Star Altars
an excerpt

People were screaming. Eyes flying open,I was disoriented until I realized I was looking at the scene below me from several feet above the ground. I sighed in relief. Just the dream. It was the same every time; to the point that the shrieks of pain didn't bother me like they used to. Hard to feel sorry for someone that is only keeping me from uninterrupted sleep. Never could wake myself up though. Along for the ride since thirteen years old and counting. But at least it was familiar. I knew exactly where this stupid recurring nightmare would take me. From my position hovering near the ceiling, I watched my dream self run down the endless corridor. I would stop every few feet and search the interlocking stones for a crack or hidden door.
"That's not going to work." I knew I couldn't hear myself but it couldn't be helped. It was almost insulting to watch me act so stupid. Occassionally a bloodied body would appear from the mist that obscured my sight and plead for help. Sometimes they were mostly intacted buy covered in blood but most often they were missing limbs or holding a spurting artery closed. Without fail my dream self dodged or jerked back from their grip with a yelp and continued at a sprint. I sighed, following behind as if tied to an invisible thread. Repeat for what seemed like forever.
"Can we get on with this please?" Finally the door appeared. Same door everytime. Curved in shape and made of a heavy, ornate wood. Small engravings of stars, the sun and moon created a pattern in a circle. Wrought iron hinges with a matching latch on the handle completed the look. It was a well made door. The door of a person with nothing better to spend money on than really pretty things. A Venei door.
"Don't open the door. Please. What good could possibly be behind a door like that?" I knew I would open the door though. Bitch. Even after over a decade of watching the next bit of this, I still railed against it. I didn't want to watch this part. I wanted to wake up. But I'd never been able to stop the nightmare before and it certainly wasn't going to be charitable now. My dream self, oblivious to the imminent life scarring scene beyond the ominous door, pressed the latch. Slowly the hinges creaked inward and revealed a dinner table set for four. There was only one person seated. She appeared to be asleep with her head resting on her arms; strawberry blonde hair spread out to hide her features. I blinked. This was new. Normally I opened the door to a slaughter. Blood and thicker things sliding down the walls as a family was decimated by unseen foes. Grateful not to watch small children be ripped in half by invisible forces while their parents screamed on in horror, a sense of foreboding still clung to the scene. The woman seemed to be the mother from the previous occurances of this dream, her prescence slightly muffled as if she weren't as real as her surroundings.
The moment hung for eternity before the heavy door slammed shut behind me, sealing out the cries of the dying but sealing me in with this unknown ending and only my stupid dream self for protection. In the silence that followed, the blond woman slowly raised her head and blinked sluggishly as if coming out of a deep sleep. Almost instantly I could see what was wrong. There was blood caked all down the front of her baby blue dress. A river of it that had come from the gash in her neck that spread from one side of her jaw to the other, yawning like a second mouth. If the woman was aware of it, she certainly didn't show it. Other than that it was hard to tell what she looked like. Nothing seemed damaged but no matter how I stared her features would not solidify. It was like looking at her through a distorted mirror. Except for the eyes. She had brilliantly clear gray eyes that bored holes into me. Me. She wasn't paying any attention to my dream self which seemed frozen to the spot; instead staring intently at the ceiling where I watched. That made me nervous. Never before had the dream beings acknowledged my existance.
She gurgled at me, one delicate hand going to the slash at her throat. Suprised, the woman pulled her fingers away covered in blood and made a wet, irritated noise in her throat. She was trying to talk to me but her vocal chords had been severed. With a sigh, she tried again with effort, "Gggo." It was scratchy and gurgled, but definatly a word.
"Go?"
"Gggo." She motioned with both hands towards the door behind my dream self who still stood unmoving, seemingly unaware of what was going on.
On cue, the door buckled inward as something on the outside flung itself against it. A loud roar followed by more frantic screaming followed; the screams seemed much closer than before. I jumped, eyes going wide in suprise. There was a compression of air before whatever was outside threw itself against the armored door again.
"Gggo." The blonde woman still pointed at the door, which now groaned andp popped under the pressure from the other side.
"Are you insane?"
Her features distorted more than they already were and the air sizzled the same way it had right before the Venei stones had attacked me. Behind me, the hinges creaked as whatever was out there tried again to gain entry. The screaming seemed much closer as well.
"Gggo!" The words had physical force behind them and hit me full on. The weight of it knocked me from my perch high above the room and slammed me into the hard wood floor.

