Sat Apr 19, 2003 3:54 am
A low moan filled the air... It was the sound of wood, straining, as the carriage thundered along the path, cutting a swath through the dark with the torches hung carefully at its four corners. It was not a beautiful carriage. But it was not a wreck. Its inhabitants wealthy enough to suit themselves.
Jacob, in fact, was its owner. He owned the two horses who pulled it -- and they were a fine enough stock. He employed the driver, too -- Harrison was a good enough chap -- and was overall a fairly well respected fellow. His business ventures as merchant and trader had not given him a princely fortune, but he was comfortable, and with luck, might even be married before long.
Married to Cecily, who sat beside him with a shy smile, a silk-wrapped finger coiling absently in her gold curls. Her dress was fine, finer perhaps than Jacob could give her, as her family was wealthier than his. But, he was young yet, and of good nature. Her father approved of him.
Though he did not approve quite so grandly of Rupert, Jacob's childhood friend and business partner. Rupert had a snide, conniving sort of air about him, that drove most people away from him. Except for Jacob, who wrote this sort of thing off as 'just the way Rupert is', usually with a laugh to take the edge off. It served him well in business, though, and it was unlikely the merchantile duo would do so well without the sneaky fellow. Gaunt and raven haired, he peered across the carriage at the two. Taking in Cecily lecherously any time Jacob looked out the window.
Cecily did not like Rupert any more than her father, and had advised her beloved Jacob on more than one occasion of the hungry stares he often gave her. 'All in your mind', he always replied, unwilling to believe such things about his partner. But, naivety aside, she could find no fault in Jacob. And simply clung to him, hoping Rupert would understand sooner or later, and keep his leers to himself.
"I do not care for these woods," Cecily lamented now, taking her disgusted stare from Rupert to peer longingly past Jacob, into the darkened trees. For it was twilight. "I hear nothing but horrible tales of them."
"Oh, indeed," Rupert said, eyes lighting up as he leaned forward. "Stories of vampires and werewolves and monsters that make no sense at all to a fellow's eye," he said in ominous tones, delighting in the fearful askance Cecily threw him, while trying to appear impartial.
Jacob 'hmmed' noncommitally, watching as the trees went by. "That's just silliness. The local populace driven into a tizzy over shadows and common ruffians," he vowed with a nod.
"Nonetheless," Cecily said with a sullen sigh, purposely averting her stare from both the darkened landscape outside, and the unpleasant Rupert, "I will be glad to put Myrken behind us come tomorrow."
"Where is it we're going, anyhow, chap?" Rupert inquired, lounging back on the thinly padded bench, turning his own eyes out the window now.
"A little inn I heard about in town," he said, leaning to peer outside, "called the Broken Dagger. Most interesting folks you'll ever meet, there, I heard. Worth a stop, no doubt, just for the stories we can tell later." Cecily eyed Jacob, scrunching her nose with displeasure. She was not so eager to meet these 'colourful' people.
"Anyway, it's not far," Jacob advised, but was silenced before his next words could come.
Because abruptly, the carriage had lurched to a pause. The horses whinnied in rebellion as the wooden chamber was rattled by the animals' fright.
It ceased, soon enough, as the driver soothed the horses. Of course, in that time, Cecily had pitched forward, forced to stand and catch herself against the opposite wall. With arms on either side of Rupert's head, he peered up at her with a most filthy grin. With a huff of disgust, she snorted at him in a fashion unladylike before seating herself besides Jacob again. "Hmph," her infuriated comment. Rupert chuckled.
Jacob leaned, poking his head out the window, to call to the driver. "What's all this about, Peter?" he shouted jovially. "Losing your touch with the beasts, is it?"
"Not quite sure, m'lord!" Peter answered in sincere bewilderment. The horses still paced on the spot, anxious. "Something's got them spooked."
"Probably a werewolf," Rupert said, leaning forward, grinning toothily at Cecily. She shot him a most unamused glower. But nonetheless, chewed her lip nervously. After all, while it may not be bogeymen, it could very well be bandits.
Jacob thought along the same lines. He sat back into his seat, reaching for a scabbard leaned up against the door. It held a well-crafted cutlass, for Jacob was a reasonably reputable swordsman. Rupert laid a hand to the pommel of the shortsword resting upon the seat beside him. Between the two, they could scare a few hungry muggers off.
"Should've hired guards," Rupert murmured in retrospect. Done was done, though, and both men readied their blades.
