The garganta, its hide still smoking from Israel's well-timed and blessed shots, whirled to face the man who'd wounded it and slain its progeny.

February 18, 1887
Near Sun Ranch, Montana

The garganta, its hide still smoking from Israel's well-timed and blessed shots, whirled to face the man who'd wounded it and slain its progeny. As the wolf-demon spun, its tail thickened and lengthened, transforming itself into a grotesque parody of something akin to a scorpion's tail. The creature leapt at the rancher, its slavering jaws snapping at Israel and its tail stabbing at me.

I rolled quickly to the right and then to left, guessing and praying that I'd chosen the right combination to avoid the garganta's stabs. In the shuffle, I heard my cowboy companion bellow in pain, followed by three quick barks from the Winchester. A reflexive whoosh of air, another cry of pain and I heard the rifle clatter to the rocks.

The wolf-thing yelped in pain and shook its muzzle vigorously. Streamers of white, smoke-like stuff began leaking out of multiple sizzling holes in its face. Israel had made his shots count...which was good, because I was betting he was empty, or near too it, even if he was able to get the gun back.

And all we'd succeeding in achieving was making this thing really, really, really angry. I knew I had to take things up a notch, but doing so meant taking some major risks. I rolled to my feet, slicing across the tip of the garganta's tail with Sicol. My spirt-blade sliced into the wolf-demon's tail, removing the last three feet cleanly.

"Betrayer!" the garganta howled in pain, whipping around to face me. As the creature pivoted, I caught a glimpse of Israel: he was still moving--barely--and he was bleeding from several savage wounds.

"Right here, Rover," I spat, sheathing Sicol and fishing around in one of my many belt pockets. Quickly finding the small delicate item I needed, I palmed it into my right hand and then pointed towards my face. "Come get me."

Driven frothing mad, the wolf-fiend lashed out at me with claws, teeth, and gore-stumped tail. I felt the claws sink deep into my chest and abdomen, ripping at wool and tearing at skin. I no longer cared about the tail, but it slammed into my thighs like a massive, bloody battering ram. It was the mouth that I was focused on, and just as I'd predicted, the garganta, true to its name, came right for my throat. I waited until the last possible second and then shoved my right arm as far down the demonic wolf's mouth as I could get...and then I crushed the ancient clay container like an egg, spilling all of the contents down the beast's gullet.

The garganta's pale eyes went wide with pain-laced surprise as it instantly felt the strange fire erupt in its throat and begin consuming its insides. It thrashed, snapping my arm in several places and nearly knocking me over with a wave of intense and immediate pain. The demon-wolf howled and screamed at me, writhing in agony as fire it could not quench ate it away from within. "What have you done to me, Betrayer?" it screeched, clawing at its own throat in desperation.

"I've set you up for what you deserve, demon" I dove out of the way, knowing full well what was coming next. Wincing, I hobbled over to Israel, trying to keep all of my insides where they belonged while attempting to do the same for my friend. Gritting my teeth against the surging pain in my right arm, I started dragging Israel up the stony rill as quickly as I could.

The garganta, regardless of its own pain, stumbled after me. Pale flames licked its frame, but it would not be denied. "Nooo! You'll not take my vengeance from me, Tenet! I will have the human's blood!" The demonic canine scrabbled after us, twisting, twitching, rolling, and roaring every few feet to try and escape the strangely colorless flames that were now roaring within its ribcage. Each bone stood out in stark shadow to the profane fire that burned inside its skin and organs.

I groaned, pulling Israel as quickly as I could, trying desperately to stay just a little head of the wolf-thing. I was getting dizzy, my silver blood spilling from my wounds and my shattered arm, but I kept checking the dark, snow filled sky for what I knew was to come. Desperately, I kicked loose rocks towards our lupine pursuer, hoping to harm or slow it further.

Haze-and-pain-filled moments later, I felt my center of gravity shift and new I was to the top. It was like my stomach was about to burst from the pain, but I managed to roll the nearly unconscious Israel over the lip.

"NOOOOO!!" howled the garganta and I felt its long, talons sink into my calf. I could feel the simmering heat from inside the beast, even through its claws.

The sky began to brighten. It was like day was rudely intruding into night.

"No," I gasped weakly. I did not want to be this close when IT happened.

The Fallen wolf thing pulled itself up over me and my woolen cloak began to smolder. It's lava-like saliva dribbled across my face, scaling it like hot grease. "I may go before the Throne this night, Tenet, but you shall stand beside me."

"no..."

The maw descended.

The sky brightened. The sun had risen directly over the rill. The darkness was done. The snow was melting from the air and from the ground.

"Help!" I cried, desperately. There was no one there to hear me.

