An Old Man and His Vengance

[En1gma]

Chapter One:

     It had been storming for days, perhaps even an entire week. Nobody was paying attention. My fellow sailors and I were simply trying to keep ourselves afloat. Now before I go any further, I should tell you this is far from a happy tale. Are you comfortable? Have ye the stomach? Aye, we'll soon find out, won't we? Now draw the curtains and set a log on the fire as I figure out how to best tell you my tale. Where was I? Right.

     Lightning had been crashing all around us, aye, and twelve-foot swells with eighteen-foot crashers, at least. There couldn't have been twenty of us left, the rest had been washed overboard into the sea. Our captain had locked himself in his cabin and had abandoned both the ship and those of us still alive to our fates. Our Eastwinder was on the brink of collapse, main and topsails had long been shredded by the hellish winds.The only sails left were our storm sails, and the ropes that kept them tethered were frayed to the point of snapping. I remember clawing my way to the bridge to see if I could keep us pointed into the wind, only to find the wheel in pieces. Ropes had gotten tangled in it and had torn it to tinder. There was no stopping the crashers, then, with no way to steer the ship into them. So I made my way to the deck, in time to see three more good men be swept overboard. Ye gods, I can remember the screaming still. My dearest friend, Julian, was keeping the ropes for the storm sail taut against the mast. He looked at me and pointed to the wheel. I shook my head and then pointed to the captain's cabin. Julian slapped the nearest crewman on the back to get his attention and the two fought to reach me at the door to the cabin. Another breaker and another two men met their fate. Julian and the other man, forgive me, I cannot even remember his face, let alone his name. Anyway, they reached me at the door and we put shoulder to it.

     It didn't take long to break the door down and in our desparation, we barely felt the bruises, nor the splinters. 'Twas pitch black in the cabin and we spread out, meaning to hang our derelict captain for abandoning his post. Through the lightning, "Captain Ellis, come ye out and meet your end. By your cowardice you've doomed us all to the deep!" shouted I above the din of the thunder and the wind outside. We approached the captain's chair slowly, as he was oft seen ordering the crew about with his pistol. Another breaker smashed into our starboard and broke the windows of the cabin. Glass and water rushed around our feet as the ship listed wildly to port. I staggered and fell sideways, catching myself on the arm of the captain's chair. Another flash of lightning and I found myself staring into the dead eyes of our cowardly captain, his head tilted with the return sway of the boat and as it did, blood came pouring out of his forehead, his mouth opening in silence. I fell back and into the water, now pouring in with every wave that crashed upon our poor vessel. "Devil of a man, to end his own life while we fight for our own. Back to the decks, men, time to meet our own ends, by hell!" I yelled as I fought my way back to my feet.
     "The bastard! Damn him to the deep," cursed the other man, whose name eludes me. Julian shook his head at the captain and spat. He caught my eye and winked, grinning ear to ear, for he hated the captain as much as the next man and I'm sure he was just glad to be rid of him. We three stumbled our way back onto the deck, fighting the yaw of the boat with every step. One of the crew came up from below decks, bleeding from a fresh head wound and soaking wet.
     "We're taking on water, make your peace, everyone!" the man shouted over the wind. and with his words, men began to abandon their posts. Some men tried going below deck and came up with a few unbroken bottles of rum, don't ask me how. We all sat or stood in the cover between the twin staircases that went up to the bridge, while the bottles made their way around, one more time. One man began to sing a shanty, something about a beautiful girl back home. I had never learned the words to it, but I hummed along with the rest of the men while we all waited to die.

