The Last Legend: Awakened

by Joshua B. Wichterich

  More tears swelled up in her eyes, as she thought about Marrisa and what could have happened to her. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself as her confused head whirled. She felt so lost and terrified all of a sudden as she began to cry. She didn’t know what to do as she continued slowly down the hall.

  “Please don’t let her be dead—great father of the heavens... Watch over Marrisa... Please… What do I do?” Natalia softly prayed, lowering her head while squeezing her arms tighter.

  Natalia opened her eyes, wiping the tears from them. Just then she stopped walking, noticing that the stone floor of the hallway had random splotches of water on it. She followed it with her eyes, noticing that it was a path of wet footsteps and spattered water that led from Marrisa’s room and down the hallway. The faint watery footsteps led right past Lilith’s room and towards the back stairwell. She followed them quickly, stopping before she passed Lilith’s room. She peered in, making sure that the men wouldn’t see her pass the opened doorway. She noticed that they covered Katrinka’s dead body with a blanket and seemed to be searching the chamber. Swiftly, Natalia rushed past the doorway, nearly running as she made her way to the stairwell.

  Natalia ran quickly down the twisted stairs while holding up her gown. Thoughts of Katrinka’s dead body flashed through her mind as she made her way into the servant’s quarters, still following the small puddles of water. A group of startled handmaidens sat around a long table, sipping on tea and nibbling on what seemed to be leftovers from the feast. Some of the women were Marrisa’s servants, and were obviously off for the night.

  “Who came through here?!” Natalia demanded, breathlessly.

  The servants appeared surprised at Natalia’s visit. They were quiet for a moment as Natalia searched them with anxious eyes.

  “It was a frantic young nobleman, my ladyship,” the youngest out of the women said, putting down her cup of tea.

  “A very wet one at that,” an old woman mumbled, making the others giggle.

  “Tairren…,” Natalia said under her breath as she ran to the door, opening it to a very dark and drizzly night.

  She hurried out, not even closing the door behind her. The night was cool and the dying rain made it colder than normal. The wind blew harshly, making Natalia’s gown blow up over her knees. The rain seemed to let down to a mist as Natalia ran along the stone wall of the castle. Locks of wet hair that fell from her intricate hairstyle clung to her cheeks and neck.

  “Tairren!” Natalia screamed out, hoping that he could hear her now that the harsh part of the storm had passed by. “Tairren, where are you?!”

  There was a soft glow of lightning that lit up a portion of the dark sky, flickering like a massive lightning bug in the black clouds. A low rumble followed, sounding distant and calm. Natalia ran around the corner of the castle wall, not caring when she splashed through a large mud puddle. The castle stable was just around the corner and the faint sound of startled horses could be heard.

  “Lilly!” Natalia said to herself, having the idea that she could take Lilly to find Tairren quicker.

  “Tairren had to have seen something, or knew where Marrisa was. Why else would he leave so quickly? But why was he soaking wet?” All of these thoughts ran through Natalia’s head as she ran towards the stable.

  She held up her gown as she made her way through some bushes and through the stable gate. The stable was dimly lit by two lamps that were lit on either side of the massive entrance. The sound of horse grunts and hooves on hay could be heard from the dark shadows of the stable, as well as other animals like pigs, cows and chickens. The only light in the stable illuminated from two torches that were tied to two large posts in the middle of the building. The first post had no torch on it, as if someone had taken it.

  Natalia walked in slowly, cautiously peering around as she wrapped her arms around her bosoms. The thought of Katrinka’s rotten body shot through her mind again as a surge of fear came over her body. “What if the murderer was hiding in the shadows of this very stable?!” She thought as she stopped in her place, beginning to panic. She looked around for some kind of weapon—just in case. Directly on the right side of the entrance, hanging on the wall, were a bunch of tools of some sort. Instead of going for the smaller objects she went for the biggest weapon she could find. There was a pitch fork that leaned up against the wall, sticking out of a small pile of hay. Natalia grabbed the rusted pitch fork and pointed it up towards the ceiling, holding the long wooden handle tightly.

