FULL MOON ISLAND

by Terry Yates

  “Then why didn’t he hide in the fields with you?” Kyler asked.

  “Because I was the son and he was the father, and if my sisters were going to die, then so would he.”

  “Shit,” Kyler muttered, stunned. “When did the soldiers leave?”

  “About an hour later. Anna stopped screaming long before my Sovia did. They raped, tortured, and then killed them. Anna was fifteen and Sovia was thirteen.”

  He stopped again. Kyler thought that the man might break into tears, but he didn’t. He seemed more reflective than sad. If he was as old as he said he was, he might have learned to cope with the grief by now.

  “After that, I had no one but my brothers left, so I joined them. They were still reluctant to let me in, but I told them that if they didn’t, I would kill the Tsar’s army by myself, and I meant it. Like my brothers, I was filled with rage and hatred for them and everyone associated with them. We lived to burn. It was no longer just a battle; it was a quest for us. We ambushed them constantly, this time though, we killed everyone that brandished a sword. Sometimes we would leave one to tell the story…one to tell the Tsar and the landowners that we would never rest until every last one of them was dead.”

  By now, Kyler was enthralled. The passion in the man’s voice blazed with venom, bile, and hatred.

  “So what happened to the order?” he asked.

  Klefka rubbed the back of his calf again. “As I told you, the larger army in any prolonged war usually wins, and it was true in the case of the Knights of Kravania. The order lasted eight more years and grew in number to over four hundred. We ourselves were ambushed at Aleksin on April 5th, 1487. By this time, Gregore was leading the Tsar’s armies. He had been so close to us that he knew our ways, our tricks, the way we thought, the way we would double back twice after a raid. We weren’t smart enough to realize this until it was too late. Gregore used one of our strategies against us. Whenever the order attacked a city, we infiltrated it by sneaking into the city, a few at a time, in disguise, and waited for an opportune moment to strike. Usually, it was my brother Tescha who sounded the attack horn. When he did, we went after every soldier in sight, catching them unaware of our presence. We would slaughter them in literally minutes. But in Aleksin, Gregore did it to us. We thought we saw the entire army ride out of the city…but we were wrong. Some stayed behind, themselves in disguise and waited for us. Thinking that the Russian army was gone, we strolled into the city and spent several hours ransacking the place and generally enjoying ourselves at what we thought was at Gregore’s expense. Little did we know that they were the ones biding their time. They let us split up as we went about our looting, then blew their own horn and attacked us. None of us was in a group bigger than six or seven and that was our undoing. They slaughtered us left and right, but we rallied after a time, but just long enough to get out of there. About sixty of us managed to ride out of the city, some riding double, some riding triple, and some on foot. To our surprise, Gregore and the rest of the army were waiting for us just outside the gates. We had to fight our way through them. Only twenty-seven of us rode away from Aleksin. My brother Tescha was killed there.”

  “What happened to Gregore?” Kyler asked, noticing that he had scooted up two feet during Klefka’s tale.

  “We couldn’t get to him. Believe me, if I’d been able to, I would’ve done it myself, but ever since that day my father told me to stay in the fields because I would just die like the rest of my family if I went into the house, I had to turn and flee. I wasn’t even able to retrieve Tescha’s body. I vowed though to get Gregore one day. I would never rest until I held his head in my hand.”

  Kyler couldn’t resist anymore. He was now a ten year old being told a story by a five hundred and fifty year old knight.

