Spriggan: Dark horror fantasy

by Julius Schenk

  This was better.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  The man, Jim, finally opened his eyes. The vines around his face must have been too tight. He looked at his home tree and started screaming. So, he’d tightened them to stop him. No one could hear him out here, but it was annoying. They were always screaming.

  He’d tied him up against the tree, but he was going to wait for this one. He was the leader, the warrior of the group; he would let him watch what happened to the others before he killed him. The strange thing was he remembered him, he couldn’t place where, but he seemed to recognize his face.

  He reached out with his hand and placed it on the top of his head. He closed his eyes and let his mind go blank. He searched in the man’s memories and could have laughed. He had a memory he kept coming back to, the French family, he’d been the one to find them. He saw in his mind the line of people swinging from vines on the ceiling. He felt the shock and confusion, but the horror. They placed so much value on their tiny lives but cared nothing for a tree that had lived for hundreds of years or animals that needed to be protected.

  He could see him investigating his home tree, the giant fig. He’d even researched where it came from. All he knew was he was born in England or Scotland, a very long time ago. People in his day didn’t even speak the same language, and the highest technology was a wagon wheel or a forged sword.

  The tree came from overseas, but no one knew who had brought it over. It had been here for 200 years at least, he found some information, that a botanist brought it, to try to start a fig farm in the tropical Australian climate. It didn’t work, and now he was in this horrible land.

  He stepped away from Jim, he’d learned much. He had seen all the man’s crimes stacked up. He came from a farming family, and they lived close. Near his grove, he was starting to realize his grove was as big as he wanted, no one else was ready to protect it, he would have to do it all.

  The man was looking at him ‘what do you want’ he asked.

  He just laughed at him and walked off into the darkness, he’d left them all alone long enough. When he arrived at the house, he could almost taste the fear in the air. The house was dark, and he stood in the darkness, a very thin moon shining down and looked at them through the big window. They had torches and candles, trying to fight against the dark. The light had protected them until now. Still, he liked the dark.

  He looked in at them, he had to plan now. He could just walk in and kill them all, he was sure he could, but first, he had to see if they had weapons. Jim had a gun, and he knew so did the one Kim. He crept up the wooden stairs and reaching out very slowly and quietly tried to open the front door. It was locked, he went closer to the window, so he could hear them.

  They talked about boring things, he understood, but he gathered they intended to stay in that room for the rest of the night, that was bad, he wanted them alone. He wanted to take them back to his home tree and have time to read their crimes from their minds and judge them properly.

  In the room, there were ones he hated more than others. He would spare Bree and possibly her servant Vicky, but the boy, Liam was the worst. Followed by the other boy, Antonio. They were both unrepentant killers.

  Liam had killed a beautiful big brown snake, it was sunning itself and seconds later he had a spade and had its head off, he even took photos of him holding it up, dead, a trophy of his kill. They were dangerous to people, but people should avoid them. He had an idea, a great idea.

  He went to the front door and looked at it, under there was a line or gap. Between the door and the frame, it was big, but not big enough. He reached out with his mind and found them all, he could feel them sleeping and resting hiding from the cold, but he called them all and waited. It took minutes, but soon he saw in the darkness, they came, snakes, mostly brown snakes, but some red ones and a few black. They came up the stairs, slithering and hissing. He directed them to the door. They were too big to get under it.

  He had to let them know he was there but it would be worth it, he placed his hand against the door and just let in grow. It ripped through the door easily and punched a hole in it. The sound was massive and as he drew his hand back. They all leaped up at the noise.

  ‘What was that?’ Kim asked.

  He stepped closer, to watch from the window, as his army of snakes started to crawl through the gap in the wood into the house. He heard the screams and the yells, from the people inside, as they saw them coming across the wooden floor towards them. The front was the only door and another to the kitchen. The boy Antonio and his woman ran, but some stayed, too frightened to move. He saw the snakes raise their heads and he directed them to Liam.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  They were sitting in the darkened room, the only light coming from their torches and candles, for once, Vicky was glad Queensland was so hot, it was still warm with no heater on, in England, the cold would be a form of torture itself. She just listened to them rattle on, trying to keep from being scared, she held her knife and tazer close.

  Kim had asked ‘has anyone seen Gareth?’

  He wasn’t there when they came back, Vicky assumed he’d just run off and started to find his way to the nearest farm or go hide out in the forest, till the real cops came.

  Bree just kept looking at her and then she heard it. A huge bang and the sound of ripping wood, they all jumped up, Kim drew her gun and stood, waiting for someone to burst in.

  She heard the sound first and looked down, she screamed in terror and leaped onto the couch. The floor was covered in snakes. It was hard to see them in the dark, but she shined her torch and saw them coming, there were tens and tens of them.

  They were in the room before she could react, the Italians ran out of the room, not looking back. Through the door to the kitchen, that was at the back of the room.

  Liam stood with his back to the wall and yelled. The army of snakes seemed to ignore everyone else, she saw them slither past her and Bree on the couch and go straight for Liam. The first one was a big brown snake, like the one he killed, but not a baby, a huge long snake that was at least a meter long and fat. It struck out at him, fangs lashing at his legs, he swung his baton at it and broke its neck with a single strike. Its body flew to the side with the force of the blow.

