Ch: 196 Creatures Of The Night

Gary shook hands with Pete and Chet as the party prepared to head into the town. “I’m glad you guys are gonna be here, looking out for my kids.” The two teens nodded and took position on the wall, looking out over the empty town. He hugged Ivy and Tallum then turned on the three kids, who were being admonished to mind Ivy and be good, by Shai.

When she finished squeezing the babies, Gary took a turn. “We’ll be back soon, I know you’ll be good.”

The party marched out on foot at half past second bell, heading out onto the rocky and barren landscape on the road into an empty town. Just a short way downhill, brush, trees and fields gone back to nature flourished with green, growing life. Of animals, there was little sign; no obvious game trails cut the woodlands and meadows below them, nor were there any creatures larger than insects and small lizards on the open hillside.

Silence reigned, even the insects made little sound and those fell quiet when the marching troupe approached. The wide hillside road was cleanly cut and well built, only a few scraggly weeds had managed to encroach, where silt had chanced to gather on the roadbed. A few pavers had tipped or sunk, others were cracked, but overall it was a smooth ten minute walk to the empty gateway into the town.

Most of the wall was intact, cracked and tipping in places, but only a few sections had collapsed or fallen. Similarly, the outlying structures around the town were largely made of the local tufa stone, covered with plaster; they were mostly intact, aside from roofs, floors, doors and windows… everything made of perishable substances like wood had largely been consumed by time, insects and weather.

“No life at all…” Emma murmured from her position in the center of the group. She was clad in a spare armor of Luna’s, as they were very similar in build. The simple and durable leather and steel suit was a little noisy, but quite comfortable, compared to court attire.

“The dead rule this town, our unwanted guest emits an aura of forbiddance to keep the living away.” Gary said quietly. From seemingly nowhere at all he produced a satchel of knotted rope, holding a ceramic crock in its netting. He slung it over his armored shoulder and seated it on his hip, arranged so that the intricately inscribed lid was exposed.

“She feeds on fear and similar emotions, emitted from living sentients, but contact with any living aura gradually erodes and destroys her undead servants… So she has to try to keep all normal animal life far away. Most bugs are too dumb to sense her aura, they can slip in and nibble on her minions, that’s why they were all in such shabby condition.”

“I assume that any wandering explorers or fortune seekers would be snatched up and carried off to wherever this creature lairs…?” Pangbourne asked calmly.

Gary nodded and grinned. “Her army would have swept over us and tried to carry as many of us off as they could. They wanted to drag us to her seat of power to be consumed, afterwards she would have a new collection of bodies to play with.” He grinned madly at the group, walking backwards for a few paces.

“If you all open your senses, you will feel her aura trying to push you away. We can stroll through her forbiddance ability, because I’m here. My own aura is directly counter and contrary to hers…”

“What does that mean Gary? That you are her opposite?” Hamish asked with a concerned look on his face. “This is all very strange and confusing.”

“Nope, the fact is, I have many abilities and gifts that are very similar to hers, I could do all the same things that she did… If I wanted to go that way and become a huge asshole. Necromancy is an easy path to great power, with a truly awful cost to the wielder and everyone around them.”

“Yet you seem to dabble in it… openly, I might add.” Pangbourne commented, with suspicion in his eyes.

“My necromancy is purely internally focused; it never escapes the boundary of my Animus. That is all I will say about that.” He snapped at the lord, shooting him a glare.

“Yet the walking, dancing corpses and swarming ghosts…” The baronet remarked drily.

“What I did with the bodies was shadow manipulation, entirely unrelated to necromancy. I used their own shadows to puppet the empty husks back home, then collected the remnants, leaving nothing behind.” Gary grumbled at lord Pangborne, growing more agitated with the man by the moment as they approached the gateway into the town proper.

“Silence in formation.” Khan barked. “We have a task to perform.” He turned to address the group.

“My team has a task; the rest of you are observers. That means you watch, observe and do not act, save in defense of yourself or others. You may be startled or upset by what you see or hear, do not act without an actual threat or a specific request.”

The houses and structures outside the walls had been largely wood and plaster construction it seemed. A scattering of roof tiles and chimney bricks lay on the roads and streets, while low foundations choked with rubble lined the path to the open gateway. Flickering movements caught the corners of every eye, as shadows seemed to writhe and twitch all around.

