teeth. As he pokes his fingers into my mouth I gag. Had it not been for the lack of food therein, I would have expelled the contents of my gut. They will take the healthiest ones, it has always been so, since the very first time.
“This one holds no tongue,” snarls the man to the figure behind me.
I wait. There is no response. Can these foul creatures speak? These devils, these beasts. Whatever they are, they cannot be men. What kind man could do what they have done to Avelline? A peaceful town culled of its men and women until now only the children, old and infirm are left.
“These two," decides the man, pointing to the two sick men beside me.
No this cannot be! These are good men with families. They have brought children into this world. Children who still need their fathers. I cannot let them do this. What can I do?
My hands lash out, seeking to break the shackles, but I only manage to cut deeper into my arms. I am shaking my legs, anything to get their attention. Let them take me to whatever hell they have crawled from, not men who are needed here.
Then it happens. The impossible. My mouth opens and from my broken lips a voice screams out loudly into the night sky.
Ware dark soul, I am a harbinger of justice. Ware my portent, for you step over boundaries your kind was long permitted against. Ware the malice in my voice, for it will strike upon thee with ill intent. Bent by the will, and pushed by the hand of the pure!
What has happened?
As my mouth closes and the thunderous voice that escaped my throat echoes into the mountains, I find myself lost. Where did those powerful words come from? I did not think them. I cannot speak, a mute from childbirth. I have no tongue!
The man rushes to my face and rips open my jaw. White lights flash around my eyes with the blinding pain. He looks up to the figure, that thing that is still behind me, with a pale, fearful look. I hear him whisper in a unstable voice, no longer lined with smugness, “There is no tongue!”
What has happened, Lily? I know not from where these prophetic words came. I am afraid. Lost in a hell created by the creatures looming behind me. I only want to see your face, hear your divine voice hum a soothing melody into my ear. But now that I return to the real world I find myself haunted once again by a fate that has followed me since my childhood. Will this cruel fate save me again?
The figure behind me is moving! I feel a crawling in my hair as it draws near. My eyes are closed tightly, I cannot bear to look. Its hot breath is now falling squarely on my cheeks. I can sense its head above my own, staring down at me, a sickly sucking noise in its throat. This is the end. Finally it has come. On this rotten table, in the eye of a raging storm which has hit its peak.
I only wish for one thing now that I find myself here. I wish that only once I had told you the truth. Once before they had taken you from me.
I love you.
There is only one thing left to do.
I open my eyes.
There, looming over my face is a muzzle of pale bone, its jagged teeth chipped and filthy. Behind the bone, hidden within the grey hood, are two beady eyes. Eyes that pierce into my own. Eyes that are so bright red that I fear this beast must burn from within. Its horrid warm breath continues to blow over my face, but it does not shift its gaze.
It is studying me. What is it waiting for? I have seen the curved blades at their sides. It could take my life with one sharp, swift stroke. Yet it waits and watches, unsure what to make of me. My heart is pounding so fiercely that I fear it might leap from my throat.
Then a bright bolt of lightning courses through the starless sky. So close that the light covers all in a moment of pure clarity. In that one second the face hidden beneath the cowl is revealed to me. A pale face, dry and flaking, with skin so thin that I can make out the pumping veins snaking beneath. The hair on its brow straw white and thin. And eyes as red as blood, yet eyes that are familiar. That one flash revealed to me the mask of bone, not an extension of the beast, but worn as a guise. To drive fear into the hearts of the people of Avelline.
I realise the truth, Lily. I have seen this before. Not in a man, but in the rats that I once shared my meals with. This creature before me is no devil. This is no otherworldly monster sent to punish the poor souls of this village. I now know what I must do. I can save these people. If they knew that these are but men, concealed behind costume and trickery, they would find the heart to raise hand against them. To claim Avelline back for the righteous.
The figure above me knows. It can see the awareness in my eyes.
Its own eyes grow narrow and I see it reaching for its side, for its blade, to take me and the knowledge I now hold from this world. Would that I could, I would scream out to the villagers. To tell them the truth. Curse the gods for taking my tongue!
Once more my mouth opens and from it a deafening voice cries out.
Hell has come to those unworthy, Born upon the backs of steeds. Yet evil shall be dealt its own. An end to all. A Man, people of Avelline. It is but a man!
The figure above me gasps and rushes to draw its blade. I struggle against my bindings, furiously pulling against the rusted metal to free myself. But it is no use, I see the blade come down and feel the metal slide hot into my chest. My mouth opens to scream in pain but no sound escapes, not even a grunt.
He takes the blade out and moves to strike once more, yet before his hand drops, he falls from view. I hear angry shouts and the eruption of rushing bodies. I can feel the blood flowing from my chest, slowly dripping down the side of my stomach to pool under the small of my back. More screams and the sound of clashing steel. I cannot see what is happening, and the searing fire in my chest is making the world spin.
A sharp smack sounds on the table and my left hand is free. Another and my legs are free. A man, I recognise him from the village, appears and tears the leather binding from my neck, before being forced to defend himself. I shift as much as I can and see the scene before me. The small clearing is awash with bodies struggling against one another. The people of Avelline have risen up against these charlatans.
Their masks have been torn from their faces, their hoods drawn back. In the rain, their deformed features are revealed. Men with scared faces, some missing eyes and others with skin marked by burns and other horrid deformities. They are men, that much is true. But they are men cast out by society, bitter for the torment forced upon them by the folk of the cities.
I now understand. They come to Avelline, a place untainted, untouched, to seek revenge for the injustice done to them. They cannot bear to see a people so free of anguish and suffering, when they have been forced to endure so much. So they seek to make others suffer as they have.
A spasm runs through my body and I can feel myself slipping from this world. I move my free hand to the remaining shackle that binds the other, but I haven't the strength to free myself.
The struggle continues and I see faces that I have come to know fall to the wicked blades of our attackers. Yet the villagers are not giving up. Now that they see who has brought on this nightmare, they have gained heart. They will no longer endure this torture.
My hand falls, and I can feel my heart slowing, a dull slow thump in my chest. As the grey shadow washes over my eyes, I see the horses fleeing. These devils, these bitter, evil men, flee after them down the muddy road. I can feel a hand touch my face and glimpse a young girl looking at me, a smile cracking the caked grime on her face. They will be alright.
Maybe I will find you, Lily.
###
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About the Author
Julian Saheed's love of fantasy came from reading the works of Raymond E. Feist and David Eddings as a youth. He fights dragons at night and works in the Australian banking industry by day. He resides in Melbourne, though most of the time he is wandering through dimly lit castles, tangled forests and forbidden dungeons.
; You can find his other works, follow his blog and receive updates at juliansaheed.com
Silent Harbinger Page 2