Fifthwind (60 page)

"Yes,"
Faolan sighed, "but not the kind that passes from one man to
another. It is the beast of the forest that leaches our health."

We
walked silently through the village, passing others who moved slowly
about their daily business; all of them sick and drained of color and
vitality. I was ignored for the most part, but many appeared to be
displeased with Faolan and cast scornful stares or hateful remarks.

"Send
her away!" a woman cried, shaking an angry fist at Faolan. "Give
up the girl!"

"Never!"
Faolan sneered. He kept his eyes forward and his head high as he led
me through the village and eventually to the doorstep of his own
modest cottage.

He
strained to push open the door with his shoulder and frail legs and
stepped aside, graciously offering me the entrance to his home.
"Please, come inside. My daughter will prepare food that you might
regain your strength."

I
must have fallen asleep. I remembered nothing other than accepting a
cup of tea and unpacking my things to satisfy myself that none of the
documents had been damaged by the rain. Everything was safely intact,
and I had settled down into a padded chair by the fire. I awoke to
the pleasant smell of roasting meat. The light from the window
revealed that it was late, nearly sundown. I had apparently slept the
entire day. That is when I first saw the girl.

"Her
name is Elyse, and she is all that I have left," Faolan said,
lighting a pipe and motioning for me to join him at the table.

She
was no more than fourteen, the child, her red hair and milky skin
unblemished by years. She was young and, unlike the others, she was
healthy. She tended a pot of steaming soup suspended over the hearth
and only occasionally chanced a shy glimpse in my direction. She was
a flower of beauty in a harsh place; an island of life amidst death.

"She
is not sick," I said, turning my attention back to Faolan. "Why?"

Faolan
turned another page of one of the books I had rescued from the
institute. It was a compilation of folklore, a compendium of
mythology. The book was largely comprised of reproductions of
paintings and tapestries accompanied by short pieces of poetry,
excerpts from old tales. He looked at his daughter and bit his lip to
still it from quivering. Emotion welled up in his eyes and he wiped
them away with his sleeve. He kept his voice low and leaned in close.
"It's because..."

"Go
on," I pleaded softly. "Why is your daughter not sick like the
others?"

"It...
is saving her for last."

There
was an absolute fear in Faolan unlike anything I had ever seen. The
man was terrified. He looked down at the book, turned it around and
deliberately pushed it toward me. He pointed at an image on the
yellowed page and met my eyes with a fervent stare.

"The
Foulness," he whispered.

I
looked down at the book and and was confronted with an image that I
knew all too well. It was an image that defied the hardship that the
people of Auldwood endured. What Faolan had suggested with a single
stab of his finger was simply unacceptable. Impossible.

"You
are mistaken," I said flatly. "Not only does this creature not
exist, it is representative of all that is good... all that is right.
It would never bring harm upon you. It is incapable of such a thing."

"All
that is good," Faolan huffed in a mocking tone. "Perhaps... but
not yet. It must feed before it can deceive in those ways."

"Feed?
Feed on what—" I stopped and intuitively turned my attention to
Elyse. She had overheard our discussion and the sorrow in her eyes
painfully answered my question.

A
stone breached the window and shattered a pitcher on the sill.
Outside, shouts rang out as more stones peppered the small cottage
while the front door rattled violently. "Faolan!" came a shout
from the other side. "Nightfall has come! Only the girl can save
us!"

"Elyse!"
Faolan shouted. "Get in the back!"

"Papa,
they're right," she argued meekly. "It's me that it wants... I
should—"

"Not
another word! Now go!"

The
girl hung her head low and moved slowly into the back room. Before
she left my sight, she looked at me and I saw something I had not
seen on another face since arriving. While the others had surrendered
to despair, Elyse showed resolute defiance. In her eyes, I saw a
determination and bravery usually reserved for someone other than a
fourteen year-old child. She held my gaze for a lifetime within a
fragile moment, then she slowly passed into the rear room of the tiny
cottage.

The
door burst open and two villagers stumbled in, wielding long-handled
rakes like weapons. Their arms were weak, but their desperation gave
them strength. Faolan stood rigid against them.

