"Dark Mages shall rise at the call of blood, and the Light shall be bound by the twisted castings of those who think themselves called to glory." - The Prophecies of Light

The big sorrel warhorse charged up the trail, Seungcheol guiding it while his heart leapt into his throat. The horse had apparently decided to fight instead of try and run away, and at least that was a burden off of his shoulders. Now the question was what they were going to be fighting. The scream sounded once again, only to be answered by several more unearthly cries, making the hair on the nape of Seungcheol's neck stand up. He had never heard such sounds and he was almost dreading the moment when he would see whatever was making them.

To his relief, he was not alone in his charge. Mingyu had handed off the reins of his pack horse and galloped after him, his own bay fighting the mercenary as it tried to turn and run back to the safety of the other horses. He kept it going, though, showing that he was a better rider than Seungcheol had previously given him credit for. 

With one hand on the reins and one on the pommel of his sword, the blond guardsman drew his horse around a curve in the trail to find a scene straight from the old tales. Three large creatures covered in longish hair stood on their hind legs, towering over the slight figure that they accosted. Seungcheol realized that whatever they were, their shoulders were nearly level with his own from where he sat in the saddle, with their shoulders at least twice the width of his own. One turned to him as he came charging into the scene and he nearly lost his breath at the sight of its face.

It looked like a goat in a way, with curved horns growing from the sides of its head and with glowing, vertically slit yellow eyes set over a long snout. That was where the resemblance ended, though, because it had a human mouth and neck, with large, clawed fingers at the end of strangely jointed arms. It opened its mouth to let out a shriek as Seungcheol's horse drew to a stop, and he flinched away from it, the sound sending chills down his spine.

He heard the distinct sound of steel being drawn from behind him, and a brief moment later, Mingyu was stepping up beside him. The mercenary was on foot, likely unable to make his skittish horse go any closer to the things, but he held his sword out in front of him, his two-handed grip showing a well-trained ease.

"Back away!" he called to the creatures, his jaw set firmly, and one of them choked out a terrible grating sound that Seungcheol realized was meant to be a laugh. 

"Tiny humans," it garbled, the words hardly recognizable, then lifted its hand and charged the two men. It had a wicked looking flail in hand that it swung at the sorrel's legs as it neared, but the horse responded to its rider and reared up, striking out with his front hooves at the creature as Seungcheol pulled his sword from its scabbard. 

Mingyu darted out to the side as the creature avoided the horse's strike, with its long, free arm extending to try and catch Seungcheol out of his saddle. The blond guard responded with a two handed swing with his sword, letting the reins drop to the horse's neck and trusting that the animal wouldn't bolt now that he was engaged in a fight. This was what he was bred for, after all. The swing from the sword connected with the creature's arm, and with a sickening sound, the limb parted and fell to the ground.

It didn't stop the thing, though. It released a bone-chilling howl of rage and swung the flail with its other arm, very nearly striking Seungcheol as he ducked out of the way. His avoidance placed him within reach of the creature's head, though, and with a vicious growl it snapped out a bite that should have caught him.

At the last moment it turned away, a sharp cry of pain rising from it as it tried to turn around. Seungcheol saw Mingyu behind it, his sword bloodied as he swung it for the creature's thin, long legs, and without a second thought the guardsman joined in on the attack. His sword came whistling down at the thing's neck, and to his utter relief it cut through the skin and bone there, severing its head. 

The body dropped and the big sorrel horse reared up to stomp on it, a finishing move it had been trained to do. Mingyu nodded his head at Seungcheol before they both turned toward the rest of the fight, almost afraid of what they would find. It had been only one human that the other two creatures had been attacking, after all...

To their surprise, both of the other two attacker's lay dead, one smoking as if it had been struck by lightning and the other cut to pieces. Seungcheol pulled his eyes from the second one, disgust and hor