The Cliffhanger

It was just past the witching hour when it finally moved. I had been sitting in silence, the only noise was the crackling from a dwindling fire in the hearth, looking outside down the path to my home. The only way I could imagine whatever had been killing my cows had been travelling. I built my cabin up against the back of several giant stones jutting from the hill. There was just enough room for my cabin, and my barn. Out past the path was the field where I grew my crops of different vegetables, those were undisturbed.

So I stayed awake this night. I would keep the fire low, and I would sit, and with axe in hand I would wait for it. I thought, at one point, I saw something move at the corner where the path wraps around the big rocks, but I became convinced it was just my tired eyes looking for anything in the dark. However, what must have been two hours later, the movement I had seen repeated itself, pausing to watch my cabin before walking up the path to my home and the barn.

My grip tightened on my axe. This was no wolf, no mountain cat or bear. This was a man! As he approached I could see he walked on two legs, upright, and wore dark clothing. He had a hood to keep his features veiled. At his hip was a fine looking sword. If I hadn’t been looking for him he may have slipped past me completely. He was heading for the barn, the bastard, I would gut him for killing my cows!

So I waited for him to creep by before slowly making my way out of my cottage. He was so focused on his filthy deed he didn’t even notice me tailing him. I waited for him to enter the barn and as soon as he was inside I leapt from behind him, tackling him to the ground. There was a scuffle, he ended up kicking my axe away before I could gut him and he kept telling me I needed to calm down and let him explain in hushed tones as we wrestled.

Then I grabbed his leg and gave a mighty twist, feeling victory as his leg popped with a sickening sound, and he screamed aloud in agony.

“You’re not getting away now cow killer!” I was going to say, but before I could, from further in the barn came a terrible scream of anger. I looked up and past the man I had just injured to see a blood soaked monster staring at me. It’s face was long and oval, it had no hair, just darker pigmentation. It’s eyes were beady, black, and tiny little things sunken in its head. It’s nose were just two slits, no protrusion, and it’s mouth was filled with sharp nasty teeth and a long angry red tongue. It wore no clothing, just stood there with its long spindly body. It’s arms hung from it’s torso, nearly to the floor, it’s hands were thick black claws. Beside it was my best cow, Jilli, dead, completely eviscerated.

The monster screamed at us again but did not approach, instead it jumped back and dove at the wall, using it’s thick claws to scale the side to the loft where I kept hay. From there it scurried through a hole in the ceiling that I had not seen before, and was gone into the night.

“What in all the world was that.” I breathed, letting go of the man and standing up.

“Damn it!’ The now hobbled man below me yelled. “Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!” He cried thrice more.

“Ah, look, i’m sorry. I th-” I started to say, suddenly feeling sorry for my rash actions, before he spoke over me.

“And damn you as well!” He shouted. “You broke my leg! Oh damn it all!”

He continued like that for about five more minutes before I finally grabbed his leg and without word or warning shoved it back into its socket. I still smiled as he screamed, but It was still broken, and that was something I couldn’t fix. After his screaming subsided I helped him up and into my cottage. I stoke the fire and brought him some whiskey to help numb the pain.

“What’s your name sneak?” I ask after he’s calmed down.

He waited a moment before answering. “James, and I am not a sneak. I’m a hunter.”

“What, you hunt monsters?” I ask disbelieving.

“No, no, nothing like that. Well, not until now I guess. I usually just hunt big cat, wolves, sometimes bear. I go around getting rid of the big animals that venture down and mess with people's crops and animals. Whatever this thing is was being mistaken by some kind of sick looking mountain cat outside a town on the other side of the mountain. I got hired, promised enough coin to allow me to retire, and set out. As you saw it was definitely not a sick mountain lion. I got the drop on it thankfully, but obviously I wasn’t prepared for that thing.”

“Well you survived the first encounter.” I say trying to attest to his strength.

“I surprised it, the thing was literally hanging by its feet from a stone jutting out of a rock wall in a cave, sleeping like a bat. It’s got the hearing, that’s for sure. It heard me notch an arrow and instinctively moved before I could let loose. I don’t think it’s physically that strong, which is why it went after the children and your cows. I scared it off, but I don’t get paid for scaring it off.” he paused a moment. “I’ve asked around but no one knows what this monster is. I think i’m going to call it a Cliffhanger for how it traverses rock walls and the way it sleeps.”

“Well, that’s all interesting but it’ll be awhile until your on your feet again, sorry, but it looks like you may have missed out on retirement. That thing, a Cliffhanger is it? It’s probably long gone again. I’ll take you into town tomorrow so you can get better medical help, I’ll even help with some of the costs since you scared the thing off, and it’s partly my fault you are like this.”

