Ch: 195 Up For The Down Stroke
Vixoreath’s army of minions had marched out in fine order, a small legion of haunted bones nearly four hundred strong. Seven of her eleven remaining shadow wight servitors had gone along, hiding among her corporeal minions. Whatever happened to the bones, she would have new flesh to stalk her ossuary, very soon.
She could feel the living fools… and their pet deadling, lurking like a mortal disease in the body of their group. It would have consumed them soon, regardless… Only good fortune brought this tasty treat to her doorstep while it was so ripe for the plucking.
Her prime servant had been consumed by the one outside, which was awkward and annoying. She would have to punish this new one severely, once she had consumed its essence and made it a servitor to replace Mortis.
She would have sighed and smiled with pleasure, despite the loss of Mortis, but she had no idea how to actually do either of those things.
The deadling had somehow established a zone of influence, a domain of a sort, at the edge of her own aura. It was constantly harassing her stable sphere, with tendrils of hungry, animal instinct that disgusted her, with their filthy mortal and corporeal nature.
Her horde would certainly drag the scant two dozen mortals and their animals to her screaming in delicious terror soon. Her wights were under orders to bring the deadling without fail…
That was that point when her army began to vanish, consumed as quickly as they approached the mortals’ domain across the empty town of haunts and shades.
Those same hungry, mortal tendrils of animate Will snapped up her tools, snatching away their motive spirits, leaving useless dust behind. When the first of her wights vanished, devoured in an instant without a scrap left behind… she felt a frisson of some alien emotion. That was a new experience.
She watched in growing distress as her force winked out on dozens and scores… in an awkwardly brief span of mortal time, her army was gone, devoured in a few big gulps.
Even more distressing, a short time later, something approached her domain, pushing past her forbiddance aura without a ripple. A lot of somethings…
A moment later it became clear her own army of bones and rags came marching back, in a far more militant cadence than she had managed from the horde.
As they drew closer,things got more concerning, she had expected a battle for control of the bodies, one she would win easily against a halfdead mortal… except the bodies were empty. Utterly devoid of energy, not a scrap remained.
Sweet, ringing falsetto voices crooned, as the army of lifeless husks swayed and danced through the town. They passed into the graveyard and through the ossuary, paying no heed to her attempts to take control. They simply danced past, never missing the beat, each one clad in a dusky skin of shadowstuff.
Do it light, taking me through the night,
Shadow dancing, baby you do it right.
Give me more, drag me across the floor,
Shadow dancing, all this and nothing more…
The army of hollow corpses marched right past her ossuary and returned to the catacombs, crypts and graves she had called them from, when she had first been summoned here.
Do it light, taking me through the night,
Shadow dancing, baby you do it right.
Give me more, drag me across the floor,
Shadow dancing, all this and nothing more.
Still singing, they lay down and ceased to be. They vanished from her perceptions, as whatever faint, occult force animating them fled… without a trace.
Tenebrae, her strongest remaining wight whispered in the darkness. “It is shadowstuff, master… not dead, but living shadows… it lingers all around…” It hesitated, as if in fear, like a mortal. “Yes, it. This is all one single shadow… somehow. This should not be, only a legion of living beings could cast so much shadow into the world.”
“Actually, I am legion… and I have come to reclaim this place and these souls.” A shadow being said, standing before her reliquary, as though it belonged there.
“This is the mortal realm, your time here is at an end, one way or another. The living have come to cast you out, as you know they must.”
“You think I will flee, that I can flee? I am bound to this place and your mortal arts cannot root me out. Even if you somehow defeat me, I will return in a few short generations of men, to feast on the screams of your mortal kin. Flee from this place, deadling… lest I devour you and all your mewling mortal prey.”
“Hmm, this is the negotiation phase of our little affair… You did let me get out some high quality heroic proclamations.” He shook his shadow cowl and laughed softly. “Really… ‘I am legion’? I’m never gonna have another chance like that.”
