by Geoff Smith
‘No! Great God, no!’ Even in my terror I found the power to cry out and distract it away from Cadroc, as I heard him utter desperate sounds in a voice so thick and strained that his words were incoherent. Then I sensed the spirit’s gaze fall upon me, and at once it was moving towards me, charging with silent yet tremendous speed. Wildly I turned to flee, but my muscles froze as I knew there was nowhere to escape, and I stumbled about only to see the face of Cynewulf as he stared beyond me with blank and stupefied eyes, while I looked back hopelessly to see that the horror was almost upon me. And in that instant, from inside the rushing blackness, I saw again its hideous, murderous face as it uttered a hoarse shriek and bared its great jagged teeth, and I realised then that all my wild imaginings were wrong – that in its glowering ferocity it bore no earthly resemblance to Cynewulf or to anything else that might be called human. It was a thing of insane and impossible degradation – a demon from the darkest depths.
I stood defenceless in its path. But at the final moment a figure sprang before me, and the shaman thrust out his staff as he stood to face the terror, yelling out to the others:
‘Rise up! Stir yourselves! The enemy is upon us!’
From within the rippling shadow of the demon’s form there materialised suddenly a giant hand, and I saw that it held a weapon like none I had ever seen: a great club with a bulbous head from which protruded long and wicked-looking spikes that were like metal talons – a terrible instrument to bludgeon and tear the flesh. The fiend lunged forward with inhuman speed, swinging down its awful weapon at Taeppa. The shaman raised his staff lengthways barely in time to counter the strike, but its sheer force sent him staggering backward as the demon followed and struck another shattering blow, and again the shaman blocked it, but this time his staff simply broke and splintered as he was thrown down onto his back, and his fearful adversary moved to close on him.
But now came another figure which sprang at the horror, and Aelfric gave a great cry as he drove his spear towards its insubstantial form, and his face was livid with a wildness and fury to match the demon’s own. The fiend turned from Taeppa to meet Aelfric’s attack, smiting his spear with a downward stroke of its club, driving its point to the ground and pinning it there, while it advanced and gave another guttural howl as it towered over the helpless Aelfric. Its weapon flashed upward to drive those fearsome spikes deep into Aelfric’s breast, ripping open his body as blood burst from the dreadful wound, and momentarily he was lifted from his feet before he fell. The fiend tore its weapon free while it turned, standing over Aelfric’s crumpled form as its baleful stare fell back upon me.
Yet now from behind us there rose the clear voice of Cadroc, splitting the night as he screeched out words of power.
‘Exorciso te, omnis spiritus immunde, in nomine Dei Patris omnipotentis…’ I looked over to see him approach, the bronze cross on his breast emblazoned by the light of the torch he carried, making him appear like a shining vision of God’s wrath. He strode forward fearlessly until he stood to face the demon, and then a remarkable thing occurred. For the hideous spirit grew still and seemed to gaze transfixed upon the glowing symbol, while Cadroc screamed out Celtic curses. Yet even as he did so another remarkable thing happened. Beneath where the demon stood, the fallen and butchered form of Aelfric suddenly stirred back into life, his body resurrected as he reared up, and I saw that in his hand he clutched a small hunting knife. And there in the gloom, by the light of Cadroc’s torch, I watched astounded as Aelfric’s shaking hand rose to reveal that the shroud of darkness, which had seemed to be the demon’s true form, was in reality a long black robe which swirled about it to cover its true frame entirely. And there was exposed beneath it a bare and hugely muscled leg which was partly covered by a skirt of animal skin, as Aelfric drove the point of his knife into the bulging flesh. The fiend gave a dreadful snarl as it staggered back, then brought down its club, smashing it with sickening force onto Aelfric’s skull. But I had already glimpsed the gush of red blood which had spurted from the monster’s wound. Another loud curse rose from Cadroc’s lips, as with a final deadly glare the creature turned and fled, scrambling away into the night as it hobbled on its injured limb, its dark cloak fluttering about it as it went. And now it looked to me insanely like the image of a gigantic, hopping crow.
