at last broached the horizon, showing large and full as it made its gradual climb into the night’s sky, illuminating the landscape around them with a silvery sheen. The heat of the day had given out, replaced by a chill that had settled upon the lands. The air hung still and empty and silent, while above the stars glistened like frozen fire, sharp points of light.
“Are you sure that this is wise?” Blade asked of Peregrine after some time of riding along in silence once they were well away from the compound.
Peregrine laughed easily. “When before have we ever worried about the wisdom of our actions?”
“Perhaps it is time that we started doing so,” Blade pointed out. “This beast sounds most fearsome, and most dangerous, and as of yet we are still uncertain of its true form and nature.”
“The extortion that is taking place here offends me,” Peregrine said, “And something of it all does not sit right with me, some hidden danger that lurks beneath the surface. Surely you have felt likewise.”
Blade nodded slowly. “Aye, there is a prickling there that trips my sense of unease.”
Peregrine grinned, her teeth glistening in the moonlight. “You could rest as little as I, knowing that.”
The canyon they rode down opened up and the desert lay spread out before them, the harsh lands of the day now glowing in the lunar light, giving it a soft, almost ethereal quality that belied its dangers and uncaring indifference to human survival. Down from the hills they descended, headed towards a dark patch against the sheen that marked the oasis and the trees that clustered around it. As they came nearer to it, through the trees, they began to see the waters of the oasis glow, reflecting the rising moon like a mirror.
Peregrine led the way in through the trees, her senses now on edge, expectant and ready, her spear gripped tight in her hand. This way and that she looked about, all tightly coiled reflexes that could react at a moment’s notice to danger.
Beneath the hooves of their hooves, they began to hear a crunching sound, one that came not from sand or rock or fallen branches. Looking down, as her eyes adjusted to the gloom beneath the trees, Peregrine began to pick out the shape and pale hues of bones, growing more numerous the further under the trees towards the water’s edge they came, bones of all shapes and sizes. They came not just from man, but from animals as well.
Stopping part way through the trees, before they emerged out into the open around the oasis, the pair dismounted and tethered their horses there. Peregrine stooped down and picked up one of the bones laying there abouts to inspect it. It was a solid thing, one too large to have come from a man, instead being from some beast of burden or horse. It had been snapped in twain, and teeth marks scored its surface, large ones at that.
She set it aside as they removed their weapons from their horses and pushed through the last part towards the waters of the oasis. The last of the tall trees gave away and they saw the mirrored surface of the waters, the shoreline of it thick with bones, having washed up out of the waters. Across from them, on the other side, they could see a building standing, one that had subsided at an angle and had been part submerged. A faint glow came from within it, one at first hard to spot as it blended in with the moonlight, but one, the more they looked at it, the less natural it seemed.
“Another mystery,” Peregrine stated, speaking softly, “And one tied to this whole affair.”
Blade nodded, slotting a quarrel into his crossbow and starting to wind back the string to load and ready it. Of the beast they had come to find, no signs could be seen beyond the bones. The waters were undisturbed and no sounds could be heard beyond the faintest of breeze stirring the leaves of the palms.
Taking great care with her movements, Peregrine started along the shores of the waters, stalking with a silent tread, each foot placed to avoid disturbing the many bones that lay thick upon the ground. Blade followed along behind her, just as silent and just as careful. Like ghosts they flowed along, drawing ever nearer to the building, which, the closer they came, the more appeared like an ancient temple, though built for whom or by who they could not tell. The columns that supported the roof were statues, worn away by wind and sand and water so as to appear shapeless forms.
Once having made their way most of the way around towards the temple, a laborious process made so by the plethora of bones upon the ground that they had to avoid, Peregrine motioned for them to stop. Drawing Blade close, she spoke softly to him.
“Would not the beast make its lair in this building?” she asked, “For enough of it lies beneath the waters that it would make an ideal locale for in which for it to lurk. It would be best that we not rush in, for it will know its lair better than we. We must endeavour to lure it out.”
