The trees started clearing as she approached and she saw the glory of what he was doing. There was a neat row of bodies laid out before the tree, Roger and Rick, the Italian couple, Antonio, and Claire, now Kim. They would have to go back for Jim, she hoped Vicky was gone by then, it would kill her now, but she honestly liked her still, she’d just picked the wrong side, she felt sorry for her, she was weak minded, she didn’t realize what a great gift they’d been given.
As she walked up, he came to her. He was beautiful to her now, So strong and free. She knelt before him, and he placed a hand on her head. She felt a rush of memories. They were for her, a gift, she’d done well. He showed her everything of the priestess, the druids, they were, their religion and their ways.
They believe the soul would come back to another body and thus they wanted the earth kept well for their return. They didn’t eat meat, they lived in tune with nature, they grew food but prayed in thanks for the gifts of life and only burned what trees and branches fell on their own.
She saw in her new memories, the songs they sang, and when they gave a sacrifice to the trees and the land, they gave one a year, and she saw how the power of it, helped the crops, helped the tree. It was clear, it worked. The farm was so much greener and full of life.
He was showing her what she needed to be, she understood. He removed his hand, and she stood, she knew what to do. She went to each of and looked at them. Roger and Rick were almost ready. They didn’t really look like people anymore, she could tell them from their clothes, but their bodies were changing fast, she saw how the vines grew through them and would take them over, they would remember their old lives, but they would be changed, they would feel what he felt, the connection with the land, they would be of nature and man, the perfect union. They didn’t need to eat, they didn’t sleep, except to dream and they could live for hundreds of years.
He lay down the body of Kim.
She knew what to do, it was better if she did it. She plunged the blade into her chest in one strong movement like she’d done it a hundred times before, it slipped into his chest easily and cracked a rib as it went. She moved it back and forth, making the hole bigger and then put out her hand.
He was watching her and seemed pleased. He looked at his hand for a moment and then opened it, a seed sat inside. She knew it was the seed of life and to create one took a lot. She pulled it from his hand and dropped it inside of her chest. She then started to sing over it, she knew the words, they were old English and of connection and nature provide. He moved her aside and put its hands on the chest, she saw him using his power to make the seed grow faster. In the past they would leave it, that would take weeks or even month is, but he needed it to be much faster, she knew he wanted them ready for sunrise and the arrival of the police force, they too would be taken and then there would be a small army of them.
she was almost jealous of her, she would be getting so much power and knowledge, she would be connected to the very soul of the earth. Still, they would need her, she would be the only priestess they had, and everyone would know her name.
Once they were finished, it turned without a word and started to run back towards the house. He would be collecting Jim. There would be six of them. She saw him run off into the forest and sat down, she hoped Vicky was smart enough to be out of the house, it wouldn’t spare her if she wasn’t there. Now she thought of it differently, she’d given her a chance, a chance to touch greatness, to be one with nature and she’d slapped her offer down. She wanted her alive, but if she was dragged back to be turned, that was an even better life. They could be sisters forever.
Chapter forty-Three
He had forgotten why the priestesses was needed, then he’d found out again, he didn’t know what the gun would do to him, his hand had regrown and his new finger was there in just a few short minutes, it had grown back, but he still had his thoughts from when he was a boy, he had the memory, he had been worried, but she had saved him.
Now he had her to help him, she could lure the people coming into a trap, she could steal their weapons from them and make them believe anything. He knew a fight would be coming. They would find the house and no one there. He’d take the body of Liam, even though it was useless and Jim, even though he hated him. They would still see all the blood and search until they found where they had gone. If they had dogs, they could follow the scent of blood to his tree. He hoped they brought dogs.
A sound came to him, and he changed course, he was running fast but slowed down. It was the girl Vicky, she crept slowly through the forest, in the dark and he could hear her breathing. He had no idea what she was coming for, maybe revenge, maybe to join them. All her people were dead, and she’d seen in Bree, she was a friend to this girl.
He stopped and watched her, she went slowly, unable to see well, she moved from tree to tree, using them as a guide to talk to the next one, she was very slow, on her back was a bag and sticking out of it was a gun, a shotgun, it was called. So, it was revenge she wanted, he ran as fast as he could toward her, leaping past trees and branches, he ended standing in front of her, his hands reached out around her throat in moments, gun still n her bag.
She looked scared, and she should be, she was so weak, he could snap her neck in a moment. Then she spoke.
‘My lord, I’ve come to join you and Bree’ she said.
He laughed at her and looked at the gun over her shoulder.
‘People are coming, with guns, I can use it, me and Bree can stop them’ she said.
He didn’t believe her, but people were weak, Bree had said to her, she picked the losing side, maybe she wanted to live. He took a hand-off her throat and placed it on her head. He let his mind find hers and delved into her memories.
He couldn’t read her thoughts, which was sad but he saw her getting the gun, she was scared and angry, then she saw her praying, not to him, but to the Christian god Jim had followed. She was coming to try and kill him.