I fell to my knees beside Aelfric’s corpse, gazing upon it in shock and disbelief as blood welled from the torn and steaming entrails.
‘There may be time later to mourn our fallen.’ A voice spoke behind me, and I looked around to see Cynewulf standing over me. His former look of defeat and despair were gone, to be replaced by one of deep and terrible rage. ‘It is said that a man should not yield to grief, but instead seek vengeance. I have been shamed, made into a fool and a coward by my own fears. But I saw the sign brave Aelfric’s soul most surely rose to give us. Our enemy is no dark spirit but a bestial thing of flesh and bone. So I say its evil spell is gone from me, and my soul cries out for its blood. If the monster can bleed, the monster can die! It is wounded and we must hunt it down. We finish this tonight.’
I looked at Cadroc. He too was much changed from the desperate creature I had left on the edge of the marsh. His face was now hard and determined, and I supposed he was experiencing much of Cynewulf’s shame.
‘Yes,’ he said, his voice cold with anger. ‘I too have overcome my disgrace. My time of weakness and doubt is over, and I am ready to do what God demands. I am with you.’ And he drew his sword, then nodded firmly to Cynewulf.
‘I have come here to join this battle,’ the shaman said, as he reached down to snatch up Aelfric’s spear, then began to lead the way, following along the path where the beast had fled. I paused for a moment, wondering with uncertainty whether I should go with them. I did not see how I might be useful to them, unarmed as I was. But then my eyes fell upon Aelfric’s knife, lying at his side, and I picked it up and wiped away the blood. I shuddered with distress as I viewed his mangled body but reflected that perhaps his spirit now sent to me some portion of his courage. Or perhaps I did not wish to remain in that place alone. I am not certain. But I hurried off after them.
Together we raced away, hard in pursuit of our loathsome adversary, whose true nature of being I could no longer attempt to guess. Taeppa and Cadroc went in front, and by the light of Cadroc’s torch they followed the winding trail of blood.
‘Tread with care!’ the shaman called out to us as we left the solid ground of the island to enter into the perilous terrain of the marshes. ‘There is much here that is treacherous. More dangerous even than monsters.’
Chapter Seventeen
We moved in single file, and I went at the back as we threaded a path through the high rushes, our feet sinking into the squelching ground. Suddenly I became aware that in places ahead of us there danced the macabre silvery lights of the marsh phantoms, which drew ever nearer until they shone faintly in the gloom all about us. I shivered at the sight of them and did not care to imagine what manner of sinister things they were. Taeppa slowed his pace as he attempted to steer a path away from them, but still my eyes kept returning to them as it seemed they worked their spell of dark fascination onto me. As we crept forward through a dense patch of mist the sense of a primal lurking threat filled the air and felt so intense and powerful that it was like a thing that was itself alive. But as we moved onward I realised it was only this knowledge of extreme and imminent danger that kept the shock and terror of all that we had already experienced from overtaking me.
Then we heard it, somewhere up ahead – the sudden movement of our monstrous foe as it crashed and lumbered through the vegetation on its maimed leg, and for a fleeting moment I saw its great bulk loom up in the murk nearby, before it sank down and was lost again. I knew then that we had run the wounded beast to ground, where I sensed it would be most dangerous.
‘Both of you!’ I heard Cynewulf whisper sharply. ‘Move to my side. Our strength is in our number. We must stand together in formation. Shaman, go
in the middle, with swords either side. When the beast attacks, you must engage it with your spear and try to draw it in. Yet be cautious and keep your distance. Cadroc and I will close upon it from both sides to cut it down. But seek to distract, wound and weaken rather than try to strike a fatal blow. It will be safer that way.’
