Dragomir - The Swamp of Maledictus | Wattys2024

Walpurgis Night

Laughter came from every soldier, whoever walked past. Usually, most recruits helped dig the latrines while having a camp built, but not this time.

It was a wonderful evening with wonderful weather, where the setting sun was nothing else but a golden shower. The day had been rather hot, and so the evening and the day caused Avery to sweat, as if she had run many miles. When finally taking a rest, she threw the shovel into the ground and leaned against the shovel's handle. The sweat was dripping all over her shirt. She dug in her pants' pocket for a Felfet cigarette and attempted to set it alight with her lighter, yet no true flame wanted to come out.

Avery cursed and threw the useless lighter over the fields with a hot temper, where it still glimmered for a short moment in the evening sky before vanishing far in the distance. She sighed again when a voice next to her said, »Here, I'll give you a flame. «

She turned around and saw an old man slowly walking towards her. Avery watched him and waited until he reached her and pulled out a lighter. After giving her the flame—and after she had inhaled once—she thanked the man with a slow nod.

»You're a recruit, I see. «, the old man said. »Walther is my name. I carried the same badge as you when I was your age. «

Avery smiled and said, »Nice to meet you, Mr. Walther, and thank you for your service in the war. «

He laughed and waved. »No, no, it was an honour for me. A dream that had come true. Indeed. «

»Digging latrines wasn't quite in my dream included, I do have to admit. «, Avery giggled.

»We all have to go through this. «, Mr. Walther nodded.

»Please, do you need something? «, Avery asked him.

»Yes, I do. I've heard your troop marches to Flaweton. And at that, to Fort Adreliron? Do they? «

»We do, yes. «

Mr. Walther pulled out a small letter from his jacket and handed it to Avery. She took it. »Please bring this letter to my nephew. He is the chief field doctor at Fort Adreliron.

You'll find him, I'm certain. «. He patted Avery's shoulder and saluted until finally walking away.

Avery watched him vanish in the distance, where there was a small village. She looked back at the letter without a single name on it and shook her head. »How in the name will I get this to the chief field doctor? Goodness, he gave me quite some trouble for that lighter. «. She sighed while shaking her head, and after packing the letter safely into the pocket of her jacket, she returned to dig the latrines.

The night began to grow ever older, and Avery had walked past the big campfire to get herself a drink. While she walked past it, she noticed many soldiers sitting around the big flames, telling stories—Walpurgis night was coming up, the night that caused so many tales.

One of the soldiers around the campfire was especially cheered on by others. Finally, he came out of the seats behind the first row and took his new place on a barrel—apparently the seat of storytelling—right before the crackling flames.

The teller bobbed a bottle in his hand and, after taking a thorough sip, handed the empty drink to the soldier close by. Swiping the foam of his lips, he grinned and began with his deep voice to tell the story, where every eye kept hold of his moving lips.

»In the past, when the world still lay in darkness and nights were of the greatest danger, the oldest stories tell of nights where the moon shone bright and full and where strange howling and laughter resounded through woods and on tops of hills alike. Where distant lights would flicker at night, where everyone knew no human to be there. The lights would crawl across the horizon, and the burning red coal would dance into the sky, where the oddest of shadows would turn the world into fear. The shadows were shapes of women, moving in the oddest way, and some rose above the tree tops, flying through the air like not even a bird would do. And some stretched their arms around each other or into the air; all of their skin was bloodied by those they had sacrificed and bathed in... «