Gary sensed their unease and giggled. “This city is as haunted as can be… Natural ghosts love these kinds of places; they will drift here from hundreds of miles away, drawn by the quietus aura of the town and the lack of living beings. Natural ghosts are useless to our guest, since they are already part of the natural cycle of life and rebirth, normal ghosts are just mortal souls, sitting out a few rounds.”

“So there are undead all around?” Emma asked nervously.

“Natural ghosts, Emma; they are harmless to the living and just want to be left alone until they pass over into what’s next. Luckily for everyone, I am the passage to what’s next.” The musician produced a set of gaily painted, child sized bongos and began rattling the skins with his fingers and palms.

“I’m going to walk a few dozen yards ahead, please don’t interfere if a ghost, or even a bunch of ghosts approach me.”

A good bit of grumbling rose from the gathered warriors and nobles; all of which quickly ended when the shadow of the city wall fell over them. An ominous stillness and sense of impending doom began to press against the men and women as they passed through the gate, into town.

No rats, birds or any sign of significant animal life could be seen, nor was there any sound beyond the footfalls and quiet voices of the party. They moved carefully, watching the vacant, hollow eyes of the surrounding buildings as they moved through the empty, echoing streets.

Gary strode forward briskly, tapping his drum in a slow, simple beat. A moment later, there were two men walking in front of the group. There was the mad lobster armored musician, who was now playing a flute; and a dark, shadowed form, tapping at the drum while the flute raised a high, pure trickle of notes. An eyeblink later there were three figures, as the armored man’s guitar rose to join drum and flute in a simple, sweet melody.

“This song was written by a slaver, where I come from… when he finally realized slavery was an abomination. We finally did away with it in my home, in large part thanks to songs like this one… and an ocean of blood spilt…” He said softly, his voice coming loud and clear across the instruments slung from his teammates.

“Here’s hoping this place is more reasonable.”

Gary’s voice was no great instrument, he didn’t have the rich, vibrant timbre that Shai possessed, nor Tallum’s rumbling bass. Amy’s crystalline purity and shattering pitch were beyond his reach, as were Tawny’s bell-like, golden tones. He had feelings tangled up in this one though, that can make up for a lot of deficits…

Amazing grace…

How sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me…

I once was lost, but now I'm found…

Was blind, but now I see…

Melancholy and sweet, his song called writhing crawling shadows to his feet, where they drained into his shadow, like water into dry sand. He kept the melody circling idly, humming and whistling along when the mood struck.

All through the town, down the main street, he played, sang and danced at the head of the group. Twice they had to take side avenues, due to collapsed buildings blocking the way. Once more, because a sinkhole had opened into the sewer works below. No one was interested in climbing down there, despite a relatively easy slope up on the other side. Ancient sewers were still sewers.

Every murky, hollow storefront, each sagging colonnade and gaping doorway seemed to disgorge a shadowy form of one sort or another. They were hard to spot, harder still to identify.

“Are those… people?” Becky whispered, using her own illusory gift to project her voice into his ear.

“Mostly, some higher animals, some familiars and beastfolk… They are all ready to go, they would have evaporated away by themselves long ago, if there were living people in town.” He whispered back, on the comm channel.

“I’m the high priest… or something for two death gods, so I can help anybody over the veil. Gods, my life is weird…” Dozens of black, shadow creatures took wing from him, lifting from his shadow, just as they crept in on the ground.

Sparrows, hawks, dragonflies, flying creatures of every description winged their way skyward from his feet. Many vanished into the sky, but no few of them came hurtling back, to dive through the lid of his hip slung ceramic crock.

The surreal journey through the town of flitting, half seen shadows became a chilling prelude to a nightmare at the necropolis gates. The aura of forbiddance and denial had become gradually more perceptible with every few blocks of town; now it was almost a palpable headwind. A wind blowing on the living people’s aura and Animus in some uncomfortable ways. No natural ghosts lingered here, this was an uncanny and unclean place.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Make a conscious decision to resist the sensation and it will stop. That’s how your Animus works, if you’ve been cultivating it. If you haven’t, welcome to Animus cultivation, it’s time to get started.” Khan instructed, with a wink at Gary; they’d been practicing for this and the training paid off...

The necropolis was treacherous, it nearly took down Adam, Rolf’s heavy fighter. An open grave crumbled under his tread, nearly dragging him into the embrace of the cold dusty clay. No otherworldly forces were involved, just a tumbled and broken city of the crudely exhumed and hastily reburied dead.

