Whither and Decay

Chapter six: Atticus

Callen bursts through my bedroom doors. "Atticus, I need your help."

"With what? I'm kind of busy can't you see." I say looking down at my sharpening stone.

"Arden. Something happened to her. She mentioned Merrick. I don't think it was good. She asked me if I sent him down there."

"Down where?"

"The training stables."

"They don't use those anymore idiot. They built new ones."

"I'm sorry, I thought they still used that barn. We need to get down there and see what happened."

"No really. Common." I pick up my dagger off the stone and place it in my waistcoat.

The faster I walk, the longer the hallways seem. I already have a gut feeling of what Merrick did. I dislike that girl, but no man should ever treat a woman that way. I like to picture what happens to women as if it were my sister, I would never want my sister to be treated that way. My sister and I aren't close. We don't speak. We don't even see each other half of the time, but she's still family. And I hate when my family is hurt.

We stalk towards the barn. I forgot how bad it smelt. Like dried blood, vomit, dead rodents, rust, poison. I push the door open. Merrick is lying there. He bled to death.

"I didn't see his body in here before." Callen says holding his nose from the stench.

"Then what did you do? Poke your head inside. It's not hard, open the damn door and walk in."

I look at Merrick's neck. Scratch marks. They traveled to his chest. His wound is in his stomach. His stomach was punctured by a blade. The blade was sharp, the wound was cut far more than just a little sword. Someone jiggled the blade upwards, it created a larger wound.

His hands. His hands have glitter on them. One hand was empty. One had a torn piece of mesh from a skirt.

"Damn. She's good."

"What happened?"

"You are really stupid aren't you." I swear he's going to make me plunge a dagger into my own head. 

"What do you mean? I'm not stupid."

"Well you are. You don't know anything about what happened do you." I sigh. "Look at his hands. They have a rose glitter on them."

"Yeah what about it?"

"Who had glitter on their skirt? Who wore a dress with a mesh skirt? Who was here last with this creep?"

"Shit. Arden. But who killed him?"

"She did dumbass. She got a hold of a sword. And notice how the sword hilts are tiny. Warriors back then had designated swords. Men had their own. Women did too. The men had longer hilts, it was to signal in battle that you were a man. Women had swords with shorter hilts, the hilts were made shorter because women had a harder time holding the men's swords when training. This whole shed is full of women's battle weapons. No one ever comes in here. He saw an opportunity with that girl and tried to hurt her. And look at his neck. She wasn't going to surrender to him. She fought for a good long while before she could find that sword."

"That's why she was acting weird." Callen says plugging his nose again.

"Yeah. Go find her. Make sure she's alright. I'll take care of this bastard."

"Okay. I will."

I scan the room looking for a sheet or something I can drag his body out with. It was dusty. The whole room was encased in this scent. It was revolting. It smelt of rust, blood, and poison. Something wasn't exactly right about this barn. I use my body to move an old shelf, there's a bag. It's not like anything we have here. I've seen pictures of these. A duffle bag I think.

I pick the bag up. It was heavy. Unusually heavy. I found a table to set the bag on top. The zipper was rusted. I take my dagger and make a slit in the side of the bag. Flowers fall out. Dark green flowers. Other things start to pour out of the bag. A book, rope, a strange looking box, and a small key. The box had a strange design engraved on it. It almost looked like people. People with strange ears, pointed ears. Horns too. I try to open the box. It was locked. The key. Where did you put the key? I move my eyes toward the flowers, the key was sitting right next to them. There. The key was also strange. It didn't look like a regular key. The key was almost in the shape of the snake's body, but with a gryphon's head at the end. It's unusual to see a gryphon's head on anything. Gryphon's aren't common here. At least not anymore.

There have been stories. Crazy stories of a fantasy world. A world of magic. Big magic. Filled with all kinds of creatures, inhuman creatures. Elves, goblins, trolls, even witches. Gryphons were an animal they worshiped. Gryphon's were said to give you power before a big battle. That if you prayed and called out to a gryphon, you'd reign power over knowledge. It would give you the strength of a hundred men. I've read that in a brown leather journal I found in the library. 

Don't get distracted you have to take care of this bastard. I remind myself. I pick up a tarp I found folded in a corner of the barn. Merrick was already cold. His body was nearly stone. I push his body onto the tarp. Merrick almost didn't fit on it. I fold the tarp over twice. I use his feet to drag him out of the barn. The barn had two exits. I used the back exit. It would be easier for me to slip out and drag him into the woods without being seen.