The Count of Castle Rock

Chapter X- Ghostlights

A spear wizzes by her, narrowly missing her shoulder. Leesa doesn't need any more prompting.

Crawling on hands and knees she backs out from under the coach, just as the first wildmen reach the other side. She hops up and takes off at a sprint, looking for a place to hide. The lights of a settlement shine to the north, so close yet so far out of reach. As Leesa runs, she glimpses wildmen dragging naked prisoners into the swamp even as more of the ghostly assailants manifest in the darkness. Dozens of glowing eyes float out of the swamp, forming into wrathful barbarians seeking revenge.

As she pulls away from the burning carriages a group of the monsters bar her path. With no other choice, she leaves the road and heads into the swamp, her sprint becoming a all out run. By the light of the moon, everything looks a monochrome bluish-gray. As she pumps her legs, one foot falling in front of the other as fast as she can, Leesa is glad she wore pants instead of a dress. She would have been tangled up in the fabric immediately. Thoughts of her clothes make her think of her sisters. Leesa looks back and splashes through a pool of brackish water. The cold seeps through her leather pants as the fabric to hug her skin. Her boots catch on something beneath the water and she pitches forward face first into the mud.

She suddenly realizes she is going to die in a forgotten swamp.

Leesa gasps as she comes up for air. Wiping muck from her eyes, she fights against the mud and gets to her feet. All around her, glowing green flames become belligerent ghosts. Leesa's heart pounds to the rhythm of the Lai'chem's thundering drums, a sound so loud the gods would be unable to hear her pray. Tears spill down her face to mingle with the muck on her cheeks. She sees an opening in the circle of men closing around her and runs further away from the carnage on the road. Splitting her attention between the broken terrain and the monsters in pursuit, Leesa threads a winding path through the countryside. Her head is full of fear and the guilt of leaving her family behind.

The heroes of her books always surmounted such odds with ease and flair. Leesa thought it would be easy, she thought being a hero would come as simply as being a beauty came to Mary. Now she knows better. Now she knows the books are just fiction. A merchant screams as a group of wildmen fall upon him. What she sees sparks terror in her heart. Calves burning, every step becomes harder and harder, but she keeps going.

She jumps a pit, seeming to come out of nowhere, and lands poorly. Something pops and her legs buckle. The pain is sharp and intense. Fire burns through her knee. Fear and the weight of impotence stack on top of the agony to bear down on her, making it impossible to stand back up. The ghosts catch up, closing in around her, malicious looks on their faces.

*

Hans and the lamb run side by side, both desperate to get away.

"I shouldn't have saved her," Hans says to his furry companion. "I could have just stayed hidden. We could have waited out the night, made our way to Solomon once the ghosts went left." He stumbles, nearly losing his footing. "Did you see her eyes, fella? They weren't like the evil green of these monsters. They were... they were beautiful."

The lamb bleats.

"We had to leave her or we'd all have been captured." Shame comes sudden and heavy.

Hans looks around frantically and spots her slogging through muck. He takes a step in her direction before stopping himself. His mind, which screams run for town, and his heart, that wants nothing more than to stare into her eyes again, war with one another. The little lamb steps towards the girl and bleats at Hans.

"What do we do?"

In response, green flames birth from the darkness. Hans and the lamb both step back, but they are surrounded and more green flames emerge by the second. Sweat beads on his brow as he realizes there is nowhere to go. The lamb hops up and down, bleating to get his attention.