The Curious Case of Jacob's Hallow

by Patrick Walsh

“Luke it’s fine!” Aza pulled himself up, still unsteady.

  He looked back and forth between the two. “No it aint, none of this aint! Now...I’s tried to be polite, but this is all goin too fast!” He held up his corroded sleeve from the earlier attack. “Aza, I’s never seen you like you’s has been up here. This whole...I thought we was gonna maybe get some people...take it slow...this thing…” He pointed to the tower. “I’s don’t think we’re ready.”

  “Well then when will we be!? We have had enough money tucked away for over a year now. I told you I’d give up the mill job to prepare, but no “we’re” not ready. If I keep doin what you say then nothing is ever gonna get done! This town will burn and we will have done nothing!” Aza sounded exasperated, his anger building.

  “Oh don’t pretend like you’s care about this town! It’s always ever been for the thrill, for the glory. You think I’s don’t notice?” Anger now twisted around his words as well.

  “My father died trying to save this forsaken town! You think I’m just in this for glory!?” Fear began to emanate off of him.

  Han was standing back in complete confusion, looking back and forth between them...then to the tower. “If the tendril is warm then it’s being used, and if it’s being used…” He moved his arm around, feeling a cold sensation all around him “Stop, stop, stop!” Han jumped between them.

  “What do ya want now?” Luke glared at the one person who had seemed to cause so much damage in less than a day.

  “I have not known you two long, I understand that, but do you routinely break into arguments in a very perilous situation?” Han watched as the two seemed to think about it, and pointed at the tower. “Now is not the time for this!”

  Luke was quickly calming, feeling guilt and embarrassment.

  Aza was not so easily swayed. “Really now? I think...”

  Before he could go on, an ear shattering scream ripped through the whole of the area. The trio dropped to their knees, all of them dazed. Luke closed his eyes and tried in vain to block out the horrible noise while Han looked straight up to the top of the black spire. Something was heaving itself up from the top level, it’s massive arms creeping out over the side of the tower. Aza saw it next, two humanoid arms, pulling a long, malformed body. While most of its features were obscured, he saw enough to know it was not meant to live in this world. Aza pulled up Luke and began running over to Dullahan just as the horror threw itself from the side. The hulking form crashed down on the dark stone below, splintering the ground beneath it. The trio all collapsed as a great cold cut through them, the same icy fear like that of the Nightman and his demons. Aza fell facing the creature and was rewarded with a full view of its hideous form. Its skin was pale and rotting, its body and arms like that of a human but far larger, all covered in blemishes and stitches. It had not one head, but a horrifying amalgamation of many rotting human heads all fused and stitched together, their eyes glowing with blue fire. It crawled towards them, dragging an inhuman lower half along the ground, looking like a bloated snake skin with only a few small crab like legs on either side.

  Luke was pinned, Han was dazed, yet Aza stood tall. Normally this fear would have felled him, but not here, not by this strange, sinister landmark. It was reaching out to him, playing with his very mind. But despite it all, this dark thing gave him strength. All the human mouths were stitched shut with a long slit down its chest. Aza had no time to react as it opened wide and let out another scream, causing him to stagger again. This time, upon falling back, he let out a barrage of strings stabbing in and around the twisted mouth. The creature reared back in rage and grabbed onto them. They cut its flesh, but the bone was too sturdy to sever in a single strike. Instead it snapped Aza forwards. He quickly dispersed the threads as it ripped up its arm, intending to pull him into the sky. Quickly, he ran to the side, trying to draw the monstrosity away from the other two. As it moved towards him, Han rushed towards the tower, heading for the door. Aza had no time to question what Dullahan was doing as one of the arms came crashing down, nearly crushing him into the rocks. He jumped to the side and fired a mess of threads from his palm. The blue tendrils whipped it against the arm, slicing to the bone, yet getting no reaction as it let out another scream. Aza went down, gripping his ears while crying out in pain. It lifted an arm to deliver the killing blow, but snapped back as Han entered the tower.

