Take the body and give me the rest

by Julius Schenk

  ‘Well, let’s dismount from these horses, double back through the trees and hope we get there before the caravan does.’ Seth said.

  Seth looked at the brigand troop from the cover of trees that was a decent way back from the edge of the cutting. All told, there were seven of them. A rough cast of mismatched men in mismatched armour and weapons. All of them stood or crouched at the edge of the cutting, straining to see as the dust from the caravan’s paths slowly crept closer and closer.

  They all had bows set and arrows set, intending to rain some death down onto the caravan and then swoop in and pick up the juiciest pieces. With the very few guards in the train, Seth knew any order would fall apart as soon as the first arrow struck. He’d traded his rapier for one of the stolen broadswords when they had started to go out on patrol, and he drew it quietly from its sheath. The others had weapons drawn and were crouched, waiting for his signal. There was no time for a plan now, not with five against seven, them all with bows and still a short run from the cover to reach them.

  When the caravan just turned the corner and the lead brigand stood up a little to adjust his aim, Seth let out a bellow of ‘Bloodcrest!’ and, leaping from the cover, started rushing towards the men with his sword held ready. His cry was echoed in his men. He saw the faces of the men who were now his enemies. He saw them turning shocked, and he saw arrows being aimed at them in a clumsy fashion. Seth slashed down in a heavy cut at the face of the man he was now in front of, the arrow the man fired moments before whistled past his ear, just a hair’s breadth from hitting him. The man, who was a quite short compared to Seth and a battle scared veteran, died screaming as he fell backwards down the cutting and onto the roadway.

  Seth turned and engaged another man. This one hadn’t time to draw his sword and pointed his bow at Seth’s chest. They were so close, Seth grabbed the arrow and bow in one hand, thrusting it away; with the other hand he plunged his sword through the man’s weak mail and into his stomach. The man collapsed to the ground, dropping the bow.

  Grimm had the shaft of an arrow in his shoulder but was smiling with a bloody face. The troop had survived and, indeed, made short work of the brigands. Seth turned to look, seeing now only five men and five bodies, two having fallen to the road below. Seth looked down over the edge and saw the anxious fat face of Rosen looking back at him, his two guards standing with crossbows pointed up at them.

  ‘Hold there, Master Rosen, it’s all over now!’ shouted Seth. ‘And money well spent I should say as well!’

  Rosen looked relieved and the guards lowered their weapons. ‘I’ve always had an eye for a good investment. You men come find me at the fire tonight and I’ll toast your health.’

  With that, Rosen spurred on his horse and got the caravan moving again, passing the two bodies on the side of the road with little concern now he was out of danger. As the caravan passed below, word passed from traveller to traveller that the Northmen with them had just saved them from a brigand attack. Eager faces peered up at them from the back of every horse and out of every wagon.

  Drawing back from the edge, Seth turned to see Flint drawing the arrow from Grimm’s shoulder. The shaft was broken but long enough to grasp, but the arrow had wicked sharp barb that tore the wound bigger as it came out. Rich dark blood started to pour out around his hand as he tried to cover and staunch the wound.

  ‘You alright, Grimm’ Seth asked with concern, kneeling next to him, the wound was bleeding much too much for his liking.

  ‘Ha ha, better than them boss, but I’m in trouble I think’ Seth could see the colour starting to drain from his face and knew he would soon start slipping away from the blood that kept running from the ragged wound.

  Seth stood and shouted in frustration. The boys crowded around Grimm and then Flint talked to Seth simply like the child he was ‘Can’t you save him with your powers boss’

  Seth almost laughed at Flint’s simple acceptance of his strange gifts. He knew the only way to save him was to make him a part of the summoning. He looked at Grimm. ‘I can save you but it’s very dark work and dangerous, but I will if you want me to.’

  Grimm looked at him as he clutched his wound getting closer and closer to passing out and into the long sleep ‘please Seth, I think I know you’re involved in some dark business but if you trust it, I will too.’

