Dance Macabre: Tales from a Cursed Land

I: Weak Go Quickly to Their Graves (2/2)

He turned his horse to the direction the boy indicated the Bear Rock was located in. He rode between the fields, but stopped as he reached the tree line. Here it was probably still common to get more farmland by burning trees, as the forest started a bit too suddenly to be natural.

"Wait here," he told his horse as he dismounted. He gently caressed his mount's head. "I'll be back soon."

The horse whinnied softly and pushed her head against Raviel's hand. He had raised her from the day she had been born, and the bond between them was strong. She would not bolt and leave her master behind. She seemed nervous of something, though.

"Very soon," Raviel promised.

He didn't find any actual bears on his way to the Bear Rock - a very fitting name, he had to say as he reached it. No sign of blood or struggle either. But...

He stopped and plucked a handful of long flaxen hair caught in a thorny branch. Apparently she had been here. Still no footprints, though. Either she was very stealthy for a human to hide from an elven tracker, or rain had washed the trail away. He removed one of his gloves and buried his fingers to the soil. Completely dry.

Then he heard it. A quiet voice. "Anybody there...? Help...me..."

"I hear you! Where are you?" he called out.

"I can't move...Help me..."

"Tell me where you are!" He tried to move to the direction of the voice, but couldn't see anything.

Suddenly the ground gave way under him. Despite the surprise he managed to land on his feet, something cracking beneath his boots as he hit the bottom of the pit. Almost on instinct he drew his sword to block the huge mandibles about to close on his head.

"Now, now, weren't you going to help me?" a female voice spoke again, now giggling. "If you die, everything is going to be okay."

Raviel looked past the mandibles. It was a giant centipede. On first glance there was a flaxen-haired girl lying on its back and leaning her forearms on the top of its head. On second...she was not lying on its back, but fused to it at her waist. He gritted his teeth and tightened his hold on the sword handle. "I'm sorry, but I can't do that."

Either the monster was posing as the girl to lure unsuspecting victims in, or this was indeed the boy's sister, cursed through some dark magic. The latter possibility couldn't be ruled out completely either. But in both cases, he'd have to kill her. Both to protect himself and to make sure no others fell to the same trap. The least he could do was to make it swift.

"Phoenix," he spoke while keeping his blade between him and the monster. "Please lend me your purifying flame." A magic circle etched itself on the ground under the creature. "Let the holy fire lead your soul to rebirth."

"Noooo!" she screamed as the white-hot flames enveloped her. Then she lunged forward, just as Raviel had expected. One clean thrust through the centipede's head finished the creature.

As the fire died down, not touching him at all despite the tiny confines of the pit, Raviel slowly surveyed what was left. The centipede had been burned to the bone, but it was not the only corpse here. He knelt down next to one of the skeletons, some more whole than others, with some flaxen hair remaining on the skull. There was a small wooden pendant around her neck.

Raviel sighed deeply and freed the pendant. He had known this would end in tragedy.

~*~*~

The boy was waiting for him at the outskirts of the village.

"I'm sorry," Raviel said once he had dismounted and held the pendant out to him. "She was killed by a monster. I know it's a small consolation, but I did get your revenge for you."