  The twisting thing screamed in anger and rushed to the doorway as the scholar began ascending the stairs. The inside of the spire was made of the same black stone as the rest, with a hollow center ringed by stairs. Doors littered the walls, with a massive opening at the very top, giving him a view of the evening sky. It would have been nearly pitch black, but there were violet orbs of light set into the walls upon tentacle like protrusions. His eyes darted in all directions for objects or open doors. Yet all he found was the heavy stench of death permeating every part of the evil structure. His assumption that there was no one here seemed to hold true, with this guardian being the only inhabitant...still.

  Dullahan found his thoughts interrupted as one of the horror’s great arms shot through the doorway and began reaching around the bottom floor. It's elbow joint snapped in all directions as it clawed and grasped for him. Han ran up further, out of the monster’s reach. It would likely crawl back up to try and kill him, but the time it would take for it to achieve such a feat would kill two birds with one stone. Get the monster out, and give him time to hunt. Yet it did not try to reascend the dark tower, instead it pulled the grasping appendage back out and moved its lower half to the entryway. Circling the slug like mass of flesh and legs were stich marks, the rotten skin needing to be replaced. It’s side began to pulsate and then tear open as more horrors burst forth and onto the floor. Han nearly retched when they lurched out. The smell of years of decay, their malformed bodies, too much for him to bear. The screeching, writhing things walked like humans, resembled them, but were rotting, fused and stitched together with things that dwelt in the darkest depths of the ocean. Dullahan pulled his face from his jacket and retched, before bolting further up the stairway.

  With the monster distracted, Aza had run over to his fallen friend. Now that the source of the fear had drawn further away, he had begun to move again.”Luke! Luke are you ok!?” He was panicking.

  He nodded and began to get back up. “What...what are we gonna do…”

  “You look for a way off this rock; I’ll put that thing back in the grave it crawled out of!” He turned back to see the abomination resting against the side of the tower, its lower section sinking downwards.

  Luke nodded and ran to the edge of the cliff, looking for any way down while Aza charged back over to the monster. He took a deep breath and fired out his threads. They sliced through the side of what could loosely be considered its neck, causing it to rear up and charge at him. Instantly, fear struck out at its new target. The crawling arms of the unnatural, the malformed heads, it's stilted movement….the terror of what should not be shaking him to his core, nearly paralyzing him. It was at that overwhelming moment that Aza came to a realization...they were different. The terror he, it, the others gave off...were different. At a distance, all felt like one amorphous blob of evil and malice, but up close it was more like a wistful song of tragedy. The words were impossible to make out, but their meaning was felt. As he staggered back, threatening to fall, his thoughts unwound to dredge up his greatest fear. The thing that tore him up more than anything else spun up from the depths and manifested around him as an icy terror . He screamed at the monstrosity, letting everything out. With the aura now directed solely at his opponent, Aza’s own tendrils of unease and fear cut down its own. The tower, his emotions, his drive all powering him as the abomination was hit by a thick wall of icy terror. It reared back, the mouth at its chest screaming into the last light of day. Aza dropped back and covered his ears, but did not relent. One by one the lights in it eyes were blacking in and out as is staggered closer and closer to the cliff’s edge.


  Inside the tower Han was hiding on the other side of a thin wooden door. The room was empty except for a broken table and plates still strewn about from so many years ago. He looked around in a panic, but there were no windows and no way out. In no time at all, the door behind him was beat to splinters as the horde staggered inside. He reached into his satchel for something, anything that could save him! Yet all his protections were with his boat or in the bigger bag, though he did have one thing. He ripped from his satchel a metal puzzle box with several protruding gears and sprockets. The terrified scholar aimed it toward them, but to no effect. They closed in on him, the nearest one grabbing onto his arm and pulling it into the deformed, toothy mouth that ran from its broken neck to its crooked leg. He prayed to his gods and closed his eyes, not ready to die, but having no way out. Then they dropped.