Suddenly, the garganta was blasted away from me as if it had been launched out of a catapult. I fierce, defiant whinny resounded across the stones and I heard the heavy clomp of Sham's rear hooves hit the ground.

Sham!

Sham, my wonderful, glorious steed and saved me! He'd bucked the garganta clear off me and into the bottom of the rill.

At that moment, the sky tore asunder and fire from Heaven--a literal column of white-hot flame hotter than a million suns--slammed into the demonic wolf beast and in the span of three heartbeats...

..nothing remained but a slowly pool of cooling now-igneous rock.

I lay back against the stones and laughed. I laughed until I cried.

Eventually, I heard Israel laughing too, from somewhere behind and above me. I was hurting too badly and was too exhausted to look, but I could tell by the sound of his voice that he was on his back too.

"What's so funny?" I asked, in between giggles.

The rancher kept chuckling as well, but replied. "Hell, Holy Man. I don't know, but I figure if you ain't screamin' then you ain't dead...I figure if yer laughin', then it's a good sign we ain't gonna die."

Sham came over and nuzzled me with her muzzle. "No, thanks to Sham, we're alive."

"What in th' world did ya do to that thing?" Israel asked.

With my good arm, I tossed a piece of the clay container towards the cowboy's voice. "Catch," I called.

He did, and I heard him fumble with it a moment or two. Still snickering, he read "Nadab. Nadab? What in th' world's that?"

I'd stopped laughing, watching the sky finally return to its normal state of darkness. The snow had not yet come back, however. Finally, I answered. "Old Testament stuff. Nadab and Abihu offered God some strange profane fire as an offering. God didn't take to it too kindly. I quoted: 'And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.', Leviticus, Chapter 10, verses 1 and 2."

Israel was quiet for a minute. Then, he asked. "Really?"

"Yup." I replied.

"Nadab. That's some good stuff!" Israel commented.

"Nope, not really." I deadpanned.

We both busted out laughing again. We were still laughing hours later when the Doctor finally found us...

Art Source: "Intense screaming" (c)/by Abz-J-Harding
Story and Characters: (c)/by Brannon Hollingsworth

#MMWW, #Makes, #Me, #Wanna, #Write, #BrannonHollingsworth, #Tenet, #Tenetstales, #Montana, #ShunkaWarakin, #JosephSherwood, #IsraelAmmonHutchins, #ShamtheWonderHorse

"Get out of here, now!" I screamed.

February 18, 1887
Near Sun Ranch, Montana

"Get out of here, now!" I screamed. I'm not sure if it would have mattered. Deep down inside I knew that Israel would never run, would never back down. This was his land, it had been his father's land before him, and his father's father's before that.

I didn't have the heart to tell him that this thing, the garganta, had most likely called this place home long before the arrival of those first red skinned men who eventually became the Ioway had first arrived here. For all I knew, this thing could be older than me... Something like thunder rumbled, but I realized too late that it was not thunder at all. It was the creature, growling as it made its way stealthily down the hill.

Snow began falling faster, deadening the air in the ancient, but recently bloodied, rill.

Israel was pumping shells into his brand new Winchester 1887 as fast as he could get them out of his coat pocket. I'd never seen a weapon like it, nor a weapon that could put as much lead downrange as it could. It was impressive and Israel'd paid a load for it, but I was not sure that it was going to keep us alive against the wolf-fiend that was stalking us.

"Where's Jo?" the rancher asked, scanning the odd skies--white flecks on velvet night--as he sought out his prey.

In all of the confusion, the Doctor had slipped my mind. He run off after his horse, firing blindly up the rocky rill when last I'd seen him. I wondered, briefly, what his stance on 'this supernatural hogwash' was now. I sought him out with my odd eyes, but in the high contrast, white-on-black world that was closing in on us, I could not find him.

Then, I saw it.

Emerging from the pitchy night, the garganta seemed to slowly take form. It was as if the fat, wet snowflakes were sticking together and taking on the wicked, twisted form of a massive wolf. A distended, almost skeletal jaw emerged, dripping a hot, steaming stream and long, horn-like ears swept back from the creature's narrow skull. Long spikes protruded from it's hump-like back and unlike any other wolf, the garganta now possessed cruelly dexterous, claw-studded hands and it walked upon its hind legs. I knew it could move quicker on all fours, so I knew that this was not a hunting posture...

It had come to inflict and enjoy pain. It was solely focused on Israel, the man who had killed it's spawn a year before--almost to the day--and there was a hellish malice that flickered in its pale eyes.

I had to act now.

Reaching into Beyond, I drew Sicol silently from the snowy sky beside me. If the garganta noticed any shimmer in the Curtain, it did not show any sign. I took that small blessing, added three bounding steps and a massive, utterly non-human leap and drove my silvered spirit katana right into the wolf-thing's ribcage. It was only as I neared it that I realized how truly immense this thing was; it was easily three times my height and four times my weight.