[En1gma]

Chapter 2:

     A bottle of rum was tossed to me and I drank, aye, I tried to drink even the storm away as I watched the ship be torn asunder. Wave after wave pounded our wreck, but we sang and drank on, daring the sea to take us. We were one strong breaker from being lost forever when it stopped. Now don't you look at me like that. When I said it stopped, I mean everything. The wind, the waves, and the rain. Aye, all was silent in no more time than it would take all of you to tie your boot straps. Those of us still alive looked around in bewilderment. 
     "Can it be? Are we saved?" asked some poor fool. We all ran to the railings to look around us. Someone shouted out excitedly from the other side of the ship, "Land, off the port side!" and we all ran to see, dodging debris on the deck. We weren't facing it, but we were heading towards it. The pace we were going wouldn't take more than three hours to make land fall, so we all jumped into action the best we could. Some of us headed below decks to search for anything useable, others began organizing that which was brought up. Damn it, we were so excited just to see land that we completely ignored the fact that the worst storm any of us had ever seen had literally vanished into thin air. Foolish bastards, all of us. 
     Myself and Julian found ourselves disposing of whatever bodies were still aboard. There were only two men who had been lost below, and they had apparently been down there for some time, because the stench was awful. I said a quick prayer for them and they were cast overboard with no further ceremonies. Julian shook his head and pointed to the captain's cabin. I nodded in reply and we went in to haul him out.
     As we were bringing his body out, a crewman, one of the gully cooks if I recall, was in the process of stacking up whatever dry rations he had found when he saw the corpse. He grew furious and quickly walked up to us. 
     "And why is he still on this fucking ship?" he said loudly, kicking Ellis's corpse as he did so. I shoved him away from the body- it's bad luck to defile a deadman's body. 
     "Back off," I shouted, "you'll not be disgracing him any more than he already done to himself" 
     "Get him the hell off this boat or I'll hang him by his neck and leave him to the flies!" he screamed as he turned to go back to his duties. Julian looked at me and shrugged. He watched the man go down the hatch and when he passed out of sight he did a pantomime of his raging that had me laughing to myself as we rolled Ellis over the rail. As we did so, we looked to the horizon. Something was wrong. Horribly wrong. Aye, as we looked out across the still waters, we saw what looked to be a cloud, only it was a pale grey, and it stretched as far as we could see. But this was no cloud. It was moving, and quickly. Faster than the wind could possibly push it, it raced towards us from whence it came. The blood seemed to freeze in my veins as all the horror stories that my parents had told me were coming to fruition before my eyes. Julian looked at me with horror in his eyes as he grasped my shirt sleeve- he compulsively put his hand to his throat, as if in rememberance of something. As the men brought up what they were carrying, the came over to see what it was we were looking at. At the speed it was traveling, it would be upon us in an hour, at most. We were so close to shore we could see the individual trees, and at our pace we would reach the shore at the same time as this terrifying fog. We all began to move much faster now, as time seemed to lurch forward in anticipation of what was to come.
     
     I raced below decks, searching for unbroken bottles to store water. I had found about twenty or so, and I was putting them in a sturdy crate I had found. Some men were hauling soaked canvas up presumably for tents once we got to shore. Some others were scavenging for weapons; rapiers and axes were the only things useable as all the gunpowder had gotten soaked by the storm. I went into the captain's cabin in search of anything I could find. Opening his desk, I opened a drawer, and under a panel that had been shaken apart, I found an old and ornate dagger that I had seen once before, and had coveted since that day. I smiled to myself and tucked the blade and its sheathe into my waistband, tying my belt cord around it snugly. Nothing else in the room would be salvagable, the storm had ruined everything that could have been of use. I joined the rest of the crew in the search below decks, and together we brought up the rest of what had been found, aye it didn't take much time as now we had a deadline to meet. The fog was nearly upon us and we would be running aground shortly. 
 