  All of the creatures dropped to the ground and began spasming. He didn’t even question it. He just ran over them and out to the staircase. All he wanted to do was get away; more evidence for his paper was not worth his life! Yet he stopped as he passed by a broken door. The angle and rush had stopped him from seeing it the first time he ran up, but in the dark room were a small heap of papers and what looked to be part of a book wrapping. He dashed in and scooped them up before charging back down and out of the tower, covering his ears as he heard the agonizing screaming, echoing around outside. He saw Aza nearly collapsed on the ground and the creature reeling back.

  Aza had never expelled fear for this long, he began to feel weak...tired. Yet he had one last push in him. He got up and ran at it, just as both Luke and Han drew near its twisting form. Luke wanting to help his friend, and Han fleeing to the safety that Aza provided. All four converged in one terrible moment as the abomination swung its arms one last time. It got them. Not with enough force to kill the trio, but to drag them down with it. All four flew off the back of the leviathan and down to the jagged rocks below.

  Chapter 8: A Dark And Peculier Puzzle

  They were falling to their deaths, the shriek of the wind rushing past as they drew closer to the raging waters below. Aza called out, his words piercing the minds of the other two. Faster than they would have done on their own, they latched onto him. As they did, a large volley of threads shot out and twisted around the claw like protrusions of the leviathan's back. They would have swung into the jagged teeth themselves if the strings hadn’t found so many anchor points. For a moment they were still, but then one by one the threads began snapping. Their master was weak from the fight, from everything else on this evil rock. They dropped, but he shot out more. Han and Luke found foot holds and they began repelling, slowly and delicately. Any move possibly being their last. Yet it was far better than the fate of their adversary. It grasped and clawed to the sky, but met its end on the rocks below. Its rotting form was impaled and torn open as the foamy water pulled its innards away. One by one the lights in its eyes went out, leaving nothing but a broken husk to be claimed by the sea.

  Not just the sea, it would happen. An opportunistic man in an old fishing ship watched it fall, watched the lights on the cliff, and recognized what must be going on. He looked away from his telescope and to the sinister mist approaching the town, then back to the body. They were close, and there was time. Harpoons shot out as part of the ship opened up to store the unique find. The body of the vessel giving enough cover for a small boat to drop down and pick up the trio, who had already reached the rocks below. They were tired and shaking but very much alive. It all flew by very fast, with Captain Shaw barking orders while the skeleton crew scrambled to carry them out. Yet everything took far longer then he had hoped, with a wall of mist clawing at their rudder by the time they pulled anchor. Wind caught the sails and they rode the twisting current away from the leviathan, all the way to the safety of the docks. Aza, Luke, and Han laid next to the main mast, none of them talking, just glad to still be alive.

  “Well, well, well, who have we here?” Shaw strode up the deck of his ship and up to the trio.

  “Thank you Captain.” Aza was grateful, but Shaw’s expression didn’t change, as if ignoring him.

  “Luke, didn’t expect to see you all the way out here. An I don’t think I’ve seen this one at all.” He looked at Aza with intrigue. “Is he from the northern arboretums? I don’t hang around those dirty fruit farmers much.”

  “No...yes…” Luke was still reeling his thoughts together from all that had occurred.

  “Ah, I’ll talk with ya later.” He looked down at Aza. “Come with me lad.”

  He hopped up as the old man continued the slow walk down the deck of his vessel. The two could hear whisperings from the crew around them. Some were unable to stand the idea of Aza being on the same ship, knowing he must have something evil planned. Others were in awe at what appeared to be his defeat of some monstrosity after a battle atop the leviathan.

  “What is it Captain?” Anxiety permeated every word.

  “You don’t have to call me that no more; you’re fired.” He pulled a flask from his coat pocket and took a swig.

  “Wait...what?” The threads in his mind were spinning.

  “Ya didn’t think I’d know what ya did?” He looked directly to Aza, his grey eyes solid and immutable. “No one makes a foola me boy.”

  Aza had no real reply, he just nodded somberly and stood by the old man.

  “Ya can keep the money. I owed some of it to ya from the last trip, an I’m sure I can salvage sumthin good from the thing you killed.” He laughed and took another drink.