"Shameless
barbarians! You would give a child to the beast to save yourselves?"
he cried, jabbing an accusing finger. He leveled his gaze at the
first man and lowered his voice to a harsh whisper. "Merrick,
you've been my friend since we were boys. Were it your daughter,
would you be so quick?"

The
two men lowered their makeshift weapons. It was Merrick who spoke
first. "Faolan... we're dying. Soon, we will all succumb to the
sickness, and when we're too weak to do anything about it... the
beast will have her anyway."

"That's
not true!" Faolan shouted.

"The
sun has set," the second man said. "It will come as it does every
night. Faolan, how many have to die this time?"

"How
dare you lay that burden at my feet!" Faolan growled. Though the
men had lowered their weapons, Faolan balled his fists and stepped
forward in anger.

Merrick
gently pushed his companion back out of harm's way and put a gentle,
but halting hand on Faolan's shoulder. "We have all suffered loss.
My father was old and among the first to die, and my wife is too weak
to endure another visitation. Tell me, Faolan. What makes her life
any less valuable?"

Faolan
stood silent but maintained his defiance.

Another
man rushed into the cottage, his eyes wide and his voice panting.
"She's gone! They saw her running into the forest. Bless her, she's
going to save us!"

"May
the gods have mercy on us," Merrick gasped. His face paled in
sudden disgrace as the weight of repressed guilt crashed down upon
his shoulders. "What have we done?"

"Out
of my way!" Faolan pushed his way toward the door, but was
restrained by the two men. The struggle was heartfelt but brief as
Faolan's strength quickly failed him. With tears running down his
face, he collapsed into Merrick's brotherly embrace.

"There's
nothing you can do, Faolan. There's nothing any of us can do. We're
too weak to face the creature and survive. She's in the hands of fate
now."

Faolan
fell to his knees and cupped his face in his hands. The anguish of a
father losing a child filled the room with an overwhelming sorrow.

I
remained unconvinced that a creature of myth could possibly be
responsible for the woes that besieged the poor folk of Auldwood, but
there was no denying their sickness and anxiety. I placed a
sympathetic hand on Faolan's shoulder and his sobbing suddenly
ceased. He lifted his head slowly, tetched with desperation. He
seized my wrist and his voice quavered, "You're not weak with the
sickness. You can still save her!"

"I...
I can't," I stuttered.

Faolan
got to his feet with maniacal hope dancing in his eyes. "I've seen
it in your book. You've studied the old tales. You know the
creature's weakness. Please," he begged me. "You are her only
hope!"

Panic
flooded my mind. The creature Faolan had identified from my book
remained an absurd explanation for the events that were unfolding. I
found myself thinking aloud, "Even if such a magnificent animal
were capable of bringing harm upon you or that poor child, it has but
a single weakness. According to the legends, it is only vulnerable
at the exact moment of daybreak and while in the presence of—"

"No,"
Faolan corrected. "When feeding on..."

A
sudden and terrible realization quaked in my mind as I muttered the
frightful words, "...a virgin."

I
could not be sure if Elyse were truly in danger, but the forest held
an unseen threat and was certainly no place for a young girl. The
horrific misfortune visited upon my horse was still fresh in my mind
and I found myself fearing the worst. I had to find her before
sunrise, before it was too late.

I
walked through the night with only the moon to guide my steps. As
before, each step deeper into the forest brought on waves of nausea,
but this time I understood why. The creature was nearby. I stumbled
forward, armed only with an ornamental dirk, a family heirloom given
to me by Faolan. The long, broad knife felt awkward and sinister in
my hand and I wondered what I would do if I found my prey.

A
rustling of birds in the distance alerted me to the breach of
sunlight over the horizon. Sunrise. I had walked all night. The
forest seemed to awaken from a slumber and splashes of color returned
to the world. Within minutes of the sun cresting the trees to the
east, a glade came into view, bathed in the morning light. Elyse was
standing at its center. At the far edge of the clearing, in shadows
yet untouched by the dawn, something moved.