     Once everything had been stacked on deck we looked around at one another. We would all have to put whatever differences we had aside and keep each other alive until we could signal a passing ship, if one passed by. Fortunately those of us left had never had more than a passing arguement, and more than likely it had been due to our captain. Now men began to whisper of demons and those listening grew silent, looking over their shoulders at the fog bank now less than half a league away, and gaining speed. 
     "Shut the 'ell up, all of you," I said to the men gathered on deck, "there isn't the time for this and we have to have a plan once we get ashore. Look there-" I pointed to a cove to the west of where we would be landing. It looked like there could be caves near the tree line and could make for suitable cover until this fog passed us. "Near the back of that cove there. There could be shelter there and it won't be more than an hour walk from where we land. We can all carry food and the canvas if we work together, but we don't want to be out in the open once the fog rolls in. We need some sort of plan if we want to make it to cover." Some of the men nodded, others sat there stoically, not taking their eyes off the fog. One man stood up and confronted me, asking who I thought I was, giving orders, something to that effect. I told him I wasn't giving orders, only trying to come up with some sort of plan of action, since nobody else was speaking. I forget exactly what was said, only because someone screamed just before the fog enveloped us. 
     The fog was so thick you couldn't see fifteen feet in front of yourself. It brought with it the most bone-chilling cold I had ever experienced in all my years on the seas of Laanbrakar. I was accustomed to the cold, as we had never stopped sailing  through the long winters while captain Ellis kept himself warm in his cabin. But this cold was something different altogether, as even my soul felt the chill. There was a terrible upheaval in the boat and we all tumbled over one another, grasping for whatever we could hold in our blindness. Our ship had just crashed upon the shore of our reckoning. Gods help us.

[En1gma]

Chapter Three:

     We gathered our wits about ourselves and worked our way back to our feet. Half of the men including Julian, climbed down the side of the Eastwinder and started to catch what we threw down to them from the deck. Heavy things were lowered with a pulley and rope down to those below, and some of the canvas we salvaged was repurposed to cover what we couldn't carry with us. We had no time to waste, and the fog was thickening as we worked. I had never seen Julian so nervous before, and the entire crew was moving as fast as they could. We finished unloading the supplies and the rest of us left the ship in haste. We gathered on the shore, looking around nervously. Julian was pacing back and forth, looking to the west where we had seen our destination- the cove. 
     "What are we waiting for? It's only getting colder and this fog is more than unsettling." Asked one of the men who didn't seem as bothered as the rest of us. The others nodded in agreement, and another stood up and galvanized us into action. 
     "Aye, get up off yer asses and let's get a move on, this fog ain't going anywhere soon and we've all heard the stories of what lurks 'round these islands. Shift yerselves!" And with that we all grabbed what crates we could. Some of the crew had long swaths of canvas that had been cut from what was left on the ship, and on these were set the rest of the supplies. Three of us, including Julian and myself were in charge of dragging these makeshift sleds behind us. Hardest thing I've done in some time, dragging that load, but I bore it without complaint. Gods, this fog was so thick we could barely see the man in front of us, aye to navigate our way to where we had seen our shelter we had to follow the treeline closely. I would have much prefered hugging the shore, keeping away from the forest that seemed to reach out to us with fern and branch. I could have sworn that I heard foot falls within the dense forest, but I told myself that it was only my mind playing tricks on me. 
     The shore came to meet us at the trees, once we reached the opening of the cove. The fog was colder, it seemed, and it was beginning to darken as the sun began to set. At least I think it was setting- time had seemed to disappear entirely into the shroud that had enveloped us. It began to get harder to drag my load behind me, and I wasn't sure if it was the rougher gravel of the cove, but I turned to check quickly. Nothing seemed amiss so I pulled all the harder to make it back to Julian. He checked over his shoulder to make sure I was still behind him and when he saw me he shook his head and looked around himself. The head of the group could be heard ahead, asking for role call to count heads. We were almost to the caves, and once we got there nobody would want to turn back to go and find anyone left behind. One by one we counted out, Julian clapped twice when it was his turn, then I shouted out in turn. The man behind me didn't call out and we all grouped together near where Julian and I had stopped. The men were almost in a state of panic at the loss of another crewman- there had been no screaming, I didn't hear anything on my way. Just then I remembered who it was at the rear of our column. It was the gullycook who had dragged the final sled behind me and he hadn't spoken up for role call. 
     I looked at my feet and saw that the fine gravel that I thought had been the source of my added difficulty had become the fine sand that one finds on the beach of such a cove. Aye this sent a chill down my spine- my load was just as heavy to drag as it had been on the gravel. I slowly turned back to my makeshift sled. Through the fog I could see a trail that followed right up to my sled, darker than the sand. I swallowed and stepped to the crates that were set upon the canvas. I kicked the top off one and wretched so violently that I fell back, gagging and screaming. The crate was full of body parts, and set upon the top of them was the gulley cook's severed head, eyes seeming to be locked on mine, mouth agape in an expression of the most intense terror I had seen in my lifetime. I screamed and screamed, and started running, but I was caught by Julian before I got more than a few steps. 
     I fell to my knees, shuddering terribly as the other men surrounded the canvas and myself. The men were talking and pointing amongst themselves but I wasn't listening. Gods- I had been dragging a corpse behind me for over an hour and didn't even know it. The man at the head of the group shouted for us to leave the sled behind and to take nothing from it. Superstition was strong within our crew, and anything on that sled could be cursed. Julian helped me to my feet and we picked up the hem of his canvas sled and the two of us continued on at the back of the line. I could feel the forest staring at me. Damn, it was cold.

