“I’m sick of this shit; we should just head back”
Aldrich urged strongly, fully aware that it wasn’t a real option for either him or the man he was with.
“It’s pointless”
Cedric stared at Aldrich’s face, pondering the intelligence behind the young man’s remark. He found it was not stupidity in the young Aldrich’s face but rather laziness. A trait he was more forgiving of than idiocy.
“Aye, that’ll be right Aldrich! Head home, get decapitated for desertion all so we can sit on our arses instead of guarding these shores and keeping the whole kingdom safe!” he retorted, clearly angered by the suggestion.
“Safe from what?” Aldrich reacted throwing his arms out before him in a questioning manner, as he stopped and turned to face the ocean. He listened to the crashing of the waves against the high wall they walked upon. After a brief moment he turned to face Cedric again who had now crossed his arms in patience to hear the young man’s qualms.
“The Plaguekind?” he shook his head in disagreement of any answer Cedric might give. “It’s been 50 years since the rest of the world went silent because of them and not once have they ever been seen near our shores.”
“Since the world went silent?” Cedric repeated this statement back to Aldrich with a sly smirk on his face. “You a poet now?” He stared at Cedric with the snide grin that seemed to promise more teasing if he continued with his complaints. Aldrich lowered his head and turned slightly to the side.
Cedric then continued on,” Despite whoever you heard that from, the world was dark and silent long before the Plaguekind poked their ugly heads out of whatever hole they came from.” Cedric then pointed along the very dark shoreline,” I mean, I can’t even see 5 horses in front of me it’s so dark!” He exclaimed with glee, bursting out with laughter as he continued marching along the top of the wall.
Night had fallen long ago and there was a gentle mist in the air, making it harder to see than the average night. The only sounds heard were the waves, the breeze and the loud laughter of Cedric at his observational remark.
Aldrich watched the much older Cedric walk in front, laughing loudly and then he jogged slightly to catch up realising he would be left behind by the fast marching Cedric.
“Say, Cedric?” Aldrich was trying to make sure he had Cedric’s attention before continuing with his question while simultaneously trying to not clash shoulders with him on the think walkway.
“Aye?” replied Cedric, turning himself to face the young guardsman. Before Aldrich continued with his question he looked at the floor with focus for a second, clearly taking time to form the question in his mind.
“Say the Plaguekind did come here? Say… say we see one come out of the water now, what would we do?” He asked with the slightest hint of fear in his voice.
Cedric scoffed, “Don’t you remember basic training lad? We run to the nearest tower and light the beacon to alert the kingdom!” He had said this with all the confidence of someone who had repeatedly accomplished this task, which surprised even him as he had never once had to light the beacon.
“Yes, yes, I know that much!” Aldrich said impatiently. He sighed and tried again after rephrasing the question. “I mean after… After we light the beacon?”
Understanding the severity of the question, Cedric stared quietly. He could almost feel Aldrich’s youthful naivety being taken from him by the answer he already knew was coming.
Aldrich started to speak again but this time there was almost no hope in his voice. “Are we expected to fight and die here?”
Cedric sighed then pulled his trousers higher up and fixed the uniform he had on, finishing up with a quick brush off of the shoulder area and rested his left hand upon his sword again.
“Listen lad, I don’t want to say anything to demoralise you on your first night patrol but you have to understand. This is Havensreach… we patrol for the Kingdom in the service of King Alaric Stormrider… When we were taken to join the Stromholm guards it’s to keep the land, our land, the last piece of land on all of Avalora safe! Safe from what eats it!”
Cedric leaned against the battlement on the shore side of the wall, which was only about 10ft above ground and led directly to the inland of Havensreach. “My family, YOUR family live here.” He turned to face Aldrich again. “If one of those things shows up here then aye lad. We’ll fight, we’ll fight until we’ve got nothing left and die knowing we did everything we could to save the people of Havensreach….”
Both men were quiet as they both digested the words spoken by the experienced guardsmen and a sombre tone descended over them.
Feeling the tone shift, Cedric acted fast to not let it affect the rest of the night. He slapped Aldrich hard on the back in a reassuring fashion and spoke loudly, “but that’ll never happen wee lad! I’ve been doing this job thirty years and the worst injury I ever got was from tripping on this shite brickwork!” He laughed loudly through his huge moustache and marched towards the next guard tower, Aldrich scrambled to keep up behind him.
The guard tower was perched atop the formidable stone wall, its silhouette visible in the misty night air. Havensreach kingdom’s flag fluttered proudly from the tower’s apex, imbuing it with an air of authority and symbolising the unwavering vigilance of those who stood guard within its protective embrace.
It was constructed of sturdy grey bricks, rising with unwavering resilience. Inside, it had two floors of a modest size, close to that of a small shack. The ground floor housed a few chairs, torches and oil for the torches with two doors in and out at either side of the tower. There was also a ladder in the corner of the ground floor which led up to the first floor.
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The upper floor had no walls, only four stone pillars in each corner which held up the roof over a large pile of hay. The hay was stacked as high as an adult man but twice as thick and was all held together by a metal brazier.
This served as the beacon with the singular purpose of alerting the next guard tower, which in turn would light their beacon and so forth until subsequently all 500 beacons around the entire western shore of the land of Havensreach would be lit.
As the two guardsmen marched along the wall they could see the guard tower in the distance and thus began to relax as he thought about his favourite chair inside. He was also comforted by the fact that one of his favourite guards – Gideon was to stay with the beacon tonight.
With this thought he spoke to the young Aldrich and began to tell him of Gideon. “Wait until you meet Gideon lad! I’m telling you the man is as big as a moun…”
Cedric was interrupted by a sharp grab of his shoulder by Aldrich, “What the bloody hell is that!!” Aldrich spoke sharply and with urgency. He threw his pointed finger up not towards the shore but towards the inland side of the wall which was all grassland.