“How exact do you endeavour to achieve that?” Blade asked. His finger hovered just above the trigger of the crossbow, eyes scanning about for danger.
“I will provide a disturbance for you,” Peregrine announced, grinning like a wild thing. “You alight to the top of the temple and wait there. We will see what emerges once I have attempted to lure it out, and then you can enter, for I feel the answers we seek shall lie inside.”
Blade nodded, though his expression spoke of being not quite convinced. Even so, he pressed on, sneaking around to the side of the building while Peregrine remained behind, waiting. Blade slung the crossbow over his shoulder once he arrived and began the slow ascent up to the top, using a crumbling pillar to brace himself with against the wall. Hauling himself up over the top, he took a moment to catch his breath. Once recovered, he took hold of the crossbow again. Sneaking up to the edge of the roof that overlooked the entrance, he motioned towards Peregrine to show that he was in place and ready.
Peregrine rose up straight as he did so and let forth a fearsome cry, one that shattered the still, clear night. As the cry rang out, she lashed out with a boot at the fallen bones around, sending them clattering and bouncing across each other. None could have failed to have heard the noise, even for some distance beyond the oasis, and it took not long at all for an answer to come. From deep within the part sunken temple they heard a deep, growling rumble, one that reverberated out over the waters.
From out of the temple there emerged a shape, pale and fleet, gliding just beneath the waters so that the reflection of the moon across it shattered. Ripples arrowed swift towards where Peregrine stood upon the shore. The stirred up waters glowed with an eerie light as the beast moved through them, a faint luminescence of unknown origin.
From his vantage point atop the temple, Blade watched it swim, catching a glimpse of a beast reptilian in form, alike to some crocodile, though one of a size unlike any he had seen or heard tell of. He raised his crossbow up to his shoulder and sighted along it, taking aim at the beast. He squeezed the trigger, sending the quarrel humming through the air, straight and true. It struck the beast full in the back, but to no effect. Gnarled hide, tough as iron, defeated the quarrel, sending it bouncing off as a mere irritation. Blade hastily started to reload as he watched it near the shore.
Peregrine had retreated back from the water’s edge, allowing the beast to come to her and making ready for its arrival. She had her spear gripped tight, set against an attack, the end driven into the ground. As she watched, from out of the waters the beast lunged forth, all maw and terrible jagged teeth. The foulness of its breath washed over Peregrine and her senses swooned beneath it, her attention broken. The maw snapped shut as it came at Peregrine. On instinct alone did she leap back away from the tearing teeth, her tigerish reflexes kicking in. The blast of the breath lessened and Peregrine’s wit’s recovered enough. She thrust forward with her spear, putting all of her might behind the blow. The spear crashed into the head of the beast yet was turned aside by the hide, leaving only a scratch behind.
A wild laugh came from Peregrine as she faced down the beast. It would not be one to die easy, but nor could the same be said of her. Setting herself for the battle to come, fearless she met the beast.
From his perch atop the temple, Blade finished reloading his crossbow, thoughts of the battle raging at the water edge forgotten. If any could defeat the monster that had emerged from the waters, it would be Peregrine, and so he left her to fight her own battle as he prepared for his. With light step he made his way across to the edge of the temple, above where the entrance opened up. Holding the crossbow in one hand, he turned about to face away from the entrance. He stepped backwards and allowed himself to fall, catching onto the rim of the roof with his free hand as he began his descent. Pushing off with his feet above the doorway, he swung himself out from the wall and then back again, propelling himself in through the entrance.
