Light

By Pedro R.C. Silva

     A man wearing a grass green tunic with a leather belt around his waist kneels at the base of a marble coffin inside a tomb. Chiseled on top of it is the form of a woman in her late twenties clad in a simple dress, hands folded at the stomach.  The man whispers a small prayer before standing and kissing the stone woman on the forehead.  

“May you watch over me in your realm, give me the strength to go, day by day, without you.” He whispers. The man places his fist over his heart and turns on his heels.  Outside, the sun brims the trees as the chill of winter settles in. He walks towards his horse and pats its neck. Taking the reins in his hands he leads his horse through the graveyard towards the entrance. A brisk wind sweeps the leaves upon each other like sheep being chased by a dog, the only movement among these dead. At the gate, an old man is sitting on a broken slab of stone as light snoring reverberates from him as he rocks back and forth, ever so slightly. Awaking to the sound of horse shoes on soft dirt, the old man looks up and says rather groggily, “‘ope the visit went well Sir Jauffre.”

     “Yes, as always Ulfe.”

 Ulfe smiles, displaying his missing teeth. “She loved ya, an’ ye can be cert’n tha’ she knew ye loved ‘er too.” Ulfe said. Jauffre looks at him with a faint smile.

     “Somehow I am reminded of that every time I come here, where others see death, I see love.” Jauffre lets out a half laugh. “My only wish was to have been by her side.” He looks back at the tomb for a moment. The leafless trees behind waves in the wind. “Take care Ulfe. May tonight be a restful one.”

“Like me neighbors give me any trouble” says Ulfe with a chuckle. Jauffre walks over a wooden bridge and down a dirt path.

After both the moon and the sun came out to meet Sir Jauffre on his travels, he arrives at a small village. He makes his way to the stables with a tavern across from it. He hears the hammer of the blacksmith tinking away and the merchants talking about who made the best deal as they were leaving the town square. He left his horse with the stable hand, placing two silver coins in the boy’s hand when he hears a scream from another end of the village. “Hide.” His voice low and upset as he looks back to the boy who still holds the reigns of his horse, “Now!”

 He turns towards where the scream came from. A man and a woman came running in his direction. They kept running with light feet meeting hard ground, passing Jauffre and looking over their shoulders. Jauffre looks back to where they ran from to see two men scuttling and dragging their feet. They look at Jauffre with a tilt of their heads. Now he understood why they ran like rabid rodents, they saw the undead, their flesh hanging from the bone, thin hair and eyes black as the abyss from whence they came from. One has his jaw hanging in a slant while the other has his brain visible to the world with black ooze dripping from their mouths. Jauffre clenches his hands into fists and stars at them, not giving way to the creeping fear in the back of his head.

The undead charge at Jauffre, his muscles tense up the closer they get. One suddenly lunges at him with ivory claws. Blinding light shines off of Jauffre, causing a force around him that pushes both of the undead back into the air, slamming down into the ground. The dust swirls in the wind as it clears away. Metal plates that are riveted and interlocked with a gleam of white pearl, Jauffres divine armor is now protecting him. A gauntlet that encases his hand grasps a bastard sword, which he points at the two undead. They scramble to get back up on their feet and again rush him.

Jauffre darts at them. When they are about 3 feet away he swings his sword down and right at the neck of the first undead, cleaving it straight off. Not wasting the momentum of the swing, his sword strikes the side of the other undead before placing a hand over its head. A light shines from Jauffres hand that makes the undead drop to the ground. He takes a moment to look at the bodies before distant clapping begins. He turns to face a pale man wearing leather pants and bones across the waist, neck, and arms. His hair is dark and long but kept behind the ears to show ice blue eyes that pierced down into the soul.

“Am I to assume that you are responsible for these?” Jauffre points at the undead with the edge of his sword, now with the taint of black blood.

“Oh yes, those are indeed my work,” his voice is high pitched and joyful. “I was hoping that they would have some fun tonight but, I was half expecting a man of the light to show up. Now, unfortunately, I must deal with you personally so that my pets can run freely, I do so love it when the villagers scream.” The pale man unsheathes a long sword. “But I can have some fun too, from time to time!” The pale man quickly raises his hand and an orb swirling full of darkness shoots right at Jauffre.

Jauffre quickly waves his hand in front of him and the dark blast hits a shield that glimmers on contact. “You are quite a powerful man of the light, not like the others I have stumbled upon. Yes, many of your kin I have killed, and you are proving to be quite the fun one,” the pale man chuckles at Jauffre with glee as he shoots three more orbs. Jauffre quickly sidesteps the three bolts before casting another shield about him as he kneels down. “What’s this now? Giving up already? And we have just begun to have fun!”

Three lightning bolts came down from the sky around Jauffre, and as they hit the ground three dogs with white fur and gold eyes appear at the points of impact. Jauffre points at the pale man and the hounds run at him.

“My, my! I have never seen that one before. I’ll just have to improvise then”. The pale man shoots the ground with a few dark orbs, the ground opens and five skeletons holding weapons made out of the bones drag their way up. Jauffre runs at the pale man, hacking down the skeletons in his way while the hounds deal with the others. Jauffre swings his sword up, the pale man turned away from it while swinging his sword sideways. It glances off the armor and the pale man takes a few steps back before swinging again. This time, Jauffre parries and swings harder at the pale man, just to have him dodge his blade. Again and again Jauffre attacks the pale man who seamlessly dances around the bastard sword. Jauffre takes a few steps away.

“What’s wrong, good sir? Are we not having fun? I know that I am. What’s wrong? Am I too quick for you?” the pale man laughs before noticing the ring of light on the ground around Jauffre. The Pale man lunges at Jauffre with his long sword, aiming at the neck. Jauffre takes a step back, allowing the pale man to miss his lung and have his sword pierces the ground. The Pale man tilts his head while looking at Jauffre, who grins. Now Jauffre took steps forward, his Bastard swords steel glints in the sunset and before the pale man has a chance to swing, dodge, tumble, parry, or even blink he fell to the ground with his right arm cut off and an open stomach. The pale man gags for air as he tries to keep his innards inside.

“No fair! I was the one who would win! You cheated! No no no! I wanted to have the fun of gloating while you were on the ground!” The pale man coughs up some blood before Jauffre places a hand on his head.

“May your passing be swift, Light forgive you.” Jauffres hand shines and the pale man lay motionless. Two of the hounds came to Jauffres side. The third lies on the ground with its silver blood on its pelt. Jauffre kneels at its side. “Thank you, my friends. Return now so that I may call on you again.” The eyes of all the hounds shine before turning into golden dust that rides the wind.

©2014 - Pedro R.C.  Silva - All rights reserved