The Lost Fragments

Clouds obscured over the full moon. Everyone was nervous. We all knew that once the clouds had settled, the riders would come. Muffled voices echoed in the silence, as doors and windows of Clearshade began being locked and shut. I was locked inside the corner house closest to the center of town. Curious, I was peering through the splinters and cracks in the wall. It wasn't exactly the best view, but it was something. I could hardly see through the midnight mist of the night. We had done the necessary precautions that we always take. It’s always someone from the town. We leave them bound to a local post in the center of the town, almost as a kind of sacrifice. I’m never one to uphold the tradition. I don’t like the idea of leaving one of our own in such horrible conditions. Especially now, since winter is just ending, and the riders will be able to move quicker than in the snow.

Then, we heard it. The sound of horseshoes trotting along the brick roads into Clearshade. My uncle Richard crept low and whispered;

“Adam, I want you to know that whatever happens, I’ll be here to protect you.”

My uncle was a strong, stout man. He had just about the same features as me, except he had short blonde hair and green eyes, whereas I had short black hair and pale blue eyes, and broad shoulders with a bit of a push to them. However, I was quite a bit taller than him.

My uncle had taught me everything I know. He was the town guards' leaders, so he was teaching me a little bit in swordplay. He would teach me swordplay in the afternoon, after I had finished my studies, and in the evening he would tell me stories about my parents. I never knew my parents. They left me with my uncle when I was a baby, and I was never told anything about them, just that I would one day meet them again, and then they ran off together. No one, not even my uncle could explain it to me, as he had no idea himself.

Just then, I heard the drowned out screams of a dying girl that we had left out in the evening. The gag that we had tied around her mouth wasn’t enough to stop the blood curdling screams coming from beyond the door. Sounds of laughter and violent screaming flowed through the town like wildfire. In the house I was gathered in, the people I was with began to cry.

Suddenly, a violent crash came from the next room. They had decided to come in the house. The sound of boots thudding against the wooden floor gave me shivers. I tried to remain as silent as I could, when a little boy let out a yelp. The thudding stopped, and then continued at a quicker pace getting louder and louder until a man in a tattered old red cloak stepped around the corner. He had an eye patch on his left eye, and a scar leading up from the patch. He had thick, matted white hair, as if snow itself had nestled on his head.

With a grin, he locked eyes on me, and drew his sword. The cloaked man let out a ferocious war cry, as if he were to battle the god of war. He charged into the room, swinging and chopping as he ran. Bodies fell, and blood was spattered along the walls and floors of the house. He was so fast I couldn’t believe the sight I was seeing. I couldn’t move, as if something had me chained down to one spot, I was frozen in fear. As the man finally approached, he took one final swing directly at my head. With a loud clang, the blade had been halted by another. Richard had stepped in to stop me from seeing my last of days, and I was still frozen in fear. He took a glance back, and shouted

“What are you doing? Run boy!”

Shaken from my paralysis, I bolted from the spot, crashing through the nearest window. I tumbled out only to land prone onto the ground. As I stood up, all of the chaos in town lit up in my eyes. Houses were being burned, families being slaughtered, and the riders did it with a grin on their faces and a look of pleasure in their eyes.

I couldn’t bear to imagine what would happen to me if I were to stay any longer, so I ran. The sounds of pure madness escaped and grew fainter as I approached the edge of Clearshade. The forest on the outskirts drew nearer as I paced further on. I heard shouts and laughter, along with the thunder of horses sprinting after what I assumed was me. Branches and leaves crumbled beneath my feet as I ran through the trees, stumbling over roots and thickets in my path. I decided to go further into the forest so that the horses could not tail me, and the riders would be forced to turn back from the inner darkness.