The Darkness of Dawn

by Braden Michael

  “Once they lost the horses, and once they saw their food stores aflame! Then the valiant Warriors of Winter returned to the smallfolk, who cheered for their clever victory and shared with them a great harvest from their farms!”

  Alexey returned to his current fifteen-year-old self, and quickly ended the enthusiastic look he remembered making at five. Really, father? The villagers shared a great harvest? Are you sure the Warriors of Winter didn’t threaten to kill them for it?

  “Alexey! I think I found something!” Viktor called out.

  Viktor was atop a hill beside the frozen river bed and looking down at a point Alexey could not see. He rushed up the hill, clambering on the icy and snow-covered landscape with rushed caution, and joined up with Viktor.

  “What’d you find?” asked Alexey.

  Viktor was silent but pointed below the hill. In between several icy trees lay a handful of human corpses, along with the carcass of an Abomination with three of its legs separated from its body. Alexey looked at the scene with a mixed face of horror, respect, and confusion. Did these recruits manage to kill an Abomination before dying themselves? The dead Abomination’s blood once gushed out of its open wounds but was now frozen solid. Two bloody swords lay beside the dead creature. The dead recruits were mangled and disfigured, but recognizable unlike the dead from the cave. The rest of the group reached Alexey and Viktor atop the hill.

  “We may not be alone here,” Viktor muttered as he drew his sword.

  The others drew their own weapons, and all followed Alexey as he crept towards the dead carefully and with purpose.

  “This could feed our men almost indefinitely. But keep your guard up.” His footsteps pattered in the snow, which crunched softly beneath his feet. Alexey carefully listened to the forest for hints of anything that could be a threat. He stopped in his tracks as he heard heavy breathing from a few dozen feet deep into the tree line.

  “Who is that!?” Alexey demanded.

  Someone emerged from behind a large tree. He wore a recruit uniform, and carried a bow with a drawn arrow, pointed directly at Alexey. His hands were shaking violently, and his face was panicked.

  “Don’t let that arrow loose,” Alexey told the fearful archer.

  The archer kept his arrow drawn and pointed it at each of the men who stared him down. He did not reply and gave no hint he would speak.

  “Were they with you?” Alexey asked calmly, pointing to the dead recruits strewn about the area.

  The archer nodded, and the fear in his face began to subside. The arrow remained drawn for a little while longer until he eased the tension in his bow string. He stuck the arrow in his quiver, then steadily began to walk towards Alexey.

  “You’re Alexey, aren’t you?” The archer spoke sheepishly.

  “That’s right,” he affirmed.

  With the archer being closer now, Alexey could get a close look at him. He had a scruffy black beard that had begun to collect frost, and steel blue eyes that looked at him with mild suspicion. He shifted his gaze back and forth to Alexey, Viktor, Anton, Dimitri, Yuri, Boris, Yelchin, Igor, Chernov, and Petrand. Once his eyes had covered the group, he looked upon the dead recruits with sad dread.

  “What’s your name?” Anton asked the archer.

  “Casmir,” he said, now in arm’s distance of Alexey, Anton, and Viktor. The archer was just as tall as Alexey but stood with a sunken chest and drooped soldiers. He continued to stare at the dead recruits silently for a few moments. His lips shuddered, and he blinked more frequently as tears began to flow down the side of his face until he collapsed to his knees, sobbing. His mournful weeping loudly filled the air and echoed from the ice that encased almost the entire surrounding area. He looked up at the trees angrily, as if their echoes were mocking him.

  Alexey took a step towards Casmir and reached out to his shoulder, “are you—”

  “AGGHHH!” Casmir roared out in pure anguish, causing Alexey to take a sudden step backwards.

  Alexey turned around to look at the rest of the men beside him. Viktor, Anton, Yuri, Dimitri, Igor, Yelchin, Chernov, and Boris offered silent and sympathetic gazes, but Petrand seemed completely unmoved and apathetic. He broke silence for the first time in weeks.

  “Let’s go back to the cave and get more people to move the Abomination back inside. We can carry the dead guys back ourselves for a feast,” Petrand suggested nonchalantly. When the rest of the group either ignored him or looked at him angrily, he offered a shrug.

