The bitter breath of the wild smote their faces as they emerged from the sunless passage. Above, the heavens were clad in heavy palls of grey, and the lands about them seemed a forgotten realm, whereon no foot had trod for long ages.
Adam stepped forth first, his eyes wary. Then, with a wry ghost of a smile, he turned to his companions. "Well met," said he. "We have escaped the darkness of the deep, yet it seems we are but delivered unto another foe."
"What manner of beast?" Samer asked, his heart misgiving him.
Adam arched his brows with a player's flair. "Hunger," he declared.
Laila laughed, despite the dread that sat upon her heart, and she pressed a hand to her stomach. "In that, Master Adam, I find myself in full accord."
They fled the ruined city, for they knew well that the fell creatures who haunted its stones remained, and their hunger was of a darker kind. They wandered amidst a wood of withered trees, searching among the parched grasses for the stir of some small creature or the fruit of a wild bough. Silence lay heavy upon them, broken only by the soughing of the wind and the labor of their own breath.
"I had not thought to become a hunter of the wild," Samer murmured, his eyes fixed upon the earth. "I deemed my days would be spent behind the glowing screens of my craft."
Adam gave a short, grim laugh. "And I thought my gravest peril this week should be the settling of my debts!"
Laila looked upon them with a fleeting smile that withered as quickly as it bloomed. "The world is changed," she said. "We must find strength together, or find it not at all."
They halted beneath the shadow of a great tree. Adam turned to them, his face clouded with a gravity they had seldom seen.
"Laila, Samer… there is a thing I must say. I know not how long this trial shall endure, nor if there remains a sanctuary in this world. But this I know: we are bound together. I shall defend you with all that is mine to give."
Laila's eyes kindled with a soft light. "And I also," she whispered. "I shall do what I may, that we might all endure."
Samer struck Adam's shoulder in the manner of old friends. "You are my brother; my trust is stayed on you, as it has ever been."
For a space, they stood in silence, swallowing their fears. Then Adam spoke, his voice ringing with mock-seriousness. "Since we are gathered in this dismal place, it behoves us to name a captain."
"A captain?" Samer scoffed. "We have scarce escaped with our lives, and you seek to establish a council of lords?"
"Leadership is of great import, Samer," Adam replied with feigned dignity. "Consider, if I were to perish this moment—"
"A most excellent thought," Laila interjected swiftly.
Samer laughed. "At last, she speaks with the tongue of wisdom!"
Adam feigned a great wrath. "Traitors! I deemed our friendship true, yet you long for my end?"
"We said it not," Laila replied coolly. "Yet it was you who brought the notion to light."
Adam sighed. "Granting that… if I should fall, who then should lead?"
"And why should we choose you at the first?" Samer asked with a smirk. "Who named you high lord?"
"It was but a parable, man!" Adam frowned.
Samer's eyes gleamed with mischief. "In that case, I deem Laila the most fit for the mantle."
"And why me?" she asked, her brow furrowing.
"Because," Samer said, thrusting aside a withered branch, "should any monster draw near, you would surely rebuke it with such a tempest of words that it would wither away in weariness."
Adam softened his voice, mimicking her tone: "O Beast! How dare you assail us? Have you no sense of courtesy? Were you never taught the laws of the road?"
"It is not so!" Laila protested.
"What then would you do?" laughed Samer.
"I should persuade the creature that we are most unwholesome to the taste," she replied merrily.
"Ah," said Adam. "Through the terror of your countenance?"
"Nay," Laila smiled. "I should tell him you are a eater of herbs, and that your flesh is rank and full of piteous humours."
Samer broke into a great laughter. "By the stars, that is the finest stratagem I have heard!"
"You are a calamity, both of you!" Adam cried. "I sought one moment of gravity, and you turn all to jest!"
Laila patted his back with dramatic pity. "Fret not. Your name shall be written in the chronicles… under the heading: The Foolish Wight who sought to be King."
"And the first line shall read," added Samer, "He died of his own vanity."
Suddenly, a rustle stirred among the brakes. They froze, their mirth dying in their throats. Adam raised a hand, commanding silence. "Stay… something moves in the gloom."
"Well found!" Laila whispered fiercely. "We should have walked right into its jaws but for your keen wit. Do you think us deaf? We heard it as well, you fool."
They crouched low behind the bole of a mighty tree, watching withheld breath. Out from the thicket crept a small rabbit, sniffing the air. The three of them exhaled as one.
"My heart nearly ceased its beating for a coney," Samer whispered with a shaky laugh.
"Perhaps," said Adam, eyeing the creature, "this coney is our supper."
But as he moved to spring, Laila caught his arm. "Tarry a moment… something is amiss."
"There is naught to fear," Adam whispered, stepping forth. "There is but meat before us."
In that instant, a great shadow leaped from the trees with speed beyond the reckoning of Men! They turned and fled, stumbling over root and stone.
"Whither?" Laila gasped, her breath coming in short sobs.
Adam pointed to a towering oak. "Up! Climb for your lives!"
They scrambled into the high branches, gasping for air. Below, the dark shape halted, though the gloom hid its foul visage from their sight.
"Is it… one of the Great Beasts?" Samer whispered.
But the thing moved not. After a long age of terror, the shadow melted back into the woods. They sat upon the sturdy boughs, their hearts drumming like the hammers of war.
"I went seeking a meal," Adam laughed with exhaustion, "and was well-nigh made a meal myself."
Laila laughed then, and could not cease until tears bedewed her face. "I cannot believe we draw breath still!"
Silence fell once more, until Samer looked up at the cold stars. "Amidst this madness… I am glad I walk not alone."
"And I," Laila said softly. "We are fortunate that Adam is with us."
They looked to Adam, who merely smiled. "I promise you… in our next venture, there shall be bread."
They began their descent, Laila coming last. "Why did the beast forsake us?" she wondered aloud. "I saw it bore an axe as well as claws. Why did it flee?"
Silence met her plea. Undeterred, she pressed on, her voice a thin thread in the stillness: "Someone, catch me... I'm nearly there."
When she hovered but a scant meter above the earth, a pair of hands—vast and unyielding—clasped her waist and set her upon the ground. "Oh, thank you—" she began, the words dying in her throat as she turned. She froze, a statue of sudden ice. Looming before her stood two figures of staggering stature, their heights ascending near to three fathoms.
Her eyes widened, mirrored pools of burgeoning terror, and a piercing cry escaped her lips. Yet the scream was cut short; with a low murmur, the entity cast a subtle spell—a word of power or ancient binding—and darkness claimed her mind, sending her into a sudden, enchanted swoon