I stood back as I watched them position themselves, shoulder to shoulder, as they began to advance as one, moving cautiously onward into the grey swirls of mist. We all sensed that our enemy was somewhere very close, only biding its time, as we strengthened our nerves against its inevitable onslaught. Then the rushes in front began to move and sway violently as the attack came, so swift and frightful that I feared our formation would break and scatter before its naked fury, as the beast burst upward to charge screaming at us, like an ancient thing formed from out of the mud and slime. Once more my senses reeled at the sight of it, at its sheer unearthliness, as it crouched and snarled, its demonic face contorted as drool slavered from its lips. I saw Taeppa brace himself, his spear pointed at the beast as he firmly held his ground. Then he took a step forward while his voice rose in its familiar chanting tone, calling out:
‘Heed me, shadow walker, I command you!
To the death-realms I condemn you,
To the dark wastes I confine you,
To emptiness I consign you,
To the depths I commit you,
To oblivion I compel you.
Sink back whence you came.
Let the darkness take its own!’
As he spoke these words he began to wield his spear in a series of fluid motions that seemed to weave a strange and intricate design into the very fabric of the night, his movements deft and supple as there grew about him the rising sense of an almost tangible power. The monster itself now appeared to become affected by this, as its look of raw lethality slackened into one of seeming wariness or bewilderment. Then Taeppa sprang at it, stamping his foot down hard into the soft earth as he gave a loud cry and drove out his arm, jabbing the spear forcefully into the empty air, thrusting it towards the crouching figure of the beast. The monster rose up to its full height as its terrific frame rocked and it stumbled back, and Taeppa repeated his actions while the beast growled and staggered once more, its face filled again with brutal rage, as if the awful creature were held at bay by great blows from an invisible hand.
Now emboldened, Cynewulf and Cadroc moved forward to stand on either side of the shaman, and as Cadroc advanced he raised his sword up high, assuming the stance of an avenging angel. Then he brought his arm down, smashing the sword’s hilt with terrible force onto the back of the shaman’s head.
Taeppa tumbled forward, falling on top of the spear and lying motionless on the ground, and for all I knew he was dead. I looked on dumbfounded as Cadroc took a sideways step, turning to face us both, pointing his blade at Cynewulf as he backed away and approached the hulking figure of the beast.
‘So much for the blasphemies of wizards!’ he said to us. ‘Let the darkness indeed take its own. Perhaps now the odds are less to your liking?’ He reached down to stand his torch upright in the mud and gazed into the eyes of the beast as he came before it, while he gripped his cross and held it in front of him. Then I could see, this time with certainty, that the very sight of the holy symbol had rendered the creature spellbound, and even as Cadroc advanced, so the beast fell back, sinking silently away into the murk and the tall reeds, to be lost from our sight in an instant.
‘Back on the island,’ Cadroc said as he turned to face us, ‘my demon did not flee through pain or fear, but because I commanded it. We have lived together in the depths of these marshes, and you saw back in the hut that he has been lonely – so lonely – as he awaited my return, so that together we might once more be complete.’ He threw back his head and gave a long sigh. ‘Is he not magnificent? Are we not perfect?’ At once his eyes flashed at Cynewulf, and then at me, and he gave a frown. ‘I fear now we cannot let you live. You have seen that my dark angel is of living flesh, and you must not survive with this knowledge. Understand that he is sent into this world as a terrible redeemer, so men might be given faith – as it was given to me. I will pursue him and our battle will rage, and he will flee at my command to demonstrate the power of the Cross over the things of darkness. And none will ever suspect that we are truly one – the right and the left hand of God!’
As he spoke Cadroc’s voice sank to a low growl from deep in his throat, his tone oddly flat and monotonous, as if he were intoning a Church ritual. Yet insanity burned like a cold flame within him. I realised now that the very sight of the monster had changed him entirely into another man from the one I had known. Two different men in one? Or one man with a damaged and divided soul?