Elyse
was nervously humming a tune and pretending to pick flowers when a
dark shape suddenly stepped out of the trees. She had used herself as
bait to lure the creature to her. Almost immediately, a wave of
sickening nausea spread through the clearing and gripped me with
spasmodic heaves. The air grew rancid and a chill descended over the
glade. Elyse screamed.

The
scream, however, was short lived as she froze in terror, hypnotized
by what seemed to be the magical embrace of the beast. Her voice was
locked away in her throat and her legs were unable to step away. She
was a prisoner, held in place by the penetrating gaze of the
creature.

Wave
after wave of sickness passed over me, but I somehow managed to get
to one knee behind the cover of a bush and peer out toward the
animal. The sight of it brought forth another round of convulsive
heaves from my empty stomach.

What
I saw before me only remotely resembled anything I had ever seen in
paintings. The beast was vaguely equine, but that is where any
recognition ended. What stood at the edge of the glade was anything
but a beautiful or noble animal. What I saw was the incarnation of
evil.

It
was large, much larger than a typical horse. Its sickly, soot-colored
hide was stretched thin over its emaciated body. The creature's ribs
were exposed beyond the natural point of any living animal, and it
stood on uneven hooves because of a skewed spine. The thing's head
hung low from a weak neck or perhaps out of shame for its pathetic
existence. A wet tongue dangled out of its mouth, dripping its
corrosive saliva upon the dying grass. And from its forehead, almost
directly between its hate-filled eyes, was a single horn, a bent
protrusion of dark bone.

With
a predatory gait it stepped toward Elyse who was frozen in the
beast's stare. The grass wilted and died in a vortex of disease that
spread from its hoof like a plague upon the ground. The creature
never took its eyes off of the girl, like a hunter transfixed on its
prey. The corners of the rancid creature's mouth turned upward in a
devilish grin as it ran its tongue across its putrid lips.

I
began to swoon from repulsion as the creature's presence poisoned the
very air around me. I felt as if I might faint. I knew that I could
not withstand the lecherous presence of the beast much longer as my
strength rapidly faded. The beast took another hungry step
forward... and another.

The
darkened patch of dying ground spread farther out with each step it
took, until it covered the area where Elyse stood entranced. As the
creeping circle of befouled earth came upon her, she convulsed. Her
knees buckled and she collapsed to the ground like a penitent child
before an altar. Almost immediately, the color drained from her face
and her hair turned chalky. There was terror in her eyes and twisted
agony on her face, but she could not move and could not scream.

My
grip tightened on the knife. There was no time, the creature was now
ambling steadily toward the girl. With every step, she wilted under
its stare as her vitality was leached away. I watched in horror as
her fingers snapped and bent into arthritic tangles of flesh and
bone. I hated myself for not rushing to her aid, but my knowledge of
folklore stayed me. I no longer doubted the true nature of the beast
and I no longer questioned its promised weakness. It was not yet
vulnerable to my attack. Not yet...

The
creature towered over Elyse and looked down upon her in dominance.
Then slowly, almost affectionately, it lowered its head into her lap,
but any illusion of benevolence was quickly shattered. As it gently
nuzzled against her, it forcefully began to siphon away her life.
Elyse's mouth fell open in a silent cry as her cheeks hollowed and
her eyes clouded over. The skin of her arms dried and cracked like
ancient paint and her face wrinkled a lifetime before my eyes.

The
creature's mane was the first to change, turning from tangles of
matted hair, into sweeping blond strands of silk. I heard the crack
of its spine as it twisted into alignment and I watched its color
brighten to a dazzling white. Last, the darkened bone protrusion on
its head straightened into an erect, elegant spiral of ivory. It was
feeding upon her, drawing away her life, her innocence, and her
beauty, greedily taking those things for itself.

The
beast was infinitely fixated on Elyse and in its enraptured state my
nausea suddenly subsided. It was time; I was now free to act. I stood
from my hiding place and rushed out into the glade. The creature was
frozen, mortally locked with the girl. As the legends had foretold,
it was trapped, unable to flee. It would remain a prisoner of the
girl until it had drained every last bit of life from her. As I ran
toward it, I saw hate and fear in its venomous stare. Despite the now
beautiful appearance of the animal, I saw through its deceitful
illusion to the true nature of its being. I spared no pity.