  ‘Come on fuckers’ he yelled.

  Kim fired her gun at the carpet of them, the shot echoed through the house and some of them turned to her, she screamed and jumped up onto a table.

  Vicky was trapped, down from the couch the floor was full of them, if she stepped down, she’d be standing on them. Her mind was racing in terror, she was trapped, and all she could do was watch. Liam hit one more, and then they got bitten.

  Tens and tens of them surrounded him, biting his legs repeatedly, he screamed in pain and swung out again. ‘help me’ he cried and looked right at her, he could see the pain and fear in his eyes, but she couldn’t do a thing.

  He fell to one knee, the pain and the poison starting to fill him, they struck him relentlessly, and he toppled to the ground. She saw another big one strike out. It's fangs shining in the dark. She could almost see the venom. Its fangs hit his face and snuck into the soft flesh. He cried out in pain and then stopped.

  He was dead, there was no doubt about it. The snakes kept biting and striking him, on the face, arms, and body. She saw his battered face, through the brown and black bodies of the snakes, it was swollen and ruined. His body twitched a few times as they crawled all over his fallen form.

  Terror filled her mind, it was beyond anything she could understand, why would they do this, maybe Bree was right, he killed a snake, now a snake or an army of snakes killed him, Bree pissed off the bees, and they attacked. Natures revenge, but how could Roger, command creatures. It was like something from her boyfriend's fantasy books, magic to control the beasts.

  The snakes turned from the dead body. They were everywhere covering the floor, and now they slithered and moved until they were all looking up at them from the fl
oor. It was even scarier than the attack. She stood on the couch, Bree next to her, and they slowly raised up, one by one. Looking at her with, blank black eyes, looking ready to strike. Her feet were only half a meter of the ground, and they looked ready to kill. She could see intelligence, they were waiting, swaying a little, almost taunting or threatening her.

  She heard a loud hissing sound and looked up. At the window was a dark shape, she saw it and screamed. She couldn’t see it clearly, but she was in no doubt, something was watching them.

  The army of snakes slowly started to turn. They lowered their heads from her feet and Bree's and turned to the ground. They slowly slithered back out the way they had come. In a minute the room was deathly silent again, but for the sound of their ragged breathing. Her heart was beating so fast in her chest, it felt like it would burst from it.

  She looked over at Liam, there were two dead snakes near him, but he was a destroyed thing. He didn't even look human. His face was contorted and ruin, a vision of pain and suffering. They all got down from their chairs and couch. Kim knelt next to his body and finding his neck, amongst the bite marks, put her fingers to it.

  Of course, he was dead. Kim looked deeply shaken, and Vicky was as well. She needed to think, her mind kept going back to that vision. Something watching them, very tall, thin and it just stood, so still, like it was part of nature. She knew it was guiding the snakes, she just no idea how.

  Kim spoke up, she was still kneeling next to his dead body.

  ‘why didn't they attack us? That doesn’t make sense, they just came in and went straight for him’ she said.

  Vicky turned to Bree and whispered to her ‘someone was watching it happen’ she said.

  Bree looked at her, and she was smiling ‘Don’t you see Vicky, he spared us, you and me, we’re safe, he won’t hurt us, we are the chosen ones, we’ll be safe’ Bree said.

  She looked at the dead body of Liam, how could they be safe and at what price, watching everyone else die.

  Kim was still stunned and then seemed to come to life ‘I need to find the others, they are running around in the dark, and I have to tell them something’ she said.

  ‘What?’ Vicky asked.

  ‘We didn’t want to say, because it seemed so crazy, but your German friends were killed by scorpions, we saw the video and thought it was chemical, so Rick came with us, but now I see it’s wide spread, all the animals on this farm are infected somehow’ she said.

  ‘You think it’s a chemical’ Vicky said.

  ‘what else can it be?’ she said.

  ‘Maybe that thing I just saw at the window’ she said.

  “You’re frightened, we all are, I have to find them’ she said.

  Bree whispered to her ‘we’re safer alone.’

  Chapter Thirty

  The hunter girl, he’d called her, now he realized people of this age wore leather for fashion, she wasn’t a hunter, but she was protected, for now, by Bree. He knew he would need a loyal priestess, he would need help in gathering more brothers and sisters, would need someone to protect them during the sleeping years.

  His list was growing shorter and shorter, the others had run, and now they were hiding in the house, alone and unprotected. Vicky had seen him, but that was fine, she too could serve him, unless she failed. Being a priestess was a hard road, they had to choose the service of nature over their own kind, be willing to punish all defilers, even the ones they knew and loved.

  In the past, they would bring sinners right to his home tree, he would see into their minds and hearts and find out the truth of their crimes. They used his power for their own judgments as well. He cared not who laid with who or who stole what from who, but they did. They liked to think they could own part of the land.

