Skayre

Chapter Twenty-Two

CHAPTER Twenty-Two

There was a roar of fury “REN!” it was Abernacky who shouted. He had lurched back into consciousness without anyone realising, he leapt forwards toward Ren, he was pushing gnomes over on either side and they skidded across the damp soggy ground. One gnome decided pulling out a spear would be a good idea, it was not.

Abernacky grabbed the spear as he ran, the gnome hit the ground and was dragged along before being tossed to one side. Abernacky had finally made it to were Ren was. The gnome that had stabbed him had a look of glee on its face, he was prodding the body with his sword and was about to lean down and eat a piece. But he was picked up so easy he thought he was flying.
The gnome was definitely flying, but only because he had been thrown with immense force. He soared through the air until he hit a tree with a dull thud and slid down and stopped on the ground.

There was a giggle from around Abernacky’s chest. Whatever it was it was enjoying the current situation, the smell of death in the air. Abernacky leant down next to Ren, he didn’t notice Stripe, Beryn or Mert standing next to him.

“Oh poor Ren, I brought you to this world from your own, and all I gave to you was death, rest now and let none block your path to the next world”. The other three obviously had no desire to interrupt, they bowed their heads in respect for a newly gained and fallen comrade.

The chaos around them was very slowly starting to subside. A lot more armed gnomes were starting to turn up, they were calming the crowds and controlling the situation. It wouldn’t be long before the four intruders were going to be found and attacked, obviously Beryn was noticing this fact as well. “Umm everyone can we start moving along a bit more now, there are quite a lot of soldiers with spears now” she whispered hastily to her friends around.

Stripe and Mert quickly looked up, stripe gave a very brief county “i can see about forty or fifty give or take, not heavily armed but I doubt we could get past, we will have to move and soon” he was starting to be more serious, this kind of thing was his forte, blundering around in the dark forest without any idea what was happening was certainly not in his expertise.
Stripe grasped Abernacky’s shoulder, “umm Aber, sorry to interrupt friend, but we had best be leaving, I think we have overstayed our welcome”.

Abernacky shook his head almost as though coming out of a trance, he slowly stood up, he looked taller somehow then he was before. “ahh, here they come, my fantastic little gnomes” he said. Stripe stared at him in bewilderment, “what do you mean your gnomes?” he quizzed. “hehe, they’re not actually mine, I’ve just taken a liking to them” he smiled.
“Now then, we had best be off” boomed Abernacky, every single gnome stopped and stared at the group, “we shall be taking our unfortunate friend here to provide him a proper burial and I suggest you don’t stop us” he carried on.

There was a tug at his arm. Little Mert was there, his eyes wide and his face was white, he looked to where Ren’s body was. Where Ren’s body should be.
Abernacky spun around and was flabbergasted, Ren’s body was fading away, almost like flecks or sparks where blowing off in a gentle breeze and causing little lights to float up into the air. He looked up and could see a stream of these specks floating away into nothing. Ren was somehow disappearing before their eyes. “what in the name of the gods old and new and everything in between” remarked Abernacky, this very clearly ruined his plan to heroically save Ren’s body, his three alive companions and get out of the Felwood forest.

He clenched his hand into a fist, released it and then clenched again, he slowly turned back around with a new idea in mind. “okay, new plan everyone, I myself and my three friends here shall be leaving and you shan’t be stopping us” he smiled  around at all the gnomes. Obviously it didn’t go very well, Ren’s body was gone now, including any amount of blood that was there. Almost as if none of it happened at all.

The gnomes started jeering at Abernacky, they also started throwing whatever they could, knives and forks, plates and cups, whatever they could grab hold of. The spear bearing gnomes were making quick progress towards them as well. “oh great, what now Mr Abernacky?” asked Stripe glumly, he didn’t hold up much hope in this situation. “oh, umm, well, I do happen to have a very good trick down my shirt” he replied. “ I think you mean trick up your sleeve?” retorted Beryn who also didn’t look very happy about their position or the lack of seriousness from Abernacky.

