The Scent of Death

by Shelby Skabelund

  “The hair on my arms stood on end!” he said.

  “I had to get out of there as quickly as I could. So, I started to run. That is when an awful smell overtook me. Vidan, it was a smell I cannot describe, except for that it brought terror to my heart. I wanted to sit down right there on the trail and die. That is exactly what I did. I could not move my feet and I just sat down and froze. I was so terrified that tears came to my eyes. What I cannot understand is that it was afternoon and yet it suddenly felt dark and frightening. That is when I could hear something moving through the trees. I could not see it, nor did I have the courage to move even just a finger. I wanted to see what was there, to see what was responsible for this terrible stench, and for this overwhelming fear that had come over me, but I was paralyzed. Vidan, I do not know what is outside in the wood, but I want to take my family and flee for safety.”

  Vidan could not believe what he had just heard. Jon was one of the hardest working men he had ever known. He was the most honor driven, courageous man he had met in his lifetime, including the knights from King Detre’s courts. He was so proud to see his younger sister take this man’s hand in marriage because he knew that he would protect her and care for her for her entire life. A chill ran up Vidan’s back, and that is when he could smell what Jon was just speaking of. The room was bright from the light of the fire and the oil lanterns in the house, yet it felt as though it were midnight in the room. He could not feel the heat from the fire and his whole body became cold. Vidan could smell the scent of death in the air. It was the smell of a corpse decomposing in the open air. The pungent smell of sulfur, and above the terrible smell was the crippling fear that came to his heart. He could hear the whimpers of the children in the other room, and the sob of his sister. He could see Jon with his head hung by the fire.

  It was that moment that his life as the Keeper of Secrets changed forever. It was in that moment that happiness was chased from his life. It was in that moment that he would be introduced to one true fear.

  He could hear the fire crackle but couldn’t feel any heat. The crackle grew louder and louder until he realized that it wasn’t the fire in the house he could hear, it was the blazing fire he could see out of the window of the house that was reaching across the fields and some of the neighboring homes. He heard the most bone chilling cry. It was almost a shriek, yet it was mixed with a low bellow at the same time. Whatever it was it was something he had never heard before. He could not find the will to move. The house began to softly rumble. Whatever had made that cry was just outside now. By the sound of its movements, it had to be huge.

  He could hear the screams of the other people in the village now. His hands began to tremble, and he fought back his own scream. He found himself falling to the floor face down. Just then the house shook slightly and with a crisp crackle and snapping sound a gaping jagged hole appeared in the side of the cottage. Shards of wood and stone flew through the air, landing on the floor. Through the hole came the stench and the smoke from outside.

  Through the smoke and darkness came something from his darkest nightmares. It was a huge jaw of razor-sharp teeth. They were almost translucent in the light of the fire outside with a hint of white. A portion of the teeth were dripping a dark red substance, it was blood. Blood of the people he cared for, blood of the people his family cared for. The black scaled muzzle turned to the side and one bright fire red and yellow serpent’s eye glared into the home. It seemed to glow like a fire. Just then Vidan heard his sister scream to her children to run and she was moving them through the door. Vidan heard the roof crashing in and could see a giant claw tearing into the kitchen. He could not see the children, but saw their mother, his sister, wrenched from the kitchen by a giant black claw. He could hear her scream of pain and terror, but he still could not move. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jon spring from the floor with the poker, heading through the newly formed whole in the wall. He could still hear the gurgling screams from Niera yet could not find strength in his own body to move. Tears welled up in his eyes and he sobbed “I am sorry, so sorry Niera.” He felt a tingle in his chest that moved quickly to his arms. There was a flash of light and Vidan Oddfellow vanished.

  Chapter 2

  The End, The Beginning

  A rustle in the bushes near the rim of the crevice brought Vidan back from this vivid memory. The sound of the waterfall in the distance became clear again. Vidan looked towards the sound he had heard over his left shoulder. Was it a Venti?