  Aza was shocked yet again. “Thank...thank you…”

  “When ya get home, try an tell old Gregory I wish him well.”

  The pale specter nodded as the old fool took another drink. The two looking out to the dreary town before them as the ship drew to a slow halt and dropped anchor. Luke and Aza parted ways at his doorstep. Aza implored him to stay, but his tired friend just smiled and said his parents would never let him hear the end of it. Neither had talked about the words they exchanged at the tower and neither wanted to. They had said what they did under intense circumstances yes, but what they said didn’t come from nowhere. They both knew it. Han merely followed behind Aza back into his dark abode, having no where else to go. The place was about what he had expected from someone in Aza’s position, only much more cluttered. There were stacks of books, papers, odds and ends all littering the floor or piled against the walls. He tossed his satchel onto a pile of ratty blankets lumped on the couch only to have the pile shout and roll off.

  “Ah, what in the Abyss!” Gretel crawled up and brushed herself off. “Did wanna ya throw a bag of bricks at me?”

  “My apologies, I thought you were blankets.” Han gave an awkward bow and smiled.

  She looked over to Aza. “This the dandy from outta town mam was tellin me about?”

  Han looked offended. “Excuse me?”

  Aza chuckled a little. “Yes, this would be Dullahan.”

  She looked him over.”I love ya outfit, reminds me of a shiny moth.”

  “Thank you…” Han could tell she was sincere, but unsure if that was a good thing or not.

  “Oh, that reminds me!” She pointed to the kitchen counter behind them where Han’s larger bag now sat.

  “What...how did you get that!?” Han looked from her, to the bag, then back.

  “Mam has been doin a little investigatin. Onea her contacts tripped over that in the back room of the library.”

  “Oh...that is...unsettling.” This worried him, though given all she could know his biggest secret was likely still safe. Not that it mattered as he wouldn’t need to keep this charade going much longer now that he had seen the lighthouse. What had initially seemed like a week or even month long endeavour might only last a few more days.

  Aza shrugged. “She’s...eccentric.”

  “Oh, an Clara stopped by earlier to do her usual shift. Real buzzkill that one.” She laughed followed by Aza who had thought the same thing for years.

  Han l
ooked back and forth to them. “And who would that be?”

  “Grandad’s usual caretaker. Nice woman, but practical to a fault.” He looked to the ceiling. “How has he been?”

  “Fine, slept mosta the day. Asked about ya once, then threw his soup in my face.”

  Aza nodded. “I’m gonna go up and see him. It’s already night so I assume you’re staying?”

  “It is!?” The windows were all still sealed and she didn't dare open the door to check. “I suppose, assuming no one interrupts me again.” Her gaze fell to Han who immediately walked away and over to his bag.

  “Ok. Would you mind telling Han about his condition, in case he might have something that could help?”

  Dullahan turned back, intrigued.

  “Yea, now go see the old coot.” She approached Han as Aza jogged up the steps that wound up to the second floor.

  He approached the door with caution, slowly cracking it open. There was but one candle lit, sitting on the dresser closest to the bed. Aza pulled over a chair and sat down next to him. He waited in darkness as the old man snored, unsure whether or not to try and wake him. The minutes ticked by and Gregory stirred, shouting obscenities and grasping for something to throw at his grandson. It went on for a few minutes before he settled back down. The whole time Aza’s expression was unchanging, not insulted or hurt, just sad at what this fungus was doing...continued to do. It wasn’t like the monsters, he couldn’t just slay it. He could cut off the pieces, but it was internal not just external. Much of it had replaced the flesh that once had been as well as the vessels underneath. His mind swelled with hatred for the vile thing, just another rotten monster in this cursed town. Maybe Luke was right…

  “Azri...Azr...Aza?” Gregory stirred awake.

  His grandson beamed with joy at yet another night of lucidity. “Hello, Grandad!”

  The old man smiled, but then felt the side of his face. “What...why can’t I get up…”