“Silence mortal! I will swallow your soul!” She roared, shaking dust and mold spores from the heights of the ossuary rafters.
“That was disappointingly predictable... I’m warning you, if you take a hard line, I will ‘root out’ every scrap of you and leave nothing behind.” He said quietly. “That’s just fair warning and friendly advice. I’d rather just boot you out of this world.” The shadow shifted uncomfortably.
“I don’t wanna do it the hard way, that always gives me indigestion.”
“Mortal, I will shred your essence into rags, skin your corpse and use the leather to fashion a lovely wind chime from your bones…” She began, until he turned and began drifting away.
“All right, the hard way. See you soon.” He said, as he departed.
She continued raging and shrieking until he was out of range, drifting slowly though the haunted town and savoring the quiet, unliving darkness all around.
“It’s almost a shame to bring the living back…”
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“That one is a real piece of… work.” Gary said softly, as he woke on a blanket in the garden, surrounded by sleeping kids.
“Aye, ye did ‘dip out’ an visit that creature… I know ye did.” Shai whispered furiously.
“I only projected my voice and senses through my shadows… it’s a party trick. I needed to give her a chance to do the right thing before taking her down.” He sighed wearily. “She chose the hard way, so I’m gonna have to work hard for this one love.”
“We will be wi thee boy, lean on yer kin an yer friends. Dinnae forget that ye are nae alone, an never shall be again.” She nestled into the cuddle pile with him and the little ones.
“Did ye learn aught that be of use?”
“Not much, beyond that she considers herself female, has a bad attitude and is so scared right now, she can’t think straight. I don’t think she’s ever been scared before… that must be upsetting for an immortal. I think she sensed the remnants of Skrigg, Sluggy and Victor in my aura.”
“Ye learnt nothing? Just that?” Shai grumbled. “Ye are worthless as a scout. Tis good ye hae a bonny arse.”
“My shadow has different senses than a living body. I can’t really see inanimate objects, they are just shapes. The living are so bright they’re hard to look at, the undead are so dark they can’t really be seen.” He snuggled in under the kids with a happy sigh.
“I do get a good sense of a place, a feel for its spiritual wavelength, if you will and this town has a peaceful vibe. Not just ‘cause it’s empty and haunted, either.”
“Rest boy, we hae work in the morning.” Shai got up and went inside, as Otho ambled over and took her spot, huffing in doggy pleasure when he got settled in.
Becky and Dannyl carried the kids up to bed, while Tallum dragged a still sleeping Gary inside as full darkness crashed down on the valley, igniting a firestorm of stars above. A soft, cold breeze drifted down from the sky, smelling of green growing things somewhere, a reminder that spring was slowly becoming summer.
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Liam and Pangborne stood with Rolf on the rampart, looking across the hillside town at the shattered cathedral dome and bell spire. For some reason, the town was more visible by moonlight than daylight, growing more distinct as the night deepened all around. The moon cast sharp cut shadow lines, highlighting what was intact and what was broken. Shades and ghosts could be seen, drifting around on their unliving business heedless of the living observers.
“Don’t stare at them.” Gary whispered, from right in the middle of the group. “If you look too long, they get upset. Ghosts and shades become haunts when agitated, that’s where house hauntings come from. The more their ectoplasm gets churned up, the stronger and longer lasting they get.”
“Gods damn you Gary!” Liam shouted, while falling back to splat, fully spread eagle onto the lawn. “I’m fine… Bloody lunatic…” He climbed out of a Liam shaped depression in the lawn with a grumbling sigh. “mooncalf…”
“Sorry, this place feels really quiet, it feeds into my natural sneakiness.” He murmured softly.
“You didn’t have a problem being loud a few hours ago.” Pangbourne grumbled.
“Daylight. Now it is the time of quiet darkness and sweet deathlike slumber.” He crooned.
