Preternatural Prophecy Chapter 4

Wendel sat not far from the twins who lay sleeping peacefully. They slept soundly in the cave. The dim light from the fire barely illuminated the cave. Wendel stared into the hissing flames. An owl hooted startling him. His head jerked towards the entrance of the cave. He looked over just in time to see the silhouette of the animal glide past silently. As it flew into the trees, the recollection of the last few days surfaced. After they had left the old women they were instructed to come to the cave and wait a few days until the next step for finding the Brimstone Blade. The twins and Wendel were taking turns at staying up in the nights to watch for any of Aiden’s minions. The old women said that it was fated that they would meet soon so they weren’t taking many risks.

            Wendel looked down at his fingers. He dug his fingernails into the dirt. The vampire’s blood ran through his veins and now had completely taken over his body. In the few short days he had completely turned into the vile creature that he wished to destroy. A sudden burst of rage over took him and he took a rock and threw it out of the cave. His rush of adrenaline spent from throwing the rock he sat back against the wall of the cave. He took a deep breath and pulled his cross bow closer. He looked back over at the twins. Tatiana rolled slightly in her sleep. Both had a peaceful look on their face. The only sounds were the crackling of the fire and the gentle snoring of the twins. A hushed howl whistled through the distant trees. He closed his eyes and listened to the soothing call.

A twig snapped outside. He jerked his eyes open and toward the cave entrance and whipped his weapon around and wrapped his finger around the trigger.  His finger tightened as if it was instinct. He pointed it at the entrance and waited. A man came stumbling into the cave. His armor was torn and he was badly bruised. He put his hand up to his mouth and coughed. A small smatter of blood came out. He looked around quickly spotted Wendel and fell to his knees.

“Please help me. My village has been attacked by vampires.” He blurted out quickly. He stared at Wendel. Wendel sat there unsure of whether to trust the man. Wendel loosened his grip on the crossbow. He placed it down and moved to wake the twins.

“Please help us. The vampires are attacking our village. Aiden and Delano are attacking our village. Please talk to me. Tell me you will help my village!” his eyes began to water as he pleaded. Wendel shook Tatiana violently. She looked up at him and wiped the sleep from her eyes. She looked from Wendel to the man then back to Wendel. She nudged her sister and looked at the man. “Who are you?” Tatiana said sleepily.

“My name is Blaize. My village needs your threes help. I was sent by an old woman to fetch you to bring your help back to the village. Aiden and Delano are attacking our village. They have an army of thirty or more vampires. We are fighting back but most of our warriors are wounded badly. We need your help desperately. I was ambushed as I was leaving and am hurt badly. I cannot send for any other villages. Please you three are our only hope. We will reward you for helping us. We have all sorts of things. Please you must help us.” He gasped and coughed more blood coming out. He fell down and began wheezing. Tatiana flew from her bed. Wendel flipped the man onto his side and applied pressure onto his torso. The man cried out in immense pain. The cry snapped Laurel awake. She jumped up and drew her short sword with lightning speed. She looked around for any attackers then spotted Tatiana and Wendel on the ground.

“What is going on?” She said looking at them.

“Laurel this man is dieing! Grab Wendel’s medicine kit from our bag. He was attacked by vampires. His whole village is under attack by Aiden and Delano.” Tatiana shouted as the man spasm and stopped moving. Wendel felt for his breath and shook his head. “Never mind Laurel. Gather our things. We must head for this village. He said we are the village’s only hope.”

Laurel gathered their things while Wendel buried the body deep inside the cavern. Tatiana put the fire out and covered the ashes. The twins slung their packs over their shoulders and shouted for Wendel. He came out bearing all he could salvage from the body. He placed it in his pack then let it fall to his side. He exited the cave and followed Blaize’s footprints back to his village.

Wendel charged into the village to see half of the buildings destroyed and the other half in shambles. He ran to the closest standing building and knocked down the door. A woman cowered in fear under a table. Her blood soaked clothes lay limp against her cowering figure.  Her eyes went up and she saw Wendel. She began to scream. Three men came bursting from another house and saw Wendel standing in the door way. He whipped around in time to see the three men drawing their swords and charging him. He pulled out his dagger and got ready to fight back. The woman snuck up behind him and began to claw at his back. He shrugged her off and met one of the men’s swords halfway through its arc with his dagger. Another man hit him across the head with the flat of his sword. Wendel stumbled back and blinked. The three men took the opportunity and tackled him to the ground. He writhed in their grasp as they looked him over.