  Seth sighed and pulling out the satchel with the summoning stones placed them in a circle around the un-questioning men. He hadn’t needed to use them to protect himself but he had no idea what the creature would make of his new companions.

  ‘Ok, all kneel down with you heads bowed and you’re eyes shut, Grimm try not to die and don’t, don’t leave the circle no matter what you hear.’ They knelt as directed and he could see the fear but trust in their faces.

  Once they were safely in the circle Seth started the chant and the creature appeared within mere moments. The rift was invisible and one moment it wasn’t there and the next it was. He heard Goldie gasp in shock at the sight of the beast, clearly looking against Seth’s instructions.

  Seth had his new enemies for the creature and, even though they were dead, he knew that by all the fresh warm hearts would be suitable. He thought about what to do now. Surely Goldie, Grimm, Flint and Stone knew he wasn’t a normal person by now—the business with the Guild, being so young but so good at so many things. He wondered if this was letting them too far into his life, still he couldn’t just let Grimm die. Northmen were fairly accepting of magic and the gods, but this was something very different than the legends of old.

  The creature looked at the men in the circle and sniffed at them, but it didn’t try to attack, then it looked at the bodies of the brigands and Seth heard its word in his mind

  ‘Dead already but fresh enough all the same; you start to know the lore’ it said, words ringing loudly in his head.

  ‘I am learning and this time I want you to take them and give us the rest.’ When he said us, he thought clearly of himself, Flint, Stone, Goldie and Grimm. He pictured them as they stood knelling in the circle, no doubt terrified hearing if not seeing the beast.

  ‘More and more you learn. I can share with the many as well as the few but why should I. These one are nothing to me and that one’s almost dead himself’ It boomed

  ‘If it wasn’t for them I’d be the one dead at the top of this ridge, and they are loyal. Please don’t let him die’ He spoke the words out loud and in northern so the men would hear and understand as well.

  Without any more words, it began to rip into the nearest body, tearing away the flesh and bloody meat from the bone. It slashed at the bodies, ripping the armour out of its way. It went from one to the next, tearing into ripped chests, devouring the hearts and viscera. Gorging itself on the bloody feast Seth had prepared. He stood motionless, watching it destroy them and tried to stay motionless inside as well. Truly, he felt he was as monstrous as the creature. These were just men after all, men just like him and his little troop, maybe on the other side of things but not that far apart .

  He felt the hunger fade to nothing and then a glowing sense of warmth. It grew until his entire body was hot and surging with strength. Memories, thoughts and feelings from the five men washed through him, some staying and some leaving. He saw as they knelt, the bodies of his men started to shake as they were hit with the wave of power, he knew that Grimm’s wound would be healing on its own and within minutes he’d been back from the edge of death.

  As the memories washed over him, he felt that he had everything from every one of the men, but that was only a part of it; it was even more powerful than just one set of memories. He had five lifetimes of training, fighting, surviving and killing. It was a bloody education but a powerful one.

  The creature turned to regard him with its intelligent yellow eyes and slowly licked the blood from its hairless muscles.

  ‘You’ve done well, my boy, and now I can rest again for some years . . . until you call me again.’

  ‘Years for you is
only weeks and months for me,’ Seth said.

  ‘That’s true, but don’t be ungrateful. It’s a bloody price, but look at all the gifts I can give to you and your followers.’

  Seth had never talked properly with the creature but now wanted to know more. How was it different from the dead called back by the people of the desert?

  ‘I have questions to ask you, if I can,’ Seth said.

  ‘You’ve pleased me, so I will answer one.’

  ‘The desert people call back their own dead to share the memories, but you’re not one of them. I don’t know what you are.’

  He felt a laugher deep and painful in his mind. ‘They are just what you say, the dead of your people. They live in my cold dead land and when one of you creates the gateway over, they cross over. As many things other than people live in your lands, the same is true for mine. The sharing power comes from my land. When your dead come back, they bring it with them, but the power is meant for us.’

  ‘Are there others like you?’