  “You are fucking animals! If you eat my brothers, I’ll kill you myself!” Casmir stood up and stared at the men with absolute hostility. His eyes quickly darted among Alexey’s group, trying to find the culprit who had dared to suggest such a thing.

  Alexey and the others backed away defensively, except for Petrand, who remained apathetic.

  “You’ll die and then we’ll eat your body too,” Petrand uttered calmly and coldly.

  Viktor instantly recoiled and struck Petrand directly in his throat with a closed fist. He fell to the ground, gasping violently. Each man who was near the collapsing Petrand backed away to allow ample space for him to fall into the snow. Viktor glanced back at Alexey, who responded with a look of approval.

  “Casmir.” Alexey openly and calmly stepped towards him. He looked at him suspiciously but did not move. “Were these men your brothers?”

  “Same mother, different fathers,” Casmir replied quickly.

  Alexey paused for a moment. What’s the right thing to do here? Petrand or Poznan would declare that eating the dead bodies despite Casmir was right, while Viktor and Anton would absolutely disagree. What do I believe?

  “We won’t eat your brothers,” Alexey decided.

  “You don’t speak for me!” Petrand shouted from the ground.

  Viktor readied himself to kick Petrand, but Alexey stopped him. Viktor yielded, backing away a step. Alexey stood over Petrand, who looked back at him angrily.

  “You will not disturb their rest,” Alexey crouched to get to eye-level with Petrand. “And you’ll keep your mouth shut. As far as I’m concerned, we never found the bodies, just that dead Abomination.”

  Petrand glared at Alexey furiously. “You—”

  “There is more than enough meat from the Abomination for everyone’s belly to be full. Do not let me hear you complain again, unless you want to be buried next to Casmir’s brothers.” Petrand looked at Alexey angrily and silently.

  Alexey stood up and turned back to Casmir. “They deserve a proper burial.” He placed his left hand on Casmir’s shoulder comfortingly. “No one will eat any of them. They were brave enough to work with you to kill that Abomination.” Alexey pointed at the dead creature. Casmir’s face was painted by frozen tears as he followed Alexey’s finger. “That’ll be plenty to feed you, me, and every one of our comrades.”

  Casmir gulped and nodded compliantly, and the flow of tears slowed. “We bury my brothers, then take the Abomination back?”

  “Absolutely,” Alexey promised.

  Alexey truly had no intention for any of the middle or rear guardsmen to know of the dead recruits. The Frozen Forest and the march before had made them into moral-free scavengers. Alexey had learned the brutal way that a lack of food or water could make anyone do unspeakable things. But there was something in the way Casmir had cried out for his fallen brothers so pitifully that made him realize the importance of retaining those values. The Abomination has plenty of meat, we won’t need anything more than that for a while.

  Alexey turned around to the group. “We help bury the men, then five of us go back to grab more men and we haul the creature back to the cave.”

  Viktor nodded approvingly, then Anton, followed by Yuri, Dimitri, Boris, Igor, Yelchin, and Chernov. As Alexey’s eyes reached Petrand, who still lay on the ground, the shivering recruit nodded at Alexey grudgingly, but compliant all the same.

  The men got to work digging makeshift graves for Casmir’s brothers. The snow was thick and easy enough to dig thr
ough with the right tools. Three holes were dug, and three brothers were placed inside, then covered up by the snow. Casmir found his brothers’ swords and stuck them in the ground, each one just above the head of a brother. The swords protruded from the ground to waist-height.

  “They make for good grave stones,” Casmir remarked.

  Once the job was done, Anton, Petrand, Yuri, Dimitri, and Boris went back off to the cave to recruit more men to move the dead Abomination while Alexey, Viktor, Yelchin, Igor, Chernov, and Casmir waited nearby and kept watch.

  “I take back what I said about wanting excitement,” said Chernov. His steel-blue eyes looked bored as he sat cross-legged in the snow.

  “What were you expecting to be exciting in this frozen shit-hole?” Yelchin asked while folding his arms and shivering.

  “Perhaps,” Chernov looked up, appearing deep in thought, “um, well—”

  “You shit your pants when you saw those Abominations up close, didn’t you?” Yelchin interrupted.

  “No!” Chernov said almost playfully. “But I did, um, pee a little.”