“Gods, if he’s going to spew nonsense I’m going inside.” The baronet followed Rolf to the inn door; the young Order knight seemed to have come to the same conclusion as Frank. No further information would be forthcoming tonight.
“Stop being creepy, Gary. We all know you’re haunted by the least scary ghosts ever.” Liam complained as he climbed back up on the wall.
“What are we facing? Shai said you talked to it.”
“Our friend sucks. She’s a selfish, careless, psychopath, there’s no interest or care for others in her at all, other beings are just means to her ends.” He mumbled. “I’m gonna give her Morrigan’s blessing, I think.”
“Is that going to do something to you again? It seems like every time you’ve done that, things have gotten… weird.” He nudged his mad brother on the shoulder. “I don’t want you losing it in a haunted town, miles from help.”
“Who else can help me? They’re all here already. If things go badly, I promised Shai she’d be the one… nevermind.” He serioused up for a moment, locking eyes with Liam. “I’m gonna need Becky on this one… I need help convincing Shai to stay with the kids.”
“You’re on your own there brother. Tawny likes my face in its current shape.” Liam answered quickly.
“I’ll stay with the kids. I wanna study how your house reacts when you are under stress anyway.” Ivy called out from the garden below them. “Come inside before you get moontanned, ya goofs.”
She scolded and harried them inside and handed the two boys off to their women for further corrective actions. “Men… I can’t believe we just let them wander around loose…” Ivy complained to the room in general.
The kids were in bed, the guard shift was guarding, all seemed well… Shai even had her bells tinkling again, so he wouldn’t be sleeping in the kid’s room tonight. Some dark night she might go through with that threat…
#
“That was a very… upsetting display of… what was that?” Marduk asked that night. “Shadow magic, necromancy, aura manipulation, some kind of sympathetic witchcraft and a bit of your bizarre Entrainment gift?” The tiny god stomped around in agitation. “Bizarre, even for you. What was the point of returning all that dust to the crypts?”
“First, it sends a message, not to her, but to the spirits still lingering in the town. That flesh wanted to go home, scattering their bones over the field and leaving them would have offended the spirits of the town.” He answered calmly.
“You never had flesh, so you probably don’t get it. Their culture was very corporeal, very mortal… They had elaborate funerary rituals and traditions, like most human civilizations. In general we care what happens to our ancestor’s bodies and our own, that leaves an impression on the bones and the soil. They belong together, until they finally decay... There are exceptions of course.”
He grinned at the listening family members. Even Esperanza was paying attention, while cuddling up with Chilli, the llama god.
He kept rambling on, strumming an acoustic guitar while talking mostly to himself. “Rootedbear’s clan scatters their dead in a funerary forest, to return to the soil freely. I hear a lot of the beastfolk have similar traditions. Axio’s lost tribe had a whole ‘compost your ancestors in a magic ritual to make the desert bloom’ thing that…” Gary choked up a little. “That shit was beautiful… the care and centuries of work…”
“Weirdo…” Becky grumbled loudly. “Quit complaining about how we treat our dead and start talking about handling this demon.”
“It’s one and the same… ‘cause they preserved their dead and squirreled them away, they became an outsized force in the people’s culture. Eventually the necropolis became a weight, dragging at them, rather than a buoy to show where safe waters lie.” The mad musician shrugged expressively. “Elaborate grave goods, veneration of the ancestral graves and crypts, all that stuff gets tangled up in emotion and magic… and remnant Will, Animus and Mind.”
“This place has a spirit, then? Like your friends rocky and Axio?” Liam asked, he and Tawny were seated together in a hammock swinging slowly while listening.
“Maybe… but the town definitely has a vibe that is very tranquil and quiet. It also provided a ton of preserved corpses, with loads of magical potential. All those bodies were ready to animate and use when our opponent showed up.” He grinned coldly and winked. “Now they can never be raised to walk again, the remnants of the prior occupants have all been drawn out into my shadow. I’m pretty crowded right now.”