  ‘A few, but you mustn’t deal with them; your pact is with me alone.’

  ‘I have no wish to meet them.’

  ‘No, you don’t’ it said, walking from the world.

  Seth went to the circle and pulled aside Grimm’s shirt and saw the wound was completely healed if he was still covered in blood. They stood in the circle, three opening their eyes and stared at him. Goldie looked at him with a strange mix of fear and jealousy.

  ‘Well Grimm, looks like you’ll live’ Seth said sadly, he was so troubled by this but what choice did he have.

  Grimm surprised him by actually laughing and then he embraced Seth hard ‘You saved me and not only that I feel so strong and filled with all of these memories of those men, I think I could use a bow now’

  Seth talked to them as they fell back to their old habits and quickly looted the brigands taking their bows as well ‘it’s true we have taken their memories into us and now we know what they did’

  Goldie spoke ‘what was that thing?’

  Flint spoke before Seth could ‘What do you mean a thing?’

  ‘He called something and it came and devoured these men’ Goldie said ‘it was like a big, ugly wolf but with no hair’

  Flint and Stone looked at each other ‘What is it?’ they asked, some of the wonder of their gifts gone.

  Grimm spoke up loudly ‘I don’t care what it looked like, it saved me, it’s saved Seth many times no doubt and it’s on our side. Now shut up and get moving back to camp, I’ve got drinking to do.’

  Seth loved him for that.

  Chapter 20

  It was strange for Seth, who was feeling deeply troubled about the day’s events, to be received along with his men as heroes with no reserve by the caravan of people they had saved from the ambush. Rosen toasted them loudly; music was playing and people they were travelling with but hadn’t even met were coming to talk to them, shaking their hands and giving them small gifts of food and drink.

  He could see the broad smiles and happiness in his men. It was easier for them; they had followed orders, fought well and received gifts from a dark wolf god of some kind. Seth had planned to find some men to kill. He’d found them, led men to murder them and then fed their bodies and maybe their souls to a creature from another land, the land of the dead, who’d devoured them and taken all their gifts and talents.

  Still, all the caravan people knew was that some men had planned on killing and robbing them, but they had been stopped. Seth had found some new enemies and he clung to the idea that the world was a better place for the actions of his small troop of killers.

  Seth left Goldie, Grimm, Flint and Stone by the fire, drinking and enjoying the moment. He sought out Elizebetha, whom he’d not seen in four days. To be honest with himself, it was becoming harder and harder to stay connected with her, he felt more like member of the Guild than one of whatever she was.

  He found her sitting around her own roaring fire, with her attendant who just posed as a travel companion, stood and left, as if planned, as he approached. She smiled with a very sad and knowing smile as he approached the fire.

  ‘Captain Seth, with his brave troop of Northmen.’ She said.

  ‘Is that who I am now? Not a runaway slave leading men to kill others’

  ‘You’re a hero to those of us in this caravan who are still alive because of your actions, but I could feel it happening Seth, I felt Grimm slipping away and then you calling the creature. Now he’s here by the fire, drinking and shooting a bow with too much skill for a novice’

  Seth knew he was getting closer and closer to his darker nature but what choice had he been given? At every turn his hand was being forced, now he grew angry with her ‘What choice did I have, they would have killed the people in this caravan, so we stopped them, and what am I meant to do? Let Grimm die for the act of putting his body on the line for strangers.’

  ‘Seth you need to know I felt those men as a dark cloud over this caravan. Had you not been here, they would have attacked anyway and killed many more than you were forced to,’ she said with sincerity. ‘But I’m afraid for you, how many in the Guild started this way feeling they were forced and getting darker and darker in their actions. Wasn’t Stephan forced by the hunger when he took your story teller in Dacar? Just beware Seth you’re treading in some very dangerous waters.’

  He sat down next to her with a sigh, his anger gone, she was right, he needed to remember who he was and who he wanted to be. He smiled at her ‘you’re right, I’ll fight it, don’t worry.’

