Shards of darkness (watty awards 2012)

Horse and rider

Ejiav gave a last sigh and Epdemise snorted before they picked their way down the side of a sandy embankment. They past a mountain of corpses that reached far over Ejiiv’s head even on horseback. The horizon was bathed in the grim light of the smouldering town they had been sent to save.  It was a pyre for the many trapped at the heart of the inferno. Slowly burning, imprisoned inside the very stone walls they used as defence. Ejiav wrinkled his nose at the atrocity of the masicar. He felt Epdemise tremble. They had come too late.

Behind them three squadrons of foot soldiers followed. Each and every man struck dumb. Gradually they began to gather their wits. Their whispers grew to a babble of nervous voices then a torrent… The nearest of the black cloaked mourners lifted her sorrow shrouded face. Anger ignited her eyes to two points of fire. Ejiav pulled at the reins and Epdemise turned and cantered back up the slope to the squadrons.

“Quiet, blast you!” Ejiav hissed. Epdemise reared to emphasise his command. “We have come here to help these people not worsen their loss by showing your contempt! Men for blast ye, show your respect and stay silent!”

Chastised, many of the men bowed their heads in shame. A few however held their heads proud. Ejiav flicked his reins and together, horse and rider turned away from faces filled with scorn. They had made no effort to hide their distaste for their commander, Ejiav thought with disappointment. Many of the troops under his command were imperium troops and hardened with loathing against Kaa and any of his servants.  So far no trouble had been caused, but it was only a matter of time…

Far from satisfied that they would remain silent, Ejiav called to Epdemise to turn. He raised his head to the grievers and blinked with shock. Krott! These were no grievers! Their bowed forms were not bent in sorrow, they were concealing their true purpose. Not mourning, feasting! Seemingly sensing his gaze, the nearest to him raised its head. Dripping flesh was held between its jaws, its eyes glazed with bloodlust. Ejiav guessed its intention in an instant.

“ON GUARD! Shield yourselves, CORPSE WAIF!”

If it hadn’t been fat and slow after feasting, none of the soldiers would have survived. As it was, Ejiav heard a bump as several bodies of the men behind him fell to the ground. Dead. Killed by fear.

Corpse waifs have the power to mentally drill into the minds of their victims, prying over deepest fears and casting shadows across the hearts of their prey til nothing is known but darkness and the host dies. They suck out dreams and aspirations to replace them with pain and suffering. Rotten to the core, evil as they come and just as deadly, corpse waifs are but one foe to face on the battle field.

The air around the ‘mourners’ veiled and shifted til their bodies merged to form one eternity. Ejiav couldn’t decide if it was more like liquid or smoke, but either way it seemed to have no fixed form. It was as if some giant had stained the air black or had cast a shadow suspended in the zephyr. For the most part it was translucent but at its core, the air was pulled tighter, thicker, darker to a space slightly larger than a man’s head. Poised, motionless inside the void, hung a lower jaw. The mandible was small, too small for a grown human, big enough for a child… Ejiav spat to try and clear the bile that had risen to his throat. The men behind him whimpered in fear and in loss, as many would have lost friends. It would be unlikely that any of them had cast eyes upon a corpse waif before and certainly not fought one else they would have stayed silent…  They were doomed. The corpse waif heard their noise and began to move. It drifted as a mist of death towards Ejiav.