Among the hush, which floated above the little cottage was the beginning of a new birth of evil. An evil that without a place to call home would fade into existence...oh if it were so lucky
Though many believed, that once Sara was dead, this would conclude all she was, many had no clue what was too soon become of them...nor did Sara have any idea that this curse was a very unique, and different kind of curse. It's a curse that will do as the master guide, and it will kill whoever stood against its being.
As Sara's body lay there cold and unmoving, the curse was determined to follow out with her plan to destroy and dominate civilization! The week's past so did the months, and the king began to feel weary, as to why Sara has not responded to his letter. He was beginning to fear what most said she could do, but lacking the faith of his people, he decides to gather yet his men again, this time sending three times as many to go and capture Sara themselves, and to bring her to King Luner himself at once.
As the King demanded his orders, King Luner notices Hudder was in no way attentive to his words. Stopping mid-sentence, King Luner stood with a stumble, a sternly walked ever so subtle to Hudders side ear as he whispered while passing by, “Hudder keep your eye on Waltif, I trust you as a man of your word, but Waltif, is a man of his sword,”
Even though these words sent spilling's of chills within Hudders, his presence of service stood in the eyes of the village.
“Men who follow me with bravery, will you not heed my words in the alike… This journey before us is a handful of a task. Many of you may never see your families again. To those who have no families, well, you were born lucky and shall die blessed.”
Waltif finished with a smirk shrug. Making eye contact but looking beyond the worries he also felt.
Olaf began to chuckle and rolled his eyes in his chubby cheeky like self-saying, “ Waltif, must you be so down and to the steepness of fright? Come on man we all know how to handle our own! With a slight laugh, Olaf finishes say, I mean no disrespect but sir, your acting like we are going to war!”
Waltif did not show any sign of hearing what Olaf said, but the unexpectedly said in a tone only Olaf heard, “ This is not war. This is the beginning of the war.”
The following day.
Now arriving at the doorstep of the accused Sara Keeth once again, the bright sun against the morning fog made things a little harder to cope with, but soon managing to find the door, Waltif commanded for Sara to come out, but they heard no threat or response. So as they waited, many looking for the next to do the next move. Then, sheriff Trombly proclaimed to Waltif, “Ah sir, look over there!” Now pointing over to the shambled shuddered, with what looked like blood along the cottage.
After getting a closer look, Waltif stops as he hears the sound of broken cluster below his feet. Looking about, trying to figure the meaning, he daringly but fearfully looks inside the eerie cottage.
Being extremely appalled at what he saw, let alone the smell, he darted back to his horse. Ignoring the others as few tried to converse with him wondering what it was that moved Waltif so.
Waltif sat there, unmoving, looking straight ahead, in a daze.
Now, as many became uneasy and impatient, curiosity began to build, and without second thoughts, some of the bravest began to descend off their horses and toward the unknown terror. About to go in all at once, Waltif shouted in hopes of getting them to retreat, "Men, you must take my word, and take heed, at once!"
With that, some hasted a bit, but curiosity drove some further. Now in the house and out of the view of those outside, Waltif once again attempts to stop those who disobeyed his orders.
"This will be reported to the King, stop I say and get out now!" Waltif fearful in tone yelled
Again, being just as unsuccessful as the last attempt, he then reluctantly grabs his rifle and readies it at the house. The others who remained by his side did the same.
Moments later with the few men who went inside Sara Keeths cottage
Seeing the body laying there, completely rotted to the bone with patches of dead black skin, hanging onto her lifeless body. Maggots infested her flesh inch by inch. Jester the second in command shunned his eyes with a cry of pain as soon as they met Sara’s.
Jester then began to leave feeling faint and weak just as Olaf was feeling bent over now in heavy breathing.
There was a strange way Sara's body was laying. To Olaf, she looked as if she was holding something but trying to keep it out of view's way. Olaf then turns briefly, talking to himself trying to find something long and flat. Finding a measuring stick, he then returns to Sara’s decaying body and attempts to retrieve whatever it is she’s holding.
