Envoys Of The Vow

A Dark Army Rises

  A terrified David sat cramped and huddled in his hiding place, blood of his friends drying into his clothes.  The pounding of his pulse that was ringing in his ears, was so loud he was sure it could be heard in the room.  His bloodshot eyes were watering from attempting to see through the tiny gap in the cupboard door.  His chest hurt from keeping his breathing under control and silent.

 He had lost all track of time.  The cramping in his legs told him he would have to shift position soon, but he didn’t dare risk making a noise.  He had bolted into this under stairs cupboard when the woman had launched through the door into the main living room of the mansion.  Before anyones eyes had fully registered that the swirling blackness was a woman, three of his companions were dead at his feet.  The woman had grabbed Tom and Sue, holding them effortlessly off the floor by the throat.  David and his mother had fled the room in opposite directions. All he could do now was pray she gotten out of the house.

 Soft scuffing noises reached his ears from the room making his heart jump painfully into his throat again.  A silent whimper escaped his lips as he withdrew away from the door, tears of terror stinging his eyes.  A dim light shafted through the gap in the door, showing the glittering dust motes he had kicked up.  David watched as his shallow breathing made them dance as they passed through the thin dagger of light.

 The door flew open and a hand that felt like stone grabbed his shoulder.  He felt his collar bone splinter under that grip making him cry out.  He was wrenched out of the cupboard as if he weighed nothing.  At seventeen, he was not big built but he stood nearly six feet and was flung across the room like a rag doll.  His head impacted the wooden skirting board making sparks explode behind his closed eyes.  Dazed he felt himself being dragged to his feet, as he opened his eyes he had to look down to see the tiny woman that held him up by his throat.

 She was utterly beautiful.  Her dark hair curled around her face.  Pure savagery only enhanced her beauty.  Her eyes were catlike and boiling scarlet in colour, flames of hatred glowing behind them.  An intricate bronze headpiece framed those evil eyes before disappearing into the blazing dark waves of her hair.

 “Your age? How old are you?” She shook him like a rat.  Her voice matched her beauty. It reminded him of massive, storm driven waves breaking on the shore.  David realised he was mesmerised by her and he would die this way if he could not focus.

 “Seventeen.” His voice was strangled by her grip on his throat, each breath was getting more difficult.

 “Good, your blood is still not tainted by manhood.” She pulled him downwards by that stony grip until he was driven to his knees in front of her.

 The door from the hallway opened and two men came in.  Not that either of them resembled men in the slightest.  From his knees, David looked up.  One man was tall and gaunt. His face was drawn and thin with cruelty pouring from his expression.  A floor length grey cloak swirled around him as he walked.  He did not even glance at David, as he led another man forward who stunned David with the enormity of his size.

 He must have stood at least six feet eight.  With immense shoulders and brutal features.  A scar ran the length of his face from his brow to his chin.  There was no humanity in that face, glancing at David driven to his knees a gleam of pleasure crossed the murderous blank face.

 The woman looked to the cloaked man “He is pure my lord.” David’s stomach churned, he knew she meant him.

 The man never spoke. He passed the woman a thick band of leather.  It was six inches wide and looked like a wristband of huge proportions, held by thicks straps of rawhide.  In the centre of the band, a silver disk held the image of a crescent moon with an ugly looking wolf above it.  The disk was similar to the amulet on the woman’s headpiece.