by Power, Max
Intent on knowing more, she slipped outside and made her way to the side of the house and peered through the window of the library. To her horror, she saw Wormhold push Claudette against the wall and watched him slowly squeeze the life from her. She couldn’t let this happen. Charity quickly ran to the external door that led from the library to the gardens and tried the handle. It opened with ease and she stepped inside. Wormhold was oblivious to her.
There was little she could do. He was such a big man and she knew it would be impossible for her to force him off Claudette. She picked up a heavy silver candle holder, ran up behind the mighty Wormhold and without hesitation cracked him over the head. Time seemed to stop. There was a loud crack as though she had split his skull completely open and the very sound frightened Charity. She stepped back and dropped the weapon on the floor.
Wormhold stopped squeezing Daisy May’s throat and very slowly turned to face his assailant. He released his grip on his victim and she fell to the floor. When Charity looked at her she was taken by surprise. It wasn’t Miss Claudette at all but a stranger. It only took two swift steps for Wormhold to be on her. She couldn’t move. He grabbed her by the throat with one enormous hand and squeezed.
Charity tried to scream but no sound came out. He smiled and she saw his vile disfigured face for the first time. How could this be? He was some kind of monster. Wormhold lifted her by the throat with one hand and she began to feel dizzy. Everything swam before her eyes. He dropped her to the floor but the relief barely lasted a few seconds. As she gasped for air, Wormhold stomped on her belly and she felt the pain as her lower ribs cracked from the force of the blow. She couldn’t breathe. Again Wormhold slammed his boot down on the tiny girl, only this time he crushed her shoulder and she screamed.
Outside the door, Reginald heard the scream from his wife which he took to be that of Claudette. He was not going to interfere. In truth, even if he had recognised his wife’s scream he would have stayed at his post. He knew better.
Charity tried to scramble to her feet and as she got to her knees, Wormhold swung his foot and kicked her across the jaw. She fell onto her back, the teeth in the lower left quadrant of her mouth, smashed and broken into her cheek. Blood poured from her lips and Wormhold stood over her beside the fire. Still unbeaten, Charity pushed herself backwards along the floor using only her legs.
“I should have had him kill you that night.”
She knew of what he spoke and Charity looked around for something that she might use to protect herself. For a moment she thought there was hope. The poker that Daisy May had threatened Wormhold with, lay on the hearth beside her and Charity snatched it up. Still lying on her back, she held it up as though it might be protection against the mighty beast that towered above her. He laughed and she knew there was no hope.
Wormhold simply reached down and plucked it from her tiny hand and cast her weapon aside. Still she tried to escape and more shimmied than crawled on her back using only her legs, as though there was hope of avoiding his wrath. He raised his leg and slammed his boot down once more, this time smashing her right knee and again she howled with pain. She stopped crawling. Charity tried to say something but her mouth was so disfigured it was impossible. Wormhold saw her try.
“Come come my dear, no need to beg.” Again he laughed.
But she wasn’t begging. Charity tried to smile but she couldn’t even manage that. In her head the words were perfectly formed, but her broken mouth couldn’t form the three simple words that she wanted to offer,
“Go to Hell.”
CHAPTER FIFTY SIX - THE WAY HOME
The problem with Darkly Wood is that just when you think you are free of the place, something comes along to slam you right to the ground again. The instant you sense a hint of freedom, that’s the moment you discover just how inescapably trapped you really are. Holly and Rose scrambled through the hacked out path in the undergrowth that Magne had created on his way to rescue them. He didn’t know he was creating an escape route for them when he cut a path through the snarl of branches, so it was a struggle to move quickly through the narrow path he had made. There was no design about the roughly hewn space through the thorns; it was a random rough cut.
Thorns cut their faces and clawed at their bodies even through their clothes as they struggled to escape, but fear is a mighty driving force. Fortunately the worst of it was behind them after about fifty yards and they almost tripped over each other when they burst through into open space beyond. The magnificent Magne was right on their tails as they stopped to see which way to go. He pointed with his small axe.
“The rocks… Straight to the top and over...” He was panting and like the girls covered in cuts. “Don’t get turned. Keep straight and do not stop. I will follow behind…now run.”
Neither girl hesitated. The strange foreign man had rescued them when all hope seemed lost. They had no reason to doubt him now and they ran as fast as they could. Holly went out in front but Rose wasn’t far behind.
Magne waited for a few moments to let them get ahead. He knew he was faster and stronger and he wanted to cover their backs should one of the creatures catch up. As he waited to let them get a head start, he heard the crashing sound in the maze of brush from which they had just escaped. At least one of them was coming.
He took off and his powerful legs tore up the distance the girls had made. They had run fast and straight as he had told them and they were already at the base of the rocky hill. Clambering up Rose looked back and saw Magne closing in on them, but then she saw something that terrified her. It was Charlie Callous Colson, bounding along as a beast on all fours, a wildling of teeth and sinewy muscle, gnashing and racing to catch up on Magne. She called out to warn him.
“Watch out!”
Magne looked back and when he saw the creature he turned and stopped to face it. He knew that if he kept running, he would be taken down and then he would have no chance. At least if he stood to face the attack, his size, strength and skill with the small axe might count for something. He looked around and waved at Rose and Holly.