Jester and those who followed except Olaf, were coming out of the house coughing and gasping for air, as they are seemingly brought to a standstill after seeing their own men, let alone friends, pointing their rifles right in their direction
Breaking the long silence as Waltif proclaimed saying, "Why didn't you men heed my warning?"
Not one said a word, being afraid they'd get shot. He continued with, "Well? Speak up, men!"
“Sir,” said Jester,
“Let me speak for them, they were following me, not disobeying your orders sir, I just thought that--”
“Your orders exceeded mine, is that it?” Waltif said interrupting.
“Well, sir I..” Jester, now trying to sympathize with Waltif, began to walk toward him attempting to talk one on one. Soon after Jesters foot left the ground, Waltif demanded, "Not one more step now! You hear? That is an order you will not refuse!"
Soon finding the composer, Jester begins to say, “Sir, if I may ask, what is it that you'd like me..”
Stopping as he turns around to the others then back at Waltif continuing with,” “Us men who serve the king a heed your word do?"
Back in the oddness of Sara's cottage, Olaf started to hear the sounds of singing angels. Sweating and shaking off the strangeness this cottage brought about Olaf shook his head and as he wiped his brow he mumbled stretching out his arm in fear but very determined to see what it was Sara's corpse was holding. In the midst of it all, the sound of singing angles then turned into the sounds of men shouting and with great disarray.
Hearing to him what seemed like a dispute out front, Olaf quickly loses track to his theory, when he pushed aside Sara's hand far enough, the unknown object she was holding slammed to the rotting floor. Now in clear view, Olaf could now see what Sara was holding. “It’s a letter attached to something. Oh my, it's addressed to the king!” Olaf proclaimed, with an eager tone as he reaches down, grabbing whatever it was she held within her pale and bonny hands, forgetting about her presence that frightened him moments ago.
“Waltif!” yelled Jester, “All this is not by any means needed!”
"I'm sorry Jester,” Waltif proclaimed, now looking toward the others saying, "Men, my apologies.”
With that, he then takes a deep breath, while loading his rifle, as follows those around him. Shocked in fear and sudden control all including Waltif, were now in fear about what they were gonna be forced to do.
"There is no need for this sir,” Jester proclaimed shaking once again.
"Why sir, please, forgive me, show us mercy sir, mercy!”
" Kill me, ah, I was the one who disrespected your authority, they are innocent blood!"
Not seeming to get through to Waltif, Jester tries again with, "Sir, think about what action you take!"
“I am!” Waltif yelled with anger as he focused on Jester's fearful eyes, not blinking not moving.
He then continues with, "You were there, and so was I! What I saw in there, was not just a normal thing, you know! Do you think what I'm about to do, is a selfish and heartless act? Oh, how foolish you all are! I am thinking of the king and the nation in which the king roles! Isn't that what we as servants should do?”
“ Men!” Waltif proclaimed, “I don't know what that was within Sara's cottage or do I know what caused this curse of death to come home with me! I warned you! Now don't stab me in the back with your own swordsman! I gave my orders and now the king has given his! To honor, to serve, to protect! I will die in this order, even if it means killing my own men!” Aiming at the men, he concluded with saying,
"God be with you, as you will be with God!"
With that, Waltif ordered all to aim and as Waltif shot the first round of fire an smoke which filled the air, the others followed his lead.
Waltif boldly proclaimed minutes after the last shot was heard, "Men! burn this dreadful cottage and barn few horse strides behind! Anything that belonged to this demonic filled soul full of dread and darkness, must be destroyed!”
“You over there,” Waltif continued saying pointing directly at Hudder
“Take these deserters of the king and place them next to the cottage, and burn even those whose eyes long for truth, rather than loyalty!” as he points to the other five or so men, "You guys take care of the men, bury them.”
Olaf now about to leave he was brought to the floor nearly atop Sara’s body, for being close to coming in contact with the spears of flames.