  Yelchin, Igor, and Viktor laughed, while Alexey looked at Casmir’s sullen face.

  “How are you doing?” Alexey asked Casmir.

  Casmir remained still for a moment but looked up at Alexey when no one else had replied. “Um, I’m fine.”

  “Are you worried about Petrand?” Casmir looked confused, so Alexey clarified, “the one that wanted to—” His words trailed off at the end.

  “Him? No, I’m not worried,” said Casmir.

  “Petrand is a weasel,” said Viktor. “If he steps out of line again, I’ll only have to hurt him.”

  “Is that wise?” Casmir inquired.

  “Probably not, but I enjoyed hurting that asshole, so I’ll probably keep doing it,” said Viktor, chuckling.

  “Just take a look at Petrand’s face.” Chernov perked up. “He has the face of a rat. I’d sooner have an Abomination care for my elderly mom than let that fucker do so.” Chernov’s quip was met with laughter from the men.

  The group sat silently for another few minutes, until a group of about twenty men, led by Anton, Petrand, Yuri, Dimitri, and Boris, came walking down the nearby ridge.

  “Is that our dinner?” a nameless recruit asked, looking at the dead Abomination.

  “If you can help us get it back to the cave,” Alexey replied.

  “Shit, you didn’t need twenty of us, I’d haul the thing myself!” Tip boasted. As he began down the ridge, he tripped and rolled downwards violently, landing face-first in the snow before Alexey’s feet.

  All the recruits laughed: even Casmir let out a hearty chuckle and gave a soft smile.

  “Everyone except Tip can help move this thing, eh?” Anton cracked. More laughs roared from the recruits.

  Moving the Abomination required a good deal of time and effort—multiple recruits pulled the creature a stretch of a few feet with each hoist. The cave was hundreds of feet away, the distance making the job a tough one. As they approached the cave entrance and returned to the safe zone, the icy grip of the cold air loosened its hold on their throats, making the labor of heaving the Abomination easier. Once inside, a dozen recruits came from the camp inside to observe the men heaving the dead creature.

  “You found a goldmine!” an observing recruit shouted.

  “Thing looks heavy, I bet you need help with that!” another recruit said sarcastically.

  The rocky surface of the cave had been smoothed even further while they were outside. A dozen or so tents had been set up deeper into the cave, and multiple fires were started within. A strong orange glow flickered throughout the area and the air was comfortably warm.

  “All right! We’re done here, good job, guys!” Alexey said, out of breath. He stepped away from the creature.

  The others dropped the creature and exhaled with extreme relief. They began to disperse throughout the camp, looking for warmth or shelter.

  “If you all want to eat, you better start carving this thing up!” Alexey bellowed.

  The other recruits immediately got to work butchering the creature. Alexey motioned Viktor, Anton, and Casmir to come with him. “Let’s see how they did with the camp,” he told them.

  The tents were set up with various amounts of space between them, and there were three tents to each fire. The recruits were either circled around the fire or camping out in their tents. Towards the end, a large fire was prepared, and Poznan was sitting in front of it while biting at a skewer with a slab of meat on it. I hope that’s not human meat, Alexey thought.

  “What are you snacking on?” Anton prodded playfully, smacking Poznan on the shoulder as he sat down in front of the fire.

  “One of the bastards that stole my amulet,” Poznan replied starkly.

  Alexey looked over at Casmir, who appeared disgusted. Casmir opened his mouth to speak, but Alexey placed his hand over his mouth to stop him. Alexey, Viktor, and Casmir sat down around the fire, joining Poznan and Anton. Poznan looked at them with subtle contempt, but quickly turned apathetic.

  “You don’t want to eat Abomination meat?” Alexey asked him.

  Poznan took the meat by his teeth and yanked his head back, ripping a bite off the skewer. He chewed the meat, grimaced, and gulped it down. “I do. I want to eat this as well.”

  “That shit is too chewy, don’t ya think?” Viktor asked.

  Poznan stopped eating and stared blankly at Viktor, then shifted to Casmir.

  “Are you the one they found by the dead Abomination?” Poznan interrogated with a cold steely voice.

  Poznan already heard about that? Alexey thought.

  “Yes,” Casmir replied, then gulped.

  “Did you kill that thing yourself?” Poznan continued, stare unbroken.

