Chapter 2.
The southeast side of the Pirudan Mountains rose gently from rolling hills below, but Layna had left him on the northwest slope with only treacherous, steep rock walls to keep him company. Two days, two long days climbing down to the square valley below, and finally Rohn had found a village. This was part of the Kingdom of Fergat, and though his Fergese was poor, he was able to buy meager provisions and a place to sleep.
She was just as he remembered her from so long ago, that yellow hair like a waving field of wheat, those sharp, piercing blue eyes, and that impossible body, monstrous, yet so graceful. All of that was still up there somewhere on the mountain, hidden high among the rocks, and now that he had found her, he would not be deterred: She would be rescued. It was his duty, his solemn oath — and it was personal.
Another day now, buying passage on a boat traveling the river through this valley, and then to the Pass of Amar. And another day, back up over the mountains to Namet, the city where he was born. But there was nothing here for him: His friends and family had all died in the wars, and only a cousin yet remained, a shopkeeper in far off Regalia.
Then upriver on this side; and at last he came to the Castle of Cirudan at the base of the mountain, where he gave his report to the great white wizard, and gathered supplies once again, food, clothing, rope, a lantern.
And so it was that seven days after Layna had left Rohn on that cliff on the mountainside, he came to stand once again outside the entrance to the great caves. It looked little different than it had a week before, a simple round hole in the side of the mountain, twice the height of a man and the same in breadth, a dark and foreboding entrance to endless winding tunnels.
He took a deep breath, and went back inside.
Down them he went now, turning left here, right there, through this gallery and beyond that cavern, retracing the path that he knew would lead him to her.
And then he stopped.
There was a stream here, whispering gently as it trickled through a great silk-coated cavern, but there was another louder noise ahead, a strange slurping and clacking sound that echoed off the walls. Rohn raised the lantern high — and
she
was there, a mere five yards away in the darkness.
Layna stood stock-still for a moment in the light of the lantern, her skin pale in the dim light. Between her hands and forelegs she held the body of what was once a deer, white sticky thread still wrapped around its body, some of the thread stained red. Blood dripped from her lips, and pieces of its muscle and sinew hung from her hands.
"You came back," she said, her voice a whisper.
"I had to," he said.
"I know what this must look like," she said.
He nodded.
"I — eat food raw," she said, still unmoving. "I am sorry that you had to see this."
"It's all right," he said.
"No, it isn't," she said. "But it's what I do now. And I must finish. My body needs this; it demands more food than when I was human. I would invite you to turn around so as not to watch."
He shook his head. "I am not a weakling," he said. "I will not chafe at the sight of blood."
"I once did," she said.
"Go ahead and eat, if you must. I will wait."
She nodded.
Layna returned to devouring the deer now, quickly and expertly, sucking every last iota of flesh and blood from its body. One by one, its bones clattered to the silk-covered floor, barren and clean, and then she laid the empty bundle of webbing beside them and then licked off her fingers and hands with a tongue that was far longer than he'd expected. Finally, she knelt down beside the stream and washed herself clean, the last remnants of the red blood trickling away into the darkness beyond.
She picked up a small cloth that lay beside her and rose back to her feet. She began to dry herself off, then took a deep breath.
"So what would you do?" she said, not looking at him. "What would you do with me now that you have found me?"
"I would take you to Cirudan," said Rohn. "And the Great White Wizard will then seek to restore you to your rightful form."
"And what would that be?" she said, running the towel over her face and chest to catch the last of the water.
"Human," said Rohn. "You would again be the girl you once were."
She snorted. "I will never again be the girl I once was, even if by some means the Mages were to make me look like her."
"I know that it will be hard," said Rohn, "but they can give you your life back."
She glared at him over her shoulder for a moment.
She turned away. "Come on," she said. "Let's at least not talk in darkness. I may be a monster now but that does not mean I like living in the dark."
"But you were eating in — "
"I do not like living in the dark," she said, "but also I do not like looking at what I must now eat. I do not like the sight of blood, even though it is now critical to my survival."
Rohn could not argue that.
He began following her now through the caves, the only light his torch, and in short order, they once again entered her cozy silk-lined home. The fire was low now, having burned down in her absence, and she knelt down and rekindled it, blowing gently with pursed red lips while her hand held her hair away from the embers.
Rohn found a small rock to sit on, and waited for her. The fire began to burn, and she picked up a couple of logs with her forelegs and tossed them in.