  “Did you ever see him again?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Klefka replied, “which leads me to where we are now. After our ambush at Aleksin, we tried to reform, to start a new Knights of Kravania, but we were too beaten, bloody, and demoralized to carry on. Men no longer wanted to join the order. They decided that it was best to be alive and poor than rich and dead. The villages didn’t want to hide us anymore because if the army found out, they would destroy the town and make sure that one person from every home was killed to make sure they got at least one member of the guilty party. My brothers and I and several cousins, including Gregore’s brother Rensky stayed to the eastern woods and continued raiding, but it didn’t last long. Finally, we just gave up. Valentine married, and then Igor married, and then Ivan married, all within a year. My cousins and I remained fugitives for several more years, existing mainly by robbing carriages carrying wealthy passengers, but more often than not, they would travel with soldiers as escorts. Things were falling apart and we just couldn’t keep it together any longer. More cousins married and began families, or left because they were tired of being fugitives and always having to move, until one day, I woke up to find myself alone, the last few cousins having said goodbye the day before. There was nothing left anymore, so I walked into the small village of Peshka one day and bought several acres of land with what money I had left. I didn’t care anymore if the landowners kept it all. I just wanted my own home and family.”

  “Did you have a family?” Kyler asked him.

  “Yes, I fell in love with a girl named Paullina. I thought she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. She had fiery red hair and blue eyes. I was in my late twenties when we met. She was only eighteen.”

  “That’s a big age difference.”

  “Actually, in those days, she would’ve been considered almost past her prime for marriage. Girls generally married between the ages of thirteen to sixteen. By today’s standards, eighteen would be the equivalent of twenty-eight or twenty-nine…not old, but not young either. We fell in love, married, and then lived on my farm for two years, until one day, I was hunting for food for the winter. Russian winters are cold, and I wanted to have enough meat to last till the spring. I knew there to be game in the eastern woods, so I camped out there for several days, killing at least one deer or moose, plus several squirrels and rabbits every day. I never liked leaving Paullina alone, probably because of the way my father and sisters were killed. The eastern wood was three days horse ride from my farm. I had tried to hunt closer to home, but the game was scarce. The army had marched through and shot most every animal in the whole vicinity. So, you see, I really had no choice but to hunt elsewhere, and since I was familiar with the eastern wood and knew where to hunt and fish, I felt sure that I would find food there, and as I said, I hunted successfully. It was on the third day, just before dusk, that I saw someone in the woods walking toward me. I must admit, I was a little shocked, for I had not seen another living soul since I had arrived. The man had a wild mane of black hair and a large black beard to match. I couldn’t really tell the size of the man because he stooped when he walked. As he moved quickly toward me, I wasn’t really sure what to think. I knew that he saw me, but he wasn’t acknowledging me in any way, not with a wave, a hello, or even a smile. He just moved straight at me. The closer he got, the more cautious I became. I didn’t see a weapon on the man, but he could’ve had a multitude of knives and swords hidden on his person for all I knew. As he neared me, he didn’t slow down. I thought for certain that he was going to walk right through me. I raised my bow when he got within twenty feet, but still he didn’t stop. He kept walking until he was right in front of me. I don’t know to this day, why I didn’t just shoot him. I’d killed many men and this one looked like he could be equally as dangerous as any of them. He stopped in front of me and said nothing. He seemed to be studying me like he would a horse that he wanted to buy. There was something about him that seemed familiar. For the longest time, the two of us just stared at one another, until finally, he broke into a wide smile, and then it hit me. His eyes…his deep penetrating black eyes. I recognized them. I knew of only one man who had eyes like his. Gregore! At once, I was filled with rage! I lifted my bow aga
in, but he slapped it away. I then reached for my sword, but before I could unsheathe it, he roughly grabbed me by both shoulders and lifted me into the air like a small child who was being held up by his father.

  ‘Nicola!’ he exclaimed, as if we were long lost brothers.

  “I began to swear, scream, and kick at him, but he continued to hold me up in the air and smile. Where he obtained this new super human strength, I couldn’t tell you, but I continued to fight him until I had no strength left. As I looked into his face, I noticed that although he still had his black eyes, there was something different about them. I can’t explain exactly what was different about them, but they were. They almost had a hungry look about them. Once I was completely worn down, he dropped me on the ground like a sack of potatoes and stood over me.”

  ‘I’ve been looking for you, Cousin,’ he told me, that evil smile plastered to his face, looking more and more wicked all the time.

