Chapter 10: The Pack
Stone Ravine
Cliff Top
The next day, Theo, David, and Erika—along with her dog, Roper—sat atop one of the cliffs overlooking the stone ravine. The wind moved steadily through the jagged rock formations, carrying dust and heat up from below.
Erika, however, seemed completely unaffected by any of it. She spun in place with Roper beside her, her laughter bright and unrestrained.
“Oooh, I still can’t get over my performance yesterday,” she giggled sweetly. “That was my best performance ever!”
“Would you pipe down…” Theo sighed, rubbing his temple.
“How can I pipe down?!” Erika shot back immediately, stepping right up into his face, her eyes gleaming. “Even the village women got riled up! I never managed to entrance the women before!”
“Woof!” Roper chimed in enthusiastically.
Erika beamed, then went right back to twirling with him.
“Well, can’t blame her, boss,” David said, glancing over at Theo with an easy smile. “The theme, the music, and the choreography you put together yesterday… that was somethin’ else, I’ll admit.”
Hearing David’s remark, Erika stopped mid-spin. In an instant, she leaned in close to Theo again—far too close—her eyes sparkling with too much intensity.
“Loot— I mean Theo!” she corrected herself quickly. “Teach me more about the art of scam! I want to learn until I can convince my mother like you!”
“Yes, yes, I’ll teach you later after we’ve settled down,” Theo said, leaning his upper body back to create some distance. “It’s hard to teach anything when we keep moving our asses like this.”
“Much obliged if you could teach me another song too, sir,” David added, tone relaxed but curious. “Still can’t quite wrap my head around it, songs from your time only last three to five minutes, yet they hit folks right in the heart near instant. That’s… somethin’.”
Theo opened his mouth, about to respond—
“Grrrr…..”
But Roper’s sudden low growl cut cleanly through the air. The dog had gone rigid, ears perked, eyes fixed toward the outer edge of the ravine.
The shift was immediate. Erika stopped moving, Theo straightened, and David’s gaze followed the direction of Roper’s stare.
“The demon hounds are here,” Erika said, her tone losing all its earlier playfulness as she looked toward the horizon, her enhanced elf vision locking onto something in the distance.
Theo and David rose from where they sat.
“Alright,” David said, rolling his shoulders slightly as his expression settled into something more focused. “Time to move.”
He lifted his hand and gave a series of signals toward the surrounding cliffs. Across from them—on separate rocky outcrops—figures began to stir.
Several scavenger men were already in position, waiting. Others revealed themselves from behind stone cover on neighboring cliffs. The support from the scavenger tribe, just as agreed between Theo and Tara. Everything was in place.
“Let’s go huntin’,” David muttered, a faint grin forming under his calm demeanor.
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Stone Ravine
Entrance
The demon hound pack moved as one. They were fifteen strong. At their head was the largest among them, a scarred alpha female, her body marked by old battles, her presence alone enough to keep the rest in line.
Guided by the lingering scent of blood from their fallen kin—the one Theo had killed—the pack advanced without hesitation. Step by step, they entered the narrow stone ravine path. Silent, focused, and tracking.
The stone ravine was a narrow, winding stretch of land carved between towering rocky cliffs, its paths splitting into several forks like veins through stone. For most travelers, it would’ve been a confusing maze.
For the demon hounds, it might as well have been a straight road as they moved without hesitation, noses low, following the scent trail with unwavering certainty.
Above them, hidden along the cliffs, the scavenger tribe lay in wait. Bodies pressed low against stone. Breaths controlled. Not a single unnecessary movement.
David had positioned them carefully, always against the wind. The scent carried away from the ravine, not toward it. A simple rule of hunting, but one that made all the difference.
They waited patiently and silently. Letting the demon hound pack pass beneath them.
David’s plan was straightforward. Use the terrain. Guide the pack. Lead them into a designated kill zone where the advantage would finally shift.
Knowing the route the hounds would take made that part easy. What didn’t make it easy… was Tara’s condition.
The main path—the one connecting their village to the outside—had to remain usable. No large-scale traps. No cave-ins. No reckless destruction.
It was reasonable and logical, even though it was inconvenient. Still, there was a solution.
“YAH! YAH! COME HERE YOU STUPID MONGRELS!”
Two male elves burst into view at one of the forked paths, shouting at the top of their lungs.
The sudden noise snapped the demon hounds’ attention toward them. The pack slowed, low growls rumbling through the group as their focus shifted.
That was all it took. The two elves didn’t wait a second longer as they turned and ran, straight into a side path that veered away from the main route.
