Ancient Shadows

FOUR

Augustus rose from his wet smelly bed before his brother. The caves were not to his liking. The sleep of the undead is an enveloping thing. It takes the creature wholly into its embrace. There are no dreams, there is no anything. In this sleep there is death without consciousness. As the vampyr is a dead thing. It is impossible to ascertain what is happening in the waking world unless awoken which doesn't happen easily until the sun has set.

This was no way for a vampyr to sleep, Augustus regarded to himself.

Augustus determined he would not allow his circumstances to force this indignity on him again. He paced in circles splashing in the puddles of human excrement that echoed against the cold stone surfaces throughout the cavernous sewers. Augustus watched the figure of Walter, still as death itself. The body of the vampyr was exactly like a corpse when in sleep. Not the smallest movement. Frozen in time, dead for all intents and purposes. If someone happened by chance upon a sleeping member of the undead they would not know anything was amiss unless they already knew the being was undead. Perhaps if they knew the corpse had been inlaid for nine months they would be shocked at how it had not decomposed.

It was less than an hour before Walter became awake. Augustus spied him as his eyes simply snapped open like a doll's would. It was eerie but had no frightening effect on Augustus. He was at times frustrated with his younger brother who was supposed to be the voice of reason when it came to the two. Augustus saw this as a hindrance. His reserved countenance held the two back when circumstances called for action!

Walter asked his brother how long he had been up. Walter was concerned that his big brother was being reckless and not getting sufficient rest. This annoyed Augustus thoroughly. He was in no mood for a lecture or chastisement. In fact it was he who wanted to chastise his younger brother for being so cautious! His caution bordered on paranoia at times. Now was not the time for paranoia to grip the pair! But Walter of course saw things from a different perspective.

The two brothers went to meet their connection outside of the sewers on the road into the village. Their man was there waiting for them. The first thing they did was get a report on the status of the palace. The peasants had overthrown the palace and the fiefdom was in a state of anarchy. Local commoners were attempting to seize control. The only option was an attempt at survival. The brothers realized they must flee their homeland.

Arrangements had to be made to get them to a safe location. They decided to seek sanctuary with a relative. Another lord by the name of Franz Slugantz who had tight ties with the Osterreich family. He ruled a fief within the Holy Roman Empire, inside Germania. The travel would be ripe with perils but it would have to be undertaken.

All preparations were made. A carriage was brought that would transport the brothers by day in sealed coffins. There were safe houses along the way where they could reside in at night when they weren't travelling. But they intended to travel at night when possible and let them rest in their coffins during the day while continuing to move by carriage. They had a full cover story. This escape plan had been laid out years in advance for such an emergency scenario.

The entourage consisted of several servants, many of whom the brothers trusted with their lives. They understood what was going on to varying degrees depending on the servant. One such servant was Maria Odur, and this servant Augustus loved deeply. He had made sure that she was among their number for the trip. A love between the two have been forbidden because of social status. Walter would not have any of it. Augustus could not love this girl.

The travel was slow but consistent. The roads were decent considering this was a trade route heading into the heart of the Holy Roman Empire. They were not a particularly heavily armed group but they had weapons of good quality. Bandits and scheisters were a common force on the highway in the empire. There was traffic on the road but most people were eager to get where they were going. They offered no hindrance to the party.

It was just after sunset. The party has stopped in a pleasant little grove on the outside of an establishment. There were a few dwellings huddled around a small church. The servants washed their garments in a small stream that the locals that suggested for their use.

Augustus woke in his coffin. He didn't particularly like being shipped around in a coffin but this wasn't the time to be picky. He shuffled his legs around to get room. Even though his muscles did not work like a normal person's, he still felt constrained. He needed to stretch. So he pushed up the lid on his coffin knowing already by instinct that the sun had set.

What immediately caught Augustus' eyes were a gaggle of children playing with a ball. They noticed Augustus right away too. They quizzed him curiously and he just nonchalantly gave them a wave and a comforting smile. One of the kids smiled and returned the wave. The others continued to watch the strange man in the coffin.

Augustus lifted his knees to his chin as he continued to watch them play. He reminensced about his own childhood. He had played like they were. Long ago. Before he became this. Was he as normal and healthy? As full of joy as these children? He reckoned that it was so. He had been a happy normal child in the sanctuary of the palace. A sanctuary he would never enjoy again. Augustus hadn't counted the cost yet. The loss of the only home he had ever known.

He brushed these thoughts aside as he climbed from his coffin. He was ready to play! He leapt from his death bed like a feline. It took only a moment of steps with leaps and skips before his feet were upon the ball. He kicked it gently to a young girl who looked to be about six years old. The children had not been wanting to pass the ball her way. The all important ball. The object of their desire, the current want of their needs. Now it was that little girl's, at least for that sliver in time. She threw Augustus a quick but thankful grin.

Walter woke. He felt the need to press the lid from his coffin. Was Augustus in trouble? He loved his brother but he had a penchant for mischief. Sometimes Walter just had these feelings.

The lid to his coffin was pushed off. The coffins had been moved from their inner sanctum of the carriage and onto the ground. Likely to give the brothers some air and to cool them from the late summer heat that gathered inside the carriage. There were other coffins but these were not occupied by the undead. Some were decoys. Walter had arranged for this.

Walter immediately caught sight of his brother playing with the children. He thought to himself what danger it could be placing the brothers in. He continued to watch his brother and his interaction with the peasant children. The children seemed to be having a great time playing with the man child. Walter remarked to himself how Augustus had always been quite the man child! There didn't look to be any apparent harm in allowing him to play with the kids.

Walter let a little smile creep over his face. Then he went about checking with the servants to make sure everything was going according to plan.