Lyssandra & The Return of Lyssandra

by Richard Johnson

  I nodded and left them. Well, women did need other women and among the courseness of a mercenary army, the gentle conversation of another women would be welcome to the three. Though it was clear that the Amazons were lesbians so why did they so easily accept Lys who was known to share my bed? Considering the current situation, THAT would remain a mystery until I had time to ask.

  Back to Contents

  THE SECOND NIGHT

  I had the men sleep during the day, no real effort after last night’s work, and so when the sun approached the western horizon, Erik woke all and we were in place and ready.

  As the sun set, the moaning began and soon after, the first of the monsters appeared. I sought Goran and the other priests but saw none. I suppose that they were consumed and not converted by the monsters. As the first vampire attempted to exit the opening, Peter pulled a line and the sapling snapped forward, driving a stake through the chest of the monster. It screamed and was instantly beheaded by a poleaxe. Another and another tried to pass to meet the same fate, my men cheering with each death until the rest of the monsters stood, fearing to approach. Then they called to us, calling our names which terrified my men until I yelled, “Be calm! They learned of us from the priests who they ate last night. Grenades!” and a number of vials of oil struck the foremost monsters. “Fire!” and the Amazons and Lys sent flaming arrows into their ranks, the ones covered with oil screaming and flailing about. They didn’t ignite their friends but when one in flames grasped another, the imprisoned vampire suffered. “Torches!” and flaming torches were tossed into the stairwell to ignite the oil that covered the walls and floors. It wasn’t enough to raise flames to the ceiling but even flames that rose a couple inches burned feet and terrified the monsters who fled into the darkness.

  We heard more groaning and moaning then silence. “They retreat! We won!” Allen shouted.

  “No, we won the battle,” I admonished, ‘we still have the war to win!”

  We waited and watched but no other attack arrived until we heard screaming from behind. One of my men ran in to yell, “They come from without!”

  We turned then I screamed, “Not everyone you fools! Some to watch the dungeon!” then I turned to face the new force. We had been outflanked. Seeing no other exit I had forgotten the first rule of combat, secure your retreat!

  Fortunately, the room to the dungeon was so small, we could not all fit within so most of my army was in the main audience chamber and though some died, the rest turned to hold the monsters at bay until I could take command. “Erik, to the dungeon, I need you to command there if this is a feint!” He forced his way back as I fought the vampyres. With a lot of shouting and some pushing, I got the shield line in place and then we marched forward, killing as we did, ignoring the headless corpses at our feet. One fell and as we passed, I cut his head when he rose to attack one of my men. After that, no others remained intact.

  We managed to get them past the doorway and I ordered men to watch each room and stairs as we passed. “They may hide within waiting for us to pass!”

  So as we pushed past a door, I ordered a stop and sent men to look within for vampyres. There were none and we advanced another dozen feet. Jut as we were about to force them from the keep, Peter ran to me, “Captain! They exit the dungeon! This is a distraction!”

  “Can Erik hold them?” I demanded.

  “He does so!”

  ”Then take what men you need for Erik and hold that crypt!”

  We fought for hours it seemed but must have been mere minutes for as soon as we pushed to the main doorway, a number dropped from the floor above upon my men, killing three before we could react. The Line almost broke and I had to fight my own men to keep that line strong for had they panicked as they were wont to do, we would have been overwhelmed on three sides. But hold we did, barely. “Rear lines, reverse! Form a double line, back-to back! Rear to hold the door! Any who lets a vampyre enter Erik’s room faces me!” And I found myself alone.

  One line was at the main door, some facing out to hold the monsters without, others facing within to protect that valuable line. Another group at the door to keep the monsters from attacking Erik from the throne room. And now me, alone, in the center!

  “CAC!” I swore as one monster attacked, to strike my shield as I broke his legs with a downward cut. Arrows struck him to no avail but I was able to split its skull then turn to face another. And another until I was alone.

