Free The Call by Elí Freysson Page A

muttering quietly and guiding her along. She tried to understand the words but they were so indistinct. Yet there was nothing else to feel. Not breathing, not a heartbeat nor the chair beneath her butt cheeks.
    The whispers showed the way despite her lack of understanding, and she saw the cabin without opening her eyes. Saw it within herself, from no particular angle.
    She saw it empty.
    She saw herself and Serdra practice outside.
    She saw herself and Serdra arrive on the first day.
    And she saw a man.
    He was angry, terrible and powerful. He desired something he couldn't get and sank deeper and deeper in search of it.
    She saw the first victim. A boy on the cusp of adulthood. He was numb with sorcery when the man pushed him into the cabin and tied him down.
    The man cut him.
    The spell wore off and the boy felt every cut, every stab, while the man pried the ribs apart and examined the organs. He screamed, twitched and then gurgled until he finally died.
    The man was dissatisfied. He hadn't seen enough, hadn't found what he wanted. He sewed the chest back together and recited words over the corpse. The day after it stood up and obeyed the man's commands. He sent it down the fell to fetch another experiment.
    That's how it began. The man tried new approaches, new spells in search for the secret and each time he was left with only a new monster. They got stronger with each 'generation', but also more savage and more frequently came back from missions splattered with blood.
    Katja watched this, felt this, and wanted to scream. She didn't understand the cruelty. What did he want? How could he torment people so terribly? They couldn't defend themselves, hadn't wronged him in any way and when they finally escaped into death their remains were desecrated and misused.
    Why?
    This went on for a while. She couldn't sense time well, but eventually the stitched-up monsters numbered about twenty.
    Then came the assault, just before dawn.
    Serdra, wearing different clothes, with different weapons and entirely brown hair, approached the depression the cabin stood in along with five men. Two of them carried long axes, two more had chopping spears and the fifth had a sword just like Serdra's.
    Serdra went ahead of them and ran first to the west and then north, heading past the cabin. The men carefully walked straight towards it, holding their weapons with the familiarity of trained warriors. Serdra came to the first sentry hidden in the scrub, surprised it and cut it down before an alarm could be raised.
    She kept going with fast but silent strides and felled another sentry just west of the cabin.
    The men kept on going and the one with the sword, a blond youth with graceful movements, split from the group, stealthily moved ahead of them and struck down a sentry.
    Serdra kept on moving in a circle and met another one north-east of the depression. It died with a quiet gurgle. At the same time the men were almost to the edge of the depression. They were focused and alert, but still started when a sentry monster rose from a bush they'd just passed and screamed.
    The scream was answered. Some of the calls came from other places on the fell, but most came up from the depression.
    The monster attacked. One the spearmen stepped forth and tried to slash at its legs. It dodged to the side and attacked the one with the sword. He cut its arm off but it still struck at him with the other arm. His cheek was badly torn, he screamed and blood flowed.
    A man of about fifty years in leather armour and a hood came up behind the beast and buried an axe in its back. It whined and tried to pull off the weapon, but the swordsman recovered and clove its head.
    But the damage was done. Footsteps approached from the cabin, accompanied by shrieks from stitched lungs.
    Serdra sprinted clear across the plain and towards the depression. She was delayed by encountering yet another sentry, which attacked her with a staff. Meanwhile the men took up a position on the edge