A younger man from behind gazed forward at Madison. He spoke from under the cloth wrapped tightly around his nose and mouth.
“She’s a witch! Look at her eyes. She’s one of them, I tell you. A demon thrives inside her!” he pointed at her as he spoke, as if his hand could strike her down with the allegation.
“I’m no witch, young man. But a demon may liken in my features. For I have seen demons you could never imagine,” she said, growing increasingly angry. “I’m more than willing to show you should you permit me.” She smiled at him, revealing her sharpened teeth.
The young man rode away almost instantly at the sight. The others backed away as they stared at Madison’s eyes. Her hair fell behind her head, gracing the length of her back. She looked more angelic than demonic. But the combination of her strength and features were enough to frighten them.
“If it’s money you desire, gentlemen,” said Jayden calmly, “you will receive none from us. Nor do we take kindly to thieves. They pay with their lives as will you if you don’t desist.”
“We are not bandits, sir,” another on horseback spoke. “We seek only to protect our village.”
“How noble of you, good sir,” Jayden mocked. “I cannot say I have met many men willing to meet those who may carry the disease in order to protect their people. I would be more suspicious of such a nature than a man who was willing to profit from sneaking up on strangers.”
“Our loyalty to our lord and township offends you?” the man asked.
“No, your lies offend me. You had every intention of charging us a toll before you saw my companion was that of a lady. Then your intentions became even more sinister.” Jayden knew he was right when their leader looked back at him, still not fully recovered from Jayden having grabbed him by the throat. Touching him when he gripped his throat gave Jayden all the confirmation he needed. “I can sense your dishonesty, sir,” he continued. “And it repulses me.”
“We are suspicious of any strangers should they require passage through our village,” said another.
“Is that what your leader here told you?” asked Jayden looking at the man who was still gasping for breath and trying to regain his speech. “We’re only passing through. And should we require passage through the woods of your village, we will take it. If you wish to stop us, a horrible fate may become of you. Now desist, gentlemen.”
Jayden was suddenly thirsty. He wasn’t even trying to clout it. To a normal man, his eyes would appear mad. But Madison knew better. She abruptly took his arm in her hand and drew him and his horse backwards.
“I think these men know better now,” she said gently.
“Do you think us so weak as to be threatened by a mere lady?” said another man from behind her. He drew his sword and pointed it at Madison. She turned to see he was no older than she was. Yet she could sense that he wanted to reclaim the honor of their leader. She turned and took the edge of the sword in her hand. She leaned forward and smelled its edge.
“You have drawn blood with this weapon, sir,” she hissed. “Do you wish yours to be next?”
“I shall be gloried in my taking of a demon from a young woman’s body. And if you be a witch, no one shall mourn you,” he said gallantly.
“Is that what you believe?” She was surprised to find that she enjoyed watching fear spread over them.
“I have been a victim to true magic and demons, sir,” she said. “Never will it happen again.”
She hoped that this would disturb the man enough to back down. But he showed no sign of ceasing, only a desire to prove himself. Madison felt the thirst rising from inside her.
“A life for a life, I suppose, sir. You have taken human life. You shall pay for it with yours.” Madison moved so quickly even Jayden was left a little taken back. The man plummeted to the ground with a thundering blow. Madison dug her teeth deep within his throat and took what she could from inside him before thrusting him into the air.
Two other men drew their swords and leapt forward at Jayden, and reached for Madison from behind. Jayden took a sword directly from the man’s hand, grabbing for it by the blade. He turned it and thrust it directly into one man’s chest. Madison twisted after seeing what Jayden had done and tried the same. She took the sword from the man coming for her and grabbed it. She felt the skin on her palms rip open, but knowing it would quickly heal, she turned the sword around. She reached for the man’s leg with her other hand. He fell from his horse almost instantly. Wanting a less direct form of communication, she took the handle of the sword and thrust it into the man’s head knocking him unconscious. The others seeing this display of strength quickly turned their horses and fled. Madison looked back at the man she had thrust aside, his throat open with wounds from her razor sharp teeth. He was still too shocked to stand.
“You have taken other women with this blade, haven’t you,” she fumed. She felt his fear turn to terror as he tried crawling away on the ground by his hands and heels.
“You think yourself a protector?” She took the sword within her hand and pointed it at him. “You are more of a demon than I could ever be.”
“I hunt demons and witches like you!” he shouted, somehow managing to find his voice as his body shook. “I kill those who conspire with evil.”
“How many would you say? How many demons have you killed?” she said coolly.
“Enough to grant my place at the lord’s side; I do the work others cannot bring themselves to accomplish. They will find you, madam. Your soul will be freed of this confined body you have sold to the devil. God will take his vengeance upon your treachery.”
“He already has, sir. Indeed, he already has.” Madison dropped the sword. The man looked at her strangely. Jayden expected her to lunge its hilt forward. But her eyes quickly took to his throat. She moved faster than he could see, and captured his neck to her mouth, piercing a new wound, deeper and harder than before. She still relished the feeling of the warm blood moving down her throat.