  Lys ran to support me and the monsters held back, threatening and screaming. Then we heard the horses.

  “They kill our steeds!” one called. Damn! If my Gods could do that. Christians had such profanity, profanity that was denied we pagans. Shit grows crops. Fuck is an invitation and with reincarnation, there is no damnation. I envied the christians and their ability to swear. “We are trapped! Kill as many as you can!” Then, “call Erik to me, NOW!” I pushed Lyssandra to the back room.

  Erik arrived and I snapped to him, “When the sun rises and these return to their crypt, follow close and bar the doors before they can close. I will follow my group to find their way to the crypts!”

  Erik nodded and ran back to his room, stopping only long enough to scream at the ones at the door, “Watch the ceiling you sons of dogs!”

  We fought a long battle that night until they pulled back. “With me!” I yelled as I saw the sun’s glow in the east.

  As the vampyres retreated, I followed and found them enter a stable and so followed to find a stone door close. “Block that!” I ordered and three pikes prevented that stone from closing. We pried it free and saw a black tunnel. “Torches!” I screamed and we waited, none of us willing to enter that stygian darkness.

  I looked over to the remains of our horses. Some dead, some missing, the remainder terrified and ready to kill anything that approached. “Send men to find the lost horses.” Then as torches arrived, I took one and stated, “Follow me!” then I entered the darkness.

  Back to Contents

  THE THIRD DAY

  The path started out easy then narrowed until I was forced to crawl. That was when I called back, “Take my feet and pull me back!” when we were out and into the warmth of the sun, I explained, “The passage narrows so tight that I could be naked and still not pass. These monsters seem to have the ability to change their size or become mist. How many do you think came from the outside?”

  My men murmured but could come up with no answer. Damn. I counted heads and mostly those missing. Not including the priests, I had lost maybe 8 men. That left 15 plus me to clean the nest.

  I approached the pyre that I had ordered made on the second day just outside the walls. Every vampire had been dragged here, decapitated and the body and head burned on different pyres. Then, the bones removed from the ashes and broken with maces while the heads were stacked in a neat line. I counted 25 skulls, each burned and blackened but no wood fire could render bones, it could only split and char them. Lys and Erik watched as I lifted skull after skull, examining each.

  “Captain?” Erik asked, “What are you seeking?” He was exhausted and starving and refused to rest until the men were safe and he knew how to keep them alive.

  ”Their teeth!” I handed him a skull with my dagger through an eye socket. Not even I wished to touch the thing with my bare skin. “See anything unusual?”

  He looked it over and returned it to me where I placed it back on the row. “Nothing.”

  “Exactly!” I snapped. “Aren’t vampires supposed to have fangs? And aren’t they supposed to burst into flame when the Sunlight touches them? These have normal teeth and though they retreated from the sun, their bodies remained intact until we burned them.”

  I looked to the forest and murmured. “Prince Dracula was no fool. He would have had an escape tunnel out there someplace. Probably two. Yet, the vampires attacked only from two places. And the footprints we saw as we arrived showed that they left
and returned to the Keep by way of the main door, never anyplace else. Why? Sergeant, rest the men but have them search for the escape exit.”

  Then as I led them back inside, “We list eight of ours killed to at least twenty-five vampires and three of them to each one of ours are not odds I prefer. If there are fifty left, then we are done. Erik! I want no more losses.” Then I walked off to eat and rest.

  It was near dark when I awoke, angry but frantic for my lack of planning. “Sergeant!” I called, to be met with the German giant seconds later. “Report if you would.”

  “We have oil in the tunnel at the stable and the horses penned outside. If any seek that entry, we’ll burn them easily. Hippo and Penta and Lys found one escape tunnel into the hills. They entered only because the men refused and wanted to show us up. There were cave-ins as the timbers rotted and that exit is impassable. If there are other exits, I suspect that they too, are caved in. This is probably why the monsters exit only here. And the traps are reset with three more burned vampire bodies in the crypt.”

