Gaheris III

I don't like this part as much but its all going to get edited soon anyway.

The night was dark; all was still in the high passes of the mountains. Nothing stirred, no creature disturbed the stillness.
He lay swaddled in his cloak, the night rapping its long grasp around him, but the blackness didn’t trouble him. He let the world flow through his other senses; the dew on the damp grass was the strongest smell, but not the only one that reached his nose. The faint smell of berries and the fox camped under the lip of a rock some way off.
Sound also filled he silent night, but sound audible only to him, the beat of an owls wings as it stalked a shrew, the trickle of water from one leaf to another, and the gentle rustle of the zephyr through the grass.
He rolled on to his side and closed his mind to the images that flooded in and the sensation of the soft grass below him fade. Now was a time for rest and calm, but he was always so amazed at the beauty in nature, beauty that was rarely reflected in humanity.

His thoughts wondered, and his senses stopped drinking in the delights of the still night.

He slipped in to dream, a realm he had never felt comfortable in. His dreams were always twisted memories or visions of horrors that could come to pass. Even as a child his dreams were a private hell he slipped into at night, one where none of his skills could save him from the machinations of that other world.

He sat up right the cold sweat of fear, soaking his jerkin. The night flooded back into his senses. The whisper of the breeze, the smell of the dew, the cold of the sweat. He was awake, back in reality.

It sat in a crevice in the rock, is empty eye sockets blackly fixed on where the human sat. The power he radiated was immense; it could feel the energy pulsing from him awakening the lust to feed.
Limbs grew from the black form of his body, long spidery limbs; they spread down the rock face, easing the bulk of the Ergen, down into the small valley.

Exhaustion gripped Gaheris, he allowed his head to slip back towards the folded cloak, his senses deadening, slipping into a deep dreamless sleep.

The Ergen was close now, its shadowy limbs snaking towards the sleeping man.
Gaheris awoke his senses still dead to the chilling night. Visions filled his mind.

He rolled, coming to his senses, the shape of the Ergen distorted to his mind, its movements unpredictable. His visions told him where to avoid danger but not what he was avoiding. He stood in the guard position, his hand straying to his belt, where his scabbard should be.
His sight compromised, his other senses reached out for the Ergen, his could hear the heavy falls of its legs, nor smell its scent. He felt powerless against it.

Fear filled him, like it never had, he ran. Scooping up whatever he could as he did, the Ergen, following at a slow but stead gait, its limbs absorbed back into its body, it was now more humanoid and following on ‘foot’.

Gaheris ran that night, stricken with fear, his life confused in his head.

The Note

This is a little self pitying, but hey see what you think gaheris three on the way.
To appease Jo and for Steph.

He read the note again, the fifth time since he’d found it. He no longer looked at the words, he knew them by heart, but she had written them.
His heart skipped a beat for her, he thought of her all through the day and at night she invaded his dreams, a phantom; so sweet, so vivid, he could almost feel her next to him.
He stared out at the beach, the flowing golden sand and the sea calmer than he’d ever seen it, the serenity filled him with peace.
He held the note to his heart, his eyes filled with tears, the irrational tears of love. He shook his head; he was so happy but she wasn’t here and he wanted to be with her.

He stood the note still clutched in his hand. They had met such a short time ago but he couldn’t remember a time before her, it was as though she had always been there.
He wanted her with him, wanted to hold her to feel her kiss, the magic of the time they’d spent together filled his mind. The memories of her touch, her kiss her embrace…

He walked along the sand, the rough grains grated between his toes as the swash gently lapped his feet. The soft breeze brought the smell of salt to his nose, and more thoughts of her to his mind.