The Fallen howled like the Pit itself had been opened. With a titanic whack of its right elbow, it smacked me into the rill wall. I heard things crack that should not when I hit and felt lightheaded all of a sudden. For some reason, I had lost track of some important body parts like my arms, hands, and legs.

A growling, snarling voice ripped into my musing moment. "Don't worry. In a moment, you won't have them to keep track of anymore, Betrayer."

The wolf-fiend was reading my unprotected thoughts...things had just gotten a great deal worse.

"You have no idea, Tenet," the wolf-demon-thing barked, its massive tooth-filled maw inches from my face.

Israel answered that bark with seven 10-gauge barks of his own, all delivered within less than a few seconds.

The garganta howled and leapt into the air, twisting like a dog trying to avoid a striking snake.

"Blessed bullets, Holy Man! Hoooo Waaaa!" the rancher cackled in victory, cutting his eyes toward me while quickly pumping more cartridges into his rifle. "I learn't a thing 'r two when I took out 'at Shunka Warakin thing last year!"

Art Source: "Out of the Darkness" (c)/by Abz-J-Harding
Story and Characters: (c)/by Brannon Hollingsworth

#MMWW, #Makes, #Me, #Wanna, #Write, #BrannonHollingsworth, #Tenet, #Tenetstales, #Montana, #ShunkaWarakin, #JosephSherwood, #IsraelAmmonHutchins, #ShamtheWonderHorse

"Whad'ya mean, Tenet?" Israel asked.

February 18, 1887
Near Sun Ranch, Montana

"Whad'ya mean, Tenet?" Israel asked. He was picking up on my uneasiness, as was his horse, Bandit. The sorrel mare was whickering and throwing her head a bit. There was something on the wind. Israel went to her and tried to comfort her, pulling his rifle from his bedroll behind the saddle as he did so.

"I mean your actions last year may well have set our fates for this night. The creature that you killed and that Joseph stuffed," I pointed my goat-bearded chin towards Doctor Sherwood, "was likely a Shunka Warakin, as you claimed. But there's something you don't know about these creatures."

Joseph slipped off his small, round glasses and wiped some of the wet snow from them--it was falling faster now--before perching them again on his nose. His thick, bushy moustache was quickly filling with fat white flecks as well. "Speak plainly, Tenet. Some of us don't kin to any of this supernatural hogwash, ya'know."

I looked down at the mangled corpse of the alpha wolf at our feet. "This was the piece of the puzzle I lacked, well, this and the fact that there are no tracks here...whatsoever."

The Doctor cocked a bushy eyebrow and scanned the ground again. Apparently, this was a detail that he's overlooked.

"The Shunka Warakin is nothing more than a local name that has been given to a much older, more diabolical creature. I believe the Ioway named them such and that the phrase means, 'carries off dogs' for their habit of sneaking into the natives' camps at night and dragging off their guard dogs." The snow was coming in faster and heavier now and the sky was quickly getting darker. I knew that we were terribly exposed in the small, slushy rill and began scanning the scrub in surrounding ridge lines for any sign of what I now knew was out there.

"These creatures would do this to lure men out into the wild where they could capture them and torture them. These things hate mankind with a burning passion and will do anything to cause him pain or harm. They are a type of the Fallen, but they are more twisted and perverted than a mere Fallen. Long ago these things made a pact with a dark Power which was tied to the land, and have been forever been bound to it ever since. They were first called la garganta by the Spaniards-"

"The ravine?" Israel asked, who obviously spoke the language.

I nodded, trying to calm my own horse, Sham, who was flicking his tail and his ears nervously. "That is one meaning of their name, as they are the most powerful in low-lying, forsaken places - like this rill. There are other meanings of la garganta as well, speaking primarily of the way they feed--to gorge--and their favored target..."

I pointed to the massive, ninety-pound wolf body on the ground, it's throat ripped out and spread across the rocky, defiled earth. "...the throat."

Just then, a shivering howl pierced the snow-laded skies. Somewhere to the west, I felt the sun slip below the horizon. Joseph's horse, Soot, who was barely tied to a scraggly sagebrush, bolted out of the rill and Sham and Bandit started rearing and squealing madly. The Doctor, taken by complete surprise by Soot, was knocked to the rocks and it was all that Israel and I could do to keep our steeds in check.

"Let them run!" I yelled, letting go the reins of Sham. "Maybe at least they will make it out of here alive!"

Just as Soot crested the top of the ridge, the shadows themselves lashed out and the horse screamed in pain and terror. Horribly vicious sounds of ripping, roaring, and tearing echoed down the stone-strewn embankment.