“Keep moving, don’t stop.”
They did as they were told. It was not something either girl needed to think about. In seconds they were atop the rocks and they half scrambled, half fell down the other side as Magne and the boy beast disappeared from view. By the time they reached the bottom, they could hear the terrible beastly sounds, that they knew meant Charlie had caught up with Magne but they didn’t stop. On they ran and again, they kept Magne’s instruction to the fore of their minds. Easier paths led left and right but they stayed on the hard road, always straight, never deviating and never hesitating.
Occasionally one or the other tripped and fell and always mother or daughter helped the other to their feet. The wood was so deceptive. Above, the light was still closed off from them by the thick canopy and it felt as though there was no escape. But then Holly grabbed her mother’s arm and they stopped for a moment. Their lungs were burning and they could barely catch their breath let alone speak. Holly hissed out what she wanted to say as she bent double with a stitch in her side.
“Look!”
She pointed to the distance and at first Rose didn’t see it.
“There’s light.”
She was right. Rose saw it now. Up ahead, beams of light peeked through the tops of the trees. The forest floor was brighter. Their energy level took a boost with the thought of escape and they took off again. It was true, they were nearing the edge of the wood and that meant safety. On they ran, the savage undergrowth all the time thinning out and the gaps in the top of the trees always growing bigger. Again they stopped, only this time it was Rose who grabbed her daughter. She was panting heavily and couldn’t go on.
“Come on Mum, just a little further, look there is a gap in the trees, were nearly there.”
Rose was exhausted, she fell to one knee and tried to catch her breath but it was so hard. Between heavy broken breaths, she managed,
“You k
eep going…I’ll catch you up...”
Holly pulled on her mother’s arm to try to get her to stand up but she wasn’t moving. She was determined not to leave her mother behind.
“Come on Mum,” she pleaded, you have to…” Holly stopped in mid flow. Something caught her eye. Off to their left, maybe two hundred yards or so away, something was watching them from the shadow cast by an old chestnut tree. It was too far away for her to see clearly, but when it moved, the thing that watched them moved just like one of the beasts. Rose saw the expression on her daughter’s face and looked around. She saw it too.
“OK… let’s go”
She struggled to her feet and both girls began to run again. They were so close. In all the stories, the edge of the wood appeared to be the boundary. If they could escape its clutches, strike free from Darkly Wood then they would be surely safe. Holly ran and her mother ran behind reassuring her, encouraging her to go faster, to keep going. She ran and pumped her arms as the light poured through the trees at the edge of Darkly Wood. Holly lifted her knees, drove her legs for their last drain of strength and threw her head back like a sprinter running for the line. The sun struck her face like a golden warm delight. It felt so good to be back in the light again and she felt the breeze on her face.
It was only when she slowed and cast a glance back over her shoulder that she realised that her mother was no longer running at her heels. Holly stopped and spun around. She was nowhere to be seen. Panic consumed her and she frantically scoured the tree line to see if she could see Rose. Terror took hold. She was exhausted and daren’t turn back into that place. She screamed out for Rose.
“Mum..!Mum..! But there was no reply.
Inside Darkly Wood, just away from the bright light that broke through to the inner edge of that place, Rose Coppertop had stopped running. She saw that her daughter would make it and she had nothing left. Rose was too tired to keep going and she wanted to make sure Holly at least would survive that day. She stopped and turned to face the beast that was now walking towards her. She knew he would be there before she ever turned.
He was upright, vile, calm and calculating how he might strike, but he moved with a peculiar and unexpected swagger. This creature of the woods knew of only one thing in his life at that very moment. He knew he would have his victim. He could smell her, he could taste her from twenty yards away and he could take her down with two bounds if she tried to run. As Holly ran back and forth along the edge of the wood screaming for her mother, Rose accepted her fate. The creature raised his head as he drew ever nearer and sniffed the air. Benjamin Blood lay behind those eyes somewhere deep inside, but it was not Benjamin Blood that Holly faced in the shadow of freedom. Woody opened his mouth and declared her to be his…
“Wassseeeech……”
CHAPTER FIFTY SEVEN – A BETTING NORSEMAN
When Magne stopped to face the Charlie beast, he had no idea what the odds were. They say that when you are in mortal danger, your life flashes before your eyes but for Magne it was quite different. What flashed through his mind was a rapid succession of thoughts that were very much of the moment. He wondered how such creatures could exist. He considered how life and circumstance had brought him to this perilous situation. Magne realised that he was standing there, holding his ground against a wild creature, protecting two women he had never even been introduced to and he smiled.
That was Magne. If nothing else, he had a vision of himself. That image was of a powerful wild man of the woods. When he climbed bare rock without a rope, it was to test his better self and when tested, when victorious, Magne always felt elated. The greater the challenge, the higher the risk, the more Magne revelled in his victory. All of this went through his mind as he braced himself for impact. It all raced through his head in the few seconds that it took for Charlie to reach him.