The man grimaced at me and said nothing.

“What?”

“I know where the monster is holed up. You can go kill it for me.” He declared.

Now it was my turn to say nothing. Instead I just looked at him in disbelief.

“Listen, the way I look at it, you owe me. Besides you are physically capable, I bet you are pretty good with that axe. You go take care of that monster for me, bring me its head, when I get well enough I take it back and we split the money. Not retirement money, perhaps, but well enough to let us sit comfy for awhile.”

Maybe it was the guilt, maybe it was the money, but I eventually agreed to his crazy idea. He took out a map he had of the region and showed me the cave he had tracked the beast too. So I sharpened my axe and headed out around midday. The cave wasn’t that far away either, took me less than an hour to get to it, and for some reason that just made me feel even more uneasier about this whole thing.

Axe in hand I did my best to quietly approach the cave, the rocky entrance was covered in dried blood, and there were carcasses of deer and other wildlife littered about. The interior was too dark to see, forcing me to light a torch. Where the entrance was tall enough for me to walk into, it soon forced me into a crawl. The ground was sandy but speckled in flecks of blood. The Cliffhanger, whatever it may be, was a messy one.

When the cavern finally opened up enough for me to stand again I found the walls to stretch impossibly high. Above me where several nooks and crannies big enough that the monster could be hiding in. In fact, as I quickly reached the end of the cave I surmised that it had to be. The nooks I felt it might be hiding in were too high up to climb, so my only real option was to either wait it out or leave. The claw marks in the rock face made me wonder if James was correct about its physical prowess.

The only reason I didn’t leave right then and there was the fear that it was watching, waiting for me to crawl away so it could attack me with its long claws from behind. So I was a little surprised when I heard it growling lowly in what I could only assume was frustration as it came crawling into the cavern. It was dragging something, crawling in backwards, and from what I could tell it didn’t know I was there.

I couldn’t waste my chance, rushing forward I roar and swing my axe at the creatures back. The creature reacts to the sound of my cry, leaping straight up into the air and out of range of my axe’s swing. Digging its long sharp claws into the rocky wall it looks to me and roars in anger before navigating the sheer rock wall with ease, scrambling to one of the nooks I had seen earlier.

A groan on the ground at my feet nearly made me leap out of my skin. Looking down I find James, his face was covered in long gashes, and he was bleeding heavily from his side. It must have came back for him, or us. He was pale and shivering, I have never seen a man die before by loss of blood, but I had heard about it.

I was about to try and rouse him, more out of comfort for myself than for any real use, when I hear a loud hiss from behind me. I spin then, torch first followed by a wild swing of my axe but they both hit air as the monster hissed, holding itself close to a nearby rock wall. It crawls into another taller cranny.  When it didn’t hiss or scream I could hear it grunt, and the scratching noise as it moved about the rock. How I was supposed to fight this thing I had no idea. I needed to bring it down to my level.

James groans again beside me and begins panting, coming to consciousness. He begins to move and cries out, reaching for the wound at his side. The Cliffhanger screams angrily from up high and I see it move, leaping from one nook to another, getting closer to us. I try and shush him but he is unconscious again a moment later. A horrible thought crosses my mind. Even if I kill this monster I don’t think I can get James out of here.

“I’m going to die here.” James suddenly whispers, echoing my thoughts.

“We might both.” I say, looking around the cavern looking for the creature. My torch is beginning to wane, it was almost burnt out.

“I can’t move my legs” James says weakly before coughing weakly. “I don’t want that thing to get me.”

I say nothing, trying to keep my senses sharp.

“Will you do it?” he asks pulling me from my composure.

“What!?” I cry but his eyes were closed and he was struggling to breathe. A roar brings me back and I swipe out with my axe, again meeting nothing, but I regain my sight of the creature. It growls low and begins climbing into the darkness again, waiting.

“Okay…” I say, steading myself. “You’re going to help me then.” I say suddenly turning and bring my axe down sharply on James’s head with a sickening crack. His body shakes and he quickly goes completely limp. I push my foot into his shoulder and pull the axe free. The cavern becomes silent, the monster was no longer moving, or growling. It must be watching.

I take the body now and move it to the middle of the small but tall cavern and place the hot torch to several locations on the body before placing it on his chest. I needed wood to properly burn the body, but this should be enough to create enough smoke to choke out the monster and bring it down to a level where I might be able to do battle with it.

It takes awhile for the smoke to coalesce at the top of the cave but I can hear the monster groaning and choking, rubble falls from the nooks above as it descends lower and lower. Soon it would have to face me and we would see who was the better. there  was no longer any light so it had the advantage. All I could do was stand at the tunnel entrance, wait with axe in hand, and listen...