  Even though she was a petite, young noblewoman, she still had some strength. Natalia and Marrisa had always practiced sword fighting with each other, taught by the king himself.

  Just then a strong gush of wind raced in, knocking over some other gardening tools that lay against the wall on the other side of the entrance. Natalia jumped, expecting to find someone coming after her. Her heart pounded wildly. She closed her eyes, breathing in and out slowly, trying to calm herself. “Take hold of yourself,” Natalia thought as she turned towards the stable again, walking in deeper. The stable was huge, it went straight back, making room for other random animals; and after a couple of yards in, it turned to the left allowing more pen room for all the other horses.

  Natalia walked quicker as the thought of Marrisa, Tairren and even Lilith ripped into her mind. “What if it was Lilith who was doing all of this?” she frantically thought, “I always knew that Lilith was strange... But if it was Lilith and she was hiding in this very stable, the horses would be going crazy right about now. The horses never liked Lilith for some odd reason…”

  “Lilly!” Natalia whispered loudly as she looked around again, searching each pen with her eyes.

  She saw many different colored horses except for a white one. Lilly was the only pure white horse in the whole kingdom, and the most beautiful for that matter.

  “Lilly! Make a horse noise—or something!” She whispered loudly again, as if a horse could understand her.

  She didn’t see Lilly or any empty pens where she was at. She gripped the pitch fork tighter as she turned the left corner. It went further back having five pens on each side, and at the very end in the center was a large pen—a large empty pen!

  “Tairren must have taken Lilly,” Natalia thought as she turned quickly to leave.

  Just then, as if out of nowhere, a dark figure came quickly a few feet in front of her!

  Natalia let out a loud scream as she swung the pitch fork as hard as she could at the dark figure. It ducked, barely missing the sharp points of the fork, falling down in the process.

  “Stop! It’s me—Prince Phillip!” He yelled out, having a startled edge in his voice. “I’ve only come to ensure that you are okay.”

  “What?! Prince Phillip forgive me, I could have impaired you!” Natalia exclaimed breathlessly as she threw down the old pitch fork to help the prince up. “I’ve been a little uneasy this very night,” She said as she pulled some hay from his dark hair.

  He stood up quickly, staggering while pulling at his tunic and dusting off his velvet robe, making sure he didn’t appear so queer.

  “My lady, I was just a little surprised is all—I assure you, you couldn’t have hurt me,” he said with an awkward chuckle. He cleared his throat as he stood up straight, than began to escort Natalia out of the dim stable. “Why is a young lady like yourself creeping in the wet night and hanging about in a dark stable?” he asked with a smile that looked as if he were mocking her.

  “Have you been following me?! Where is his majesty?” Natalia demanded as she pulled away from the prince, walking quicker to the entrance of the stable.

  “I saw you pass by Lilith’s door-way quickly so I just excused myself and followed you,” he exclaimed as he hurried by her side.

  “How dare you spy on me! You nearly frightened me to death!” Natalia fussed as she crossed her arms over her chest, making her way out of the stable and into the chilled air of the night.

  The rain still drizzled on softly and the thunder was
down to a very low rumble.

  “I beg your pardon, I only wanted to see if everything was okay,” he said as he moved his wet hair from his face. “As we all know, tonight has been a very odd night, and now with a dead body in the castle and the princess missing—I don’t know what to think.” He glanced at Natalia who stopped in her place. “She acted very strange with me earlier this evening, so I left her abruptly, and when we came into Marrisa’s wrecked chamber I thought of the moment when I stumbled upon you and the other gentleman in the stair-well. That’s when I thought maybe…,” he hesitated, looking off into their dark surroundings. “Maybe a quarrel went on between you, the gentleman and Marrisa…”

  “How dare you insinuate such things!” she snapped with wide eyes. “Yes Marrisa is missing and no I do not know what is going on either! We heard screams from behind the door. I did not see her, much less quarrel with her!” Tears once again began to stir in Natalia’s eyes. “That other gentleman is a very close friend to Marrisa and I, and when I went to fetch the guards for help, something happened in that room. And that is why I am looking in the stable,” she wiped her eyes then motioned to the dark stable house. “I was looking to see if Lilly, Marrisa’s horse, was still in her pin so I could go looking for them. She’s not! Someone has taken her and I think Tairren did to catch up with whoever was attacking and has taken Marrisa!”