“They are burning the house!” Olaf said with panic.
Olaf began to yell frantically not be burned alive “Hello?! Jester? Waltif?!
He then covers his face as more spears of flames began to engulf his surroundings. Trying to find a way out through the growing flames and black smoke, he cautiously moved about the place feeling his way to a crawl space behind the room of mystery, finally finding a stiff door and running in as fear of being burned alive was now a reality. Then Olaf stopped. For the entire room in which he just entered went completely black with no sound or walls, nor was there a ground he could feel with his feet, running ever so much faster but just floated in the midst of confusion.
“What in bloody hell is this” Olaf then said to himself.
Waltif you may just be right, this is not war.” Olaf finishes as he continues to float in complete weightlessness, arms and head sprung out, the gift he once held from Sara's dead corpse now was the only source of light… sending Olaf once more into a trance of understanding one thing no one in Silister Village would ever want to know..”
In disbelief Olaf says,
“Sara Keeth..
Is not dead..”
With the note from Sara, then in the corner of his eye he saw a spear of flames coming straight at him, and in a split second without any time to react he was back on the floor, this time he was bleeding.
"Don't they know I'm in here?" Olaf thought aloud as he tried to work his way out.
Coughing for air, he sees what he thinks is the front door and heads in that direction without hesitation soon to see that it was the back but was happy to have fresh air. As the breeze brushed upon his face which is now sweating along with his itchy eyes but being free from near death dominated all else that he felt at that time.
Walking around to join his men, Olaf yells a painful yell related to pain dropping the packet Sara made for the king, as Olaf attempted to hold himself from falling.
“Hey?” said Waltif looking at his men but mainly at Huddy.
“Yes, sir?” Huddy replied with a question
“Did you hear that? That scream, you heard it right? “
“Ah yes sir, but um, I thought it was you,” Hudder replied
“Oh, use your brain! Why would I do such a thing?” Waltif questioned
Now frustrated, he then demands his men to search the territory for the one who released such a scream.
Quietly riding about Sara's abandoned field, Huddy suddenly held up his hand as he notions’ them to stop. Looking, he singles them again but this time it was to stay still and quiet.
With that, Hudder readies his gun walking now on foot toward the sound of someone gasping for air.
Olaf could hear someone moving about right around from where he stood.
He then hears the brush move about, closer and closer with every passing second.
Trying to slow down his breathing so were Olaf could hear the movement.
Then Olaf heard a voice that seemed demanding but rather familiar to him.
“You! Hey! Over there!” Hudder demanded now getting Olaf's attention
Hudder continues with, “Hands where I can see them! Come with me, now!”
“Who are you?” asked Olaf
“Who am I!? HA!” Scuffled Huddy towards Olaf
“What are you doing, Hudder?" Olaf proclaims as he begins to laugh, saying,
“It's me man, you know, Olaf? Now come on, stop, and put the gun away!”
“Yes, I know who you are, do as I say!”
Seeing that Hudder was not kidding, Olaf did as he said, still confused about what this all meant, he obeyed Hudders orders nonetheless.
Hudder, now walking toward camp, was behind Olaf, holding him at gunpoint, and treating him as if he'd betrayed the king or something.
As Olaf was thinking to himself, he wanted to start a conversation, in hopes of learning something.
“Say, ah, you guys take over the captain or something?”
Not getting a response, as wanted, he attempted yet again, saying,
“What's going on man? Why won’t you talk to me!"
Still not getting anything but harsher treatment, he refuses on giving on so he continued saying, “ Look, I need to know what I did that’s gotten you all in a--”
He then stops talking, as well as walking, when he notices five of his friends lying on the ground, dead and exposed. Now in a panic, he looked back at Hudder, with the look of, “Shoot me if you want to, I'm out of here!”
“Olaf then rushes to where the others were and stops short as he frantically looked for Waltif.