[En1gma]

Chapter Four:

     Julian was staring at me. I could feel his eyes burning into my skull. I couldn’t take it. I was still shaking and felt in shock. He was still staring at me. I turned to him and nearly shouted, my voice broken and much weaker than I had ever heard before, I don’t even recall exactly what it was that I said. I do remember the look in his eyes, as he turned and looked ahead of us. Numbly I followed his lead, following in the footprints that I could barely see through the fog. I almost walked right into the man in front of us. I looked up from my feet to see the cliff face, rising like some rough and immense obelisk into the nothingness. We began to search the cliff face for anything large enough to house us for the night. It didn’t take long and we soon found ourselves in some cave no more than thirty paces to its back and half wide. It wasn’t much, but we settled in as best we could.
    The food and supplies were stacked against the back wall of the cave and we began to set whatever belongings we had in separate areas, falling into the same pattern we had in the crew quarters aboard the Eastwinder. It felt good to sit and collect my thoughts. I was no longer shaking, but I had nothing to say to those few who tried to start conversations with me. I just sat against the sharp stone wall and took my boots off to dry them and shake loose some of the sand inside them. Half of the men took whatever hand weapons they still had and went to find flotsam for a fire. There was an abundance of it on the beach apparently, and within an hour they had stacked a day’s worth at the mouth of our cave. A fire was lit outside and the warmth began to permeate the air around us. And with the warmth came a retreat of this accursed fog. Life seemed less surreal, just being near the flame. Some salt tack and dried venison was produced from one of the crates and the others ate. Julian sat next to me and handed me a chunk of the venison. I set it aside and continued my silence. At this point I was moving past my terror, but I still had nothing to say. Fortunately Julian was there, no longer staring, but strangely I felt as though he knew my dread.
    The crew began to settle in for the night, and a few men were set at the mouth of the cave to stand guard. The fire was stacked high, as if to dare the night to close in and quell it and its warmth felt heavenly. I began to drowse and sleep overtook me. I dreamt of horrible things, of death and the chill fog that waited at the edges of our fire’s radiance. In my dream I turned and came face to face with the galley cook, yet his face was blue and cold, locked in that same unholy scream I had last seen him wearing. I reached out to him, as if to rouse him, but as I touched his shoulder he broke into thousands of pieces. As he shattered, I could see a silhouette behind him. I couldn’t make out any features, but I felt myself frozen in place by this specter. Out of the mist emanating from the edges of my consciousness I could see a hand reach out for me, emaciated and pale. It grasped toward my heart and I screamed, waking in terror and darkness.
    The fire was out. In the darkness came the mist. With the mist returned the dread chill. I bolted upright, grabbing Julian’s shirt frantically and blathering like some drunken fool. He was slow to wake, but when he did, it was violently. I finally found my voice, and I began shouting, “Wake up, fools, the fire’s out and the mist returns. Where is the guard? Why are you still laying down?! Get up, all of you- we must light the fire!” men began standing, some grabbed weapons, others scrambled for flint and tinder in the darkness. From outside there was a shrill wailing and we all turned for the mouth of our shelter. The wail continued until it seemed to freeze in the air itself, ending abruptly. We looked at each other, and we realized that the guardsmen were not among us. From out of the darkness flew two masses, which then broke into large chunks as they hit the earth at our feet. A crewman picked up one of these chunks and dropped it instantly in horror. I could see the distinctive curvature of a spinal cord, still attached to a man’s skull flopping awkwardly onto the ground. We fell over one another in our rush for any sort of protection we could find. I dove back to my sleeping bundle and felt for the dagger I had lifted from our captain earlier that day.
    I spun around and Julian stepped next to me. He was trembling, and I looked into his face. He was staring at the cave’s entrance. He turned and looked at me. His hands were moving and I tried to see them in the darkness. He was telling me to run.