  “Then, unless they are keeping the priests alive, they should be getting really hungry. This night will end the fighting. But beware, they will be desperate.”

  We examined the traps and Erik pulled back me from stepping into a shallow foot-pit and showed me the staked pointing down to trap the leg that falls into that trap. The wall had Penta and Hippo with bows ready and arrows ready to flame. Our last oil was in bladders to be tossed and ignited. And within, Lys and Franz, the best of our archers, were waiting inside to do the same. Franz had lived in England and learned the art of the English long-bow so well, I paid him double after seeing him kill four men at a hundred yards by sending a shaft through their visors. He couldn’t shoot that weapon from a horse but once with good earth beneath his feet, no one could approach him.

  The groaning began and I left to check the stable. More groaning. “Sergeant, can you handle the courtyard? Good, then take over. I’ll greet our unwelcome guests within.”

  This time they charged, three being impaled on the trap but the rest pushing through. Four became stuck on pikes and their heads were smashed but the kept coming.. then it was over! I was covered with blood, but none was mine nor was it from my men. None had made it past the shield wall and as we removed heads, I counted six with arrows in their heads. Three of those had not made the shields before Franz and Lys dropped them. Eighteen dead! All being vampires.

  “Allen, watch here, I go to see Erik!” Then ran to the stables to find four dead monsters, each with a burning broadhead through its head. None had reached Erik’s line.

  “Think they are done?” Erik asked.

  Shrugging, “Did any escape?”

  “None, Captain. Four entered the stables from that hole, none returned. It was too easy.”

  “Well, we made our mistakes the last couple nights and learned. I hope. Keep watch. Remember every other time we thought we had won.”

  He nodded as I left for within and saw my men happy, but wary. We waited an hour and nothing, then I remembered, “Did anyone hear the groans as they approached?” Upon receiving the affirmative, I asked, “Did any hear groans as they retreated?”

  Allen laughed, “None retreated, captain. What we see is what came from below.”

  “I think,” I said to myself, “that they are all gone.” Well, nothing to it but… “Three men to follow me!” and I again entered that damned stairwell.

  The doors were open, all of them save the one that held the stores. And I was about to enter the first when I noticed that someone actually DID follow. That surprised me. “Don’t be so complacent,” I insisted. “This is exactly how the monsters fell from up from above and behind. We haven’t won until they are all dead and burned so watch the corners, rafters and shadows.” Then to be mean, “And also the earth beneath your feet.”

  The room was a single cell that could hold a prisoner or stores but contained but a cot and the stink of a charnel house. I tapped on each wall with my pommel seeking a hollow sound and then examined the roof with my torch and found nothing but long dried blood and the filth of years. “Curious how there is no bolt on this side of the door. I suspect enchantment on the work of the vampire.”

  Seven other rooms were the same. The only difference was that some had more cots than others. I would have thought coffins but these vampires preferred a filthy cot covered with dirt.

  The ninth room held the bodies of the priests, each with torn throat and bled dry. At least, from their rags and the crosses still around their bones, I believed them to be the priests. There wasn’t enough left to identify. “Take their crosses and jewelry and pack them away. We will return them to Prince Viktor and if anything is missing, you can explain to the Boyer about your light fingers.”

  The tenth room had no cot and an examination revealed a hollow sound so we attacked that wall and found a false door that led to a tunnel.

  Entering, the tunnel branched twice and I ordered one man back to fetch back-up. These I stationed at the branches, after ensuring that the door was blocked to prevent closure, and we entered the one on the right. This was straight for some distance then ended at a cave-in. “I think this is the escape tunnel the girls found.” Then falling dust and sand caused me to push back and cry, “out!” We barely made it to the main tunnel before another rotted beam collapsed. “Beware the rot and mold on the wood lest we remain here.” I cautioned. A century of lack of care was taking its toll. In another couple centuries, these castles would be naught but rubble.