“All those people are still inside you?” Becky whispered in horror.
“Nahh, it’s just echoes of them, a bit from him, a dollop of her… I’m a little stuffed full, is all. My bees are doing their job and managing the situation for me. In this garden, soul fragments are the nectar and pollen they make their honey from.”
The hive was extraordinarily active, swarming with big black bumblebees. More were flying drunkenly about, flitting from flower to flower in the quiet garden between worlds. Heavy cargos of sticky golden pollen vanished into the hive, as a steady stream of honey trickled down, into the large crock below.
“This blessing from Beast is very unusual… You seem to be refining those soul fragments somehow and incorporating their vital energies into your own essence, while releasing the actual soul particles into the void… fascinating and also impossible. “ Thirp murmured happily, watching the activity around the hive with interest.
“The process only functions because this place is between the physical realm you all occupy and the deep etheric void. Otherwise, the sheer number of foreign souls inside you would almost certainly rupture your essence in short order…”
“Thanks Ducks… you really know how to put a guy at ease.” Gary mumbled over a cup of tea, loaded with honey from his hive. “We’ve got a busy morning coming, evil to thwart, shades to lay and curses to break… I’m off to sleep.”
#
In the quiet, still depths of the forest on Gary’s back side… The dryad conclave listened keenly for a faint voice on the wind.
‘...You assume that We have some control or underlying scheme in this matter, We do not. No my children, whatever this being is, or will become is a local matter.’
“Forgive me, but the boy is terrifying…” Pine complained. “He has slain three immortals now… many of us are concerned that he may be a threat to us…”
“A few of us are concerned…” Solange, the elder magnolia grumbled over Pine’s nervous voice. “Those of us who have actually met him have no fear. He is a true druid as we once knew, just odd and chaotic.”
‘We simply put forces in motion, whatever results occur, beyond our intent are of little moment to us.’ The god Beast whispered in cricket song and the nearly inaudible whispering of butterfly wings. ‘Our only interest is in fostering life and growth on all worlds. This one is not performing as We expect, actions were taken to correct that. What form those actions take is a mortal concern. Driving out a few intruding outsiders is a good thing.’
“No, master…” Pine insisted. “He slew them, my lord. Skrigg, the mercenary, a greater slug demon and a hollow one… He slew a hollow one my lord…”
‘How extraordinary… but that is not a concern for me.’ A note of intense curiosity entered Beast’s voice of insect calls and fluttering wings. ‘Do you fear that he will slay you, somehow? Tell me about that sensation please…’
“Immortals, my lord, he made them mortal somehow and slew them out of hand!” Pine began to speak more loudly, though still careful while addressing her patron.
“He did not slay Skrigg, that being still lives, imprisoned in a salt crystal and watched over by a very well respected mountain spirit.” Plumeria sniffed unhappily at Pine. “Kinder to have slain it, Skrigg is not enjoying his current existence… That thought gives me a happy feeling inside.” She turned to Pine and sighed deeply, sending plum blossoms showering over the forest. “If you would take some time and meet the boy, you might be able to let go of that fear.”
#
Herndon Town was a wide, pleasant and well watered valley, nestled among the semi arid hills, like a jewel in a drab, dusty box. Wide expanses of green pastures and extensive hayfeilds surrounded the town proper, all vibrantly green and exploding with life. Jerry and Carlos rumbled into town and asked for directions to the home of master merchant Preven Yost, the recipient of their delivery.
Jerry was smiling and sighing constantly, seeming far more relaxed after a few nights beneath the willow boughs and days on the open, tranquil roads.
“Getting my ass kicked and losing my job were the two best things to happen to me in years, kid…” He announced out of nowhere. “Let’s get this delivered and head back, I wanna talk to that mad lobster, when he isn’t trying to kill me.”
“Ohh, you met Gary… He’s weird, I steer clear of him… Shai and others are fine, but that guy makes my skin crawl.” Carlos said softly, as though the insane crustacean might be hiding in a bush, listening.