Trying to find him, Olaf, was now determined, looked this way and that, only stopped short in his trace, when he heard Waltifs voice, coming from behind him saying,
“Looking for me, Olaf?”
Spinning around, to make eye contact with Waltif, Olaf begins to walk toward him, unaware of the guns pointed directly at him.
Not caring about anything, but for answers, as to why they killed his partners. He begins to charge at Waltif, only to be brought to a halt as Waltif shot a bullet into the darkening sky.
Now, short of breath once again, they both looked at each other, as if they were reading one's mind.
Waltif then looks away to reload his gun, then aims it toward Olaf once more, saying,
“Don’t you take one more step, Olaf! What is your reason for the actions, you display here?”
Olaf, sickened just to look at him, replies with, “Sir, I must ask of you, why those men are dead?" He demanded, pointing at the bodies
“Well Olaf, I had no choice. Sara could be infested with...”
“Oh, so you did it, did you!” Olaf said, cutting him off, and now walking towards him, he continues with,
“Why you little..." Olaf foolishly forgets about the gun Waltif possessed, as he continued to walk toward Waltif .
Waltif then warns him again, but it only brings, Olaf to a full speed. So, Waltif pulls the trigger, shooting Olaf in the gut, knocking him to the ground, head first and sliding to a stop, just below Waltif ‘s feet.
As Olaf lay there, still alive, he painfully turned himself over, seeing Waltif looking down at him.
“I warned you. Not that it would have mattered.” Waltif said without sympathy.
Does he continue saying, “You didn't think you'd be able to return home after being in contact with an unknown disease, did you? You guys could cause the death of the whole town, including the king, if I let you all return, hoping nothing would happen! What if I did Olaf? What if something were to go wrong and you or your friends caused everyone in the town to perish? Hmm? What kind of protector would we be? Sara must have had some kind of disease, and you guys came in contact with her! Therefore, exposing yourself to whatever it was she had! To stop the spreading, you must stop the spreader!” Waltif then concluded with, “What’s done, is done!”
“Men!” said Waltif , “It’s time. Gather up!”
Taking a glance at Olaf, as to say farewell, Waltif begins to leave, saying,
“I am sorry... really I am.”
“Walti–f,” groaned Olaf, grabbing Waltif's attention.
Waltif then looked down at Olaf, as he continued saying, “Wal--tif, ah, over there, -- by -- the door--”
“Olaf, what about it?” Waltif demanded
“Well?” Waltif said, now inpatient, but continues with,
“What, about the door, Olaf?”
Olaf then continues saying, “--A gift for-- the king--from Sara, --on the --ground!"
Now on his last breath of air, he leaves the world saying, “Letter and gift--for--kin--g!”
Waltif replies with, “What kind of gift do you speak of?” “Olaf?...Olaf!”
After a long pause, Waltif loses his patients once again, and begins to frantically look for the so-called gift, Olaf mumbled about...
"Where is it?" Waltif said with frustration, looking around, he finds something out of the ordinary, lying about just ahead.
“ That must be it!” proclaimed Waltif.
“Whoa!” He ordered, slowing his horse, to a stop.
Getting down from the horse, he walks over, picking up the bundle, for the king, then drops it, knowing that it could contain whatever Sara had.
Afraid of getting it himself, let alone if anyone knew he touched it, he will be put to death or he could refuse it and be charged with murder. With that, he hurrying got back on his horse, and is now bothered by the abundant amount of smoke, radiating off the house.
Soon finding his way, Waltif, while pointing to the nearest sheriff, gives the order, saying,
“Hey you, yes you, over there,” unable to announce his name, for being too dark, but announced it, once he was in view,
“Yes, um, Valium, go over there,” now pointing to where the gift lay, in clear view, thanks to the flames, shooting over ten feet into the air, causing some of the nearby trees and bushes to catch fire.
Waltif then continues with,
“ Take with you, a sheet or a cloth to wrap it up in, so as not to touch it. Be careful, mind you, it's a gift for the king, from Sara, and we will get it to him, in the condition she left it! Go, and hurry!"
