Shadow - Monsters, Machines and Mad Scientists!: Episode CXI

It was a terrifying sight. The sheer size of the snow-covered Grinders, combined with the sudden speed of their movements and their ferocious, gape-mouthed roars made it seem like Sarah was watching an avalanche across flat ground. Jansen stood ready, however, feet slightly apart, sword free in his hand and as the creatures leapt towards him, clawed hands swiping at the spot where he had been, he nimbly dodged to the side and let them roll past like just so many loose rocks.

"You'll have to do better than that," he taunted and Sarah wondered if the Riverwatch militia taught all its officers to treat combat with such arrogant laissez-faire.

The creatures stumbled out of their charge and looked around for a moment, disoriented.

"I'm over here," Jansen taunted again and two monstrous heads turned his way.

"He's going to get himself killed," Dimsun observed.

The Grinders pawed the ground with their heavy feet, like a pair of angry bulls, then charged a second time, heading towards the dwelling in front of which Jansen was standing. Again he looked ready and there was a cocksure smile on his face. He was enjoying himself.

There was a blur of monster and snow, followed by a crash as the first Grinder collided with the wall of a house carved into the cliff. A shower of white powder and icicles landed on top of it and, for a moment, it was unclear where Jansen was amidst the sudden whiteout.

"You're still too slow!" he called and Sarah saw that he had leapt aside once again, just out of the range of the real mini avalanche which was trying to bury the Grinders. "It'll take more than that to down a man of River-"

The second Grinder roared out of the pile of snow without so much as a moments warning. Jansen must have seen it out of the corner of his eye, but despite trying to roll to one side so he was out of the creature's path, the Grinder managed to clip him with a clawed swipe and he fell to the snow, a line of red showing the blood he had just lost.

Sarah couldn't watch any more. She wasn't sure what it was she could do, never mind would, but she wasn't going to hide in a building whilst a man was mauled before her very eyes. She stood up, ignored Dimsun's muttered warnings and strode out of the dwelling into the freezing white night.

Firstly she needed the Grinder's attention - the one which had struck Jansen down was circling him, deciding its next move and the other was just beginning to shake itself free of the pile of snow and ice. Suddenly Jansen's taunts didn't seem quite so stupid.

"He's already down," she called, making the prowling Grinder turn its fiercely burning eyes towards her, "but you could try for seconds!"

The taunt had the desired effect and suddenly the creature was bearing down on her, moving with the same incredible speed with which it had attacked Jansen. And then, at that precise moment, Sarah realised she didn't have a plan to follow through with. A beast that would make the Incredible Hulk look tame was charging towards her and she had no idea what she was doing.

Oh, hell!

The next few seconds were a confusing blur. The Grinder roared towards her, she reacted without thinking - relying on instinct - and half-jumped, half-rolled sideways. A wave of snow washed over her as the Grinder skidded past and she staggered to her feet as much to rid herself of the freezing cold as to prepare for whatever came next. She shook herself and knew that it was only adrenaline that was keeping her from shivering like a bobble head on a rollercoaster.

The Grinder seemed disoriented, stumbling around in the snow where she had been, presumably trying to find her there. To Sarah’s surprise, she realised she had managed to roll a good ten or fifteen feet from the monster, which seemed incredible for a girl who have never been particularly strong at gymnastics. Is this part of these Slayer powers Shadowsmoke gave me? If only I knew how to use them!

She thought back to when she had first unleashed the power hidden with her, fighting Thundervein in the tunnels of Riddlepike two nights previously. It was anger and fear that had brought it out then. Did she need that every time, or could she bring it on at will? She tried to remember what it had felt like, the sudden rush of energy, the ability to do more than she ought.

The Grinder had spotted her, turning around with a look of horrible surprise on its enormous face, its eyes twitching like oversized fireflies. It pawed the ground again and Sarah new that, slow as it was, it wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

It charged.

Sarah took a deep breath, relaxed her posture and let the Grinder come. Inside, she was terrified, but she did her best to not let it show as the creature approached. Its fiery eyes locked onto her own, but there was only fire and fury, signalling nothing. The distance between them closed within seconds.

All this time Sarah was concentrating, trying to remember the feeling of the power within her, unlocking the layers of her innermost being to find it and set it free. Had she not been so focused she would have laughed at the analogy, but that’s what it felt like; her intellect and memory the only key she had. The Grinder was only a few feet away. A split second remained before almost certain death.

And that is when it came.

Everything happened at once: Sarah’s glowing skin, the Grinder’s furious eyes, the rush of snow, the flurry of suddenly powerful limbs. She caught the Grinder as it ploughed into her, stopped it in its tracks and gave it a blow on its side, sending it reeling. Next came a kick to the same spot, Sarah’s poorly shod, more than half-frozen feet connecting with the solid, slate-like scales of the beast, and yet it was the stone that cracked and gave way. Another blow followed the first two and then another and another pushing the creature back even as it howled in pain and anger, the scales falling away from its side to reveal soft, vulnerable meat.

And then Sarah was ducking down into the snow, pulling up a particularly long, viciously sharp fragment of scale. She brandished it like a knife and swiped at the Grinder’s open flesh. Searing hot blood spurted out across the white and the Grinder’s eyes flickered with a new emotion: terror.

The shard went in again. And again. And again. It went deeper each time until it snagged on something hidden within the folds of boiling flesh. Sarah twisted the shard, the Grinder’s eyes flickered wildly and then the whole creatures exploded into ash and green embers, burning up in the air and leaving the snow stained only with blood.

Sarah turned toward the pile of snow where Jansen lay and saw the other Grinder staring at her. It roared, but rather than charging it seemed too frightened now to do anything. It backed away slowly and then stampeded down the hill to be lost in distant snowfall.

Suddenly all was quiet. Sarah stood in the midst of falling snowflakes, the glow of her skin fading to a frozen pallor. Jansen groaned.

She ran over to him , trying not to stumble through the almost knee-deep snow.

“Sergeant Jansen,” she called softly, “are you alright? Did they get you bad? What on earth were you thinking?”

He coughed and then the cough turned into a sort of bitter laugh.

“I wanted to protect you,” he said, “I knew the pass wasn’t safe and I… I just couldn’t let you travel through it with those Stoneskins…”

“Well as you can see,” Sarah replied as she looked him over, “I can look after myself pretty well.”

He was very badly bruised and there was a good chance that he had broken a couple of ribs. He would need help getting up out of the snow, but he would probably be able to walk on his own.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were a Slayer?” he asked.

“I’m still getting used to the idea myself,” she said even as she carefully put her arms around him and helped him up out of the frozen powder. He winced, but didn’t cry out and was soon on his feet facing her, one hand pressed against his side.

“We were never formally introduced,” he said, taking a slight, very painful-looking bow. “Sergeant Mikael Jansen, at your service.”

“My name’s Sarah. Sarah Harwood. Now I think you had better come inside and we’ll have Dimsun look at you – if you can cope with being looked after by a Stoneskin?”

“I think you already broke my pride,” he laughed sadly, then winced again. “Lead the way...”