  Venti were the offspring of dragons. The black and green shells that Jon had found in the woods were egg shells. They were pieces of the eggs that gave the dragon Mortes’s children life. They were not children like human children. It was completely the opposite. When a woman has a child, her only thoughts are to keep it fed, warm and safe. For Humans, it is a gift, a privilege to care for a child. It is the chance to learn what true love and charity are.

  To a Dragon, it is a convenience. Mortes didn’t have children to love them and protect them, nor to even feed them. Mortes had children because she needed them to do her will. She needed them to go into small places that she could not. She had them to bring her fresh animal or human flesh to eat. Dragons don’t even need to sit on a nest to help incubate the eggs. They lay the eggs near a heat source and leave them to fend for themselves. Sadly, they are drawn to her scent and come to serve her no matter where she might be. Her children did not serve her out of love, but out of instinct and fear. Mortes would kill any of these children at any time if her bidding was not done.

  What had made the rustling in the bushes? His hair stood on end, and he felt a lump in his throat. As he stared towards where the sound had come from, the darkness became a little clearer. His hand went to his wand, and he rolled it between his fingers at the ready. He could just make out the shape of a small rabbit as it skittered out beneath the bush to make the same rustling sound he had just heard. A rush of relief came over him as he exhaled in relief.

  It was always a good sign that the dragon was not nearby, when the animals were out in the open. Animals always had a way of knowing when something was not right. Just before storms, earthquakes, or even a volcanic eruption, it always seemed the animals knew something terrible was about to happen and instinctively got out of the way. It was the same way with the dragon. Anytime she came near the animals disappeared. So, animals became a good omen for Vidan.

  For a few moments he felt at ease and at peace. His mind cleared, and he had what he thought to be a brilliant idea. Mortes was tracking his scent and he hadn’t bathed in weeks. He was making it easier for her to track him by not taking the time to clean himself. No wonder she had been finding him more quickly. He had not seen that as a necessity until now. He was on the run for his life, bathing seemed to be an unneeded luxury. If he could get back to the waterfall, he could get himself clean and wash his robes. If he was going to do it, it needed to be now while he knew it was safe to move around.

  He twisted his body and reached both hands up to the small bush near him and pulled his way up to the rim of the crevice. As he did he peered into the darkness to watch for any type of movement and listened for any notable sounds. He heard and saw nothing. He mustered up all the courage he had and reached for the base of another shrub and pulled himself free from his hiding place.

  He moved quickly towards the sound of the rushing waterfall, clinging to the bases of the large pines that towered overhead. He zigzagged back and forth from trunk to trunk to keep himself as invisible as possible. He knew he was getting closer now as the air was wet on his face. The crashing noise of the waterfall had not become louder as he would have expected it too after coming this far though. Through the light of the slowly rising moon he saw a large slick shape in front of him now and his heart jumped. “Calm down you coward” he said to himself,

  “It is just a outcropping of boulders.”.

  That is why he couldn’t hear the waterfall as clearly as he should. He still needed to come around the boulders
before he would hear it.

  He was feeling good about this now.

  “This is a perfectly secluded bathing chamber”, he thought to himself.

  He hurried up to the boulders and peered around the edge of them. He was caught by surprise as the deafening roar of the waterfall pounded over his ears and a soft mist of water blew into his face. It was soothing in a way. The sound was drowning out his fear and worries. He was lost in the one thought of being clean. He felt that this would give him a fighting chance.

  He looked over the scene. The waterfall was at least the height of the front castle wall and was about as wide as the front gate. The soft moon light fell on the pool below and sent a soft reflection around through the trees and boulders, but there were plenty of dark shadows and places he could get hidden quickly. He decided to venture out from behind the boulder and investigate the area a little better.

  He looked around and found an area near the waterfall that had a large boulder that was half in the water and would be a good place to enter and exit the pool if someone or something showed up unexpectedly. He quickly slipped the Book of Secrets out of his robes and tucked it under a rock further up the shore behind the large boulder and slid another small rock in front of it to keep it hidden while he was in the water.