“He is a vampire but has no indication of being of Aiden’s clan. Who are you and why did you break into this woman’s house?” The largest man shouted. Wendel took a second to stare at the man. He was clad in leather armor from chest to feet. He wore a leather breast plate and leggings with deer hide shoes. He was the largest of the three and looked about the strongest. He held a short sword and a small pendant dangled from his neck. The pendant bore a dove circled by a small silver halo. The second man was the shortest of the three. He also had a short sword and was wearing nothing but a tunic and pants. He also wore the same pendant but instead it had a gold halo. He wore boots clad in metal and leather. He had no markings on him and looked like he had barely been trained to fight. The third man was of medium build and the eldest of the bunch. He had a long scar on his shoulder disappearing into his tunic. He wore his tunic and pants also. He also had a pendant but it was two doves pushed together. He looked at Wendel with a dull expression, gazing at him as if wondering what he was.

The large man spoke again, “Tell me who you are and where you come from you fool. We will torture it out of you if you do not tell us immediately. Tell us!” He shook Wendel getting angry.

“I recommend you stop shaking him, Jeremiah. He has nothing to say for he cannot say anything. This man is a mute if you cannot tell.” A man in his twenties walked into the room, his hands moving about in front of him. He was wearing a blue cloak. It came from his shoulders and extended down to his ankles. He wore worn down sandals on his bruised feet. His pendant bore a snake clutching another snake in its death grasp. His hand bumped a chair and he grabbed it and gently moved it out of his way. His hands went back to their swaying in front of him. “Let him up. I will tell you what he is doing here.” The three men looked astonished at the man and picked Wendel up and placed him in front of the man, their grip tightening.

The man placed his hands on Wendel’s forehead and looked directly into his eyes. “Ah you are Wendel are you now? Well Wendel what are you doing here.” Wendel gave a confused look at first then realized the man was a mind reader. He quickly sent the man his answer telepathically.

 ‘Your messenger that was sent to get help against Aiden found me and my two companions and we were sent to help you. Unfortunately he died before he could rally any other help. My two companions are outside the village. I ran in once I saw the city half destroyed. They are searching the outskirts for any survivors. I volunteered to go into the village to see if anyone was still in town.’

The man nodded and retold the three men what Wendel had sent to him. The three men relaxed their grip but did not totally let go. “You may let him go. I may be a blind man but I can sense tension. That is why I came. Wendel go find your friends and have Jeremiah, his brother, and his father show you to the bar where they will put you up for the night. I can see a great battle tomorrow so we will all need our rest. Aria,” he looked in the direction of her. She was still cowering under the table. “Go tell the captain that we need to work all night to make weapons. Have him sleep during the day. And put your baby in the nursery. You know it is not good it have it away from protection for so long.” She moved and a whimpering child was revealed from her cloak. She nodded and hurried out the door cooing to the baby. The three men let Wendel go. The man exited the house and disappeared into the night.

“Let’s go Wendel. Let’s get your friends and see if you were lying to our elder.” The youngest man pushed him out the door. The oldest man shot him a look of disdain and the younger man immediately stepped back.

“I am sorry for my son’s actions Wendel. We are not very kind to strangers much less vampires here anymore. Are your two companions vampires as well?” The eldest man asked. Wendel shook his head no. “Well that is good. Maybe people will accept you here then. My name is Edward. This is my son Jeremiah,” He pointed to the larger one of the sons. “And this is Joseph.” He pointed to the smaller of the two men. Edward led Wendel out into the night. “Where are your friends now?” Wendel pointed in the direction the twins had gone. They began to walk in that direction when they came upon a mob.

“Kill them.” “Tie them up in the stocks.” “Blood them and feed them to the vampires.” The mass shouted as the twins sat upon a platform surrounded by ten warriors. They were tied back to back with the ten warriors circling them. Blood ran down Tatiana’s face from a cut along the side of her head. Both of them had their heads hung low in defeat.