Every grave had been turnt, each crypt opened and every mausoleum evacuated. Those residents had returned, sorting their remains out, but leaving open graves and pits to entrap the unwary.

To the south, the broken cathedral loomed, its shattered dome shining in the sun, still white and unmarred by bird or bat droppings. Straight on, the road dwindled into the distance past the far necropolis gate in the east. To the north, the broken bell tower stood. At its base a low arched construct huddled, it looked for all the world like a small temple made entirely of bones… Yellowed and sun bleached bones, stacked and interwoven to create a simple domed temple.

As they approached, it became clear, the thing was constructed of human bones in the image of a terrible, grinning skull with sub structures and additional wings, styled to give the appearance of a skeletal corpse. The broken tower resembled a spike or some such thing, driven through the skull, as if it were on display or some barbaric totem.

“Yeah… brace yourselves, she’s doing the whole song and dance.” Gary said grimly as they approached the gruesome edifice. “The shadow wight I fought in town… its name was ‘Mortis…’ So cheesy!” He groaned. “Last night I released the shades of a few more… ‘Occulta, Darkling and Obscura’… their names were all like that. Pure and unadulterated crap! It’s like she got a copy of ‘Demon Lord Of The Dead For Idiots’... and only followed the steps with pictures...” He started for the skull ossuary with an angry stride. “Now I’m offended. It’s like she’s not even putting in any effort at all! I’m a gods damned professional!”

“Gary! Dinnae go in angry an filt tae the brim wi strange ghosts!” Shai brought him up short with her demand, a very reasonable one at that.

“Yes dear… you’re right, Let’s head back through town and then home… I’ll drop off all these spirits and come back with a clear head…”

#

The deadling and his party of living flesh began to withdraw, driven back by her aura’s strength. Their retreat confirmed her suspicion, this was all some trick to bait out her minions and tools. Foolish mortals always assume that their corpses are her only weapons… She had more minions and servants to deploy. She considered learning how to chuckle darkly, it seemed like an appropriate response to their retreat.

While her foes began a careful withdrawal to the supposed safety of their little outpost on her edge, she began crafting her next move.

#

They took a different route through town, with the musician and his three shades out front again, playing upbeat tunes to draw out the ghosts and haunts.

He took a few faltering steps and halted suddenly, while the music took a more martial turn.

“Heads up, we have a vampire in town.”

“Gary, pull back… rejoin the group!” Khan snapped, while limbering up his bow. “Vampires are a class A threat.”

“She’s waving a white flag… that means surrender or parley where I come from.” Gary’s voice was strangely doubled as he came backing towards the following group. “Is it the same here?” He asked, as he rejoined the column.

“Yes, that’s what it means… but parlaying with the sentient dead is courting disaster.” Tawny said firmly.

“I should talk to her anyway, just as a matter of manners.” Gary complained. “You guys remember what the dryads were like when they first met me… that’s what it’s like, looking in from the outside. I don’t wanna repeat the mistakes of the past.”

His musicians were still playing, he chanted his words in time, while snapping his fingers and drumming on his chest.

“Besides, she’s already under my spell and seems to be cool with it.”

“What do you mean by that?” Pangbourne demanded, with his sword drawn and eyes searching the empty buildings constantly. “I have little faith in peasant witchery.”

“Dude!” Gary griped angrily. “That’s the shit I’m talking about. You don’t get to play the great and benevolent lord here buddy! My ‘peasant witchcraft’ is interesting enough to make my sweet ass a hot commodity on the slave market. There must be something to it, for your council to stick me with you. I didn’t ask you to come along.”

“You tread dangerously near to insubordination, boy!” Pangbourne snapped coldly.

“Oh super scary… What are you gonna do if I’m not nice to you? Are you gonna sell me into slavery…? I literally can’t be further subordinated. Eat a dick Francis.” He snapped back in the cold, hideous voice that made Shai’s blood curdle every time. Even his shadow was agitated, pulsing and twitching in disturbing ways. One would think he was wearing a billowing cloak on a breezy day, to see the shadow he cast.

“If it wasn’t for your horse, you’d be following three days behind us, eating trail rations and sleeping rough.” He grumbled angrily.

“There will be a reckoning for this, boy.” The lord sneered.

“Rolf, muzzle your boy before I do something regrettable!” Gary snarled, while the music dipped into strange and unpleasant places, hard grinding distortion and feedback wailed into the morning sun shaking the foundations of the already dicy buildings.