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I felt the dropping sensation in my stomach less than a second before I slammed face first onto the wagon floor, my arms pinned helplessly inside the blanket. For a few breathless and stunned moments I blinked at the grainy wood. The entire left side of my face ached and I was almost certain there would be a lovely bruise to explain away the within the next few days. Why no Rhys, Da isn't beating me. Whatever would make you think that?
Thinking of Da, I wrestled with the blanket until it reluctantly set me free and sat up to look across the room at his bed. It was empty. In fact, it didn't even look slept in. That was odd. Grabbing the edge of my bed with one hand, I hoisted myself to my feet. Other than the small candle that still burned merrily from the top of the hope chest, the cabin was dark. Outside I could hear the steady hiss of rain. Surely Da wouldn't have been put on guard duty tonight. He wouldn't have wanted to leave me alone. Something was wrong. The sense of foreboding from my nightmare hadn't receded with my wakening. Just as I dug out my shawl and had made up my mind to go and hunt Da down, there was a scream nearby. High pitched and terrified, she screamed again. Louder this time, but cut off mid-stream with a sickening crack that sounded like bone. Other cries followed; male this time. They were yelling at something. The incoherent stream of noise made when trying to get the attention of an animal.
Shawl dropped and forgotten, I bolted back across the cabin and onto Da's bed to look out the window. Crouched on my knees, I had a good view of camp. The caravan had rounded for the night, with the nine wagons lined up edge to edge in a horseshoe shape. In the center, the communal fire burned and hissed in defiance of the steady drizzle that fell upon it. Beyond the reach of the light, the jungle stretched out into shifting shadows that could be anything from leaves blowing in the wind to a predator about to attack the caravan. There was nothing in the center of camp. Where were the men on watch? Their makeshift seats still sat huddled near the fire but they weren't anywhere to be seen.
Movement from my left caught my eye right before three forms stumbled into view from around the edge of the furthest wagon. Instantly I recognized Medwin. He was kind of hard to miss what with being three hundred pounds of boisterous voice and unruly dark curls plastered down from the rain. His booming voice carried through the night, inarticulate but carrying menace and determination. At his side was his eldest son, Gaerwn, and both brandished short swords at the third person…err…thing.
Whatever they were fighting, it was huge. Standing nearly a three heads taller than Medwin, the creature swatted Gaerwn with one clawed hand and roared. The sound reverberated through camp as the boy's limp body hit the ground a good twenty feet from where he'd begun.
"Gaerwn! Stay down boy." His sword never wavered from the monster but Medwin took his eyes off it to make sure his only child was okay.
"Where is the girl?" it asked, more of a growl than a question. It crouched and weaved, attempting to bypass the large man.
In the mud, Gaerwn groaned in pain but listened to his father and stayed down. Relief clear on his face, Medwin turned back to the thing looming over him and sliced at the air in front of it, "Be gone, foul magic. We've nothing for you here but death."
A sound like purring eminated from the thing, "Yes, your own. I lose patience. Now where is the girl?"
Before Medwin could answer, another scream cut through the night. The thing smiled, fangs glinting in the firelight, "Or it may seem my companion has already found her."
With a hiss, a second creature burst through the door of the wagon two down from me on the right with something in it's hooked claws. Being closer to the fire, I got a better look at it than the first. It looked like a snake. If snakes were bipedal and mated with eagles at any rate. The head was hooded like a cobra but covered in small white feathers with flattened humanoid features. A sinuous neck led into brown feathered shoulders before the torso became more human. Forked tongue darting out from a lipless mouth, large glassy black eyes swiveled to look at me huddled in the small window. Opening it's mouth revealed large fangs as it hissed again. before it could round towards me though, it was distracted by the person struggling for freedom in its clawed talons. As the firelight played over the victim, I gasped in horror. It was Kaira. The creature held her carelessly, like a doll, even as she screamed and bucked and clawed to be free of it.
"I ffffound hhhhher," it hissed, "Bbbback ttto ttthe mmmaster. Nnnnow."
"No!" That was me. Somehow I'd managed to fling myself off the bed, grab one the plain daggers Da kept around for protection and stumble out into the rain in nothing but my sleep shirt and bare feet before my brain could tell me it was a bad idea. Shit. Well, too late now. They were all looking at me. Flipping the dagger over so that the hilt faced outward with the flat of the blade against my inner forearm, I dropped into a surefooted stance, "Let her go."
A beat of silence.