“Quiet down.” Edward shouted. The mass of people turned to him and quieted immediately. He looked at Wendel kindly. “Are these your two companions Wendel?” Wendel nodded vigorously not taking his eyes off the men standing on the platform. Each held some sort of deadly looking weapon. Most were in the shape of a sword but others had a mace looking weapon. Edward stepped forward and the mob parted way so he could walk through. Wendel followed Edward and the two brothers stepped into line with them. Edward silently walked up the steps and tapped each soldier on the shoulder. As he did that the soldier stepped off the platform and left. As the last warrior stepped down Edward went to the edge of the platform.

“Good folks of this village. Go home and rest. Tomorrow will be a great battle. Our village psychic has for seen this. These two women you see before you were the aid that was sent to help us along with this man here.” He pointed to Wendel. “Let us rejoice that they are here. Go home and sleep soundly through the night. With the god’s help maybe we will win tomorrow and be given peace once again.”

The mob dissipated mumbling in discontent. Wendel went over to the twins and cut the ropes with his dagger. Laurel looked up at him and smiled weakly. Wendel smiled back and untied their hands. Jeremiah and Joseph knelt down and each one helped a twin up. Edward stepped down to the ground and led them through the village. A few people were still on the streets. The people jeered at them as the two brothers helped them hop through the village. They finally arrived at the inn on the other side of town. The brothers let the twins down near the fire and Wendel sat down next to Laurel. Edward went over to the innkeeper and the brothers went to the bar. Women and men hurried in and out of the rooms carrying a variety of medical supplies.

“We need to figure out what we are going to do. They think that we alone can save them from the vampire attacks.” Laurel said watching Edward. His hands were moving in a vigorous fashion and he seemed to be talking quickly. “Edward saved us but I don’t think he is trustworthy. I don’t think we should stay here. I think after a few hours we should sneak out and see if we can escape back into the forest. The general people seem like they don’t trust us so we shouldn’t trust them.” Edward nodded to the innkeeper and she turned around. Edward started over to the trio.

“They have one room left. It’s at the end of the hall but it only has two beds. I wasn’t sure if you three would have minded. I guessed you didn’t since you two are twins. It’s at the end of the hall. The innkeeper will show you shortly where it is. Unfortunately I must go now to help my son recuperate from and earlier battle.” Edward said then waved. He went over and tapped both of his sons on their shoulder. He went over to the innkeeper and handed her something shiny. She placed it in her pocket then nodded to him. The father and sons left the inn.

The innkeeper came over to them. “I will show you your room now. Though I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask the man to leave if you three are sharing a room unless he is your brother.” She said to them.

“Oh no. He’s my husband,” Laurel said quickly grabbing Wendel’s hand. He looked bewildered and looked from the innkeeper to Laurel. The innkeeper nodded and turned. Wendel looked at Laurel confused. She pulled him forward as the innkeeper led them up a flight of stairs into a narrow hallway. She stopped at the last door and opened it for them. “There is a bell near the door if you need anything. Just ring it and one of the attendants will come and help you.” She looked them over one more time and left the room. The trio looked around the room. Wendel pulled his hand out of Laurel’s grasp and looked at her.

“I know Wendel. I had to lie to get you into here. If we don’t stick together one of us might be killed. We don’t want something happening like it did this morning again. We can’t afford for any one of us to be killed or hurt badly. Tatiana and I will take one of the beds and Wendel you take the other.” Laurel said. She laid her knife under the pillow and fluffed it. She looked over her bed once more then lay down. Wendel threw his bag on the chair near the window and collapsed on the bed. His snores were heard as soon as he hit the bed.

Tatiana shook her head and sat on the second chair in the room. With both her companions asleep she checked the room for anything unusual.  The second floor room consisted of two beds, two chairs, a small dresser and a closet. Tatiana went over to the closet and looked for any holes. After she had inspected it and found no trace of any traps she laid her head down on the pillow. A soft plink sounded. She looked around. The branch tapped against the window at the far corner of the room. It made a plinking sound as it hit again. She laid down and fell asleep.