“Gary, Frank, both of you shut up and get in formation.” Khan snapped in his ‘Knight Captain’ voice.

The rest of the group was busy watching the tall, stick thin, waxy pale figure wrapped in a shroud… Who was lurking in an upper story window nearby.

Her long, black hair draped down to her waist obscuring her features, beyond glimpses of shockingly pallid skin. Long pale arms with hooked, yellowed, clawed fingers twitched constantly at her sides. Her shroud of pale white linen had tiny rosebuds and vines embroidered around the edges, the pale pink buds still vibrant among the green vines.

“Ohh, two boys quarreling, dare I hope they are fighting over me?” She asked in a voice that whispered from the shadows all around.

“I could do without this music, if I’m honest. It makes me feel things I would rather keep suppressed… hungry, angry things.” She waved a short stick with a lace hankie tied to it to fan herself, with her white flag of parley.

“Don’t blame me… I started out on a gospel classic, you have no idea how out of character that is for me.” Gary grumbled to the specter in the empty window’s shadows.

With a visible effort, he drew out his mandolin and dragged the band back from the Sex Pistols... even though ‘God Save The Queen’ really fit the moment.

“I liked that first one, it moved me to seek you out, rather than fleeing. Despite your aura of imminent doom and the weight of some terrible eldritch regard that follows you everywhere…” She whispered with a shudder.

“Why are we watching this fool chat with the minion of this purported demon?” Pangbourne griped. “Someone should put some arrows in that wretch.”

“Shut your noise hole Francis!” Gary yelled at the man. “Anybody that shoots is unwelcome in my house!” More than one bow lowered, as did a javelin or two. When he turned back, she had vanished into the ruins, seemingly without a trace.

“Come by tonight, come to the gate, we’ll talk.” He called into the ruins. “I’ll put the mad dog in a muzzle.”

“Gary, you are really not helping matters.” Rolf began, reasonably.

He was met with cool, flat denial and cold, angry eyes. “Dude, I am real close to losing it with that asshole.”

Liam swept over and placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “I’ll handle Gary, sir Rolf… If you could do something about sir Pangbourne, maybe there won’t be a duel tonight.”

“Handle me?” Gary asked dangerously.

“Handle you, in that I am going to hand you over to Shai and Becky.” Liam snapped. “Get your act together, we are in the field, not your bath! Fall into formation and shut up.”

Strangely, that worked. In a few minutes, the assembly was back on the move, nervously watching the shadows for signs of the ghastly pale woman.

“She retreated, I sense her over on the other side of town… If she has a story, I’d like to hear it.” Gary said firmly. “If she comes to my door in peace, anyone who offers hostility will answer for it.”

“I hesitate tae offer the hospitality of mine home tae the undead.” Shai said quietly. “Think well, ere ye invite the dead indoors.”

“Love, if she comes into our home she will be in our power. Entirely. The undead don’t have a true Animus, she will have no defense against any spell we cast; I could summon a pool under her feet and… Poof!” He grinned happily at the idea. “If she’s willing to enter, I’m willing to listen.”

The inn spread over a wide expanse of the rocky valley side, its influence brushing against the town walls, bringing green grass and growing things, if only temporarily. The group let out an audible sigh as one organism, when it finally came into sight.

A few minutes later the returning warriors were busily removing their armor and preparing for a bath and a meal, While Gary, Becky, Shai and the kids were in a corner of the garden having a mass funeral in private. A gentle acoustic performance of Kansas’ legendary classic ‘Carry On My Wayward Son’ by the Ward family band, sent a small army of ghosts flitting off to the moon.

The last few stray spirits came buzzing back in to land on the ceramic ghost crock and slip inside, just as the lowering sun touched the garden wall.

“Ohh, that’s nice…” Shai’s boy sighed, as his shadow emptied out. Before long, shadow Gary was back to his old tricks, dancing while he was still, pantomiming embarrassing antics behind him, or otherwise being odd and whimsically haunted.

The expedition settled in, with watchers taking shifts on the wall, despite the Bather’s assurances that no one would be sneaking up on them. Liam and the others joined the guard shifts again, sharing the duty with Rolf’s veterans.

“This is certainly the strangest undead interdiction I’ve ever been on.” Adam murmured to Dannyl, during their watch shift. “Never seen anything like it in fifteen years on the road.”