A few minutes later, they pulled up in front of a modest home, with a large barn and warehouse tucked behind. Two large stevedores, wearing the aprons of their guild waved friendly greetings, before starting to unload the wagon with startling speed.
A tall, elegant woman with an elaborate beaded plait of hair and skin that glowed like polished ebony signed for the delivery and treated the two men and the two guild laborers to a fine early lunch when the job was done.
Within an hour and a half, they were back on the road headed home, laden with an assortment of crates, barrels and bales from the merchant’s stores.
“That was startlingly efficient… They didn’t even try to cheat us on the bill of lading and inventory slips.” Jerry remarked as they were rumbling back up the road in the late morning sunshine.
“Merchant Yost is a regular trade partner. I make this trip every week or two, it’s good pay, easy work and very pleasant travel.” Carlos smiled and leaned back on the driver’s bench. “My team loves this run…”
A half mile past the last sight of Herndon behind them in the distance, a man on the road hailed them to halt. “Ho traveler… Can I beg a ride on your fine cart? My destination is Wheatford town.”
He was dressed in common clothes and rough homespun at that. His travel worn appearance and rough clothes were not unusual, but his furtive glances at the road behind the cart were making Carlos nervous. Bigelow and Whitney liked him even less. He turned to consult Jerry and found no one there; man and horse had vanished from beside him.
Carlos cleared his throat nervously. “Sorry friend, we’re hauling on contract, guild rules say no passengers without prior…” He trailed off when two more men stepped from the road beside him and another behind, with daggers and clubs in their hands.
“Get off the cart and unhitch your team… we are taking the cargo, not your life, boy.” A big man in battered leather armor growled harshly.
“Jerry…!” Carlos called out, as sweat exploded from his pores.
“Get off the cart, kid.” The first man said gently. “Just take your familiars and walk away. Don’t turn this robbery into a murder.”
“Good one Brandt!” The big one chuckled.
“Don’t use my name you giant clod of… where did Billy go?” The presumed Brandt craned his head to look for the man who had appeared behind the cart. “Billy, learn to hold your water you infant! Put your pisser away and get back out here.” The apparent leader shouted into the scrubby brush and oak trees lining the road, but no ‘Billy answered…
“Greg, grab that kid. Larry, go kick Billy in the ass… Larry?”
The huge man lunged for Carlos, to snatch him from the driver’s bench, while his familiars stood there in panicked shock, much like the young carter’s apprentice. Banditry was so unheard of in Wheatford, the kid spent a few vital seconds wondering if he had fallen asleep at the reins and was dreaming…
With a soft sigh, the giant man’s reaching hands sank down, as did the man himself. Jerry stood behind the slumping giant, a heavy cudgel in his hand and a wide smile on his face, for the only remaining bandit.
“All your friends are having a hard time right now, Brandt… Banditry is a trade like any other, you don’t just wake up and say: ‘I’mma rob a wagon today’. I’m offended by your slapdash planning and utter lack of preparation.” He leveled his cudgel at the man and smiled again. “Surrender now, or I will beat you bloody before I let you surrender.” He punctuated that with a swift kick to the big man’s head, when the giant began to stir.
“And you were right about Billy. Bladder like a toddler.”
While he was talking, Feather led a disheveled looking draft horse out of the wilds and onto the road. Two men were bound and slung across her back, with a third trussed up on Feather, feebly struggling against his bonds. A disconsolate woman trailed behind, bound at the hands and neck on a long tether.
“Gods, Jerry, I thought you’d scarpered!” The young carter gasped, while his familiars shivered with relief.
“Really, after those tender moments on the trail…” Jerry winked at the pale, sweating bandit and whispered very loudly. “Carlos is a snuggler… with a morning wood issue.”
“Jerry!” The mortified kid nearly screamed in outrage. “Don’t tell the bandits that!”
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