‘I must inform you,’ he said to Cynewulf, who looked to be in the grip of a strange fascination as he stared back, ‘that after our battle with those demons in Elmet, when we returned to seal the cave mouth, we found there, miraculously preserved among the fallen stones, a devil-child. Dark spirit transmuted and incarnated into corrupt flesh. My father brought him back with us to our hall and chained him in a dungeon, feeding him with raw meat and beating him to arouse his innate savagery, as he became an exhibit to thrill and excite the wonder of our guests. But soon his novelty faded, and his existence was almost forgotten – except by me. Because I was certain that God had given us this prodigy for a purpose. The devil-child sank into apathy in his loneliness and confinement, and would only gaze with blank, mindless eyes into the darkness of his cell. But I was his deliverance. It was I who conceived the plan to instruct and restore him, using the Cross itself as my symbol of control and chastisement. For I knew that only the power of Christ could give domination over a monster with a demonic soul. I recall the day when he looked into my eyes, and I saw there for the first time the stirrings of consciousness and reason. After that his gaze began to draw me into its depths, and slowly I grew almost lost there as our minds and wills fought for ascendency. It was at first a fearful thing to enter into this realm of darkness. But I knew that I would conquer it with God at my side. I knew in the end mastery would be mine. And meanwhile my dark angel grew to possess a size and strength far beyond that of any human child. Your story I confess made me question the truth of his infernal nature. But at last I understand exactly what he is – the child of an unholy mating between man and demon. You must see, Lord Cynewulf, that he is your own kinsman – on his human side.
‘But then came the invasion of my land by the pagan armies of King Penda. My father fell in battle, and I was forced to flee, leaving behind my country, my position and estate, and all that was rightfully mine. I was made powerless. I swore eternal revenge against the heathens who had dispossessed me. Yet I also saw that God had given me power and placed into my hands the perfect instrument of His retribution. My own dark angel – my shadow – my other self! So together we came into exile, into the remoteness of these Fens, and we learned to survive here. Now, as he grew, I began to instruct him in the art of combat – with weapons taken from my father’s armoury, relics from the time of the Romans – so that our bodies might become as closely assimilated as our minds. And so we came to be one – more powerful and terrible than any man could be.’
‘Brother Cadroc!’ I said sharply, attempting to reach the man he had been, even while I feared that man was now swept away and irrevocably lost. ‘Remember that you left this exile, to re-enter the world of men and become a monk…’
‘Yes!’ he said, as his voice seemed to falter and his face grew perturbed. ‘I began to suffer doubts. There arose in me a voice that questioned if my plan was indeed God’s will, or truly an impulse inspired by the Devil. I began to fear that by slow degrees… the darkness had gained control of me! In my uncertainty, I fled to a monastery and received the tonsure, vowing that I would remain inside while I searched my soul for the truth. But always at night I would feel him outside, his presence awaiting me in the dark, calling to me with the voice of my other self until, alone
and abandoned, he began our mission to bring terror and vengeance to the unbelievers. He was crying out to me!’ Now Cadroc threw back his head to unleash a dreadful roar, a blood curdling sound which rose from the visceral depths of his being as if to block out and still the warring chaos in his soul, until it seemed that the enraged spirit of the beast itself had come to inhabit and possess him. His voice grew so hoarse and growling it seemed barely human as he went on. ‘But now I have come back to look once more into the face of the abyss, and at last I am convinced that it was the whisper of doubt in me which was the true voice of the Devil!’
He looked to me, and said: ‘Let not your heart be troubled. My dark angel will bring death only to the pagans. Did he not spare your life? The servants of Christ he will not harm.’
It was now I saw in his raving lunacy a dreadful reflection of myself – that I had followed not the truth but only the madness. It came as a stark revelation. But I feared it was a lesson I would not live to profit by, and in despair I yelled out at him:
‘The darkness has taken you utterly. You have raised up a false idol in your own image. A twisted embodiment of all your hatred. That monster is what you have come to worship. That thing of the Devil!’