But then, Peter shouted a mighty "hiyah!" and snapped the reins, starting the horses at their quiet trot anew, despite any reservations the animals may have held.
"There you are," Jacob said, turning a smile onto Cecily. "Nothing to worry about."
She laid silken fingers to his bicep, smiling brightly. Tongue flicked across her lips briefly, wetting them before they were parted, preparing to impart words of her admiration...
The carriage thundered, lurching to one side! Something had struck it from above, falling at an angle that heaved the whole thing onto its right wheels. The horses screamed as their burden crashed, and began to run faster than the vehicle was designed for. It moaned in protest, rattling down the path with threats of its own destruction.
"What's going on?!" Jacob howled to Peter, pulling himself off of Cecily -- having been thrown that way when the carriage had suddenly tilted, and unaware of the flush in her cheeks, of both modesty and fear. He began to lean, intent to poke his head out, and speak eye-to-eye with the driver. But he had not yet reached the portal before there was a scream, cracked short in its earliest moment by an audible crunch. Had Jacob the time to stick his head out that hole, it likely would have been broken by the mangled corpse of the driver as it sailed by.
Cecily screamed. Rupert howled some profanities and struggled to stand, gripping the short sword. Jacob just started, aghast. ...he had rather liked Peter.
The carriage lurched from side to side as it ran over stones and dips, threatening to topple. Cecily clutched Jacob's elbow, trying to keep her balance, and find comfort in her beloved. He twisted at the waist, reaching to lay a hand to her shoulder, trying his best to be consoling in this moment of strife. But even his heart was wracked with fright, by now.
Like a ship caught in a storm, the carriage rattled, and Rupert was not known for his sea legs. He staggered, with a choked gasp of surprise, and slumped back against the door heavily. "What's going on!?" he yelled, mimicing Jacob's earlier cry. When suddenly the wood at the side of his head bent in, splintering as something struck it from the other side. He shouted his fright, throwing himself forward, away from the door, to collapse against the seat and floor.
Outside, a low, horrible moan, some inhuman, bestial agony. Again, the door was struck, in rapid succession to the first blow, and wood shattered, splinters raining into the carriage. Cecily forgot the pretense of serenity, and began to shriek in fright. Perhaps the only one of the three willing to grasp the supernatural nature of what was going on. Muggers could not do what they had seen of Peter's corpse as it flashed by. Not that fast. Not in seconds.
The wood exploded, breached. An arm reached inside. Darkly red, almost to the point of being black, a long, rubbery-skinned appendage that clutched madly but could reach nothing of the three passengers, by now huddled as far from that door as they could get. The arm withdrew. And in its place, an eye peered inside. They presumed it an eye. It looked like a milky-white glass, really, stretched into disproportion to become a diamond shaped gash in that dark flesh. Behind it, green fire seemed to burn. Until it focused upon them. The flames turned to a bloody red, and the creature groaned in loud frustration.
Jacob growled. He stepped forward, unsheathing his cutlass, and stabbed it through the hole. The creature withdrew in time to save its face. But before Jacob could pull his weapon back. something had it gripped, and pulled. Without reflexes enough to release the weapon, he came forward, and his head struck the door violently. Only then did he release the weapon, and begin to stagger back.
Too slow. The hand exploded through the hole again, curling long fingers around Jacob's skull. Cecily began to scream as Rupert went about cursing again. He was lurching to his feet, already planning to grab his blade, to cleave away that arm clutching his partner. But they just couldn't compare to the swift, unthinking violence of the monster outside. It pulled, and with a cry, Jacob went face first through the hole in the door. The splintered wood tore through his flesh, ripping and goring, until he was caught at the shoulders. He began to spasm and twist, screaming in terror and kicking at the door as he desperately tried to free himself.
Sat Apr 19, 2003 3:55 am
One wheel hit a rock. One of the horses broke loose of its bindings and took off down the path alone, while the other one was toppled along with the entire carriage, lifting up to collapse onto its side. A monumental crash as it hit the dirt, throwing Cecily and Rupert back against the wall. The thing, outside, groaned echoingly. And then with some scrabbling, it was gone.
They were left in the darkness. The horse outside had fallen, and been pinned, and they helplessly listened to it scream and sigh and die. But neither moved for many hours. Eyes pinned to the sight of Jacob's lifeless body, swaying back and forth as a man on a noose, caught still through the hole in the door...
And when morning came, they broke loose, neither willing to look at what damage had been done to poor, naive Jacob. To walk in silence, back to Myrken Town, and tell tales of their nightmare...