“It’s gonna get weirder before we head home…” The young man replied.

“This place is waiting, holding out for the living to return, can’t you feel it? Like a sleeper, about to wake.” Gary whispered from the shadows nearby. “I have a visitor approaching, stay cool while I talk to her please. If Francis shows up, let me know.” Just as suddenly as he appeared, he was gone.

“That guy is a nightmare…” Adam grumbled, when his heart rate slowed back down. “Sneaky git.”

#

A dozen yards from the gate, a slim, shrouded figure in white emerged from the darkness. Her black hair draped down in an all concealing cascade, obscuring her face and form. With a slow and deliberate stride, the figure walked closer and stepped into the lantern light around the front gate.

With a visible effort she drew a long, slow breath into lungs that had been idle for years uncounted and gasped a greeting into the night. “Hello… I am come, in answer to your invitation, mortal.” She croaked in rusty, creaking tones. “May I enter in peace, or will someone try to stick something pointy into me?”

“Come in… as long as you understand that you will be completely under my power here… and over where you are as well, to be honest.” Gary answered, as he stepped outside into the pool of lamplight.

“I’m Gary Ward, apprentice luthier and Adventurer… come in and be welcome in peace.”

“I May have forgotten the niceties of polite company, Gareeward… as well as my name. It has been some time since I last spoke to the living.” She croaked. “I remember very little of the living time… just the remnants of a forgotten dream… music I remember… and dance. Can you bring back the music while we speak of things? I would hear more before the end.”

“Sure… do you want to come inside? It’ll be more comfortable for everyone I think.” He nodded to the line of watchers on the wall above.

“My other guests will mind their manners, since they don’t wish to sleep outside.” The last he spoke loudly enough for everyone to get the message, accompanied by the soft chiming song that heralded Shai’s approach.

“My lady is coming, she loves music too.” He sighed happily as two young women joined him in the gate. “Becky, Shai, this is our as yet, unnamed guest.” He smiled at the tall, pallid figure lingering nearby. “What can we call you, friend?”

“I don’t remember any mortal names, pick one and it will do for now.” She rasped softly. “I will not be here long. Forgive my voice please, I cannot shadowspeak in your temple. I have not used the mortal instrument in very many decades… centuries? I forget.”

The musician had his mandolin out, strumming a soft melody along with Shai’s ever swaying hips. “How about Marceline? She’s a vampire queen from my homeland… She’s very far away from here, so it’ll be fine.”

“Very well Gareeward, Shai, Bekee… Please call me Marceleen.” Her accent was thick with higher pitches and long vowels, rendering her speech slightly musical and atonal at once.

“I have come to hear a little more of your music and perhaps find rest… I sense the endings of things undying in you, musician. I would find that ending for myself at last.”

“Whoa… that’s heavy, too heavy to talk over in the gate, come on in and take your ease. We can talk about what comes next once we’re comfortable.” He motioned for her to come through the gate, as the women moved behind him, still visibly nervous about their visitor.

“I dinnae like this lad… Vampires be dreadful foes.” Shai whispered.

“I did some asking around, when Gray was trying to vamp me out.” The musician whispered back. “You guys have a really inflated idea of their abilities. Axio and the dryads are way scarier.”

“Yes, I sense that you have contact with dryads, you are a strange one, deadling mortal.” Marceline replied. “Creatures of the night have sharp ears… and yes, even the weakest dryad would be a deadly threat to me.” She gave the impression of a sad smile, despite her hidden face. “Hence I rest in this treeless town, where I can harm no one and none can approach to tempt me… until now. I miss the music of the forest, I think.”

Gary kept his mandolin circling Shai’s tempting hips, he nudged and winked at the girls, a boyish grin on his face. “Join in ladies, just a little smooth noodling in bossa nova vibes…”

His gift nudged and ticked at them as well, asking them to join in very gentle terms. It was very different from his usual tactic of simply sweeping them away in a tide of magic and nonsense.

Shai frowned and grabbed him back with her own compulsion gift, dragging him into her dance. “Dinnae flitter about, lad. I am thine and thou art mine… I trust thee.” She tugged him close for a kiss over his instrument, before bringing her violin into play, with a confident smile.

“Aye Marceline, be at ease in mine home. An ye bring no trouble, I will see to thy safety.”

“An interview with a vampire... Sounds like one of Shai’s crackpot romance novels.” Becky complained.

#