by Bre Faucheux
There was something wrong with the smell in the air. It was the same odor from the previous village. Death accompanied these men. They came forth with a stench that even made the horse recoil his nostrils in repulsion. These men were entirely dressed in black and grey with long hooded cloaks covering most of their faces. She wondered if they would immediately notice that she was a woman even with her head intentionally covered in a long dark skinned cloth she had managed to save from the natives. Jayden had stolen a man’s trousers he found for her, deciding it best if she wore apparel that would allow her quickened movement. She tried her best to conceal her face, given how she was riding as a man as would.
Six men on horses circled them. Jayden came closer to her from behind. Madison dropped her head down to avoid showing her face.
“Why do you come forth in such a manner?” said Jayden when not one of the strangers spoke immediately. They simply stared at them.
“You can come no further,” one said. His face was dirty and his teeth yellow. Madison could smell his atrocious breath from feet away.
“And why not?” said Jayden.
“Have you been touched by the pestilence?” another man asked.
“We are not ill, if that is your meaning,” said Jayden.
“Our village remains untouched, and we will not have intruders bringing it in,” said a tall man from the opposite side. He leaned in toward Madison, curious as it why she didn’t speak. She continued staring downward, knowing full well that the man was lying. The smell of the sickness saturated their clothing.
“The pestilence travelled farther than the coast, then?” asked Jayden.
“It is everywhere. We cannot allow it to travel farther. We do not permit strangers beyond these woods.”
Jayden concluded this man was their leader. His greasy hair went down to his shoulders. His accent was thick and not quite English. Jayden could identify it as foreign. He suddenly realized they were not on English soil. Although it had to be near as the language was still a broken sort of English. He thought he might have heard it before.
“You are Gaelic?” asked Jayden.
“What else would we be? We do not permit English here. For you are who brought this pestilence upon us. You would see fit to travel during such times?”
Jayden laughed. “We landed far from where we intended then. We will make way for England then, if our presence offends you so,” he said.
Madison continued to look downward.
“You won’t make passage here. Leave from wherest you came or you will be removed.”
It was only then that Madison glanced upward slightly. The other five men had cloths wrapped around their faces, meant to protect them from the infected.
“And which route should we be advised to take to avoid your village?” asked Jayden.
“Just go back. Go back from where you came.”
“How many areas are affected?” he persisted.
“They are all affected,” shouted the man. “And I would think you complicit in spreading it should you stand your ground much longer. Is that a witch you bring with you? Does she intend to spread this evil?”
A cloaked man from behind Madison grabbed the back of her deer skinned hood. She let out a cry and her cover was removed. Her hair came spilling out. The man didn’t let go but tried to dismount her from her horse. She grabbed his arm and twisted it backwards, sending the man screeching in agony down from his horse. His feet dangled above the ground as her grip clenched around his forearm. Finally she let him drop. He reached for his shoulder and immediately backed away from her. The others stared at her.
Jayden reached for the throat of the man who spoke for them. His teeth ground and his eyes widened at the strength in Jayden’s hand.
“That is my wife you threaten, sir. Do you truly desire to make such foolish accusations if they may cost you your life?” Jayden thrust the man backwards and released him. “You do not look well yourself, sir. I daresay you may already be infecting your village. We pose little threat to you or your people unless you provoke us so,” said Jayden.
Madison slowly came beside Jayden, staring down at the man gasping and heaving for air as he tried to gain composure from Jayden’s tight grip. Both Madison and Jayden could sense their sudden nervousness.
A younger man from behind gazed forward at Madison. He spoke from under the cloth wrapped tightly around his nose and mouth.
“She is a witch! Look at her eyes. She is 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 with the allegation.
“I am 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 am 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. The others backed away as they stared at Madison’s eyes. Her hair had now fallen behind her head graced 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 is 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 do not desist.”
“We are no bandits, sir. We seek only to protect our village,” another spoke.
“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?” said Jayden looking at the man who was still gasping for breath and trying to regain his speech. “We are 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 said. “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 eve
n 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 in 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 teeth. He was still too shocked to stand.
“You have taken other women with this blade, haven’t you,” she said. 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 had taken 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 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 given road 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 had 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 would not object to sport, so yes, lets,” she said, mounting her horse. Had she not sensed their previous guilt of harming other young women, so 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 had 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.”
17
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 community 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 it. 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 had 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 s
helter, and bedding. That is all.”
“That is all we desire, we have already taken our fill of food for the night.”
Jayden smiled 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 am Brother John Clyn of the Friars Minor. I am afraid that 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 would not 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 is 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 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. She gently wrapped the man’s wounds with ripped cloth from the bedding.