He laughed again and started to tighten grip on her neck. She began to choke and slowly lose her breath, and he felt it. He hadn’t felt it in years, she wasn’t meant to die, or he didn’t have the right to kill her. He could feel nature crying out, that she wasn’t a defiler.
He looked at the bracelet, she’d been given, it washed all her past sins, she was pure again. He’d have to change that. He’d seen her mind, he knew her fears, and he would break her and then truly break her.
He wished he could speak, but it didn’t matter. He reached out with its mind, finding the things she feared most. He called for the creatures to come. They began to crawl up his body, and he let them climb down his hand and towards her. She almost screamed, looking at it. It was a black fat black one with a red spot, he called the one with a white tail and finally the big Huntsman, all things she feared.
He placed his hand out, and she looked at it for an age, but then reached out and put her hand near his. The spiders crawled off his hand and started to climb onto her. First just a few, then more and more. He kept calling them until tens of them were crawling all over her.
She closed her eyes and he watched as she flicked and twitched as they climbed all over her, they didn’t bite, but were a test, if she killed one, he could strike. She must have known, and as a big Huntsman climbed over her face, he saw a tear start to run down her face, she was crying but held herself straight and didn’t move.
‘I just want to help’ she said.
She wouldn’t be able to stop them and while he couldn’t kill her, Bree could, and if she hurt her, that would be enough as well.
He waved his hand, and the spiders started to climb down her body, to the ground and away.
He motioned she should go, she started to walk faster away from him and towards his home tree.
He was so sick of rules.
Chapter forty-four
Vicky was walking through the forest, going slowly, stumbling from tree to tree. It was dark, the moon was only half but didn’t cut through the thick canopy of j
ungle like trees. She kept worrying she would step right on a snake, instead, she heard a rush of branches and wind, then it was standing right before her. Bloody Spriggan, literally its hands dripped with blood and gore.
She’d seen it clearly in the room, but now it was just her and it. She almost cursed, the gun was in the bag. It didn’t say a word, she didn’t think it could talk, it had no mouth, but she knew it could understand. It put a hand around her throat, and she almost felt it’s pleasure.
Words came out, something like she wanted to join him and Bree. The thing put one of its large tree hands on her head. She felt a connection as it started to read her thoughts. It ran through them in moments. Finding the gun, getting ready, praying. It didn’t seem to like that part.
She felt the pressure on her throat increased, it was going to snap her neck, she should never have left the bunker, she shouldn’t be the one to try and stop this thing. Her life started to slip away, and she was far from ready to give it up. She could reach the gun, she was seconds from trying to grab it when the pressure stopped, and its hands dropped.
It stood looking at her bracelet, it couldn’t kill her. It had rules, and she wasn’t on the list. Vicky remembered Bree saying it would test her and saw it reach out his band toward her, spiders were crawling up its body and down it hand. It looked at her, and she knew what it wanted. She held out her hand and the disgusting things, crawled out onto her.
she hated them so much. There was a white tail, red back and a big hairy Huntsman, her worst one, they were harmless, unless the others, just had Australia’s second most painful bite.
The thing looked at her, it was a test. She felt the sensation of them walking over her fine arm hair, then went straight for her neck and face, climbing all over her.
It was so hard to hold herself back from dropping to the ground and rolling around. But her wanted her to kill just one, and then he could kill her. She held herself as still as she could. Tears came to her eyes, and she let them climb, she knew they wouldn’t bite, she just kept thinking, move and you die, move, and you die. She managed to say, something like I just want to join you.
The spiders started to climb down her body, she held tight, and finally, they crawled past her jeans and boots to the ground. It waved its hand at her and was gone in second.
Once again, she stood alone in the forest, half a mile from the tree at least. She thought she could find it in the dark. Lucky, it was north, and she had a glow in the dark compass on her keys.
When the thing had put its hand to her head, she realised it was a lot tougher than it seemed. Its finger had been shot off, red human looking blood was on the floor, but now it had grown back. She hoped a gun would be enough, she should try to burn it as well. She had no idea what to do, it would sense her watching and waiting, and Bree would never believe she had joined them, the one good thing was they couldn’t talk.
Vicky started to walk again, it felt like age, but she felt good, for one thing, she knew nothing was watching her or going to get her, she had passed its test. If she saw a spider now, it was getting squashed without mercy.
She heard her before she saw her, Bree was singing loudly, some Gallic witch sounding song. It was quite beautiful. She could also see the light through the tree, they had a fire, that was weird, but then Bree said, they could burn fallen branches, it was getting cold even for Qld. Must have been around ten degrees.
She crept closer to her, waiting at the tree line, she looked down and realized she was doing the right thing. What choice had they given her? At her feet in neat rows were the bodies of the people the creature had killed, any chance of saving anyone long gone. They were changing, she could see it wouldn’t be long at all. Some truly looked dead and twisted like Rogers and Rick, but the Italian boy, Claudio, looked almost peaceful, except for the huge rip across his throat.