Men started screaming. Guns started firing. Blood began flowing.

Art Source: "Out of Tar" (c)/by Abz-J-Harding
Story and Characters: (c)/by Brannon Hollingsworth

#MMWW, #Makes, #Me, #Wanna, #Write, #BrannonHollingsworth, #Tenet, #Tenetstales, #Montana, #ShunkaWarakin, #JosephSherwood, #IsraelAmmonHutchins, #ShamtheWonderHorse

There are not many times that I am thankful for my thick grey woolen cassock, cloak, and hood but the middle of February in Montana was one of those times.

February 18, 1887
Near Sun Ranch, Montana

There are not many times that I am thankful for my thick grey woolen cassock, cloak, and hood but the middle of February in Montana was one of those times. I'd spent the last thirteen hours tracking something through the scrub-filled foothills and lowlands west and north of Echo Peak and despite my thick layers, I could feel the cold creeping in like an inexorable, freezing tide. I had no idea how the two humans riding with me were able to stand it.

I guess they grow them hardy in Montana.

Israel Ammon Hutchins scanned me with his pinched, dark eyes. "What'ya thinkin' Tenet?" The ranger wasn't much one for words, but in the short time I'd known him, he'd impressed me. He was tough, but fair. Hardworking and darn near fearless. He possessed a canny sense for things that were just off from center, and he never backed down from hard work, or a hard fight. We'll just say he embodied some of the better qualities of his namesake.

I replied, condensed breath rolling out of my goat-bearded lips like fog. The west wind ripping up the ridge banished it as quickly as I made it, however. "I am thinking that it is a hard three hour ride back to your ranch, and that we'll be riding into the teeth of a snow storm with darkness at our back, my friend."

Israel laughed. "You gettin' scared, Holy Man?"

I shook my hooded head. "No, and I'm not a Holy Man." My words trailed off as we heard a low, undulating cry from further up the mountain.

"Sounds like Ol' Jo's found somethin' up there. Giddyup!" Israel urged his horse into action with only words. In the two months that I'd been in the valley, I'd never seen him put spurs or stick to an animal. It was another of his positive qualities.

I tried, unsuccessfully to coax Sham, my stalwart steed, up the steep rocky slope, but it took some doing. In general, horses do not take to me well, and Sham was only barely better than most by comparison. This, of course, gave Israel no end of amusement but there was little I could do about it. There's a reason why I walk almost everywhere I go, after all.

I finally arrived in the snow-and-stone filled rill to see Israel and our third set of eyes, Joseph Sherwood, a local doctor, veterinarian, and taxidermist examining a freshly torn carcass. As I approached, I expected a friendly chiding from Israel regarding my late arrival and lack of horsemanship, but he only took off his wide brimmed hat and rubbed his thinning auburn hair. A frown dominated his craggy features as he took in the gory scene of the mutilated body at his feet.

"What'ya reckon, doc, a wolf?"

"Yup, it's a wolf alrite. A big 'un too. Looks like it was a male." Joseph replied in his slow, twangy drawl.

"What in the world would do that, ya reckon? A cougar?" Israel asked, limbering his Colt in his holster.

Joseph nodded. "Maybbeso. I ain't ne'er heard of'a cougar gettin' the better of a wolf, tho'."

I was looking at the tracks, ignoring the torn body of the canine in the quickly-freezing sanguine pool. Whatever had done this, had done it recently.

And then, I saw it.

"It was not a wolf, a cougar, or anything else that is from these mountains," I said, scanning the quickly darkening skies. The snow was coming in slow, in bit soft waves, but soon it would be piling up and it would severely hinder our movements. We had to get out of here now.

"Whaddya mean, Tenet?" Israel asked.

"This thing is a Shunka Warakin." I said, fear taking the life from my words.

Joseph chuckled, standing with a creak of leather.

Israel slapped his hat on his hand and plopped it back on his head. "Them thing's ain't so bad. I kilt one last year and Ol 'Jo here mounted it fer me."

I nodded, the knot of fear growing tighter in my belly. "Then that would explain why you're both here and why all of the spoor we've found has led us to this spot."

Israel and Joseph looked at me, confused.

"This thing has been baiting you both. It wants revenge for killing its child. I'm not sure if we'll survive the night, gentleman."

Art Source: "Leaping Wolf" (c)/by Abz-J-Harding
Story and Characters: (c)/by Brannon Hollingsworth

#MMWW, #Makes, #Me, #Wanna, #Write, #BrannonHollingsworth, #Tenet, #Tenetstales, #Montana, #ShunkaWarakin, #JosephSherwood, #IsraelAmmonHutchins, #ShamtheWonderHorse