Shadows

Strangers

The watchman yawned. It was getting late. He slurped his tea and then sighed softly. Life was boring since the war. Yes, he had fought. And it was a terrible experience; but he'd happily go back if it meant quitting this job: watching the road to look for tresspassers, sitting down all day, looking for new discoveries.

His name was Dave. Dave was a friendly man but quite lonely every since his family's death. He had a terrible back and couldn't run or even walk fast. This was a novelty from the war. He had a dog to keep him company, and Dave felt he'd be lost without him. Every since his power left him he was as weak as a kitten. So he retired, volunteered for the job, and bought his dog. Martha was her name, in memory of his wife. Martha was a collie, a real Irish dog.

Although the tea was full of sugar, Dave felt his eyes fluttering. Within a minute Dave was snoring softly.

A loud bang woke Dave up with a yelp. The half empty tea cup was cracked on the floor, and Dave saw through his unpenetrable glass and outside the gates nine men, all bloody and wounded. One man with eyes closed and clinging on to two others helping him. Dave rushed over to three strings that each led to a bell. There was the bell for small alarms, bell for medium alarms and a bell for major alarms. Dave chose the medium alarm.

A siren wailed in the air and Dave ran out of his spiraled house, forgetting to close the door. A general originally from Wales confronted Dave.

"What's the matter?" Asked the large general, whose name was Gareth.

"Warriors, all wounded. One severely hurt." Answered Dave, who was out of breath and his back ached.

"Ok, no need to stay around then. You can go back to bed now."

"No I couldn't sleep. Anyway it's the first bit of commotion I've seen in weeks, I wouldn't want to miss it."

"Well then." Said Gareth who then rushed off yelling to open the gates. Dave wiped his nose as the gates opened. He expected to find them on the floor, but his eyes widened when he saw a muscular sorceress fighting them with dark magic. One warrior lay dead or unconscious, another stumbling about with a knife in his stomach. When the gates opened fully it made a large clang, and the witch turned her head slowly towards us villagers. A warrior took his chance and tried to decapitate the witch, but his axe got stuck in her neck. She used a last spell to summon little demonish dark men with swords. A few escaped, but the others were shot down by arrows. Quickly men with stretchers ran out and picked up the warriors. They were carried away just as the gates closed.

Caius, the chief of the village, approached Dave furiously.

"You never said anything about a witch!"

"There wasn't, honestly. " replied Dave sheepishly.

"We'll see tommorow. But for now, get to bed,"

Dave scurried off to his tall house. As he opened the door he realised something-he hadn't even closed the door. He frowned and blamed it on the wind. When he reached the top of the stairs it was out of his mind.

Dave opened the door to his bedroom and yelled out as a small, dark figure leapt onto him. His cries were muffled and the dark creature killed him with a swipe of his sword. He bent down and started slurping on his blood slowly.

A large knock on the door erupted. The creature froze.

The door was so weak it opened immediately. A skinny but fit looking boy around the age of fourteen stood there. He realised it smelled horrible.

"Emm, Mr..... Mr. Dave? The warriors wanted to reward you for saving there lives earlier. You have to come with me. "

The boy stood there for a couple of seconds before calling again. No answer. He thought Dave must've fallen asleep and trudged upstairs. Just as he was going to open the door he heard a growling noise.

Even though the boy was only fourteen, he had been trained since the age of ten, by the worlds best fighters and sorcerers. He knew Dave wouldn't make a noise like that and quietly pulled out his sword. It was a fine blade, made by Irelands best blacksmiths, made with metal you could only find in Tarajen, the demons realm. It was light as well. Once it had been his fathers, before he had been brutally killed.

The boy; whose name was Connor, had never killed before. But when he kicked open the door and saw what Dave had become he leapt at the dark creature. Connor was quick and tackled the dark creature roughly. They hit the floor hard and Connor endlessly punched the creature. When Connor knew it was out cold he took out his mobile and called his stepdad. Even in magic lands they had phones.

Connor staggered backwards as his phone dialed and realised what he had smelled before was death.