She knew these people were dead, she’d seen some of them die. Yet looking at them all bled out like this was horrible. If she died, she didn’t want to come back as a murder crazed spriggan, did they still have a mind or were they just a vessel, she hoped a vessel because she knew know she would have to destroy them too.
Bree looked like she had really lost her mind, she had ripped her dress, so it was shorter and was dancing around while singing. She didn’t want to shoot her, but she thought she could probably hit her in the head with the butt of the gun. Part of her had been thinking she’d come and it wouldn’t be so bad, but it was, they were building an army of these things and defiling their poor bodies as well. Get murdered and wake up a killer, welcome to Queensland.
She needed a plan, she drew out the shotgun from her bag and loaded it as quietly as she could, it took two shells, and she stuffed more in her pocket, then she took out the three small water bottles filled with petrol, her knife, tazer and finally her trusty, blue bic lighter.
Then she thought of the pistols, they were just sitting on the ground, next to one of the bodies, Bree wasn’t holding them, she was too busy being a freak.
While she was waiting and planning, it came back. It was a busy horrible thing, and it had the bodies of Jim and Liam, she had locked the door to the bunker, she’d found some keys and wanted a safe place to run back to once the job was done.
It dropped Jim and Liam to the ground and put them in line with the others. They had seven bodies in total, and she knew it had killed a lot more, it killed the French family, it killed Nick, the English guy and who knows who else. Gareth, that missing worker probably and gods know how many others during its many hundreds of years of life.
She looked for the first time at the tree, they stood before it. Jim had said ‘the fig tree’ and then died, so the tree was important. It was ugly and massive. It was clearly hundreds of years old, growing long and hanging vines. A tall pine has been growing next to it, and its vines had taken it and pulled it over, so it could have the sunlight and not it. That’s how they lived by killing other trees. She could easily imagine that thing lived in there.
Once again, she had to try not to scream and cry out. As she watched Bree went to work on her new bodies, she sunk a knife into the chest of poor old Jim, she ripped the hole bigger and took a seed or something from its hand, she dropped it in and then seemed to pray over it, she saw the body jerk, even from a distance, the vines were growing though he host, spreading though, soon he would-be like Rick and Roger, almost all plant and looking a lot like the creature, but still dead, she imagined there must be a time when one would just sit up, if she waited that long she’d be dead.
Chapter forty-five
Vicky was hiding in the trees watching them when he had returned, it had just turned her head to the spot in the forest, and she could see her, hiding, and watching. Bree was glad, she would join their family now, there was no way she could stop them. He was there with her now and she was standing close to the bodies she could see that Roger and Rick had almost completed the process, their bodies didn’t look human at all, he had taken the form of nature and their bodies kicked and jerked, as the vines made their way through all the limbs and systems, trying to take control. It was like operating a puppet at. First, they would be fully transformed.
She prepared the bodies of Jim and Liam, cutting into them, and planting the seed in their chests, she knew that Vicky was watching and she wondered what she would be thinking, she imagined she would have to try and attack them, come running out of the forest with her knife, why did she feel the need to be a hero, she should have stayed locked in the house, or run off into the night.
‘You should come out Vicky, I know you’re there’ she said.
She turned to the part in the forest she was, she could just see her crouching down, she would have missed her, if she hadn’t helped.
‘You can’t stop us, but you can still join us, he let me know you passed the test, he won’t hurt you unless you try to stop this’ she said.
As she watched Vicky stepped out of the shadows, she was holding a shotgun in her hands, it shook a litt
le, but she pointed it right at her. She walked up fast, the gun pointed at Bree face, she seemed not very happy to be doing it. He saw it and knew what was happening, but like with Jim, it stayed back, crouched ready to pounce.
‘What's happened to you, Bree? ‘How can you think this is right, you're planting seeds in bodies, you're helping make an army of killers’ Vicky said.
‘We're making a better world, I’ve seen their life, the way they lived it, it was much better, so close to nature, so pure.’ She said.
‘There are over 8 billion people now, you think you’re going to kill our way to Eden, they won’t give up the big cars, fast food, and beer on tap and no one can tell them too’ she said.
‘I’m sure once people have the choice, change or die, most will choose change, now are you really going to shoot me?’ Bree said
‘no, I’m not’ she said
Vicky swung the gun around and pointed it right at the spriggan face and fired.
Chapter Forty-Six
She didn’t have a plan, but walking out into the open with a loaded gun declared her intentions clearly, she just had to hope it would all work out. Bree was in her face talking her hippy bullshit, and she was just waiting, the creature was coming closer and closer, and then it was only a meter away, she swung the gun and pointed it right at its creepy yellow eyes and fired.
The sound was deafening, and even though she had the gun pressed hard against her shoulder, it kicked back hard, she was pushed back but saw it flying back and up, it got air time. Bree was screaming and bend down to it, Vicky could see its face was destroyed, red blood running from it. She notched the other barrel and stepped up to it, another wouldn’t hurt, she intended to use all the shells in her pocket.
Bree was crying and looked to her ‘why Vicky, why.’
Spriggan: Dark horror fantasy Page 14