A wall of stench hit him as he did so, overwhelming, foetid, clawing at his throat and nostrils with its acrid aroma. His eyes watered and he tried not to breath as he landed in the water that covered the floor of the entrance chamber. Bones and chunks of rotting meat bobbed across the surface of the water, among a film of decay and slime that swirled about. More could be seen further back in the chamber, where the floor sloped upwards to dry ground. A doorway, all at an angle from the way the temple had subsided, led into another chamber, one from which the glow of light came. Blade picked his way towards it, finger resting lightly upon the trigger of the crossbow, the weapon held at the ready for any hint of danger.
Bones rattled as the gentle swell of the water sent them bouncing off each other. The stench grew worse still the deeper into the building he went. Pausing in his advance, he switched the crossbow to a grip in his right hand while with the other he fished out a scented kerchief, which he held to his mouth and nose to block out the odour.
But for the glow that drew him on, the darkness would have been absolute towards the rear of the chamber, yet it was not a glow to inspire confidence in any who laid eyes upon it. It had an insipid, pallid colour about it, and a feel that set the skin to crawling. The door held his attention and when he reached it, he peered on through to the chamber beyond with great caution.
He could see, hanging in the air in the middle of the chamber, a weird arcane rune, one in part reminiscent of a crocodile, but more as well. The source of the glow, he could sense a palpable evil radiating from it. Beyond the rune, a man sat cross legged on the ground, all gaunt with sunken flesh and sharp angles. A simple set of faded and fraying robes hung from his frame. Bald of head, his eyes were closed and he sat still, unmoving, not even breathing betraying if he was alive or dead.
Despite the silence of Blade’s approach, the man looked up and at Blade, his eyes opening. The eyes burned with such cruelty and depravity that Blade almost recoiled from them. They were not eyes such as seen in the face of a man, but of creatures of the dark places, malicious and inhuman. The eyes pierced through Blade as a sing-song word escaped from the man’s lips, one that bespoke power, turning into a wind that buffeted the chamber. It swept forward and slammed into Blade with force enough to knock him from his feet. As he fell, his finger squeezed on the trigger of the crossbow in a reflexive action, sending the quarrel flying. It was snatched up by the wind and dashed away to clatter into a wall. Blade landed heavily on the ground, all wind knocked from him, leaving him at the mercy of the man with eyes of sin.
*****
The crocodilian beast growled a thunderous note as it watched Peregrine sweep her spear in a glittering arc before it. Those eyes reflected a bestial fury, yet more besides, for to Peregrine it seemed as if an alien will rode deeper within, an intellect not of the beast itself, a malevolence that drove the beast to further heights of savagery.
Ponderings on such thoughts had to wait, for to dwell on it would only hinder her and so she thrust them aside, focusing solely on the battle before her. Her spear thrust and probed, seeking out an opening in the beast’s defences, each one only to be met by a snap of the jaws. Should they close upon the spear, they would cleave it in twain and devoid her of the only advantage she held in the fight, that of reach over the beast.
Laughter echoed across the waters, silver sheened by the moon. A fey mood descended upon Peregrine as the heat of battle overcame her. She knew now that she had taken on a foe that might prove beyond her, for it was both hardy and fast, cruel and cunning, yet her Aedring blood would not allow her to back down from the battle, to flee, but only to stay until the end came, straining flesh and sinew to the uttermost.
The crocodilian beast rumbled a deep sound as it stalked forward, tail sweeping behind it as it emerged fully from the waters, seeking to press past the spear to get at Peregrine. With cautious step she picked her way backwards from it, not once turning her face away. The broken bones that were strewn across the ground were a hazardous obstacle, one that threatened to shift beneath her feet should she step on them. A simple misstep would result in a slip and then the beast would be upon her with its ravaging jaws and fangs to rend flesh from bone.
Back across the beach she picked her way, ever facing the beast, for to turn her back upon it for but a moment would have spelt her doom. Her spear flashed as she kept testing it, seeking to keep it at bay. The first of the trees sprung up around her and these she used for cover. The beast, barely stopping, smashed into one tree, its massive size shouldering it aside. Groaning, the tree toppled to the ground. Barely impeded, the beast pressed on.
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