  He slipped into the water with his robes in one hand and his wand between his teeth. He had a hard time catching his breath at first but once he did, it felt so good to feel something besides fear. The water was cold, but it made his skin tingle all over. It was indescribable how good it felt to scrub away the dirt and grime. He cleaned his hair, his beard and his robes. It brought him comfort that his sent would be lighter after this, and who knew, he might even get some sleep tonight. He felt his cares and worries floating off with the grime he was scrubbing away.

  When he was finished he slipped back out of the water and behind the boulder to ring out his robes. Just as he had slipped back into his wet robes and started towards where he had left the book, his skin started to crawl. Ever so faintly he could smell it again. His eyes darted around the pool as he quickly pulled the hood of his robes over his head to help hide his light skin. He could not hear anything but the roar of the waterfall. Then he saw what he thought was movement down at the water’s edge where he had first come around the outcropping of boulders. It was exactly what he had feared, a Venti.

  Venti did have wings like a full-grown dragon, but they are small. They could not fly yet and the scent was not as strong as a full-grown dragon. They were born with long hind legs and shorter forelegs. They commonly walked on their hind legs and upright like a human except for the long tail that helped them to balance. Their scales were a shiny black and each had a few dark green scales in different places that helped differentiate them from one another. Each had their own set of razor sharp teeth and claws. Their claws were even sharper than their evil mothers. They only had small horns cropping out from beside their black ears while the horns of their mother were long and sharp, a tiara of death for an evil queen.

  The Venti’s duty was to search the ground and report back to their mother and queen what they had found. Where ever she went, she would be surrounded by these vicious scavengers. If one was near, it meant she could not be far behind. It still wasn’t clear to him how they communicated over long distances, but when he had been discovered by one, she was there as fast as she could fly.

  The Venti climbed over the boulders, its body bending and conforming to the shape of the rock it was crossing. The scales covering its body, wet from the mist of the waterfall, glimmered in the light of the moon. It looked like a giant sand lizard that Vidan had so frequently caught as a young apprentice. His master would use them often for his potions. He smirked as he remembered the first time he had pulled off one’s tail by accident. This “lizard” was not so harmless.

  This could only mean one thing, they had tracked his sent to the crevice. It would not take long to follow his sent to the pool. He needed to hide and hide quickly. Not sure of where to hide, he moved closer to the falling water. He had never been so glad that Keepers robes were black. It helped him to blend into the shadows.

  As he got right up to the falling water he saw a wet ledge just above his head. It looked like there was space back behind the waterfall, at least enough room for him to hide himself. There was no way he would be able to climb the slippery rock on his own, so he pulled out his wand and whispered “levito” and raised his wand into the air. He effortlessly floated up to the space and quickly slid himself into the small hole in the rock. He could instantly feel the spell take its’ toll on him. Normally such a small spell would not affect him much, but he had not eaten nor slept properly for so long. He was already in a such a weakened state. He turned so he was facing the opening and the young dragon, so he could see what was going on, his wand at the ready.

  “You are a blundering fool” he realized.

  “How could you leave the book behind!”

  In his hurry to find a hiding place, he had forgotten that the book was not in his robes. He was sick to his stomach. What would he do now? The Venti was slithering through the rocks near the large boulder where he had entered the water and stopped and stood on his hind legs. It was sniffing the air like a hunting dog trying to point out the prey to its master. It dropped down again and headed for the water’s edge and then stopped and stood up again. Vidan’s skin started to crawl again, the fear was welling up inside his chest as the dragon smell got closer. Then he realized it wasn’t because the Venti got closer, it was because of the huge black shape flying overhead. It was Mortes! His mind was again in a state of panic, not from the smell, but because the book lay so far away from him under that rock. A Venti was standing so close to where it lay hidden, and now Mortes was coming and he would be paralyzed by dragon fear again. He could handle a single Venti that wandered a little too far, but he still could not get control of his fear when Mortes was near.