  The boy Liam had died well. He’d been punished and humiliated. The snakes had destroyed him, and he’d known what terror was. He’d known in his final moments that nature wasn’t his to use and kill as he wished. It was strong and would fight back. He’d also showed his mercy to Bree. He would take the one Kim, but he could wait, he didn’t want to kill her with snakes, they would die in taking her. Her gun had destroyed one and Liam had killed two of them, a waste. He needed to be more careful with his wards and not waste their precious lives, for a poetic revenge.

  He went from the house to the field of grape vines. He knew where the body of Rick was and looked down. He was still tied to the ground with the vines, around his wrists, ankles, and neck. Small pools of blood gathered around them, where he had struggled. His face has pale white, eyes open but looking away. His face was covered in small trails of slime, they had choked him to death.

  He placed his hand on the ground and commanded the vines, he made them release him. They responded, but he felt weak. They went so slowly. He’d used so much energy in calling the snakes. He would need to gather more, Rick would serve two purposes, to feed him and to go into the ranks as a brother.

  Placing the lifeless body on his shoulder, he turned and started to stalk back to the home tree, he easily lopped along, long legs carrying him fast. He knew every tree and plant and stepped past them as he ran on quickly. It only took him a few minutes, and he was in front of his tree. Jim was still tied to it. He’d been struggling but was fixed tight. He looked at him as he appeared and tossed the body of Rick to the ground before the tree.

  Jim looked like he was trying to talk, to yell at him and scream, but his mouth was wrapped tight, he’d had enough of their talking, screaming, and yelling. They were so loud and always talked and making noise. He set the body up against the base of the tree. Sitting, so he was against the roots, he needed the most blood he could from him. Placing his hand on the tree, he called out, and a vine grew down from one of the hanging branches, it took his leg and lifted his body up, he swung in front of him, a meter off the ground. He was dead, but should still have a good supply of blood in him.

  He knew his neck was the best for blood, he knew about veins and arteries now, he reached out and placed a single finger to his neck, he was feeling so weak, but he let it sink in, and it pressed against the skin and broke it. It slipped into his still warm body, and the rich red blood started to drip down from his corpse. He used his other fingers and tore the hole in his neck and throat wider, the blood started to drip more, then poured in a full stream. It ran down him and dripped to the ground. He felt the power in it, the strength, it was like a warm glow or rush of energy, he felt his own strength growing with the life energy he’d taken.

  The man, Jim, was in terror, he looked at his eyes, and they were crazed, he almost laughed, he felt the fear running off him, it felt good, he realized he was enjoying scaring them, for so long they had tortured nature, used it, destroyed it, now they realized they should have been afraid all along.

  He stood for almost an hour as the now dead form of rick dripped life blood to the ground, and then he let the vines lower the body to the ground. He would use this one. He needed to make it fast. His own birth had taken weeks, but he needed this to be much faster. Once the sun rose, there would be a small army of police coming, and he would need to have the brothers and sisters to defeat them and their weapons.

  Placing the body on the ground, he laid him out neatly and held out his hand, he opened it, a fig seed was in his hand. He didn’t place in the mouth like had been done to him. He reached down to the body again and placed his hand over his heart, dug into it. He had to break past his ribs and found it. It was still warm. He pushed the little black seed into his heart and pulled his hand back. It was coated in red blood.

  He put his hand on the chest and closing his eyes reached out to the seed. He felt it and pushed power into it, He thought ‘grow, ’ and it did. It's come to life and started to grow tiny little vines. They crawled out and started to reach out through the body. They would reach to all parts of him, they would change him until he was changed, Better, stronger, a protector of nature, no longer a defiler.

  He looked up a Jim, he was still looking at h
im, it would take hours, not days, but now he had to get more of them. He needed to collect the boy, Liam before he was too cold.

  Chapter Thirty- One

  Jim’s mind was racing, he was a lay Christian or a lazy Christian, he believed in God and got himself and his family to church every month or so, but he was a believer. He was just busy. Yet he couldn’t reconcile himself with this. His only thought was that it was a demon. It had to be. If magic was evil and then this thing was doing blood magic.

  He looked at it, as it ripped open poor Rick and bled him out onto the ground. It then lay his body down and put a seed in his chest. It almost seemed to pray over him, now he looked down, and the body was changing, he saw the vines were starting to come out of the chest and were growing through his legs, arms, and head. Rick was twitching and jerked as he lay dead in the dirt. Was it making another one like it, did the world need two of them?

  He was a practical man, he still had his gun, and he was going to put it against this things head and pull the trigger, ten times and see what it did. His scared mind kept going back to those vines that came and got him in the barn. It could send them out, and they wrapped him up. He knew it had killed the French family. How long had it been alive and how long would it keep going?

  The video came to his mind as well. The German kids in the bathroom, attacked by the scorpions. Clearly, it had sent them as well. It must be able to control nature. It was all unbelievable, but also not. He believed in God, Jesus, and heaven. So surely there was a hell, demons and now he’d met one.

  It looked like a demon, tall, made of wood and leaves, no mouth, but a small slit and wicked clawed hands of wood, that he knew could crash through machines like the generator and a body easily. It seemed to enjoy the killing and was taking pleasure in making him watch its horrible actions.