[En1gma]

Chapter Five:     

    But where was there to run? Whatever threw our fallen comrades at us was lurking just beyond our vision. I tell you now of the terror we felt, but you will never actually know the true depths of our fear. It was as if all hope had abandoned us. No, more like hope had never existed to begin with. Men who had once bravely faced the raging sea just hours before, fell to their knees quivering. No, this terror was unnaturally overwhelming, enveloping us in a pall of unholy fright. Even stalwart Julian was as a small child, tears streaming down his face. He turned to me and grabbed my shoulders. He looked at me, and with his hands, he pointed outside, then to his mouth, shaking his head. He kept pointing at his mouth, then his throat, then back again until it registered in my eyes. Whatever was lying in wait for us had robbed my dear friend of his speech, untold seasons ago.
    As if bidden by my realization, the fog began to lighten, turning a faint shade of blue as it did so. Three figures slowly became visible at the mouth of our shelter. Pale, emaciated, glowing with a demonic aura, they drew closer to us. One of the men shouted through his fear, “there are only three, let us test their mettle with steel!” and with him, four others rushed the figures with swords and axes. Their panicked swings were parried almost casually by these specters, callously riposting their feeble attacks with icy blades. As one, the automatons began cutting the men down, as a scythe would to wheat. Less than two seconds and the five men fell, crumbling as they did so with the same effect as the two watchmen at our feet. The rest of us broke and ran, and three more were felled in their rush to escape. Julian had gripped the back of my shirt in one fist, as not to get separated from me and as we ducked under the swinging blade of the closest demon, I could feel my skin blistering with the blade passing by my exposed neck.
    We ran as fast as we could, not looking back. We could hear a few men behind us, pleading us to slow our pace, to allow them to catch up with us. Reluctantly I did so, just long enough to see them come near us, then we ducked into the forest, and I heard the men follow us into the brush. There was no time to even catch our breath, and I plunged deeper and deeper, shoulders and knees bruising from violent contact with tree and stone, but my panic bore me onward. Julian caught a tree in the crook of his arm, while his other hand still held my shirt. I was jerked almost off my feet by the sudden impact, but before I could shout out, his hand covered my mouth. He was looking through the trees before us, in my blinded haste, I had not seen the specters passing nearly fifty feet in front of us. They were searching for us, of that there was no doubt. The three others had seen Julian stop me, and they waited for us to move again.
    We had no plan, only necessity driven by desperation, and our only thoughts were of survival and of getting as far from these demons as possible. We turned and headed back, thinking of returning to our Eastwinder for whatever protection it would provide. Before we had gotten too far, we reached some sort of clearing, I have no idea how large it was, I could only see so far in front of us. We crouched at the tree line for several seconds, quietly listening for any sounds of the demons. The forest was completely silent, as if every insect and bird on this accursed island was too frightened to make a noise, lest the demons hear them. Feeling bold, I turned to the others and motioned for us to head out. We did our best to keep quiet and low, anxiously pressing forward to where I thought the ship to be. We were heading downhill, it seemed, and the ocean could be heard in the distance.
    The fog was oppressively thick, and we had only the sound of distant waves lapping against the shore to guide us. We hadn’t seen any demons for some time, and we foolishly stopped being as careful moving about the forest. We weren’t speaking, mind you, but we were hurrying to reach the shore. One of the men tripped and cried out in pain. We tried to silence him, but he had gouged his leg badly on a jagged outcropping of rock and he continued to grimace and cry out. “Shut yer fool mouth, boy!” I said, hissing through my teeth, “Are you trying to kill us all?”
    “We need to leave him,” one of the others said quickly, “they’re going to hear this!” but it was too late. There was a screech that razed the silent forest, and sent chills down our spines. They had found us, and they were close. The fog began to lighten all around us, and within seconds, we were surrounded. They hadn’t seen us yet, but they were closing in on the still screaming man, and closer still to us. We had to go, and quickly. We took off together, leaving the man behind, and seconds later we could hear his screams as they took his life. Another branch was snapped underfoot as we made our escape and we could hear the demons resume their pursuit. Their screeches came closer and closer to us, and we seemed powerless to run any faster than we were. It reached the point where they were seconds behind us and we made a snap decision, Julian and I. We doubled back and took cover under a large fern, praying to any gods who were still listening.
    We sat, breathing heavily and listening for the inevitable screams of our comrades. Hardest decision I’ve ever made, abandoning my former friends and brothers in arms, but my desperation overrode any of these ties that bound us. Their screams still haunt my dreams, to this very day, but it wasn’t that they screamed, but that their voices seemed to freeze and crack until they were cut short. Julian was crying now, sobbing silently to himself, and we both sat lamenting our situation. The forest grew quiet again, and we began to once again listen for any sign of our ghostly pursuers. We weren’t alone, and the fog grew colder around us. Julian looked at me in the darkness and winked at me, like he’d done a thousand times before. His hands told me to stay where I was, and without waiting a second longer, my dearest friend stood up and walked straight into the path of this ice demon, no fear, just a silent march to his doom.