  There was another low rumble of thunder as they stood in awkward silence for a moment.

  “I’m truly sorry, my lady…”

  “Marrisa is my best friend! My sister!” Natalia cried out, cutting him off, “And I’m dreadfully worried that something horrible has happened to her! And you should too since she is the future queen of your country!”

  The prince was quiet for a moment, then put both of his hands on her arms, looking into her scared eyes.

  “Truly, I will help, whatever is within me—to find Marrisa,” he said with reassurance.

  Phillip just looked into her green eyes, which comforted her. She looked back into his dark eyes for a moment, smiling a half smile a little and nodding her head.

  “Alright then…,” she finally said with sniffles, “where is your horse?”

  †††

  The town square was dark and quiet as Tairren rode through the dark streets on steadfast Lilly. The only light in the area came from the random, dim candle-lit windows of the small buildings and that of the torch that Tairren held.

  He had taken the torch from the stable. Luckily there were no guards or anyone watching the stable to stop him from taking both Lilly and the torch—they must’ve all been in the castle. Lilly was actually excited to see him and put up no kind of fight when he pulled the saddle upon her back. Besides Marrisa, he and Natalia were the only ones she trusted.

  The clap of Lilly’s hooves on the brick ground echoed through the dark air as the constant trickle of the rain continued to make puddles here and there. He had seen Lilith riding on a carriage, splashing through the puddles of the streets and going as fast as she could get the horse to go. He had lost her when he went down an alleyway. He began to look frantically through the dark streets, listening as hard as he could through the rain. Tairren stopped Lilly for a moment to try to figure out which way the small carriage went.

  The sound of distant screams could be heard now over the echo of rain slapping on the stone streets.

  “Marrisa! I’m coming for you!” Tairren hollered out as he got Lilly going in the direction of the screams.

  Lilly obeyed as usual, splashing through the rain puddles as she dashed off. She seemed to love Tairren’s company and the thrill of running through the soft rain.

  Of all the nights, this had to be the night that there were no soldiers standing guard around the marketplace or town square, or anywhere for that matter. Because of the strange weather, they must have been around the castle or in their quarters.

  Tairren followed Marrisa’s screams through the town square and out into the dark fields of Minslethrate. Tairren could see a soft orange glow off in the black distance of the field, appearing haunting in the chilled night. It was the pulsating flame of a torch, revealing the direction in which Lilith was taking Marrisa.

  “Let’s go Lilly! Run like the wind!” Tairren hollered as he softly hit her sides with the heels of his boots, encouraging her to go even faster. He remembered how Marrisa would always yell that to Lilly when she took him for thrilling rides through those fields.

  Tairren held on tightly to the reins with his left hand, making sure he didn’t let go of the torch in his right. Lilly’s speed was intense and powerful and Tairren held onto the horse with every muscle in his body, moving with the flow of Lilly’s gallops as a massive surge of adrenaline pumped through his veins.

  They made their way closer to the small carriage, gaining speed as they went. He caught up to the carriage easily. Tairren directed Lilly to dash on the side of the carriage, going with the speed of the dark horse that was pulling the carriage. As they caught up with them, Tairren noticed that the small carriage was the one in which the castle warden used to lock up the criminals caught in Minslethrate. It had a small door and was locked with a large lock-pad which bounced up and down against the door. Lilith must have stolen the carriage, because there was no sign of the warden.

  “Tairren?!” Marrisa shrieked out from the carriage, surprised and waving her hand outside the window of the small door. The opened window was small and square shaped, only allowing the passenger to look out. “Tairren, Help me! Lilith is possessed and has gone mad! She is taking me to the south to the dark temple!” She yelled as loud as she could out of the small window.