She understood now why Jayden took so many lives from the Vam-pyr-ei-ak. It was more satisfying to take from those who had killed. Perhaps there was even justice in it.
“Not much for sharing, are you?” said Jayden from behind her.
“You had your man there,” she said, motioning to the man he had run through. “You chose a less direct approach with that sword in your hands,” she said.
“Less direct? I thought it more dramatic.”
“Hastier, for certain, but not more dramatic,” she said smiling.
“Take what you need from him” he said. “Then we must press forward.”
“You believe that they were actually from a neighboring village? I assumed you thought them thieves,” she said sarcastically.
“Anyone who charges a toll is a thief of sorts. I’ve seen the tactic before in England. This sickness has everyone afraid. They would not hesitate to take what they needed if they thought travelers had food or other valuables.”
“Should we search for the others then?” she asked smiling.
“It would make for good sport,” he said. He liked this side of her more as days passed.
“How can you tell a thief by looking at one, sir?” she asked.
“Normal men guard a pathway, mistress. Bandits stay off the roads so they can approach those who use them.”
“Fair enough,” she said.
Jayden dismounted his horse. He took the black cloak from the man lying dead beneath him. Madison did the same with the one she had knocked unconscious. The material was far too fine in quality to be of normal commoners. These men profited well from their takings. And her cover was clearly not as cautious as she would have liked. She draped the cloak around her body. It concealed her much more efficiently than she had been before.
“Shall we search for them then, or move onward?” he asked, already knowing the answer he desired.
“I wouldn’t object to sport, so yes, lets,” she said, mounting her horse. Had she not sensed their previous guilt of ha
rming other young women, she never would have imagined herself to say such a thing. Although, the notion that women were being accused of bringing out this plague infuriated her.
Jayden looked down on the man she struck with the hilt of his sword and drained him quickly. He looked up at her once he was finished. “Waste not.”
Madison grinned as she gathered her hair back into her hooded cloak.
“And to think,” Jayden added, easily mounting his horse in one agile motion, “you once frowned upon my generous taking of the Vam-pyr-ei-ak.”
“Your vengeance was well deserved, Jayden. This is merely justice. These men are takers of life.”
“As are we, mistress,” he said.
She looked at him knowing the irony. “I see a difference. We took vengeance from those who sought to kill us. Now we take it from those who seek to kill others.”
“We are mercenaries then? You have come a long way, mistress.”
“I would like to think of it more as a means of protection. Guards perhaps,” she said.
Jayden smiled at her. Her newly improved attitude toward their inclinations pleased him. “Protectors, and not demons then?” he said. “I suppose that is a more refined way of looking at it.”
Chapter 8
Kilkenny, Ireland
The Following Day
It took little to no time for Madison to sense where the other men had run. Jayden overtook them quickly and without remorse. Madison merely watched, fully believing these men were as guilty as the others. They searched the area for a village and came across a township. It was too great a distance for the men to have been protecting it. By their natural speed, Jayden and Madison could have reached it in a matter of hours, but by horse it took the length of the day. From the hills they could see the entire layout of the small hamlet they approached.
Only a small flicker of light peaked from a short distance away. A tall stone tower atop the grassy mound was gated in by a stone fence and a curved wooden gate. The roofing was visibly red as they drew closer, the tower above appearing brown and grey in the dim light.
Their dark horses blended with the blackness of the night. Smoothly descending from them, Jayden and Madison walked to the locked gate. A bell stood by its side and Jayden took its bottom to clang it against the metal surrounding, the long piece dangling from the vibration. The sound it made was harsh to their keen hearing.
A young man approached, fully cloaked in thick brown cloth. He opened the gate hesitantly, just enough to peer from outside its tall wooden timbers.
“This monastery sleeps still now. What do you want?” he said.
“Only shelter from the night,” said Madison removing the hood of her long black cloak. A strand of her hair wafted gently down to her shoulder as she looked the young friar directly in the eyes. She had only recently become aware that Jayden found a certain allure in her when she let her hair flow freely. She hoped the moon provided enough light to entice the man enough to trust her. She wanted to reach out and touch him, to calm him, but the necklace containing the healer’s elixir provided all the protection she needed from him sensing any evil within her. She was never sure which of the priests, friars, or monks would know she wasn’t human in their like form. The healer insinuated that holy men would be the most dangerous in knowing her true form upon looking at her. She didn’t wish to test this theory.
“We are only passing through. We shall be gone by morning,” she said softly. Jayden allowed her to speak this time. He assumed that people were more eager to trust a woman’s soft demeanor over his often weighty presence.
“We want no troubles here,” said the monk. “Our crops have failed and we cannot provide you with food as we barely have enough for our own. You will be given shelter, and bedding. That’s all.”
“That’s all we desire, we have already taken our fill of food for the night.”
Jayden smiled mischievously as he removed the hood of his cloak. He took Madison by her back and led her forward. She walked solemnly forth leading her horse as she walked. The quiet confines of a monastery seemed a welcome change of pace after their days of riding.