  “Um, no,” Casmir shifted in his seat uncomfortably, “my brothers helped.”

  “And where are they now?”

  Casmir sat with his mouth open, struggling to produce a response. Poznan’s stare remained fixed and sharper than steel.

  “We couldn’t recover the bodies,” Alexey interceded.

  Poznan slowly moved his eyes to Alexey. When their eyes locked, Alexey felt his icy stare wrapping around his throat like the cold of the Forest. Alexey did not allow it to be known, but Poznan’s stare filled him with dread. Why does he stare at people like that? It’s like his eyes are saying everything yet nothing.

  “That’s a shame.” Poznan proceeded to sink his teeth into the meat and yank his head back from the skewer as he had before. He chewed the meat carefully and methodically, maintaining the icy stare he directed at Alexey. He grimaced as he swallowed, then began to speak again. “Had we found the bodies, we could’ve had more food.”

  The men around the fire remained silent and unsettled as Poznan continued to feast from the skewer. He almost seemed to treat his meal like a fancy lord’s meal in between bites, wiping the blood and juices from the corners of his mouth with elegance, but he then ripped into the meat like a savage animal, fixing his eyes on Alexey like a hunter glares at its prey. Does he know I buried them? Alexey wondered.

  “Why’re you so eager to eat people?” Alexey upbraided. A few nearby recruits perked up, and more stopped what they were doing to walk close by and listen in.

  Poznan looked up at Alexey, widening his eyes open a sliver, maintaining the dampened emotional expression habit he seemed accustomed to. “Why are you so eager to starve to death?”

  Casmir, Anton, and Viktor repeatedly darted their eyes between Poznan and Alexey, sitting still yet nervous.

  “While you were busy resting in this cave, my guys found everyone enough food for weeks,” Alexey boasted. “We didn’t need to eat our own people!”

  Over two dozen recruits gathered nearby to see what the shouting was all about. Many of them whispered into each other’s ears or looked on in silence.

  “It appears we no longer need to, with your find.” Poznan pointed to the Abomination, which a dozen recruits
were still laboriously butchering.

  “Whoever you are eating right now,” Alexey pointed at Poznan’s skewer, “was a fucking human, not just meat!”

  The crowd was silent and divided: many of the recruits nodded positively when Poznan spoke, while others showed their support for Alexey.

  Poznan sharply stared at Alexey for ten seconds, before shifting his gaze to Casmir. “Why didn’t you eat your brothers?”

  Alexey leaned forward sharply. “Don’t you—”

  “SHUT UP, CUNT!” Poznan raised his voice, startling all the onlookers. The cold stare he directed at Casmir remained unbroken. “Answer the question.”

  “Um…” Casmir looked downwards sheepishly as he shifted uncomfortably and fidgeted with his bow. “They were, uh, they—they were not r—recoverable.”

  “Recoverable?” Poznan chuckled darkly and twisted his body around, pointing towards the sea of flesh encountered before. “You think they were recoverable? Some of it was, believe it or not.” He held out the skewer in his hand. The orange light of the fire flickered over the meat.

  “Um—I—I—” Casmir stuttered anxiously.

  “Back the hell off!” Viktor stood up and walked up into Poznan’s face, looming over him as he sat.

  “Or what?” Poznan replied calmly. He remained seated and unfazed. “You planning to grasp my throat and yell You are my property at me until I beg for mercy?”

  Alexey gulped nervously, studying the fury in Viktor’s face. Don’t do anything stupid! Please…

  Viktor smacked the skewer out of Poznan’s hand, causing it to hit the ground and gather dust all around the meat. He continued to stare down Poznan with homicidal fury in his eyes. Poznan, remaining hauntingly blank-faced, stood up and slowly angled his body towards Viktor’s. He was a full head shorter than Viktor, but not intimidated by his size.

  “Think carefully what you say next,” Viktor said, furious yet hushed, spit spraying through his closed teeth.

  Poznan began to chuckle calmly, positioning himself even closer. “When you succumb to the Forest, the Cold, or the end of my blade, I will not honor you by dining on your flesh.” His voice was sharper than his stare. “I’ll probably just bury you in the snow.” He looked at Casmir and displayed a devilish grin.