Camping

Helbender Collective arrived at a good secluded spot before sunset and set up their tents and a little fire. They’re all exhausted, yet half of them are in good spirits, having made it this far. But Razha, Filla, Elliv, Krev, they’ve all been quiet ever since reaching the mountaintop. They’ve mostly stuck around each other and talked a little among themselves. It’s one of those times the divide between mountain people and flatlanders is most obvious. For someone like Zal, this is another mission in another place, another strip mine, another atrocity. But to the others, it’s a stark reminder of the stakes they fight for.

With a strong consensus on their plans, they set up the watch for tonight--two to watch the camp and two to watch for the guards’ movements, learn their patterns. The operation would begin tomorrow at dusk. Nadia and Maris take the first watch on the mountaintop. Those who feel social are sitting around the fire and eating some of the rations of dried meats and flatbread rolls of beans and rice that Kalen had made for the journey.

Ketha sat up, addressing the circle around the fire. “This is a legend I picked up from the nice people of Korben. It concerns our own home, Helbender Mountain. Did you know why it’s called Helbender Mountain?”

They shook their heads.

“This is a Kogai story, so take it with the skepticism owed to a colonizer retelling it from other colonizers. But it comes from the original inhabitants of the mountain. It was centuries ago, before colonization. This is the story of Helbender Holler.

“A hunting collective was exploring the mountain, when they happened on a lush, vibrant holler, surely full of life. But they couldn’t have known what was in store for them.

“In front was Kerisz Errel, she was a fierce changeling woman and a famed warrior and hunter. She wielded an obsidian blade, and around her neck was a white gem, moonstone, which to the Kogai people is a symbol given to changelings. She was not unlike our Razha.

“So, following Kerisz, the collective made their way through the underbrush until they reached a creek, and they followed it upstream to see where it would lead them. They climbed up a waterfall, but as they reached the top, Kerisz cut her hand on a locust thorn, and washed off the blood in the clear waters of the creek.

“It has been long said by the Kogai people that the freshly spilled blood of a changeling can awaken the ancient demons that sleep deep under the soil and the water. For this reason, as you should know, changelings were revered, protected, and became strong warriors able to defend themselves from any danger. That night, under the pale moonlight, the blood of a changeling warrior was spilled in the creek in Helbender Holler.”

They gesture with their hands as they tell the tale. “It sprung upon them from the creek, just when their guard was down. A great black monster, with eyes of fire, faster than they could see. Before they could react, one of their party had been snatched in the beast’s jaws. The others fought the creature, they weren’t letting it take their comrade, and they forced it to let him go, and it retreated upstream. But it was too late--he had been crushed to death in the teeth of the monster.

“They buried their comrade where he died, as was their custom. Then they pressed on into the creature’s lair, at a natural spring where the creek originated. But this was an ill fated plan, because when the creature rose from the water in its lair, it was even more powerful. The Kogai fought with all their might, but they stood no chance.

“And in the end, Kerisz stood her ground and faced the demon until her final breath, buying time for some of her comrades to escape alive. But between their losses, and those who succumbed to their wounds, only one lived to tell the tale.

“The Helbender--some say it was a remnant from the time of dragons, an ancient beast cursed to live long past its time in the isolation of the mountain. But others say it was a demon, fell from Hel during the great demonic war, nine hundred years ago. Demons don’t die from old age. They can sustain themselves indefinitely, continuously evolving and adapting to their environment.

“Whatever it was, the village druid decided it was too dangerous for another hunter to run across. They magically warded the entire holler, so it would be nearly impossible for another Kogai to find it.”

Ketha sure can tell a story, Zal thinks. Little Kurri beside them is shaking.

“Could there really be such a creature living on our mountain?” Kurri says.

“Oh, who knows,” Ketha says. “It was so long ago. But demons can sleep deep, for many years. Even if it was there, it’s probably hidden deep away underground, and would never wake up. Unless...” They pulled their knife from its sheath and held their hand out with the blade against their palm. “The blood of a changeling were carelessly spilled!”

“No!” Kurri shouts.

Kalen grabs their hand by the wrist. “Oh cut it out, the enemy spills enough of our blood for us.”

“Oh, I was just fuckin’ with y’all, come on.” Ketha starts to put their knife away, but stops as they all heard a loud rustling in the bushes around their camp.

“What’s that?” Annia signs.

Kalen and Zal stand up and draw their knives as it rushes into their camp--a centipede the size of a drake, a dark red body running fast on bright blue legs. They jump out of its path. Kurri climbs back behind the log he was sitting on, just as it turns its head toward him, seeming to stare at him with its big black clusters of eyes.

“Stay in the shadows Kurri!” Zal says. “Their vision is bad in low light!”

He steps backwards into the darkness, and it lashes out over the ground in front of him with its long, thick antennae, stripping bark from the fallen log as they strike like whips.

Krev raises his rifle and takes aim.

“No guns!” Zal says. “The whole mountain will know we’re here!”

Annia pulls the trigger of its crossbow, and the two-pronged bolt pierces the centipede’s armor. It shakes, but turns its head toward Annia and rushes at it.

Zal jumps on its back and wraps their legs around its body. It thrashes about trying to throw them off, and its massive mandibles bite at the air. Zal thrusts their blade right behind its head into a soft spot between its chitinous armor plates. They cut it straight through to the front of its neck, and black fluid spills out, splattering all around as it thrashes.

Razha and Elliv run out from behind the tents, their sword-bayonets drawn, but the creature is dying now, its spasms are slowing down.

Filla runs around camp to reach Kurri with her medic bag in hand. “Are you okay?!”

“I, I think I’m fine,” Kurri says.

“What the fuck y’all?” Elliv says.

“Damn it, the current isn’t strong enough to stun a giant centipede, an unforeseen design flaw, I have to modify this when we get home,” Annia signs. It winds up the wires of its weapon.

“Hope it didn’t drain too much of your battery,” Zal signs.

“I should still be able to stun two men, or kill one,” Annia signs.

Zal picks up a burning branch from the fire and casts some light on the creature. “Look, y’all.” Underneath its red shell is a network of black veins. “I knew it. Ordinary giant centipedes ain’t aggressive.”

“Blighted animals,” Krev says. “Who knows what else is out here?”

“Everyone sleep with a weapon nearby,” Razha says. “Anything living here could be blighted and mutated.”