"Yes sir!" replied Valium, as he grabs a cloth from his pouch, then he carefully walked over to the strange object that lay there before him.
Cautiously bending over to retrieve the gift, that was laying near the burning house, he tries to avoid the tremendous heat of the flames, in which were now engulfing the whole house and causing much debris to fall.
He covers his face, from the heat, as he throws down the cloth over the gift, snagging it rapidly, so as to get out from the danger he was in. Once in hand, he wraps it tightly, then places it in his saddle bag. Zipping it up, and checking to see that everything was in place, he hops back onto his horse, to join the others.
Beginning their long, and bitter journey home, Waltif stayed further back than the others, so as to stay on top of things.
Then, suddenly out of nowhere, he came to a sudden stop, turning around so as to have one last glance at the remains of the small cottage and his loyal friends, that were left behind.
To him, saying a goodbye meant a lot to him, even though he was good at not showing it. For if he did, he would be afraid of losing his role, for being tough and unmoving.
Hearing the hoofs of the horse's fade, with every passing second, he is obligated, turned around, getting his horse to gallop full speed, till he reunited with them, and as he went along with the others he couldn't help but think about what to tell the king about what happened.
Not only that, but he'd have to explain why he left with twenty-one men, and instead of returning with twenty-two, we brought back only sixteen!
Through his endless thinking, and processing, Waltif was determined to come up with a rather good explanation of this whole mess.
But no matter what he could think up, he was so not looking forward to telling the king that the journey was not just a deadly one, but a failure!
As the ride toward the king whom he loved and served, got closer with every passing step, his mind would wander back to the thought of, his loved ones and the king whom he served for many years.
For Waltifs main goal, is to protect and honor the king, his men and all that came with it. It's just that the thought of turning black, with patches of bone sticking out the decaying flesh, for having touched the letter she held within her grip, was something he didn’t want to think about.
To make matters worse, he was planning on giving it to the king! That could essentially lead, not only to his death but the whole town as well!
So, as these thoughts were swimming about in his head, he concluded the thoughts with, “Well, the king won't find out... or will he?”
Seemingly unsatisfied with that conclusion, he tries to content himself as he takes in, a deep and fulfilling breath of fresh air, as he continued to think to himself.
"What if this were to get out? What will happen to the king, let alone his kingdom, and what will become of me?"
“That packet mustn't reach the king!” Waltif said with determination.
Seeing how that would be hard to pull off, he then says with a long sigh,
“Oh, why did I take this duty, what’ll I do?”
Waltif, then said,
“Wait, I can't just get rid of it, the men know about it!”
“What if they tell the king or someone, and word, spreads over some packet, and then I get asked all kinds of questions, as to why I killed those men; The men I swore to protect!”
“Let alone, it'll be too suspicious to get rid of the so-called gift! No matter which way I go, I will end up dead!”
“No! There has to be a way around this!” He said, still trying to come up with a suitable solution.
“There has to be!” He said aloud, now getting all the mens attention, he then asks,
“What has to be?”
Being knocked off guard, he began to explain.
“There has to be a place we can stop and rest, with a shade of a few trees and a creek nearby to freshen up in,” he replied, trying to sound serious.
Seeing that Hudder took it the way he wanted, he begins thinking to himself, once again, being careful not to make the same mistake twice.
So as their long journey home was seemingly having a noticeable effect on the men including Waltif, he thought it would be beneficial if he took his random advice, and took a break from the long, and exhausting journey. Then, within a matter of odds, he comes to what seemed to him, like the best solution yet, to his problem. Planning it out and rapidly thinking it through, he
concludes that the plan he found, would solve every detail of his problem. Now he needed to keep a lookout for a suitable place to stop, so as to follow through with his idea.
Finding one shortly thereafter, Waltif bends over to get his rifle saying with a sigh, as he loads it;
“Here I go again...”
CHAPTER THREE
The floating gift
-COMING SOON-
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