My only warning was the sudden rush of air before the first creature hit me. It had lunged past Medwin with inhuman quickness, landing on top of me with enough force that my back sank into the wet mud. From this close up I could see that it was a tiger. Elongated, almost human fingers wrapped themselves around my throat and I could feel the pinprick of claws digging into my skin. It had pinned my arms beneath it's body, weighing me down with it's strength. Closing the distance between our faces, I felt rough whiskers brush along my cheek, "That was a mistake."
Looking into its yellow eyes, I knew that I was dead. Without effort it could snap my windpipe. Or tear out my throat. Or probably crush me with brute strength. Which made it okay. If I was going to die, I couldn't stop it but I could say something, "Yes. Painfully clear that that was a mistake." Even to myself, my voice sounded wrong. Wet and thick. I could hear fighting breaking out across the camp. It didn't sound like things were going well. Hampered by only having one free talon didn't seem to be slowing down the featherd snake. It had move between the rest of the camp and myself. No one would be able to get to me in time. Already the tiger creature and the world had become blurry. The rain sounded unnaturally loud as it hit the damp earth next to me. As breathing became harder, my body felt like lead. I couldn't move, couldn't see, couldn't think. Then suddenly, the weight on my windpipe loosened and the thing growled as it began to stand up, "So easily killed. No fun at all."
Time slowed. White pinpricks dancing in my sight, I struck out as hard as I could with my right arm. At first it seemed I had missed entirely but then I felt hot liquid pour over my hand as the creature screamed and collapsed. In the distance, I could hear the snake hissing, "Nnnot ssso eeeasily kkkilled aaafter aaall." Slicing blindly again at the monster, it screamed and slid out of reach. I dug my heels into the mud to help push myself out of the way of retaliation. Scrambling backward and struggling to hold onto the bloodslick dagger, not to mention still half blind from oxygen deprivation, I ran into something, jerked away and brandished the knife.
"Failenn. It's me."
"Medwin. Thank the Gods. Where's Kaira?"
"It still has her." He wrapped one burly arm around my waist and picked me up like a child, turning to put himself between me and the two things in our camp. Blinking rapidly, my vision finally cleared enough to get a better look. The rain had slowed to a drizzle but the center of camp was a churning mud pit. By now, everyone was awake. I could see at least four small heads watching from windows just as I had been doing moments ago. The children had been moved to one wagon. I could see Dugan guarding the door, a deadly look on his young face. Most of the other men and a couple of the women though had rolled out of bed and taken up arms. Two of them, Laird and Hywel, had back one thing into the corner of camp. Snake-eagle still had Kaira securely in one talon, using it's long neck and fangs to strike out at the men. So far, they were keeping their distance. It concerned me that Kaira was no longer struggling. She seemed to have gone limp and I hoped she had only lost consciousness and not been squeezed to death by that monster. A howl nearby ripped my attention back to the nearer danger. Tiger-man was not so lucky as his friend. I'd gotten him across the belly. Deep enough that a cascade of dark blood was caking his fur together. Lorna and Elspeth had closed in on it, both brandishing fishing spears. Injuried and knowing what was coming, the creature bellowed, "Get her to the master. Go!"
It snarled at the women and I watched as Elspeth set her mouth in a determined line and shoved the spear tip into it's neck. The monster went down shrieking, the wet sound cutting through the jungle night. Encouraged, Lorna took aim and looked very pleased with herself as the spear pierced the creature's right eye. Dropping to the mud, the thing began to smoke. Both the women moved back and Medwin physically moved me a safer distance away. A hiss like steam filled the air as the thing melted, revealing two regular sized, bloody tigers and a small creature. No bigger than a man's hand, it seemed to be made of the jungle itself. Small orange eyes peered out dimly from under a sloping brow covered in moss and vines. If a small tree could come to life, it would look just like that thing. In a voice far too deep for something that small, "To the master." Then, the orange glow faded completely. It was dead.
Across camp, the other creature hissed at the men, "I sssee wwwe oooverstayyyed." There was a snap as wings that had previously been hidden as part of it's feathered body opened, "Eeenough ooof thisss." Jumping up, it began to beat against the air and was high over the jungle canopy before either Hywel or Laird had a chance to rush in.
Just like that, silence returned to the jungle. I opened my mouth to scream out to Kaira but the sound was lost even to me as lightning hit the ground so close the ground shook. The sky opened up and the rain poured out of it. Within seconds the campfire gave up the good fight and was doused entirely. I stood in the pouring rain with Medwin still holding me up by my waist and blinked up through the water at the pitch blackness. My sister was gone. He shook me gently, "Come on inside Failenn. We need to talk."