The alpha reacted instantly. With a sharp motion, she led the pack after them.
Aggro secured.
Fortunately, elves were among the fastest races on foot. Unfortunately… that knowledge didn’t make the situation feel any better.
“Why did we agree to this again?!” one of the elves shouted, his voice cracking as he sprinted down the rocky path. “I somehow only remember Erika and that new guy talking to us real sweet this morning!”
“I don’t know either!” the other yelled back, equally panicked. “But I do know we’re about to become dog food!”
And he wasn’t wrong. Elves might be the fastest race when compared to humans, but not so much when compared to a pack of four-legged, muscle-bound demon hounds that were built to hunt.
One of the faster hounds began pulling ahead of the pack, its strides longer, more aggressive. The distance between it and the two elves shrank with every second.
Closer.
Closer—
Then it leapt.
“Shiiiiiit!” both elves screamed mid-run as they caught sight of the massive beast launching toward them, its saber-like fangs gleaming as it came down.
Then—
THUD
“Whimper!”
Something struck the hound square in the head mid-air. The impact knocked it off course, sending it crashing to the ground. It rolled once, staggered, then scrambled back up with a shaken snarl before continuing the chase with the rest of the pack.
The two elves didn’t dare slow down, but they couldn’t help glancing up. A familiar figure moved along the cliffside above them. It was Dunley the halfling, or rather, David.
He sprinted along the edge of the cliff with practiced ease, his footing precise despite the uneven terrain. Without breaking stride, he swung his sling in a tight, controlled motion before releasing another shot.
Whoosh—THUD
The stone struck the frontmost hound again, just enough to slow it down, just enough to keep the distance from closing too quickly.
“Dunley, great shot!” one of the elves shouted, relief flooding his voice even as he kept running.
“His name is David now!” the other corrected between breaths.
David flashed them a thumbs up, a relaxed grin sitting comfortably on his face despite the situation.
“Keep runnin’, boys!” he called out. “Y’all are doin’ just fine!”
The two elves didn’t question it. They kept sprinting.
Through the narrow, winding network of paths, they ran. Guided not just by instinct, but by memory. The ravine’s layout might’ve been confusing to outsiders, but the scavenger tribe knew every twist and fork like the back of their hands. Months of mapping had turned this maze into something they could navigate even under pressure.
The hounds stayed close, close enough to maintain the chase. But David kept them in check so they were never quite close enough to attack. It was a careful balance, and somehow it held.
Minutes passed like stretched wire, then finally—
The path ahead narrowed and ended. A dead end.
The two elves skidded slightly as they reached it, turning instinctively as the sound of pounding paws echoed closer behind them.
“We’re here! Where are you guys?!” they shouted upward desperately, eyes darting along the cliffs as the demon hounds closed in.
And then, just as the two elves shouted, figures emerged along the cliff above them. Several scavengers revealed themselves in unison, bows already drawn.
Without hesitation, they loosed a volley. Arrows rained down toward the demon hounds.
Individually, the shots weren’t lethal. The hounds’ thick hide easily resisted shallow penetration, most of these archers simply didn’t have the level or class advantage needed to make their arrows truly deadly. But that wasn’t the point.
The arrows struck, bit, and glanced off, enough to hurt, enough to disrupt. Several hounds staggered. Others slowed, their rhythm breaking under the constant barrage. From above, David joined in, his sling whistling through the air with practiced precision, each shot landing at just the right moment to keep the pack unsettled.
That slight delay was all the two elves needed. At the edge of the dead-end path, two ropes dropped into reach and they grabbed on without hesitation.
Above, their comrades pulled with urgency, muscles straining as others continued firing to keep the hounds pressured. Bit by bit, the two elves were lifted off the ground.
Higher and further, until they both are out of reach.
“Grrr…”
Below, the alpha could only watch. Her prey dangled midway up the cliff face now, slipping beyond her grasp. The growl that rumbled from her chest was low and restrained, frustration more than fury.
After a brief moment, she turned. The arrows were becoming more of a nuisance than a threat, but a persistent one. With a sharp motion, she began to move away, the rest of the pack falling in line behind her. If this path was no longer favorable, they would simply find another.
But they didn’t get far. Ahead—right along the narrowest stretch of the ravine—movement caught their attention.
Up on the cliff above that path, Theo, Erika, and another group of scavengers were braced around a massive boulder. Thick wooden logs had been wedged beneath it, forming a crude but effective lever system.
They were already in position. Straining to push the boulder.
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