“oh ho, most certainly down my shirt” and he pulled out a silver and gold pocket watch, it shook ever so slightly almost as if it was excited. Abernacky held it up to his face and spoke softly “now my dear acquaintance, it’s your turn to provide some assistance, however keep in mind there will be no bloodshed otherwise you know the consequences” and his eyes sparkled ever so softly.
“he he, not to worry master Abernacky, I know my place most certainly” there was a grey black shimmering mist that started to seep out of the watch. It slowly formed into a large ghostly shape, it had long thin arms with claws on the end, and long legs with hooves, it’s body was thin and shimmered making it hard to look at, worst of all, the face, even though it was mist two shining yellow eyes were present set above a wide open jaw of jagged lines.

The beast stood there in front of the gnomes, pure evil and menace seeping from its very being. It’s mouth opened and it let out a loud screeching wail. It then spoke “as you have all decided to not let these folks leave I am now to intervene, my choice would be to slaughter, yet that is not to be. Leave now and let them pass or on your head it shall be”

The gnomes all stood there absolutely silent. Without a single word between any of them, they all instantly turned and ran off in all directions. They ran into their tree homes, little doors could be heard slamming all over the forest. Little beady eyes, and noses could be seen peeking out of windows, very high up windows though to be sure.
“That shall do, Ryshal, shan’t want to scare anyone else” the mist turned around, it gave Abernacky a stare almost of defiance as though it might run away. However it slowly started to dissipate and absorb back into the pocket watch, which rattled then stayed still.

“gods, Aber, what in the bloody world is that?” asked Stripe completely flummoxed. “Oh haha, naught more then a family heirloom” there was a hissing sound that came from Abernacky’s chest. He gently patted it and then it stopped.
The four of them stood there, in the midst of the chaos all by themselves. None of them really sure what to say. Until Mert decided to ask a question that had been troubling him for some time. “umm Abernacky, what exactly is going on?” he asked softly, Abernacky looked at him quizzically. “going on?” he said almost surprised.  “Don’t play bloody coy Aber, this isn’t the time.” Demanded stripe.

Abernacky noticed fairly quickly that it certainly wasn’t the time, nor the place either in fact. “look, alright, I understand you may want to know a lot of things. A lot of them I can’t answer, for now let’s just get out of here, we should mourn for Ren first and then I will answer your questions”. The others didn’t look very pleased but knew there was no great arguement.
Beryn looked at Abernacky earnestly, “please Abernacky, at least tell us what we are doing, you say we are the resistance and fighting for good. But what are we bloody well fighting, I’ve seen no enemy or the world ending either” “alright alright... I can tell I’ve got to give you something. Alright well, we are fighting against the darkness, it knows no name and it knows only how to destroy, it wishes to destroy everything. The world would be gone, absolutely nothing left. My family has been fighting it for generations, never able to beat it just to repel it and slow it down” he answered in all seriousness looking at each of them in turn.

The other three didn’t quite know how to respond. Abernacky was never completely serious, so this scared them. To get an honest answer and one to this degree wasn’t good. “so what does that mean, what is this darkness?” asked Mert quietly. Hoping he wouldn’t be heard so he wouldn’t get an answer. Abernacky stepped closer and put a hand on his shoulder “it means nothing good master mert, we are losing. My family is smaller then it once was and the darkness has an ally now. As to what it is we don’t quite know, some kind of ancient demon is about all we know, mostly it corrupts those around and uses those already corrupted to its uses. Evil beasts and people mostly” Mert shuddered slightly, he didn’t like the sound of a demon.

“pah” spouted stripe in disbelief, “there are no such things as demons or spirits or anything of the sort” snorted stripe. He was never very open minded with these things. “well then Greth, would you like a closer look at my pocket watch, he is also a demon” Abernacky winked at stripe, stripe immediately took a step back. “absolutely not, whatever that thing is I have no desire to feel it’s evil presence again” he stammered. There was a cold high pitched chuckle, they all stared around trying to see where it came from. Abernacky patted his chest once more and shushed the watch.
“As of now the hostilities are stopped, though it won’t last forever so we had best be leaving” explained Abernacky. Mert and Beryn shifted slightly and Stripe stood still. “Oh come on you lot, this is no place to stay we have important business” “i quite liked Ren” whimpered Mert ever so slightly. “Abernacky  allow at least a moment so we can pay some respect” Beryn added in as well.

“oh dear, yes of course how terrible of me”. He turned around to where Ren was previously and bowed his head in silence, and Beryn and Mert followed suit. Stripe stood there.
The four of them then left, without saying a word never to return to the gnome village of treerock, though it would forever be in there memories.