“I’m Brother John Clyn of the Friars Minor. You travel during horrid times,” he said leading the way.
“We have grown very aware of that,” said Jayden. The monk turned around and faced the two of them, ushering them to tie their horses to the nearby rails alongside the stone gate.
“I wouldn’t normally take in strangers, as many who attempt to travel bring the pestilence with them. But we fear that a few here are already infected. That’s a risk you must be willing to take if you do choose to stay in our lodgings,” he said, his face defeated with sadness. Madison could see it as clearly as she sensed it.
“We have no fear of death, Brother Clyn,” she said softly.
He took her hand in his and bowed his head gently. “Then Christ be with you this night, my lady. We can only hope now. I will lead you to our open chambers. Rest easy this night and be gone by the dawn’s first light. If the others were to know that I allowed possibly infected strangers within these walls, I would no longer have a place here.”
“No one shall know of our presence, I swear to you,” she said following him.
The monk looked at her with curious eyes when she didn’t let go of his hand as they walked up the spiral stone steps. She held it until they reached the dark chambers with two small beds of thin cloth on either side of a thick wall and a small door. She maintained his sense of calm as she touched him. He didn’t seem to even be bothered when she gently pushed him into the wall, taking a small amount of what blood she needed from his wrist. The monk was still and didn’t fight her. Madison forced her essence through him and dispassionately allowed Jayden to drink from him. The monk appeared almost in a daze as she motioned for Jayden to stop. The she gently wrapped the man’s wounds with ripped cloth from the bedding.
“You have been very generous, Brother Clyn. Go rest now,” she said tying a knot around his wrist. He silently left the room and closed the door behind him.
“Don’t take so much next time. You will leave him weak,” she spat at Jayden, nearly scolding him. He threw his cloak on the foot of her bedding.
“I took little more than you did. He will be recovered by morning. And with those long robes, who is to notice his wrist?”
She sighed and drew her cloak off laying it across the bed for extra comfort.
“Where are these aimless wanderings to lead us if we continue to stay in monasteries and shallow inns streamed with the ill?” Jayden complained. He was growing irritated with their lack of lifestyle.
“I had the same thought,” she sighed.
“Might I suggest somewhere more populated? I desire to make one more trip into London before we wander elsewhere.”
“We may be able to find more willing takers for our cravings in the cities,” she agreed. “Although they may bear an even stronger stench of death if sickness has overtaken as many regions as those vermin said it had.”
“And what will you do there, mistress?”
“Accompany you,” she said blatantly. “I thought that was the entire idea of my coming with you.”
“I was under the distinct impression you never wanted to see home again.”
“I don’t need to see my village, Jayden. I only wish to not be forced into seclusion,” she snapped. “Our initial plan of keeping to small towns has become a lesser way of living.”
“I thought we agreed to move onward from everything we once knew.”
She studied him as her irritation grew. “You are the one who wants to go into London. Is that not your previous home?” His scoff only provoked her further. “Do you honestly believe that you are the only one frustrated by this? Every township we approach lays sick or dying. We’re forced to take lodgings in places that are not lodgings, and we only travel by dim light or complete darkness. I desire something slightly livelier, same as you.”
“You mean that you desire some
thing familiar. What do you expect to happen? To go home and find your brother there waiting for you?”
Madison had Jayden on the ground, his arm twisted behind him and groaning in pain before he knew she had moved. She could hear his skin scratching on the stone floor beneath him as he fell back into his room.
“I told you not to speak to me that way again,” she growled into him. “I am as infuriated by this as you. And do not dishonor my brother.” She let him go and shut the door between their two chambers so that she may have some privacy. She heard him lurch up and snap his shoulder back into place with a heavy grunt. “And if you must know, I wish to know how this sickness has spread and where it originally came from.”
“And what, dare I ask, would be the point of that,” he moaned, still trying to gain his composure. He sat on the bed causing it to give a loud creak from his size.
“I just wish to know. I need no further explanation. Now go to sleep.”
She drew her cloak over her body and lay down on the bedding. She saw no need to tell Jayden her true suspicions.
At least not yet.
* * * * *
“Awaken, mistress,” Jayden yelled. “Awaken this instant.”
Madison lifted her head gently from where she lay. On her stomach, she only saw Jayden’s waist as he quickly reached for his cloak draped over the cupboard at the foot of her bed. He threw it on violently, covering his face.
She leaned up quickly on her hands. “Pray tell, what are you doing?”
“We have to leave at once, lest someone find us here alone,” he said. He wasn’t in a state of panic just yet, but he was clearly disturbed.
“What do you mean alone? The others lay downstairs. The man led us here for privacy, which you have ruined now. Thank you, sir.”
“They may lie downstairs, but they no longer reside in their bodies, mistress.”
Jayden’s emotions were becoming clear to her. He was anxious. She sensed it coming from him as she grew more alert. Grabbing her shoes, she placed them on and rushed for the door, her cloak close in hand.
Exile (Book II in The Elder Origins series): Novella Page 8