  ‘You’ve found me, Gregore,’ I answered him, still lying on my back.

  ‘That I have, young Nicola.’

  ‘So, why have you come looking for me?’ I asked him. ‘All you had to do was just let me know where you were, and I would’ve come and found you…believe me.’

  “I remember he let out a loud and hardy laugh, grabbing his stomach as he did so. He shook his head at me as if I were an impish child, then yanked me up off the ground and set me down feet first. I now stood face to face with the man who had betrayed the Knights of Kravania and caused the death of my father, my sisters, my cousins, my friends, and my eldest brother. I tried to jump at him, but he quickly threw his arm out and sent me reeling backwards. He walked up to me, picked me up off the ground again, and again set me down on my feet.”

  ‘What do you want with me, you bastard?’ I shouted, frustrated at my own inability to do anything. ‘Let me draw my sword on you and I promise to make your death quick!’ Again he laughed hardily.

  ‘My dear cousin, you could draw ten swords on me and you would never kill me.’

  ‘I think you’ll find me a worthy adversary.’

  His smile was replaced with a look of animalistic anger. ‘Do you not hear me?’ he shouted. ‘I cannot be killed!’

  ‘You are insane,’ I told him.

  He looked like he wanted to kill me right then and there.

  “Why did you leave the army?” I asked him, trying to change the subject. I knew he could tear me into little pieces if he wanted to. I wanted a chance to fight him. Provoking him would’ve just caused my death right then and there. Yes, it was my father in the field thing again. I had to let good sense win out.’

  “Why did I leave the army, you ask?” He seemed to have calmed down a little, but I was still wary.

  “I had no choice. After our little scuffle back home in Aleksin, I was ordered to round up all subversives…especially in the small villages and towns that I knew you to hide in. One night we rode near the woods of Shevcov…remember Shevcov? We had begun to make night raids on these small villages to make our presence seem more terrifying. The moon was so bright and full that night that you could’ve read a book by it. We had just burned down six cottages that ran along the front of the woods, when I saw something running straight toward me. Even as bright as it was, I couldn’t tell if it was man or beast. It ran on two legs, but growled as it did so. My first thought was that it was perhaps the village idiot, having finally gone completely mad. I drew my sword, as did the nine officers who rode in the front with me. Whatever it was, moved quickly and was on us in seconds. My officers moved their horses in a circle forming a shield around me, but it did no good. As I said, the thing walked on two legs, but was hairy and had a snout. We were all stunned. It made short work of my officers, killing all nine and most of their horses within half a minute. It clawed and bit and tore until I had no officers left. Then it jumped on me, knocking me from my horse and onto the ground. The two of us rolled around on the ground. I had managed to pull my sword, but when I hit the ugly beast with it, it only seemed to grow angrier. I don’t have any idea how its claws missed me, but they did. Everything happened so quickly, that I didn’t get a good look at it, till it got on top of me and held me down, and then I saw that it had the ears, the nose, and the teeth of a wolf…but it wasn’t a wolf. Before I even knew what was happening, it sank its fangs into my throat, but before it got a good bite down, several of my soldiers attacked it from behind, startling it, thrusting their blades and arrows deep into its body. It did no more than annoy the creature. It got off of me and began to kill my soldiers. I don’t know how I managed to get to my feet for the blood was flowing down my neck and onto my doublet. I picked my sword up, stumbled up to it from behind while it tore and slashed at my men. I barely had the strength to raise my weapon, but I managed to get it just high enough to where I was able to swing it at the beast. I put every ounce of strength I had left and swung it at the creature…lopping off its head. As it fell to the ground, its body was still clawing at the air, trying to take down as many as it could. Before it was over, the thing had killed seventeen of my men and had seriously wounded another six.