  The giant black dragon circled twice and then landed a little awkwardly on the shore. The dragon was too big for the slanted shoreline scattered with boulders. She cramped herself between the tall pine trees and the waterline. Her mouth opened in a shrieking below, but over the sound of the waterfall he could barely hear it. Vidan also found that he couldn’t smell that awful smell that had him cowering in her presence. Then he saw something he had never seen before. Mortes bent her head toward the ground almost to lay her neck flat, and a human shape slid off what looked like a saddle, onto the ground.

  How could a human be so close to her? Why wasn’t he writhing in fear? Mortes straightened her head up and then looked towards the dismounted human. It almost seemed as though they were talking. Vidan needed to know what they were saying. He touched his wand to both of his ears and then said “esculti” and pointed the wand towards the dragon. Suddenly the deafening sound of the waterfall became quiet and he could hear the raspy, breathy, unnatural human voice of Mortes,

  “Where is he? Where is the book?” she snapped.

  “I grow impatient with the two of you and your hunting skills. Do you need to be punished?”

  Another voice answered in a deep calm unfeeling voice,” My queen, I know you are tired of waiting but this wizard is tiring. Soon his magic will die, and he will die with it.”

  Vidan knew immediately that this was the voice of the human. His voice was smooth and sounded as it should, except there was a hollow sound to it, an unfeeling sound. It sent shivers up his spine.

  The next voice he heard was a higher pitched voice yet matched its’ mother’s raspy tone.

  ”Mother, I can smell him so clearly, he has been here not moments before I arrived.” hissed the Venti.

  At that Mortes drew her head up high and looked around the edges of the water and looked to where it started flowing down stream again. He could see her red glowing eyes. They looked hot like there was a furnace burning behind them. They were piercing and evil. It was like she could see through everything.

  “Have
you searched the edges of the water?” she said annoyed.

  “No mother, you arrived just as I started to work my way to where the scent is strongest” said the Venti.

  She let out a scream and smashed her front legs into the shore, “Get back to searching, you useless bag of scales!” As she did she sent boulders crashing into the water in her fit of rage. She was now restlessly clawing at the stone beneath her.

  Instantly the Venti dropped back to its’ hunting dog stance and began sniffing the ground and rocks. Vidan’s mind was racing, “What should I do? I can’t fight my way out of this. I am too weak to cast any meaningful spells.” He heard the human speak again,

  “My queen.”

  “Yes?” she hissed.

  He started again in that cold calm voice “What if he were using the water to hide his scent? We could be wasting precious time here as he floats further and further down the river.”

  “You are right” she said as she turned her head back to the mouth of the river heading off downstream. She had thought of this earlier, and now it was confirmed. They must move down river now. It was getting late, and with every passing second it grew darker. Soon she would not be able to see well enough to find him, especially with his scent being covered up by the water. “Come” she commanded and lowered her head again. The human climbed back into his position and in a quick pounce, the black dragon was airborne once again.

  Vidan could not believe his luck. She is gone. Now his concern returned to the single Venti that was crawling around the rocks looking for him. He hadn’t been paying attention to the Venti once it had gone back to its’ search. He had been so focused on his mother, that he had hardly noticed it. He didn’t see it at first, the night was getting darker, so it was difficult to spot its’ black scales in the moonlight. Then he heard a noise directly below him. The Venti had worked its’ way over to the falls and was sniffing at the end of his trail. Vidan dropped his hooded head against the cold wet rock ledge and hoped it would not see him. Then he heard as clear as could be a low screeching intake of breath. It sounded like the venti had propped itself up on its hind legs and was sniffing into the ledge where he lay hidden. Then he realized that he had not released his hearing spell. He was still hearing what the venti was doing. He slowly raised his head again to see what was happening. To his surprise the venti had turned back around and was headed back to the place he entered the water. This time it went with a purpose. Instead of turning back to the water’s edge, it turned towards the book. Its steps became purposeful.