    Julian didn’t run away, or lead the demon away from where I was, he just stood where he was. I could see them from where I was huddled, every fiber in my body wanting to run, to scream, and defend my old friend, but I was paralyzed. The demon slowly walked up to Julian, and there was remembrance in the demons hollow features. Tendons contracted into what resembled a smile, and it plunged its blade into Julian. He screamed. Julian, a man who in my entire time of knowing him had never uttered a single sound, screamed. His scream echoed through the forest, and in his pain, he locked eyes with me, begging me to stay silent with the last shred of his humanity. The pain overtook him and his voice weakened, but still he screamed. It was as if a decade of forgotten anguish was remembered in a single moment, and it broke him. I could see the area around his wound frosting over, and he grew silent, mouth still agape in pain and horror. The ice demon sneered at the corpse still impaled on his blade, then tossed Julian aside. Julian landed feet away from where I was hiding, and his eyes I felt were still staring at me, empty in death. I was numb. I was shuddering in fear and sorrow. But the demon seemed satisfied then, screeching into the fog. Throughout the forest he was answered, and it walked away from me then, going back to wherever it had come from.

    With the morning sun came warmth, and it pierced the fog, evaporating it and lifting the pall that had cursed the night before. The forest came alive then, and birds could be heard overhead, the insects resumed their screeching, and I came out of hiding. I buried Julian where he lay, praying that the gods ease his passing, and vowing to have my vengeance on these demons. I was a broken man, then, but I found my way back to the ship, where I found whatever food I could, I found the stream and I drank. I survived until I was able to flag a passing ship with a signal fire. And here I am today. An old and crippled man, still sitting by the fires in inns across the lands of Laanbrakar, telling my tale in the hopes that one of you has the constitution and the ship to help me avenge my debt to these demons of the sea. Anyone up to the task? Any of you? I have gold, and though I have never heard of where these foul beasts have gone, and no one I’ve ever spoken to in all my years knows how to kill one of these fell beasts on dry land, I swore a vow and I intend to keep it, gods damnit! Where are you all going?! You captains are all the same, caring only of yerselves! Will none of you help me? Well fine, go on, then! I just hope none of ye ever see one of these ice demons, and if you do, remember my words. They might keep you alive, not that you deserve it.