  I was weak and bleeding profusely, so my men took me to a small house on the edge of the woods, where I lingered for two days, lying mostly unconscious or suffering from fever dreams, but on the third day, I awoke feeling wonderful. The great gash that the beast had left in my throat was nearly healed! My doctor and my men were astonished as I was. My doctor thought it best for me to rest for another day or two, but I would not have it. I felt better than I had in years. I was on my horse within the hour and riding back toward Aleskin before most of my men had even mounted their horses. I galloped my steed as fast as it would go. I felt born anew.

  As we neared the site of the attack, I decided to stop and collect the weapons from our dead. As we walked around the carnage collecting swords, knives, and arrows, one of my men called to me. He looked puzzled as I approached him. As I neared him, I could see that he was standing over a body.

  ‘What is it?’ I asked him.

  The man was pale and could not respond, he simply pointed downward. There on the ground, I saw that he was standing over a naked body. All I could think of was perhaps one of the peasants had taken one of my soldiers’ clothes, but it wasn’t the body that he was pointing to…it was the head. A man’s head. My first assumption was that once again, it was one of my men, but as I looked around me, I noticed that we were standing in the exact same spot where the creature and I had both fallen. I looked around for the thing’s body, but it was nowhere to be seen. By this time, many of my men had gathered round me. Their faces told me the one thing that I did not want to know, but there was no skirting around it.

  “It couldn’t be,” I told them. “It was a creature that we killed last night. We all saw it!” I pointed to the dead soldiers around me. “No one man could do that!”

  ‘It didn’t matter, though. It was obvious to everyone that this man had been the beast just two nights before…and he had bitten me.

  My men deserted me. They left. They knew what I was to become…and I became it. What you see before you is a mythical creature, come to life. I’ve killed and maimed every night that the moon has shown full. I can’t remember much the next day, but I feel exhilarated, as if I’m king of both man and beast. And now, young Nicola…

  “You’re going to kill me,” I said, hoping that I’d ruined his moment.

  ‘Not at all,’ he answered back. He walked straight up to me. His nose was now no more than six inches away from mine. ‘I’m not going to kill you. You see, young Nicola, as much as I like feeling like a king, there are certain things that happen to you when you become a werewolf. Yes. Yes, I know…you turn into a walking wolf, but there’s much more to it than that…much more. Even those months that you don’t turn, you still have certain animal instincts that you retain, many of them, as a matter of fact. Two of them are self-preservation and survival of the species. And right now, survival of the species beckons to me.�
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  Klefka looked at Kyler, not realizing that he had been telling the story with his eyes closed, either remembering every single detail or trying to remember it, he wasn’t sure. They both seemed plausible to Kyler, who was pretty sure that he looked like a child who was hearing Little Red Riding Hood for the first time.

  “What did he do next?”

  Klefka laughed making Kyler feel stupid for asking the obvious question. After a moment, the smile fell from his face.

  “As soon as I realized what he was going to do, I tried to run, but he reached out and grabbed me before I even turned half way around. Like before, he held me fast by the shoulders.

  ‘Kill me! I screamed. ‘Why would you want me? You should want to tear me in half or swallow me whole!’

  He laughed at me once again. ‘Because I want you to be just as stinkin’ miserable as your brothers are.’

  “Those were the last words he said before he opened his mouth wide and bit down on my neck. He tore savagely at where my neck and shoulder meet…away from the jugular. He didn’t want me to die, or he didn’t want me to die yet. It was not a full moon, but here he was, biting into me and tearing at me as if he had turned. As I dangled in front of him, all I could think of was Paullina…and my brothers. What had he said? He wanted me to be just as miserable as they were? I could hear and feel the blood going from my neck into his mouth. I could feel the tearing and hear the sucking, until I was barely even aware of my surroundings anymore. I remember a white-hot light, and then…nothing.

  When I awoke, the forest was dark and Gregore was nowhere to be seen. I sat up and felt my neck. There was a handkerchief around the bite. The bastard had tended the wound that he had inflicted upon me. He truly didn’t want me to die.