  ‘We’ve been spared for now, but I’ve a strong feeling tomorrow is the day we’ll have some new additions to our caravan. I’m not sure if they will attack straight away, would you?’

  ‘Rosen says we’re five days from the next city. I think they’ll wait and attack then.’

  ‘Why wait?’ she asked.

  ‘Our heroics have drawn attention to us but also bought us more allies in the caravan. All they have to do is wait for us to separate in the city and strike then. They’ll also assume that I’ll let the boys loose in the city. What do we know about them?’ he asked.

  ‘Only that the woman leading them is called Seraphina. I met her before years and years ago. She’s very strong in the Guild and she’s Stephan’s niece. They want to kill me as much as they do you. In fact, they have been following me since I boarded The Opulent but you’re becoming more of a thorn in their side than I ever was.’

  As she said the name ‘Seraphina’ Seth was filled with a flood of the General’s memories. There were so many in there that Seth never came close to touching them all. But now he saw her as she was in Stephan’s mind. He loved her as a daughter and respected her as a guild member. If Stephan respected her that meant one thing, she was a killer too.

  Chapter 21

  The boys were spending most of their time now patrolling up and down the length of the caravan, checking new comers and scouting out the passes for any possible ambush. Seth, for his part, stayed now with Elizebetha in her covered wagon, mostly they travelled in silence. He kept imagining an arrow to come buzzing through the leather sides of the wagon or a female hand with a dagger to slip in and into his throat.

  It was a good thing he was now known as Captain Seth and his martial appearance wasn’t remarked upon. He was now fitted with a bow, broadsword , rapier and dagger, all strapped to his mount. He had fired a few practise shots with the bow and was impressed with his own skill at it for a person who had never trained in earnest , it was strange to use different muscles and he could feel his body getting used to the new movements of the art.

  Grimm kept a steady report back to the wagon of any people who had joined the caravan. So far there were a few families, some musicians from a small hamlet they had passed and a slaver’s train that had caught up to them on the road and wanted to stay with them for protection, having heard about the brigands. Rosen was happy to add their fee to his trip.

  Goldie spent a good amount of time tal
king with the slaver and looking over the people with him. They were only six slaves in total, tall men and women from the southern desert, dark skin and long matted hair. Along with the slaver and a guard, Seth felt they were travelling in the wrong direction in that they were going back towards their homeland, not the normal direction for slaves, but there was nothing suspicious about them. Seth decided that Seraphina and her group were simply shadowing the caravan and waiting til they reached the next stop, the smaller city called Pellota.

  Seth was sitting in the bumping wagon and reading through one of the many stolen books he’d taken out of the library before burning it down. It was a very small black leather one and it was written in uneven dark ink. Unlike many of the others that were diaries, this one was the passing of knowledge. Seth surmised it was at least a few hundred years old. As he read, a slow smile began to appear on his face. Elizebetha noticed and spoke up.

  ‘What have you found in your studies?’

  The book spoke of the dead land, the bridge that you could create and the creatures to be found in the land. It spoke mostly of the Wolvern, as it called them, but also spoke of the human dead and of the lesser creatures that resided there.

  ‘It speaks of the creatures in the land of the dead and what use this guild member had put them to.’

  ‘Let me guess: you’re thinking of calling something to help us track down our hidden foes.’

  ‘That’s the plan, and I think I might have found the perfect pet for the task.’ He handed her the book and let her read the page.

  As she finished she slowly shook her head. ‘Just be careful, Seth; you’re delving deeper than anyone I’ve known and it’s starting to get scary.’

  He laughed, taking the book back. ‘Don’t worry about me; I’ll be fine.’ His casual attitude far from reassuring her but he was getting so sick of her holding him back.

  That night once the caravan had stopped to make camp for the night, Seth crept out from the covered wagon. He was glad to see Flint and Stone on guard, sitting near a fire talking quietly. He walked passed them without saying a word into the darkness. They noticed him pass but made no comment or move to join him.