11 The Horsemen

A clatter of hooves sounded along a dirt road. The figures on horseback galloped toward the sunlight which peaked out from behind the daunting mountains.

The five figures who road out were wearing various pieces of mental and leather armor and the one riding in front wore a long cloak that shadowed her face and billowed over the back of the horse. Two had swords on their hips, two had bows and a quiver full of arrows on their backs, and one held nothing but a small stick.

Their cloaked leader gave a hand signal and they slowed their horses to a walk.

At first the other four people were alert, afraid that their leader sensed danger. Then they quickly realized she was probably just slowing the horses to give them a rest.

The group started chatting to each other in the crisp air. The sun was rising as they were headed into the mountains and as they ascended the air around them became colder. Soon the group started throwing a flask around.

One man smiled and threw his hands in the air "throw it here Bohan," he said motioning to the man named Bohan. He was a larger stocky man covered in metal armor. A large sword sat at his hip in a scaber.

Bohan's round round yet harsh face formed a scowl at the man sitting atop his horse with hands still in the air.

"Fuck you Demarcus, you already had twice the amount as anyone else. You greedy motherfucker," Bohan shouted at the small man named Demarcus. Bohan's brown eyes were filled with annoyance as he furrowed his thin eyebrow.

"Me?" Demarcus said putting a hand over his heart as if his words had deeply offended him. The small man with pointed ears stopped smiling and did his best to make a deeply troubled expression.

"How could you say something so heartless! It's just like a ogre to be rude, but to lash out to your best friend." He put the back of his hand on his forehead, "All because I wanted a single sip of whiskey!" Then he let out a sigh like he was about to faint and fall out off his horse because of the emotion turmoil Bohan had caused him.

The rest of the horsemen laughed at Demarcus's show except for a women riding in the front.

"I am less ogre than you are elf, and not the tall majestic forest elves. You're those little fucking urban elves who use their magic to rob people and just be annoying pests!" He shouted again at the little man behind him.

"Enough," the woman at the front of the party said. The hood of the cloak was still up which made her face barely visible in the dim light of early dawn. Yet her words were enough to silence the whole group.

"Let him have a sip, it's an enchanted flask it's not like it's going to run out anything soon." At her words the Bohan reluctantly threw the flask to Demarcus. Demarcus gave him a devilish grin and took a sip.

"That's enough for everyone, we need to stay alert as we head into the mountains," the women commanded. Demarcus nodded at her command and slipped the flask into his saddle bag. His cat like eyes glowing with satisfaction.

"I don't trust you to hold onto the flask," the woman said again. Demarcus narrowed his eyes at her words. This made the dark slit of a pupil separate his yellow eyes into halves while pulling it back out of his bag.

"Give it to Idris," she said and as a reply Demarcus swiftly chucked the flask in front him at the lady riding in front of him.

Idris who was just brought of her daydream from hearing her name couldn't react in time and the flask flew past her. Quickly she pointed her wand at it.

"Reodeselous!" She shouted quickly making the flask pause in the air before it was able to hit the ground.

"Acht," she then commanded and the flask flew right into her hand. She fumbled a little but as she hurried to put it away. She didn't want to upset the leader of the party.

They continued over the steep mountain pass in silence for a while, until the leader broke the silence.

"Do you know why five of us were sent to check on a wagon?" She asked finally putting down the hood of her cloak. One could now see her jet black hair and pale green grayish skin.

The crew all answered her with silence, their leader Ciall was known to be a cruel and have very little patience. None of them were excited to hear they would be going out with her on this quest. Ciall took their silence as an answer of ignorance.

"It's because there is a wolf that roams this mountain pass. Some say he's a werwolf, but people go missing from this path day and night. Which would not explain a werwolf, problem is most people are too afraid to look for bodies so it's unclear what exactly happens to them. I am assuming it's a dire wolf or a shapeshifter." She said in a cold matter of fact tone, her black eyes focused on the path in front of her.

"If it's a single dire wolf we will probably all walk away unscratched. If it's a pack then not being alert and reacting in time could mean some of you die." Ciall spoke without any emotion in her voice as if she was telling a boring story.

Idris's heart caught in her chest thinking about facing a dire wolf. She was extremely inexperienced in battle and had just recently joined the keeper's mercenary. She was kicked out of magic school for preforming dark magic. After joining the mercenary she was trained on offensive magic. She was even taught dark powerful spells that magic school had forbidden. Yet, she couldn't help but feel she wasn't yet ready for this mission.