  We rested in the main cell for some minutes to allow the dust to settle then returned, taking another branch until we reached another cave-in. Thus one afforded a passage above the rubble so we climbed and continued until another cave-in showed only a small opening. I thought I heard something so called out, “Erik! Is that you?”

  “Ja, Captain. Are you well?” came the faint reply.

  “We are. This tunnel is blocked so we are exploring to be certain that all are gone. Watch and wait.”

  We returned and followed the last branch that ended abruptly at a natural fissure. “Doubtless, this prevented any further digging and so they did another tunnel.”

  “This stinks worse than before,” one said.

  I saw the torches flicker green from noxious fumes so cast one down and as it bounced about, we saw bones. Lots of bones. “I suppose we now know where they store the remains of their meals. I see no flesh on those bones, so perhaps these vampires also eat human flesh as well?”

  One man added the unsettling thought, “Unless they have ghouls to serve them.”

  “I hope not. It looks as if Vlad Dracula was digging an escape tunnel and struck this fissure, then gave up. Knowing him, he probably used this to dispose of unwanted Turkish prisoners.” Then I stood and added, “I think we are done here. Let’s return to the surface.”

  Upon exiting the pits, I ordered, “Corporal, have Erik call the men to formation.”

  A few moments later I looked over the formation. I had lost almost a third of my men. Most would find such losses acceptable but I did not and would emphasize in my report that the Romanians knew what we would face and kept that from us, costing needless lives. “I think that we have killed all the monsters in this castle. BUT!” I insisted, “That does not mean that we are safe. We will remain one more night and if nothing happens, we will return home. Franz, Hippo and Penta, go hunting. I’d like a decent meal today. But bring back a couple rabbits or such alive. I want bait for tonight. Those who wish to do so may retrieve the priests from below and give them a decent burial. We will return their belongings to Prince Viktor. The rest of us will be on a rotating sleep, alert and watch schedule as before. Tonight, one third sleep, one third on watch and one third at the call. Dismissed!”

  I sought a private room to nap and Lys came to me to ask, “My Lord, may I accompany the amazons on their hunt? I’ll return to
you after.”

  I yawned then agreed, “Fine. Were you here, I’d feel the need for actions other then sleep. And I need some sleep. Enjoy yourself.” Then I kissed her and was asleep before she left.

  Back to Contents

  THE THIRD NIGHT

  I awoke near dark, I had slept that long. Lys was next to me and as I got up, noticed leaves in her hair. Well, I suppose she had napped in the forest. Not that I could blame her. Erik was getting all the men to their stations and I approached the amazons and Franz. Franz had some luck and was cooking a few birds he had shot. The amazons avoided my gaze and turned red as I asked, “Did you enjoy your hunt?”

  “Yes, Captain,” one managed to say. Curious continence. Did they tarry together in the fields when they should have been hunting? But I had too much work to pursue that line of thought and ordered, “I want one rabbit tied to the stable entrance, another to the stairs inside. After the sun sets, kill and gut them but ensure that the blood flows into the openings. I want the scent to attract anything below.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  There were no sounds or attacks that night and Erik and I spent too much time keeping the men awake and alert. “You! Doze like that again and you will wish the vampyres had found you instead of me!”

  Then, hours later, the sun rose and I called the men together. “Smash the skulls! I want no ghosts to haunt our journey. Pack our gear and we move out after breakfast!”

  Erik mentioned as I left to gather my own gear, “Ten days to forget this before we get home.”

  “More like fifteen. Let’s not push the men and take our time. We are exhausted in mind and body so we’ll relax in whatever villages we find on the way to recover. Besides, the extra days will allow us to practice our speech to the Boyer about how we managed to get his priests killed.”

  Nodding, Erik went about his own business while Lys came to me, “My Lord, I … I’m sorry for my actions.”