Ardith - A Vampire Story (editing)

Chapter 19 The End of the Battle

Chapter 19 The End of the Battle

There was chaos along the Rhine's southern valley; a burning hell where the spirits of those who'd perished in war howled in mortuary duet with the cold autumnal breeze. The air was filled with the stench of scorched  human flesh and blood mixed with humid soil and putrefaction. Hundreds of beheaded and dismembered corpses had been incinerated, either in purpose or as a casualty in this battle, making them unrecognizable. Carbonized faces, most of them torn apart from the rest of their bodies,  and others with a torso but without limbs, were scattered everywhere over the valley. The only way to distinguish humans from vampires was if fangs protruded in the fallen opened mouths. Bare skulls lied blackened under the scorching blazes of those who were destroyed... fortunately, all of them.

Edmund walked between the dead bodies thoughtful, exhausted, his face covered in ashes and blood, after the miraculous victory over the legions of Satan. It was an awkward mixture of joy, relief and grief, realizing that being the general in charge it was for him unbearable and devastating the incredible loss of men in his army, for his country. If it hadn't been for the arrival of the reinforcements, no man, including him, would have survived.

Memories came to his mind with the last moments of the bloody battle, when Ardo and Pelagius, the legendary Visigoth generals, were ambushed in the dark forests. Edmund himself along with other generals from the Christian Armada cornered the two vampire leaders. The members of the Empire's army mounted their stallions and wielding their swords and spears anointed in the sacred ointments, against both Ardo and Pelagius. The enemy generals stood straight, defiantly on guard gripping firmly their golden swords and shields. Right behind, the commanders were flanked by soldiers aiming burning arrows to the blood sucking demons, while Bishop Facinelli prayed in Latin asking for protection against the enemy:

"Dómine, quam multi sunt qui tribúlant me
Multi insúrgunt adversum me.
Multi sunt qui de me dicúnt:
"Non est salus ei in Deo..."

Tension grew in the air making heavy to breath, for those who were able to. Surrounded by the forest dense canopy, dimness engulfed the scenery making it to appear dismal, frightening. The old vampire, both two centuries old, stood one next to the other, their red eyes glistened like fire, the same fire that burnt in Hell. Two hundred years ago, Ardo and Pelagious, when they were humans, were great fighters, conquerors and kings, and now as supernatural entities, they were even more dreadful and lethal. They'd become unstoppable killing machines moved only by blood power thirst.

"This won't end with our death! There are hundreds more like us roaming across the four corners of this world and beyond." Ardo raged in his deep graveyard voice.

The Christian soldiers stood on guard. They faced two monsters capable of vanquishing  the entire group in a blink of an eye. Edmund had seen them in action and if the rest of the vampires were skillful and dangerous, the legendary leaders were even more. They were basically indestructible. But something was missing, they hesitated to fight and looked tired. The king's herald inferred it was due the lack of blood that gave them the supernatural strength they bore and when the Sacred Army arrived with reinforcements, the vampires left were forced to fight for their lives having little time to drink blood; the vital red elixir they craved for and needed to exist. Despite all this, Ardo and Pelagious were impressive beings. Both vampires were tall and strong built, agile, and powerful and their faces were perfect in their proportions. Wearing bronzed carved helmets adorned with a black feathers crest, the infamous rulers were elegantly arrayed in their light chain armors and black bear leather cloaks, like divine creatures to be payed homage to, still demons incarnated.

The priest kept praying...

"Tu autem, Domine, clipeus meus es,
Gloria mea, qui erigis caput meum.
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi,
Et exaudivit me de monte sancto suo.
Ego decubui et obdormívi:
Exsurresi, quia Dominus susténtat me..."

"This will become a war for survival that will meet no end. We are the greatest of all created! We have the gift of immortality... Let's see... I propose you a deal...", Pelagius stared at Ardo suspiciously. It was as if they communicated in their thoughts instead of using spoken words.

Ardo lowered his sword as he spoke, his voice modulated a little softer, in a more persuasive tone. "Yes... a deal. You'd be a fool if you refuse. Consider having this power, being like us... to be immortal? No one would be able to stop you. You would be undefeatable warriors, specially you, Herald! You are destined to rule over this nation, imagine if you could do it forever."

"Absolutely... You can join us and we will create a new army. We will conquer the empire, then the world and everything you see and beyond would be ours." Pelagius concluded the convincing speech in a more dramatic pitch, staring Edmund directly to the eyes. The vampires moved forwards, closing the gap between them and the Christian soldiers, their guard completely lowered in an attempt to conceal their true intentions, to look inoffensive. Even their fangs were retrieved, and smiling somehow amiably, they gazed over the group members with their hypnotizing dark eyes.

While Ardo and Pelagious took their last chance, Edmund recalled the danger his beloved Ardith faced in the Cuhtberht's mansion, precisely with one of these monsters. There was nothing else to ponder, not a thing to think of. Inside his chest grew a turmoil of wrath and distress making it burn. Everything in his head was defused. In front of him everything turned red and in an outburst of rage he yelled, "Never! I'll never be a monster like you are!" Jumping off his horse, he threw himself over Ardo knocking the vampire to the ground.

Pelagius knew this was his opportunity to escape, and so he did. Immediately, four soldiers left after him.

"...Non timebu milia populi,
Quae in circuitu contra me consístunt.
Exsúrge, Dómine!..." The priest prayed fervently.

Edmund wrestled fiercely against Ardo, moved by rage and by love, making it look an even fight. But the vampire general could react, Edmund stabbed his sword in Ardos's chest. Dark and thick blood gusted out of the wound and from his mouth. Twitching and turning on the ground, the beast growled, his fangs protruding threatening while he tried to take out the sword off his chest, but Edmund pressed harder, burying it deeper in his thorax.

The herald stared down at the agonizing Visigoth fixedly. "Listen to me, General Ardo, who in life was one of the greatest generals, in this moment I swear to you, with God and my soldiers as witnesses, that I will not rest until I finish with the last of your kind. You will pay for tormenting the humans in this Holy Germanic Empire as long as I live. I swear!"

Ardo opened his eyes widely when Edmund pulled his sword off the vampire's chest and lifted it high in the air just above his head. Blood gushed out the vampire's wound. And with a single blow of his sword, the German general beheaded the demon's head. It rolled a foot away with its eyes still open. Thick, hideous and purple blood bubbled, pouring all over the green grass.

Edmund stood on hip is feet, sword in hand still dripping vampire's blood. "Burn him!" He ordered.

A minute after, the four soldiers chasing after Pelagius returned, one of them carried the demon's head staked in his spear while the other legionnaires dragged the rest of his body.

What was left of the vampires was burning in a pyre and the priest prayed.
"...Salvum me fac, Deus meus!
Nam masillam percussíti
omnium adeversántium mihi
dentes peccatórum confregísti.
Penes Dominum est salus:
Super poplum tuum sit benedictio tua!...
Amen"

*******Note: The priest is reciting Psalm 3 taken from David from the Christian Bible in Latin, a psalm of protection the King wrote when he hid in a cave from his son Absalom.