  Tairren maneuvered Lilly closer to the carriage, taking a glance at the shadowed driver holding the torch. It was Lilith, looking even more wicked in the night with the torch light playing off her unpleasant face. The thought of Lilith bellowing out like a wild creature popped into his head as he got nearer to the carriage. All of a sudden Lilith quickly turned her head towards Tairren, as if realizing that he was creeping upon them. Her face crinkled up as she showed her teeth and gaping mouth, and growled like a vicious animal. Tairren was startled by Lilith’s repulsive, pale face, noticing how black her eyes and mouth were.

  “Be with me my Lord!” Tairren shouted as he came so close to the carriage that lilly’s side nearly touched it.

  He threw the torch down then quickly grabbed hold of the top of the carriage, pulling himself on top of it. He could here Marrisa call out his name, giving him a surge of energy as he used all of the upper body strength he had to pull the rest of himself up. He held on tightly to the roof of the carriage with his belly touching the roof. Small rain drops continued to pelt his face and body, making it harder to hang on without slipping off.

  “Father! Protect me with your black embrace! Send me your defense!” Lilith screamed out to the darkness of the night. She then continued to snarl and shriek as Tairren came closer to her. “You will be punished!” she sneered as she began to thrash her torch at him, dropping the reins to the horse in the process.

  The horse still continued with its speed, pulling the carriage and making its way to the ends of the field and closer to the beginnings to The Forest of Old. Tairren tried to knock the torch from her hand as she still thrashed about. He began to slip but grabbed both sides of the carriage’s roof.

  All of a sudden distant shrieks could be heard. It sounded like a mixture of howling, growling and high pitched screams of women. Lilith stopped thrashing about and became still as she pointed her face towards the night’s sky like a creature catching a strange and familiar scent. All of a sudden a raspy chuckle came from Lilith’s mouth, turning into a wicked laugh.

  “Abaddon!” she yelled out to the flying things. “Yes! Father has sent them like flies! Fly down you black winged destroyers, tormentors from the depths of Hell!”

  The shrieks began to get louder as Lilith let out another loud and wicked laugh. Tairren looked up, noticing that a group of rather large
birds came flying down towards him. He couldn’t clearly see them because of the rain and the black sky but he knew that they came closer because of the loudness of their ear piercing shrieks.

  Lilith continued to laugh her wicked and putrid laugh as she raised one of her white hands into the air, as if she were welcoming them. While she was diverted, Tairren hurried towards her with all of his strength and grabbed her arm, twisting and pulling, trying to fling her to the ground. She did not falter, her strength was far more powerful than he had expected. Her black mouth gaped open as she let out a crackled shriek, elbowing him hard in the face. Ignoring the pain, he yanked the torch from her, slipping off the roof of the carriage and crashing down to the soggy ground.

  He landed on his side, the still lit torch beside him. Before he could even get up, a mighty gust of air blew down upon him, followed by one of the large shrieking birds. Tairren quickly grabbed the torch and looked up, realizing that the screeching birds were not birds at all, but some kind of creatures that had human faces and forms with massive wings! They were as black as night and two large twisted horns jutted from the tops of their deformed heads! A long bony tail protruded from their backsides with a very sharp looking hook-like stinger on the tip.

  Tairren inhaled sharply as the creature pounced on him, clawing at his chest and grazing his face with its massive hands. Its claws upon his flesh felt incredibly hot, like a poker straight out of a fire. Tairren blocked most of its strikes with his arm, having more damage on his arm and his chest than his face. The screeches of the creature rung in his ears and the burnt smell of its breath stained his nostrils. He cried out as he jabbed the fiery end of the torch into the monster’s chest, making it let out another ear piercing shriek. The thing leaped into the air, escaping the hot flame of the torch.

  Tairren stood up quickly, wide eyed and shocked at what was going on. It was hard for him to believe everything that was happening that night. It was as if he was lost in a dreadful nightmare and couldn’t wake up. He franticly looked every which way, holding the torch in the air as the screams of the creatures scattered into the black sky, indicating that the creatures had quickly dispersed. But why did they all leave so abruptly?