While all of this was going through the back of his mind, there was even more going on in the foreground. Magne was measuring Charlie’s speed and gait, working out how and when he would pounce. Magne considered the threats, teeth and claw and selected his own defensive strategy. Every single thought mashed together in the blink of an eye. He knew he would have to gamble.
He switched his stance, lowered his little axe and stood perfectly still. The Charlie beast was unfaltering. He was new to this desire and it was pure desire. It was a fresh delicious desire and it meant everything in the moment. The girls had gone but this creature would do. There was no fear, no hesitation and he ran straight and true, determined to satisfy his lust for blood.
When tales are told of Darkly Wood, they are often told from the perspective of the aftermath. Folk talk of what was left, the evidence of some awfulness that had occurred. Perhaps the greatest such legendary story was the one about Philagrea Mancuso who in times long past, had fought the most epic battle with a wild stag on the fringes of Darkly Wood. What was left afterwards, the tangled, unholy mess that was discovered, made his perhaps the most incredible of all of the stories in Daisy’s little book Tales of Darkly Wood.
What followed in Darkly Wood on the day Magne stood bravely to face the beast, was surely deserving of such legendary status. When Charlie pounced, he was a wild, ferocious tangle of claw and tooth. He sprung from a good ten feet away, his speed and power taking him high above Magne in an arc that brought him bearing down on the brave Norseman almost at head height.
Magne, stepped to his left and leaned backwards anticipating the angle of attack perfectly, swing his axe as he did so. He caught Charlie along his right flank tearing a cut into his flesh from rib to hip. To an ordinary man, it would have been a devastating wound, but to this boy-beast it was no more than an inconvenient distraction. The thing that Charlie had become was a creature of pure, focussed instinct. He was new to the wood but it didn’t matter. His desire and drive were ancient things. Charlie wasn’t capable of thinking too much nor was he able to make many decisions or choices. Choice, thought, they brought danger to the equation. Charlie simply was. He existed now in the moment and pain though felt, was not important. He couldn’t allow himself to become distracted by such things.
The glancing blow that tore his flesh and drew his blood had little effect in such circumstances. He hadn’t hit his target, but he landed on his feet and turned without any hesitation, accelerating in a heartbeat, giving Magne barely enough time to regain his balance. There was no miscalculation or evasion for his second strike. He ran at Magne, this time upright and as Magne tried to block the attack, Charlie slammed into him and despite his relative light frame; his powerful muscular legs drove him at Magne with speed, so much so that he knocked the big man off his feet. But he over-did the power and as they hit the ground, Charlie tumbled over and past Magne, rolling on several yards beyond the fallen Norwegian.
The impact barely winded Magne but he let a roar as they came into contact. Instinctively he knew that he couldn’t delay for even a second and he immediately rolled over and pushed himself back up into a crouching position. But Charlie was equally quick and when he looked up the beast was just a few feet away, crouched and facing him.
For a moment they looked into each other’s eyes and Charlie remembered something. He didn’t quite know what it was but that fleeting thought from his previous life was enough to give Magne a slight advantage. He sprung high swinging the axe and although the creature rose to meet him, Magne landed the more significant blow. He buried his small axe into Charlie’s clavicle, cleaving the bone, separating his shoulder from his neck. It was an horrific injury and the scream that came from the beast was a terrifying. “Eyakk..a.kakk.kakk.kakk.kakk.”
They rolled apart again and this time the uninjured Magne, spurred on by his first two successful strikes, was the first to his feet. He jumped on the injured creature catching him from behind, flattening him on his back. Again he swung the axe, aiming a potentially fatal blow to the back of the creature’s skull.
But the beast of instinct had already recovered his most important one, the instinct for
survival. He bucked as Magne swung and unbalanced, Magne’s axe came down on the side of Charlie’s head. Although he half-sliced off the creature’s ear, he had failed to strike the killer blow. His axe hit something solid beneath the mass of mulched debris on the forest floor and it stuck fast. He pulled but his first attempt didn’t set it free. Magne reached to use both hands, sure now that he was moments from finishing the creature off but Charlie was far from finished.
In a single powerful movement, he bucked again and squirmed around until he lay on his back looking up at Magne. With both hands reaching across Charlie to pull the axe, he exposed his left side and the boy-beast sat up and sunk his teeth into the soft flesh beneath Magne’s left arm. His sharp teeth easily ripped flesh and muscle from bone and when he swung his head back, he spat out the bloody contents to free his teeth for a second bite.
Magne’s reaction was almost a reflex. He released his grip on the axe and rotated his torso to punch the beast across the side of the head. Even as he did so, Magne roared with pain and anger. As Charlie’s head hit the ground from the impact of the blow, Magne grabbed him by the throat and in response Charlie lashed out and slashed Magne’s face with his claw.
On it went, blow for bloody blow. Magne retrieved his axe, they fought blade against claw, power against ferocity, neither willing to yield, both determined to be the victor. At times they inflicted wounds on each other that came close to being fatal, but somehow they maintained the battle. It was bitter and it was bloody. Near the end, Magne once more overpowered the boy-beast and pinned his arms beneath his knees. Both exhausted from the conflict, Magne sat across the creature as he struggled in vain to free himself from beneath the weight of the big man.