Cedric strained his eyes to try and see through the thick darkness as the torches along the wall mostly lit up the shore side and not much of anything inside the wall.
“Where lad?” Cedric whispered as he was still unable to see whatever had shaken up the young guard.
“Right there, bloody hell! It’s staring right at us!” Aldrich’s voice had urgency and fear in full control of it. As he thrust his finger forward again to try and help Cedric see this mysterious thing. Just then the wind blew from the shore with the flames from the torches being pushed towards the inner wall which lit up the grassland, then he saw it.
It was an almost spectral figure wearing the darkness like a malevolent aura. The air grew heavy with foreboding as it stared at the two guards, its skeletal frame barely visible through the shroud of darkness. The flickering flame gave fleeting glimpses of its hollow eyes that burned with an almost otherworldly piercing light. Strands of thick hair wispy hair cascaded from its gaunt skull, moving as if alive, driven by an unseen malevolent wind.
Cedric froze with fear as this creature stared at them unmoving from its position. He then managed to shake himself out of his state of shock and shook Aldrich who he could tell was also frozen. “Lad! Lad!” Aldrich awoke from his state of petrification with a startle.
“We’re right close to the guard tower let’s move, now!” Cedric shouted commandingly as he pushed Aldrich in the right direction to the guard tower and began to run.
As they ran there was a very low pitched howl that also seemed to contain a second human sounding scream within it. The scream rattled the air and brought with it a palpable sense of dread.
Cedric’s heart pounded as he ran, feeling that any decrease in speed would be his death. He felt that the creature was right behind him with its long arm reaching for his head or perhaps his legs to trip him. He breathed heavy as he pushed his legs harder than ever with his weapon and uniform weighing him down, Aldrich wasn’t far ahead.
Cedric turned his head to look for the creature. The darkness was too great to see if it was giving chase or not. “There it is!” Aldrich shouted at the clear sight of the guard tower.
Just as Aldrich reached the door Cedric’s feet slipped quickly off the brickwork and he hit the wall floor hard, letting out a deep grunt at his pain. Aldrich turned and quickly returned to Cedric to help him up while looking around in every direction for any sign of the creature.
Getting Cedric up from the floor was a more time consuming task than Aldrich would’ve liked it to be due to Cedric’s large frame and age. However he kept a keen eye out for any movement. In the time it took to get Cedric on his feet again they had both calmed down. Especially with being just outside the guards tower.
Once to his feet, Cedric and Aldrich had a good look around and into the darkness with their hands on their weapons while breathing heavily. There was no sign of the creature. “Are you good?” Aldrich asked panting softer now, concerned for Cedric after his fall and realising the run would’ve been a lot of strain on the older man.
“Aye lad, I’m alright” he said brushing himself off and fighting to get his breath back. “See that thing anywhere?” he asked through heavy breathes.
“No sir” Aldrich said with a heavy sigh of relief. “What in the gods was that thing?”
“Couldn’t get a good look at it myself!” Cedric replied loudly trying to regain some pride but still looking around for safety. He brushed himself off. “Let’s find Gideon and go find out what that thing…” he trailed off staring at his leg. “My leg is soaking” he stated.
With this realisation, Cedric grabbed a torch from the entrance to the guard tower and lit up the brickwork where he had slipped. He looked closer and noticed the floor was wet. Not just the floor but the battlement as well. It was a trail of seawater coming out from the sea then up and over the wall and continued inland.
Fear overtook them again. “Plaguekind!” It’s the fucking Plaguekind! They are here! Gideon! Light the beacon!” Cedric shouted up to the first floor of the guard tower as he ran to the door leading inside of it.
He pulled open the door and inside the guard tower was in darkness. Gideon, the guard responsible for the beacon that night, was standing with his back to Cedric. He was extremely tall but was slightly leaning to one side. Cedric quickly investigated with his eyes and was able to see a growing puddle of blood beneath Gideon.
“Gideon?” he said with a calmer and inquisitive voice while drawing his sword.
The large man turned to face Cedric who could then see he was injured badly, with a large piece of his torso ripped from him and was bleeding profusely.
“Gideon, what happened?” asked Cedric beginning to approach out of worry for his fellow guardsmen and long-time friend. As he approached Gideon’s face came into better view revealing hollow eyes of a face covered with deep lacerations which was completely missing a bottom jaw.
“Gideon! No!” Cedric shouted and as these words left his mouth, whatever it was that remained of Gideon lunged for him. The remains of Gideon whipped his left arm towards Cedric and the index finger of his left hand punctured through Cedric’s left eye. Keeping his finger inside Cedric’s eye socket he turned his arm and lifted Cedric off the ground by his eye socket in an extreme showcase of strength that he would not of been capable of in life. Cedric screamed in pain while holding the remains of Gideon’s wrist as it dangled him off the ground and began kicking violently.
This mad wiggling made little difference to Gideon as he easily help the large man off the ground. His attention then shifted to Cedric’s large stomach and he began to rip pieces out of Cedric’s middle section with his right hand and forced the pieces down what was left of his own throat. All Cedric could do was hold onto his friends arm to try and pull himself free out of his eye or at least alleviate the pain of his full weight on the singular point inside his eye.
Aldrich, never the coward, had grabbed his sword and tried his best to make the save for Cedric, however as he stepped forward through the door into the guard tower his left ankle would not move. He quickly looked down to investigate the crushing pressure he felt on his ankle but as soon as he could see the disgustingly elongated fingers wrapped around his ankle, he was pulled with such tremendous force that his skull burst open against the door frame as he was dragged fast out of sight and into the darkness.
The night fell silent once again. Only the movement of the waves were making noise and the beacon remained unlit.