The Winter Sniper

by James Mullins

  Nasir awoke to the sound of Maarika splashing in the water of the spring pool. She had left the door open between the two chambers. He got up and walked into the spring room. Maarika was floating in the pool with a smile on her face.

  “Good morning,” said Nasir.

  Maarika looked up at him and smiled, “Good morning. Do you think I’ll ever get used to this much water?”

  “Wait until you see the sea.” said Nasir.

  “What’s a sea? I’ve never heard the word before,” asked Maarika.

  “The sea is a giant body of water. It’s as large as the open desert in Arabia,” replied Nasir.

  “Truly?”

  “Truly.”

  Maarika rose from the pool. Nasir’s gaze took in her body. She glanced down, smiled at him and said, “Looks like you’re hungry for more than food.” As she finished speaking, she winked at him and started giggling.

  Nasir stepped into the pool with her, held her close and said, “Indeed.”

  As they kissed, they heard a dull thump on the door, “What’s that?” Maarika asked.

  “Probably one of my men wondering if you’ve murdered me in my sleep. I usually rise a lot earlier than this.”

  Maarika looked up into his eyes and coyly said, “Well, you’re not used to getting so much exercise after the sun sets I think.”

  Nasir smiled, put his hand on the side of Maarika’s face, and kissed her. The door thumped again a little louder this time.

  Nasir yelled, “Go away, I’m fine!”

  Whoever was on the other side of the door, ignored Nasir’s shout and began banging on it continuously. The mood broken, Nasir yelled, “What the hell is your problem? Go away!”

  The command didn’t seem to help, and the thumping continued. Sighing in disgust, Nasir went into his sleeping chamber and put his uniform on, “This had better be really damn important. I told you to go away.”

  Nasir pulled up the bar on the door, and it was immediately was flung open. Startled, he fell backward onto the stone floor. In an instant, a horrible apparition leaped onto him. The thing’s teeth kept repeatedly biting as it pushed toward Nasir’s throat. Soldier’s instinct instantly took over, and Nasir applied all of his strength to stop the thing from sinking its teeth into him. He tried to fling the whatever it was off, but it had a vise-like grip on his shoulders.

  Maarika, still nude, ran into the room and screamed at the site of the creature on top of Nasir. It appeared to be one of Nasir’s men, but something was horribly wrong with the man. It looked like one of those things that had destroyed her tribe.

  She looked around the room desperate for a weapon to use against the thing and help Nasir. Her eyes fell on the wine bottle from last night, laying discarded on the floor. She grabbed it and smashed it down onto the thing’s head. The wine bottle broke in half and pieces of glass rained down on Nasir’s face. The beastly apparition seemed to pay the glass no mind and continued trying to bite Nasir.

  Maarika, noticing that the broken bottle still in her hand had a jagged edge, plunged it into the top of the thing’s head. Without a sound, it went limp and stopped trying to bite Nasir.

  “Thanks. What the hell happened to Shidfar? Is this one of the demons you spoke about?”

  Maarika answered the question sobbing, “Yes.”

  Nasir muttered, “Bloody hell! I wonder if this has happened to all my men?” He shut the door and barred it again, “Help me with my armor.”

  Maarika nodded dully and helped Nasir buckle on his armor. Like everything else at the outpost, the armor was ancient. It was a suit of Legionnaire Banded Mail that dated back at least a couple of centuries. Though old, it had been well maintained. The leather and many of the buckles had been replaced over the years, and there was not a spot of rust on the entire suit.

  Nasir inspected himself. Satisfied, he buckled his Spatha to his waist and grabbed the shield. He handed his dagger to Maarika, “Stay in here.”

  Nasir unbarred the door and stepped into the barracks room. What he saw horrified him. Blood was splashed all over the walls. In the middle of the floor was a pile of bones that used to be a person. Bits and pieces of flesh were still attached to the bones, but they had been mostly picked clean. Flies buzzed around the room, and it reeked of death. The door outside had been closed and barred as well, How did that creature get into this room?

  Steeling himself for another attack, Nasir lifted the bar and leaped back with his Spatha drawn. After about sixty seconds, convinced that there was no immediate danger, he approached the door again. He put his ear up to it and listened. He heard nothing but the faint whisper of the wind. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He then stood to the side of the door and opened it.

  The door opened with a creaking noise. Nasir raised his Spatha above his head waiting to strike anything that came through the doorway. Nothing did. Finally, he cautiously peered around the edge of the door frame. The horrors he saw outside made him vomit. The noise from his sudden bout of nausea attracted the attention of another one of those things. Hearing the sound of Nasir vomiting, it charged toward the doorway. It was Oshnar, transformed into the same hideous thing that Shidfar had become.

  As the creature charged into the doorway, Nasir brought his Spatha down onto the thing’s neck using an overhead stroke. The sharp edge of the Spatha cleaved into the Oshnar at the base of the neck and didn’t stop until it exited at the opposite thigh. The two halves of whatever it was fell to the ground with a dull splat.

  The part of Oshnar that had the head attached to it reached for Nasir’s leg with its one arm. Grabbing his shin, it tried to pull itself closer. Disgusted Nasir plunged his Spatha into the top of Oshnar’s head. The former cook stopped moving.

  “What the holy hell happened to you Oshnar? How did he survive being cleaved in two?” Nasir asked, bewildered.

  Maarika, hearing Nasir’s voice, opened the door, saw the mess, and screamed. Nasir ran to her and shushed her, “Please, there may be more of those things out there. They seem to be attracted to sound.”

  “I’m sorry, it’s just. . .” Maarika couldn’t complete her sentence.

  Nasir took her into his arms and whispered, “Its ok, you’re safe.”

  He led her back into his sleeping chamber and said, “Stay here. I still need to see what happened outside.” She nodded dully in response.

  Nasir once again walked out into the barracks chamber. This time he walked directly across the room, stepped over Shidfar’s corpse and went outside. As he stepped outside, he held his shield up in a defensive position and drew his Spatha. The outpost had become a house of horrors. The bones of the rest of his men were scattered about. Blood was everywhere.

  Nasir muttered, “What in God’s name?” He walked around the compound. The gate was still in place barring access to the Roman side of the wall. He stepped up onto the rampart and peered out into the pass. Nothing but stone cliffs, the rutted dirt road, and the gentle warm wind blowing up it from the heart of Arabia was on the other side of the wall.

  Finding nothing still alive Nasir went back to where Maarika was hiding, “Everyone’s dead.”

  Maarika gave Nasir a hug, “What do we do?”

  Nasir replied, “I must warn my Kentarches about these things.”

  There was nothing left in the larder except the flour they used for their daily bread ration. All of the food that had been prepared the night before was gone. Maarika got a fire going in the outpost’s oven and baked some bread for their journey. While she did this Nasir gathered up what water skins he could find amongst the possessions of his dead men and filled them using the spring. Provisioned for their journey, they set out to warn the Empire about this new evil.

 

 

 
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